Love and Submission

Chapter Seven

Lunch ended up coming faster than Olivia would have preferred though she ended up being wrong. Connor wasn't waiting for her in the cafeteria; he was standing outside of her classroom leaning against the wall of windows while Molly chattered away at him. Olivia froze when she saw the scene not sure whether the rush of anger was because she loathed the girl or she was feeling territorial. She saw Connor's mouth work into a grin and had the disturbing thought that he knew exactly what she was thinking. But how? Kitty came up behind her and gasped when she saw Molly place her hand on Connor's bicep. Olivia felt her face frown deeply and watched the grin break into a breathtaking smile. The man was gifted. He truly was. With the simplest of expressions he could irk her to no end.

They made their way over to him watching Molly flirt her hardest. When Olivia saw her face she was slightly mollified. Clearly Molly was not used to needing to put so much effort into this. Connor lifted his head when they were close enough and smiled at Olivia. His eyes were twinkling giving credence to her previous thoughts. When she was within arms reach he snaked one around her waist and kissed her cheek. "Hey, how was class?"

"Boring." Olivia replied. Molly frowned then turned her sole attention back to Connor.

"So, as I was saying, you should totally try out for the football team." Olivia looked Connor up and down then smirked. Sure he was buff but she'd seen some of the brute's that made up their football team. He'd get creamed.

"I might but I'm not sure. There is only like three quarters left of the school year and I'm coming in late to the game. I wouldn't want to take anyone's place, especially if they've put all the time into it." He was just so confident. Olivia wondered how he could be so self assured all the time. Obviously his good looks were enough to win him any female companionship had his natural ease and charm not done the trick. He was tall too but he didn’t look strong enough to take on one of the bigger kids. Of course, he was a werewolf. Maybe he was stronger than he looked.

“Oh who cares about them? If they’re not good enough than that’s that. I mean this is for school spirit right?” She flashed a dazzling smile and batted her eyelashes. Olivia barely managed to cover the snort at her ridiculous antics. Batting eyelashes? Who did that anymore? A wicked idea crept into Olivia’s head and she grinned causing Kitty’s eyes to widen further. She had been watching the whole spectacle with a clear look of disbelief. Olivia turned into Connor and kissed his jaw softly.

“Babe, I don’t want to be rude and all but I’m starved. Can we hurry this up?” She felt the hand that was wrapped around her waist stroke her hipline through her shirt.

“Absolutely I’m starved too. See you later Molly.” He flashed a quick grin then led them away toward the cafeteria. He didn’t even look back to see Molly’s open mouthed glare but Olivia did. It took a serious effort not to stick her tongue out.

The cafeteria was overcrowded as usual but when Olivia and Connor entered she had the feeling that everyone had turned to stare at them. They entered the line for the half cooked cardboard that counted as lunch in their school with his arm still around her waist. Kitty was busy smiling away at them, clearly composing mass amounts of love poetry she would later force Olivia to listen to. Olivia rolled her eyes and sighed quietly. Connor’s eyebrow quirked up in question but he didn’t look at her as he directed the lunch lady as to what he wanted. There was quite a pile on the tray by the time they reached the register. “Wow you eat a lot.” Kitty chimed in eyeing the plate. Olivia was about to scold her but Connor just laughed.

“Yea I do but some of this is for her too.” He jerked his head to Olivia who frowned up at him.

“I can get my own food you know.”

“I do know that actually.” He said then flashed the register lady a smile. She actually blushed and dropped some of his change. Olivia scoffed then pointed the way to her and Kitty’s usual table.

“I’m going to go get some ice cream, you want?” Kitty asked after setting her food down.

“Nah I’m good.” Olivia answered slinging her backpack under the table. Connor sat down across from her and shook his head. Olivia watched Kitty bounce out of the lunchroom. “Girl just has endless energy I swear.”

“She’s chipper. A perky Goth.” He said with a chuckle.

“So.” Olivia started not really sure how to now that she had him alone for a few minutes. He was busy forking what looked like macaroni and cheese into his mouth at an impressive speed. “I have questions.”

“I bet.” He said between bites. “I’ll answer them all I promise, just remember we’re not exactly alone here.” He gave her an intense look. Okay so no werewolf answers right now, damn. “I have questions too actually so how about we trade? I ask one, you ask one.”

“Okay. How old are you?” He stopped eating and looked up at her blinking.

“Twenty two.” Olivia’s eyes popped. “Slower aging process is one of the perks.” He smirked and then went back to his rapid eating. Olivia’s stomach rumbled so she lifted her sandwich and tried to plug her nose against the smell of it. The meat smelt old and the cheese smelt bad.

