I want to apologize profusely for my absence. I didn't like the original chapter I posted so I deleted it and rewrote it and I love it now. Things in the story are going to be heading down a much darker path starting with the next chapter, so if you have any triggers please do not read. Aside from that I'm going to try to start posting regularly again. I really am sorry, but writer block got the better of me along with school and plain laziness. I hope this makes up for it. It would be amazing if you could drop a comment when you finish and let me know how you think the story is going that would be totally amazing and make my day and encourage me to keep post because I'm and attention whore like that.
I won't keep you waiting any longer. Please enjoy!
I perused the candy isle for a long time before I settled on a snickers. Judy was already half way through her chocolate bar. Sam and Dean were across the street at the sheriff's office talking with the deputy about the killing that occurred two days ago. Some guy got his heart ripped out and it took them about point two seconds to figure out it was a werewolf just from reading the article.
I paid the clerk and took a bite of the chocolatey goodness. It was hot when we exited and I wish we could have stayed in the store, but the clerk was already threating to kick us out the moment we walked in. I guess he doesn't like wayward kids or something.
"Hey, y'all new round here?" Judy and I both turned to look at the sudden voice. It was a guy, about my age, with curly blond hair, tanned skin, and hazel eyes.
"Um, ya." I gripped my candy bar a little too hard. Beside me, Judy giggled and elbowed my side.
"I'm Lucas." He held out his hand with a charming smile showing off his pearly white teeth. It took me a second to react, but I reached out and shook his hand.
"I'm Ethan and this is my sister Judy." He smiled down at her.
"So what brought you two into our little slice of heaven?" he placed a hand on his hip.
"Family. . .road trip." I stuttered. A quick glance to the police department told me they weren't done and couldn't save me from my embarrassment.
"Then where are your parents?" he quirked a brow and his smile turned into a devious smirk. I had to swallow a few times to loosen up my throat enough to speak.
"They're off doing something they thought we'd be bored with, so they left us here to explore the town, but we're kinda lost on where to go." Just stuck out her lower lip in a pout. I gave her a questioning look, but she just winked.
"I could show y'all around." Lucas shrugged like it was no big deal, but the glint in his eyes said otherwise.
"Oh, you don't have to. I'm sure we can manage. Besides, I'm sure you're super busy." It was at that moment I realized my sister either a genius or sociopath. I'm not sure.
"Actually, you caught me on my day off."
"Great!" my Snicker's was nothing more than a pile of mush running down my hand.
"Guess, you're not gonna eat that?" he smirked and pointedly glanced at my once candy bar. I shook my hand and most of it landed with a splat on the hot concrete. He chuckled and I felt my cheek redden from the embarrassment. I made a quick excuse and ran back into the 7/11 to wash my hands.
"How about the beach first, Ethan? You can't come to Florida without seeing the beach." I didn't trust my voice so I nodded. We headed down the side walk Judy ahead of us. "So where y'all from?"
"North Carolina, but we recently moved to Kansas."
"Huh. And you're on a family road trip?" I scratched the back of my neck nervously.
"Yeah, something like that. More like a business trip. Family business. Judy and I are learning the ropes." Lots of ropes. Lots of new monsters to learn how to kill. Just in case of course.
"What's the business?" his curls looked gold in the afternoon sunlight and one fell across his forehead.
"Well, it's my dad and our uncle. They sell insurance, I think. I'm not all that interested in it." I lied easily. The beach was in sight now and I could see big waves rolling in and a few peoples surfing.
"You ever been?" he pointed to the people riding the waves.
"No." he grinned and grabbed my hand and then Judy's when we reached her. I tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted on paying for our wetsuits. Judy was thrilled to find out hers came in pink. Mine was plain black. I sent a quick text to Dean telling him where we were before shoving it into a locker Lucas rented there since he came a lot. Lucas shoved a board into my hands and handed Judy a smaller version. I situated the board against my side like he had and followed him down to the water.
Judy was bouncing with excitement as Lucas gave us a crash course in surf safety.
I was about halfway standing on the board when I lost my balance and got a lung full of salt water. I sputtered and coughed. Luckily the water here was only waist deep. I heard someone holler and turned around to see some guy do an awesome flip.
"Don't worry," Lucas clapped a hand on my back, "you'll get the hang of it. Judy's getting the hang of it." I watched my little sister successfully ride the smaller wave till it leveled out and give a victory fist pump. "Come on, let's try again."
