3522 words

CHAPTER THREE

I woke up alone. Feeling absolutely disgusting. My ankle hurt and I was sure I had sand in every crevice of my body. I do mean every. I guess that's what you get for basically wearing a thong to the beach.

I ran a hand through my salty hair and saw that I still had toothpaste on my finger. But the worst of all was my mouth. I felt like someone had poured hot piss down my throat. "Ew."

"Claire?" I blinked sleepily as Quil's head popped in from the kitchen. He laughed. "I put out a new toothbrush for you in the bathroom."

After brushing my teeth I decided that the only way I was going to feel any better would be to take a shower, so I turned the water as hot as I could, Quil's water heater was absolute crap, and jumped in. I couldn't help the moan of pleasure that escaped my lips. I was starting to feel like a brand new human.

I absolutely could not stomach putting on my dirty clothes from yesterday, they smelled like vomit. I had no idea how Quil was able to sleep next to me all night with his sensitive nose. Looking down I realized that he must have dressed me in my shirt at some point. I was sure that I was only in my bikini top when he picked me up. I had felt his heat everywhere. I blushed at the memory. Drunk me was certainly more confident than sober me.

I pulled his towel off the rack and wrapped it tightly around my chest. Realizing that I was basically wearing more than my bikini, but still feeling strangely nervous, I stepped out into the kitchen in Quil's towel. I shivered as the cold air hit my still wet skin.

"Quil?" He turned to look at me and nearly choked on the bite of the sandwich he had in his mouth. I ran over to smack him on his back, realizing a second too late that the movement was loosening the towel.

I caught it just a moment later, but the damage was done.

My cheeks flamed red and I could feel my blood thumping in my neck. I quickly pulled the towel back up, recovering my left breast and newly puckered nipple. It's almost as if Anna had spoken to the universe herself to set up this situation. She kept trying to tell me that I should just "accidentally" strip for him and it would fix everything. Eventually, I couldn't take the awkward silence and I looked up to Quil to find that his cheeks were equally red and he was still staring at my chest. Eyes wide, mouth open, sandwich forgotten on the yellow linoleum floor. Quill never forgot about his food.

Holy shit. Is he checking me out? I bit my lip to keep from breaking out into the biggest grin of my life. This was supposed to be embarrassing but I was strangely pleased. Giddy almost. If Anna was here I'm sure she would have squealed, just as I wanted too.

I cleared my throat and his eyes shot up to mine. I couldn't help my cheeky smirk to let him know it was okay. "Could I borrow some clothes?"

He didn't speak as he moved away into his bedroom. Returning moments later with his hands full of clothes. I grabbed them carefully, making sure the towel would stay in place this time, and retreated to the bathroom. I contained my squeal but couldn't help myself from jumping up once. He liked me. Or at the very least he liked my left breast. Wow, that's a sentence I'd never thought I'd say. I huffed a quiet laugh. Love really must be a drug, because I felt high.

I pulled on a pair of his boxers, thinking of how I hoped to do this every morning after I woke in Quil's arms and we made love. They basically looked like shorts so I only pulled on a white wife beater foregoing his sweatpants. It was way too hot anyway.

I looked at myself in the mirror. My grey eyes were shining and my tan cheeks were flushed from more than the heat. My long black hair was still dripping wet but I realized, shocked, that I looked sexy. Like a woman. No bra. No problem.

I grinned and confidently stepped out once more. Quil was waiting for me on the couch with a warmed bowl of oatmeal with frozen fruit and lots of maple syrup in his lap.

"Bless your soul." I grabbed the bowl and shoved spoon after spoon into my mouth. I was starving. Food first, then seduction. Quil still hadn't spoken, so I shoved him lightly with my shoulder and held out a spoon for him. "Open up." I whispered, smiling. He opened his mouth, eyebrows raised questioningly and I inserted the food-filled spoon. Perhaps seduction didn't have to wait after all. I licked my lips. Quil's mouth was absolutely sensual. The way to a man's heart was through food after all, was it not?

"Did you sleep well?" Quil finally asked, clearing his throat and looking at his hands as I continued happily moaning at the deliciousness that was breakfast.

"Yeah surprisingly." I paused briefly to take the last bite, scraping together all the leftover sweetness. "I should go get my car and phone. I'm sure Anna has called by now."

"It's out front." Quil turned to gesture towards the front of the garage and sure enough, I could just peek the sun reflecting off the silver van's surface.