“Do you like to be called Olivia or do you have a nickname?” He asked.

“Um, Olivia, Liv, sometimes Livia. Really, any version of my name has been used as a nickname at some point. I don’t really care either way. How come you are at school here if your already twenty two? I mean don’t they have a record of you graduating?” He shook his head as he unwrapped the foil on a cheeseburger.

“I was home schooled. My mom was a teacher before she met my dad. May I call you Livie?” Olivia nodded. Her uncle had called her Livie before the car accident that took his life and nobody had done so after. “How old are you?”

“Eighteen, and strictly speaking that’s two questions but I’ll let it slide for now.” He put his hands together in an imitation of praying and inclined his head to her. She giggled then went back to her own food thinking of her next question. “Do you have siblings?”

“Three sisters.” He said with a nod. “The two older ones, by different women, and the younger is full blooded sister.” Olivia’s eyes must have been round again because he chuckled then wiped his mouth before continuing. “Yeah my dad was a bit of a Lothario back before mom. When you see him you’ll understand.”

“When I see him?”

“If you want to of course though I’m sure he’ll probably get impatient and call you or something if you take too long. What about you, what’s your family like?”

“Normal, painfully so at times. My mom and dad have been married since just after high school. They had me pretty much right off and then waited eight years before having my brother. Then my little sister was a surprise like two years later. They work nine to five jobs and drive stupid matching cars. It drives me insane.”

“My dad has what can only be described as a car museum. I think it drives him insane that my mom drives her little Ford four door.” He smiled and started in on his piece of cake. Olivia stayed away from the tasteless crap and watched him as he took his first bite. She then erupted into laughter as his nose wrinkled up in distaste and he gulped down soda to wash it down. “Good lord that’s awful!” Olivia was still giggling when Kitty sat down next to them with her sundae.

“What’s awful?” She looked at the cake and then slapped Olivia’s arm. “Liv! You let him eat that?”

“You should have seen his face.” Olivia crowed and then collapsed into more laughter.

“You’ll have to forgive her; she has a very cruel sense of humor sometimes.” Connor smiled at them clearly unfazed.

“So I see. Perhaps then I should ask you which way the art room is?” Kitty smiled and nodded.

“Do you have that next? Because I do too.” Connor’s eyes widened and then he smiled mischievously.

“Perfect. Now I can get the goods on Livie.” Kitty nodded enthusiastically.

“Sitting right here.” Olivia said in a dry voice. Connor turned an innocent look to her which Kitty mirrored. “Great you guys are in cahoots now?”

“Oh yes, there is definite cahooting going on.” Kitty smiled and then laughed. Olivia sighed and looked behind Connor just in time to see Molly flash her a nasty look. Great. She had gym next with Molly. She felt someone touching her hand and looked to see Connor’s thumb rubbing across her knuckles. He was listening to Kitty describe the art teacher but still somehow he’d known she was tense. It was weird that his touching her like that was calming when she had never been a fan of the physical contact before. “You know, Connor, I don’t even know your last name.” Kitty was saying. Olivia realized with a pang of guilt that she didn’t either.

“Oh it’s Wahl.” There was silence and then Kitty just about exploded out of her chair.

“As in Darien Wahl?” Connor nodded with a knowing smile. Olivia was confused. She’d never heard of Darien Wahl before. “The mall guy?”

“Kitty, what are you on about?”

“Darien Wahl! He’s only like the hottest architect ever!” She exclaimed. Kitty really did have some strange areas of interest.

“You’ll have to forgive her, hotness equals greatness in Kittyland.” Olivia explained to Connor who again was perfectly calm with the situation.

“Seriously Liv, he designed that giant five story mall.”

“The one with the theme park in it?” Olivia had heard of that. She didn’t live under a rock. Kitty was nodding fiercely.

“My uncle did the theme park actually, that’s his gig. Well one of my uncles I should say.” Connor added in grinning like a Cheshire cat. Kitty’s eyes were wide and she fired rapid questions at Connor. So fast Olivia was surprised he kept up but he did, gracefully. In fact everything Connor did seemed to have a natural grace to it. Though the grilling gave Olivia a chance to learn more about him. He had two uncles that were close and one that didn’t live in the states. They were all happily married and had large families though he didn’t elaborate on his definition of ‘large’ so she made a mental note to ask him later. They were also rich. Like filthy hi-I-live-in-a-mcmansion rich. She tried not to cough on her soda when he let that little tidbit slip.