We waded out to the deeper water and I climbed onto the board and watched for a new wave. Lucas paddled beside me towards the approaching wave. "Alright, turn and paddle hard." He instructed. I shoved my hands into the water, pushing as much of it as I could and watched as we began to rise with the water.
I started to stand. Trying to keep my center of balance tight, but I still wobbled some. "Hey, you're doing it!" I shot a smile at Lucas and dropped to my knees as the wave smoothed out. "Ready to try out the big ones?" I gulped and looked over my shoulder at the much larger waves crashing behind us. I was about to tell him yes when the very distinctive rumbled of the Impala cut through the waves crashing.
"Looks like we have to go actually." I smiled apologetically and he sighed dramatically,
"If you have to." He smirked. By the time we got to the rental shack, Sam and Dean both had hotdogs in their hands from the concession stand. Figures.
"You've been surfing this whole time?" Dean asked while wiping mustard from the corners of his mouth.
"Lucas has been teaching us." Judy explained happily. Said blond was standing incredibly close even with all this room on the beach, he had to stand so close our arms were pressed together and our thighs brushing. But it's not like I moved away. I figured I could get away with blaming the blush on a sunburn.
"Nice to meet you, sir." Lucas stepped away just enough to shake Dean's hand and then Sam's.
"Maybe I can actually show you around tomorrow?" he turned to me, a curl falling across his forehead again. I had to fight the urge to brush it back into its place.
"Yeah, sound great." My voice came out a little strained and I mentally cursed while Judy giggled.
"Great." He came even closer looking my straight in my eyes. I didn't even realize he'd taken my board from me till he'd started to walk away.
"Ethan. Earth to Ethan. Is anybody home?" Judy was waving her hand in front of my face. I smacked it away and glared at her. Dean just looked confused, but by the smile Sam was suppressing I knew he knew.
I stalked to the changing room while furiously rubbing my cheeks to get rid of the blush. Lucas came toward us back in his t-shirt and shorts, carrying what looked like our clothes.
"Tomorrow I'm working, but I get off at 3. You and Judy are welcome to come by if you want, though." And he left. I didn't even know where he freaking worked!
"Hey, look at this. Ethan has a boyfriend!" Judy snatched a piece of paper tucked partially into the pocket of my jeans and paraded around with it. I snatched it from her hands.
"Shut up!" she giggled and ran off to a changing room before I could get my hands on her.
I closed the curtain and looked at the strip of paper.
Sea Side Farms and a number wrote below it. I tried not to think much of it but it was hard.
Judy was standing by Sam and Dean when I got out. "So, Lucas seems nice." Sam smiled knowingly at me while Dean still looked confused and Judy giggled.
"We're going to go see him tomorrow, aren't we Ethan."
"Probably. He invited us after all. It'd be rude not to show up." I answered carefully. "Did you guys figure out if this is a real case or not?"
"Oh it's real alright. There's also been murders in the surrounding towns that they wrote off as animal kills."
"How big do you think the pack is?" I was new to werewolves, but I'd skimmed the journals they had in the trunk. Shooting them with silver sounded a lot easier and having to cut off their heads with machetes.
"Not sure yet, but we'll probably be here a while." Sam smiled at me.
Judy and I were in our shared motel room watching Tom and Jerry when Dean came in. "Hey Judy, Sam needs help picking out a tie."
"He better not wear that ugly pink one!" she practically ran out of the room. Dean chuckled halfheartedly.
"Is something wrong?" I swung my legs over the side of the bed and waited for him to say something.
"No, I was just wonder when you were gonna tell me." He crossed his arms nonchalant and watched the TV screen smirking with Jerry his Tom's foot with a mallet. I rested my cheek in my hand and decided to play dumb.
"Tell you what?"
"About you and Lucas." He sounded a little flustered.
"Yeah, he seems nice." Very nice. "Just met him this afternoon. It was really nice of him to give us surf lesson, don'tcha think?" I smiled innocently up at Dean.
"I mean, I kinda figured. You're my kid after all and you hadn't even looked at a girl and you're—how old are you?"
"Seventeen." I was just amused now.
"You're 17 so. . .I figured."
Dean was a pretty easy going guy, so I didn't think this sort of thing bothered him. Maybe surprised him, but I think he could care less what someone's sexual preferences were as long as they were a good person. Maybe it was because of his new "dad" role he was trying to play loosely that had him fidgety about the subject.