I touched my hand to his shoulder gently as I got up. I wanted to make contact with his skin as many times as I could, to hopefully remind him we could be more than just friends. I knew that much even without Anna's coaching. "Thanks, Quil."

I skipped outside, shocked to find a blue sky, two sunny days in a row was near unheard of and turned on my phone to find five missed calls from Anna. Rather than listen to all of the voicemails, that I was sure were at least a few minutes of her complaining each, I decided to just call her back.

"Hey, slut." I rolled my eyes at her groggy greeting.

"Anna."

"Please tell me you feel like shit too? There's no way I drank all that tequila right?" She moaned and I could just picture her pouting into the phone.

I laughed, "I felt pretty gross, yeah, but after a shower and some sweet sugary carbs I feel much better. Plus I didn't drink nearly as much as you Queen Tequila." I teased.

"Is that what I made you call me?" Anna sounded panicked.

"Yup," I popped the 'p' loudly earning an annoying hiss from Anna, who grumbled about volume when speaking to the nearly dead, "but don't worry. I don't think Hal minded. He was quite proud to have a Queen as his girl for the night. Don't you remember?"

"Last night is an absolute blur." She sighed loudly, "Maybe I'd feel better if my boyfriend wasn't such a fan of tequila queens. Ugh, I wish I had a guy like Quil to take care of me." Giggling, "Oh Quil could you please just rub my feet they just ache so darn bad."

I blushed, "Shut up Anna!"

She ignored me and simply responded, "I promised Hal I'd help clean up before his parents come home. Pick me up later?"

"Yeah sure, just call me when you're done." I threw my phone back into the car and grabbed my bag. Changing into my own clothes.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully. Quil seemed to have gotten over his earlier embarrassment and around lunchtime we headed over to Aunt Emily's, Quil's arm casually swung over my shoulders, for a barbecue where I devoured six corns and Quil had twelve plus at least an entire packet of hot dogs. Afterwards, Quil hugged me tightly before he headed out on his patrol shift. I'd take the car back later when Anna was ready to be picked up, then make the drive back to the Makah reservation.

My phone buzzed on the dining table in the other room and I hopped over to grab it. The guys were sitting around the living room enjoying being themselves and watching The Walking Dead on TV while Sam and Emily's kids spent the first week of summer holiday with their grandparents.

"Hey, Anna."

"Come get me Claireeeee," she dragged out my name in a moan, "I feel so gross and I need a shower!"

I snickered, "Lots of vomit to clean up?"

"I might never feel clean again. But enough about me, did the scheme work? Did you and the hottie hook up last night? Making all them boys jealous that prudey Clairy is no more!"

Six heads shot up to look at me. Werewolf hearing was so not in my favour.

"Ann-" I tried to stop her from mortifying me any further.

"You promised to spill! After all that scheming I deserve to know about you finally losing your v-card. I bet Quil's dick is so-" I snapped my phone shut forcefully, but the damage was already done. I was painfully aware of the eyes that burned holes into me. The silence was deafening. Never. In my life. Had a house full of wolves been this quiet.

I turned my back on them and walked as quickly as I could to the exit, ignoring the sounds of scraping chairs and footsteps following me. "Bye guys." I ran. This mission was over. I was going to melt into a pool of hot embarrassment and slide down a drain never to be seen again.

...innocent…

I was nearly shaking as I drove over to Hal's. I couldn't think of a single more embarrassing thing to happen - well maybe if Quil had actually been there - and I was going to murder Anna. I knew one of the pack had followed me, but I refused to check in my rearview mirror. Concentration on driving was hard enough without having a heart attack.

I honked when I got to Hal's, rudely not saying hi and just waving before slamming the gas the second Anna closed the door behind her. "What's the rush psycho?"

"They heard." Saying it aloud made it even worse.

"Who heard? And what?" But I couldn't respond. It's not like I could tell her that werewolf super hearing was the cause of my upcoming demise. "Your parents?" She guessed. "About the party?" I shook my head. Anna sighed, "I'm not a mind reader you know. You're gonna have to spit it out."

"The guys." I spit out. "Quil's friends. They heard you."

"You had me on speaker?" Anna screeched. "How can you make that rookie mistake? You know I've got the mouth of a sailor! My mom always tells you."

"My mistake?" I glared at her as we came to a red light. "I'm not the one talking about the size of Quil's-" I cut off, cheeks burning up. "You know!"

"I know? I certainly don't know. That's why I was asking about his dick, you prude princess!" Anna yelled back, and that was the moment I noticed Uncle Sam's hardened face in the car beside ours. He'd. Heard. Everything.