When the bell rang she glared down at her empty tray. She was still hungry. Even though the slop tasted like paste it was still almost nourishment. She unwrapped another granola bar while walking with Kitty and Connor towards the gym. The art room was actually up and around the corner from the gym but Kitty was so busy harassing Connor that she didn’t seem to notice. Olivia had been seriously considering skipping but apparently she wasn’t going to get that option. Connor bent down and kissed her cheek again when they reached the gym doors and Kitty paused long enough to take a breath and promise to meet her after class.

Physical education had never been Olivia’s favorite class. She just wasn’t born with the innate need to throw balls at her classmates. They were playing field hockey right now, which meant being terrorized by the ‘in crowd’. If you were a popular athletic girl in their school you played lacrosse or field hockey. Olivia detested both sports. Molly was technically captain of the lacrosse team but she was just as good at field hockey and even better at hiding ‘accidental’ ankle shots with her stick. By the time they were released from the not-so-friendly game Olivia felt like she should be limping. She caught Molly and her friends whispering and then staring at her in the locker room until she turned a meaningful glare their way. High school politics were so annoying.

Connor sensed her frustration the second he met up with her in the schools main hall. He of course didn’t comment but gave her a worried look. “We should all go to the mall or something!” Kitty exclaimed. “I don’t want to go home right now. Stepmother number two is on the warpath and let’s just say the booze adds an extra enjoyable kick to her ranting.” Connor nodded sympathetically.

“Sorry Kitty, hotel shift today. But maybe tomorrow?” She sighed loudly then agreed.

“I’ll call you at work later maybe we can do dinner or something?” She smiled then and said her goodbyes to Connor. He walked Olivia to her car with his face set in a frown. He had somehow grabbed her hand without her noticing until she started to change direction and got held up.

“My car is this way.”

“So you work at the hotel then?” He asked, still frowning.

“Yeah, why?”

“I was trying to figure out what you were doing there this weekend. I guess that makes perfect sense now.” He shook his head with a chuckle and ran a hand through his hair. He then picked up the pace and dragged her open mouthed toward her car.

“How did you know I was there in the first place?” She asked him. He didn’t say anything or turn back to look at her meaning he’d followed her. “After I specifically asked you not to?” She seethed at him.

“Where’s your car?” He asked not looking at her for the moment. She pointed to her little silver Kia in the back row and he led her there faster. Probably a good thing considering she was about ready to explode on him. Once beside her car she took out her keys and wrenched the door open. She was about to close it without continuing the conversation when he grabbed a hold of the door frame and knelt down so he was almost eye level with her.

“I know you asked me not to but like I said before, it’s dangerous for you right now. I’m not about to leave you unprotected out here. I stayed away and gave you space. You didn’t know I was there.”

“But you were there.” She sighed. “You and I obviously need to have a conversation about boundaries.” He clenched his jaw and took a deep breath.

“You and I assign different meanings to that word and I am trying I swear. Try to understand from my point of view. I found my mate and she’s angry with me right now but she’s not safe. It’s a very thin line your asking me to walk here, babe, you’ll have to forgive me if I stumble sometimes.”

“Stumble? How about blatantly ignoring the line in the first place?” His eyes narrowed.

“Why did you get angry in the hallway today?” She blinked, trying to keep up with the rapid direction change.

“What?”

“When that girl was flirting with me in the hallway you got pissed off when you saw us and I want to know why.” Olivia said nothing but stared at him.

“I guess I don’t understand the question.”

“Well it’s just for someone who has made it very clear that she is not my mate and I am not hers, you seemed to take an extraordinary amount of offense in someone else displaying an interest in me.” He raised an eyebrow at her expectantly.

“Molly and I have…history that’s all.”

“History which has nothing at all to do with me. Unless you’re saying that us being together is real and not just an act to excuse my weird behavior.” His eyes were intense as they stared up at her from his crouched position. Great brains and beauty. How the hell was she supposed to win an argument against that? She growled and leaned her head back against the seat, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“I’m merely pointing out your impossible standards and confusing actions that you then unfairly get pissed off at me for misinterpreting and not being able to rise to. I think of you as my mate, whether or not you like it, and I will not leave my mate unguarded and defenseless. I promise to stay out of your sight and your hair but that’s all I can offer. Deal with it.” With that he got up and strode off angrily towards the far end of the parking lot. She glared at his back the whole way then frowned down at her steering wheel feeling the odd urge to cry. Man her life was spiraling out of her control and fast. But he would be keeping her safe at least. That was one worry she didn’t have to focus on for awhile. She started the car and drove towards her work without a backward glance though she was sorely tempted.