"And you're right." I shrugged bad memories coming up. "Back home, I was bullied pretty bad for it." I still had nightmares about the train.
"How bad?"
"The worst was when they tied my arms to the train tracks." I saw horror ignite Dean's features. "There was just enough rope for me to stand. They stood off to the side laughing. I really think they would have let the train hit me." I could almost feel the tracks vibrating under my feet. I realized I was actually just trembling from the memory. "One kid started to freak out when the train came out from the bridge and cut the rope. Most of the time, though, it was just normal bulling that happened."
Dean looked like he was having trouble forming words at the moment and I couldn't blame him. Mom had been livid. She fought for months to have the guys charged, but nobody listened.
I hate small towns.
I could get used to living on the beach. It was one thing to wake up in a crappie motel. It was another to wake up in a crappie motel room and hear waves crashing just outside your window. As I stood on the incredibly small balcony overlooking the beach, I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes. A breeze rustled through my unbrushed hair carrying a salty sent. Yeah, this was nice.
Judy was beginning to stir and I figured Sam and Dean were already up. I leaned against the rot iron rail with white chipping paint and tried to burn the image of the silent beach into my memory, scent and all.
"Have they caught the werewolves yet?" Judy yawned and rubbed her eyes as she came to stand by me and rest her chin on the rail still half asleep.
"Nope."
"Mom would have liked it here."
"I think anyone would like it here."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." She yawned again. "Did you tell Dean about the train?" I looked at her a little shocked, but her focus was on the surf.
"I did."
"Ethan, why are people so mean? There's already so many monsters, why do people have to be monsters, too?" I want to tell her that there were more good people than bad, but that would be lying to her. Then again, I didn't even know the answer. I liked to think that everyone is good and people just make back choices, but I think it might be the other way around.
"Maybe people are no different from what we call monsters, Judy. I think we all have a little monster in us. Sometimes it gets the better of us."
"I think some people are the worst kinds of monsters. I don't think werewolves would do to you what those boys did." I gnawed my lip between my teeth. I wanted to say something more. She was my little sister after all and I wanted her to think the world was ultimately still good for a while longer, but I knew that ended the night that mom was murdered. "I think you let your monster out the night mom died, Ethan." She looked up at me for a second and then back out to the ocean. "You don't smile the same anymore."
"Alright, we have donuts!" Dean declared before dropping the box on my bed. They were dressed in their suits. "We got a few more leads outside of town a little ways. You'll be fine?"
"Dean."
"What?"
"I think they can handle themselves for a few hours." Dean threw his hands up and left. Sam gave us a tight smile before he followed after his brother.
"They're kinds weird, aren't they?"
"They're somethin' alright." Judy was already halfway through a glazed. I grabbed a blueberry. "What do you want to do today?"
"I thought we were going to go see Lucas." She stuck out her lip cutely.
"Not till later."
"Fine." She huffed and pulled out another donut to munch on while she thought. I really didn't care what we did as long as we didn't stay in the stupid motel and we weren't out in the stupid heat. "We could. . .go to the beach. It's too early to do anything else." True. I finished my donut and we left.
The beach was empty. It was still too early for most residents to be out and it was Monday so they were probably working. That left just me and Judy and the vacant stretch of sand.
"When I grow up I want to have a big, fancy three story house right on a beach like this. Then every morning I could sit and watch the waves and at night watch the sun go down on it." Judy kicked the sand with her bare feet. We'd both taken our shoes off in favor of the still cool sand. "What about you? What do you want?"
"I want island."
"An island?" she giggled.
"Yeah. Just me and nobody else. It's perfect."
"You'd get lonely with no one to complain about." She was probably right, but I wasn't about let her ego know that.
We walked for a while longer. Some tourists now occupied part of the beach, but for the most part the morning quiet was still intact. Noon was approaching as well as my anxiety about seeing Lucas again. I couldn't get yesterday out of my head. I figured I was just reading into too much. People around here seemed extra friendly—except for the 7/11 clerk—maybe Lucas was too and just didn't realize what he was doing. Then again I had a feeling he knew exactly what he was doing. He got so close I could pick out the individual colors of his irises. Honey, emerald, a little gold thrown in, the richest brown I've ever seen. And the way that curl kept falling across his forehead.
"You're think about Lucas, aren't you?" Judy grinned up at me and wiggled her eyebrows. I scoffed and tried to formulate a response of any sort. Anything was better than flopping my mouth like a fish. "Your blushing." Her grin grew. I crossed my arms childishly and huffed. Damn her. "Well, come on, let's go see him!" she grabbed my arm and started dragging me back up the beach toward the main road.
"Judy! Hold on!" her small hand had a vise grip on my wrist as she dragged me, but she let go when we came to the blacktop.
"Where to now?" she placed her hands on her hips and looked up and down the road as cars passed. I dumped the sand out my shoe that I'd collected while being forced to run up the beach. I then pulled out the piece of paper Lucas had left with my clothes yesterday hesitantly and looked at the address. I pulled up Google Maps and typed it in.
"Uh, this way." I pointed to the left and we began walking.
I thought I was weird that Lucas worked at a farm in a beach town, but figured there was an interesting story behind it all. We stood outside the barn-like structure unsure of what to do.
"Sea Side Farms and Equestrian Tours. Information inside." I studied the pretty white sign wrote with black calligraphy that was a little hard to decipher. "Well, it's worth a shot." We shrugged in a what-the-heck sort of way and head to the shack looking building the sign was pointing to.
I pushed the door open and a little bell jingled above me. A man looked up from the papers sprawling his desk and smiled deepening the wrinkles around his eyes. "Hello, how may I help you? Are you interested in a beach tour?"
"Un, no—not right now anyway—we're looking for someone."
"You must be Lucas's friends. He said you might be stopping by. He's in the stables. Head into the barn right there and you'll find him. Let me know if you're interested in a tour!" he called as we left the office. Judy and I walked through the barn—instantly assaulted by manure and hay—and marveled at all the horses fussing and making their noises.
"This is cool." Judy breathed and I nodded in agreement.
"I was wondering if you two would show." Lucas peeked around at us from a large bundle of hay he was carrying. He swiftly tossed it into the stable of a particularly large horse with ease.
"We had nothing else to do and you offered, so I figured why not." I rambled and I realized it might have sounded rude, but he either didn't pick up on it or ignored it, either of which I was thankful for.
"Judy, you want to go for a tour? They're actually getting ready to take some kids out now if you want to go. If it's ok with big brother?" I rubbed at my cheeks and tried to forget the way he phrased that out of my mind.
"Please!" Judy pleaded with her hands balled under her chin and best puppy dog eyes on. I wasn't going to say no anyway, but I pretended to think about.
"Yeah, go ahead." I ruffled her head of dark curls right before she squealed and ran off.
"Marty, you've got another one!" Lucas turned a corner with my little sister and I was left with the two dozed horses. I'd never ridden a horse before unless you count the pony walking in circles at the county fair, which I don't. That little pony is nothing compared to this black beauty that stood what seemed several feet higher than me.
He snorted and clopped forward, lifting his head up over the stable door. I lifted my hand, palm towards him, and gently laid it in his long nose. He snorted again, his nostrils flaring. His eyes were dark just like the rest of him with incredibly long lashes and fluttered with each blink. Definitely the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen.
"He likes you." I jumped at Lucas's sudden appearance. He didn't seem to notice he startled me. "Judy will be gone for about an hour, so I guess it's just you and me." He smirked and my stomach did some funny dance.
"I guess so." I turned back to the horse who was still looking at me like he had nothing better to do.
"Do you want to ride him?" I sucked a breath in sharply through my teeth at his close proximity.
"Can I?"
He shrugged, "Sure." And smiled at me as he flipped the latch up and the beast of a horse walked out. I watched as he skillfully saddled the horse up.
"What's his name?"
"Maximus. Owners aren't too creative, but I guess it fits." He tightened one last strap and turned to me. "Ready?" I gulped, but nodded. It took a few tries, but I finally got on and swooned from the sudden height. "How's the weather up there?"
I chuckled, "A bit chilly actually." I joked.
"Move your foot."
"Huh?"
"Move. Your. Foot." I did as told and watched him swing himself over with ease right behind me with no space in between. I tried to move forward, but he just closed the distance. "Alright Maxi, let's go." Lucas took the bridle from my hands and nudged Maximus's side with his foot. "You still cold?"
It was a good thing I was facing forward because with his breath on my neck, the no space between us, and his little comments, I could only imagine my face was redder than the tomatoes fresh from mom's garden.
"I'm good, thanks." I was proud that I'd managed to keep my voice neutral sounding. He turned Max towards the beach.
"No, problem." It was more of a hum as he rested his chin on my shoulder. I didn't have so much faith in my voice now. "How long are you in town?"
"Probably not much longer." I figured Sam and Dean would have the case wrapped up in less than a few days and then we would head back to Kansas.
"Hmm, then that's a problem."
"W-why?" he didn't answer me, but I'm pretty sure I heard him chuckle. "So what's the deal with a farm beside the ocean anyway?" I turned my head slightly and my cheek brushed against his forehead.
"During the day, we give tours through the woods, but at sun set a bunch of couples come out to ride a horse down the beach side and watch the sun go down over the gulf. It's romantic and it sells." Yeah, that made sense. "Don't you think?" he hummed against my neck and I'm sure he could feel my erratic pulse which only made it worse.
"I can certainly see the appeal."
"Where are you from again?"
"North Carolina."
"That explains your cute accent."
"I—" I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't make me sound stupid, so I just kept my mouth shut. "I don't have an accent." That's not entirely true. I'd done my best to get rid of it after That Night. It's not like I don't like my accent, no, I like my southern draw, but it sure as hell isn't cute.
Lucas seemed to sigh unhappily and turned Max around, heading back to the farm. "Your sister is very informative, you know." Crap. Crap. Crap.
"Is she?" yep, I'm screwed. I'm gonna kill her.
"Mhmm." hehummed against my neck.
"H-How so?"
"Nothing really, well, nothing I didn't already know." I wasn't that readable. I didn't like to think I was anyway, but I had let my guard slip a little lately, but still.
"What?" I wanted to know what Judy told him, so I could punish her accordingly. He leaned back causing him to lift his head off my shoulder. I mentally whined at the loss of attention. He pulled Max to a stop inside the barn.
"Oh, just that you're a hopeless romantic and that this would totally work." He replied nonchalant, but when I spun to look at him—as best I could sitting on a horse anyway—he had a shit eating grin on his pretty face and my tongue became a knot in my mouth.
"You—I'm—she. . .!" somehow this guy had the ability to steel my entire vocabulary for me with that smile.
"You're cute when you're embarrassed." He leaded forward a little, our noses brushing. He was a bit taller than me so I was also looking up at him and my back was starting to hurt from the position. I happily got off after him, nearly landing on my ass because I miss judge distance. "Are you always this clumsy?"
"Afraid so." I chuckled while brushing myself off. I stiffened when a hand pushed my bangs out of my face.
"I've never seen eyes as green as yours." I could feel my blush returning with vengeance. I failed at keeping my eyes on his, instead they dropped to his mouth and I bit my lip. He pulled back suddenly and looked upset. I realized Maximus had bit his hair and pulled back.
"Stupid horse!" I started to laugh and after a few moment he began to laugh with me. "Alright, Bud." He quickly removed the saddle and placed it back on the wall while Max walked into his stall. I was amazed at how well trained he was.
"Come here." Lucas took my hand and led me upstairs to a large room full of loose hay. Lucas stopped and pivoted me around him. He let go of my hand and I lost my balance, landing on the soft straw. I stared up at Lucas completely miffed. He smirked and next thing I knew he was on top of me.
His mouth met mine a bit rough, but then gentle. I returned the kiss completely. I shifted in the soft hay and wrapped my arms his neck wringing my finger through his lovely curls. He pulled away breathing heavily. The next kiss was rougher, hungrier. His left hand reached up under my shirt, lifting it up allowing some hay to poke me in the back. I moaned quietly at his touch sliding over my chest.
I had to pull away this time. I looked up at Lucas and into his hazel eyes a bit darker in the dim light of the loft. He smiled softly and kissed my jaw and peppering kisses all the way down to the bit of collar bone peeking out on my shirt. His touch lingered hotly on my skin. He pulled my shirt up over my head and then his own.
This was escalating quickly. I wrapped my arms around Lucas and pulled him as close as I could. I felt him smile against my skin just before he rolled off of me. I groaned at that, a bit upset that he stopped. He smiled and leaned over to kiss me again tenderly.
I wanted that. I wanted someone to love me.
"Your sister will be back soon and the other kids. Can't have them finding us, can we?"
"I guess not." I huffed. He kissed my cheek and lingered there taking deep breaths. I brushed that silly curl that wouldn't stay put from his forehead.
I hoped Sam and Dean wouldn't be able to solve the case for a while.