"Oh my god," I moaned, not moving even as the light turned green.

"What are you doing?" Anna looked over and saw Sam. Her mouth fell open with an audible pop. "Oh my god." She paused, then, "Drive woman! You can hide at my place."

...innocent…

Only when we finally got to Anna's I couldn't stay to hide. Because I'd received a text from my mom. One that I might as well have engraved on my tombstone. I was going to die today. And I wasn't going to heaven.

Claire Young, you'd better come home this instant. Sam told me what you did. - Mom

I didn't speak as I turned my phone to show Anna, a barely audible 'holy fuck' fell from her lips before she crossed herself, "I'll say a prayer." And then she was gone, vanished into her home where she'd shower and tell her mom all about what happened last night, because her mom was cool and 'down with what the kids were up to these days.' Mine? Not so much.

I lingered for just another moment in the empty car, enjoying my last few moments of life. They guys knowing was bad enough, but I'd never thought that Sam would be as brazen as to tell my mother. She'd never even had 'the talk' with me. And now here I was, caught talking about Quil's ... size. He used to babysit me! Even thinking about thinking the word made my heart stutter.

Sam must have grown impatient because his honk is what catapulted me into action. The drive home was barely a minute long, I could walk to Anna's in just five. Putting the car in park on my driveway clicked with such finality that embarrassed tears sprung to my eyes. My mom must have been checking through the curtains because there she stood, in the open doorway, arms crossed and foot tapping. Ready to hand out the punishment of a lifetime. I heard the slamming of two car doors behind me and realized at Emily was with Sam as well, I'd been so focused on his angry face I hadn't even noticed.

She opened the door for me as Sam went ahead to talk to my mom. I was able to move again, "Wait!" I didn't want him saying anything that could make it worse! Two tears fell unbidden down my cheeks. I was mortified.

"It's okay," Emily placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Sam's just asking to speak to you first."

I looked at her panicked, eyes screaming for help. Emily softened, "Come on kiddo, let's go talk at the park. It's going to be okay."

I followed behind her obediently. I wasn't sure how everything was going to be okay, but I'd hold on to any small hope I could at this point. The park in question was just a short walk from my house, a green jungle gym and two swings spread out across a wood chip filled circle. Emily sat down on a swing, "I can't remember the last time I was here, probably when you were still a toddler." She smiled at me. "Maybe next time you babysit Noah and Lacey you could take them here."

I nodded enthusiastically if I was still allowed to babysit that meant I wasn't disowned from the family yet. I took a seat beside her swinging back and forth.

"We're not mad at you Claire. Disappointed, yes. And confused." She stopped her movements by placing her feet in the wood chips. "You skipped school, to participate in underage drinking at a party. And have some sort of scheme against Quil? To use him to make boys jealous? With your friends?"

"It's not a scheme!"

"What is it then?" Emily asked disapprovingly, eyebrows drawn down and a frown on her full lips.

I couldn't very well tell her the truth. That I was in love with a boy at least twice my age. "Well, I- I've never been kissed, and- and Anna has a boyfriend! And it was her idea-" Emily looked disappointed.

"Enough," I hadn't even noticed Sam's shadow before me. "What you did was irresponsible, stupid, cruel and childish!" I winced as if I'd been slapped. That sting might have hurt less. "The skipping and drinking we could have ignored but the way you treated Quil- well that's not how we raised you. He deserves better Claire. I thought you were mature enough but perhaps you have some more growing up to do."

"I know he deserves more! I wasn't trying to-" I struggled to find the words to express myself. Did they know how I'd thrown myself at him? Was I wrong? Maybe I'd heard him wrong on the phone. If I wasn't his imprint, I gulped at the thought, heart stinging, then I really was acting like a fool. "I'm sorry." I hung my head in shame.

"It's enough Sam," Emily spoke softly. "She feels bad enough. We won't tell Quil honey," I let out a breath I wasn't aware I was holding, "and neither will the pack. But you don't realize- you are too young to realize the consequences of your actions."

"I'm sorry."

"We told your mom about the party, nothing else." Another stone fell from my chest. "Because you deserve punishment for your actions against Quil, but Quil doesn't deserve the embarrassment of knowing what you really did." The reprieve was short-lived as an avalanche of stones fell on my heart, squishing it like the cockroach I was. He would be embarrassed to know what I wanted. That knowledge was worse than any punishment I could receive.

"Promise us, you won't do anything like this to Quil again. No schemes with your friends." I could almost feel the alpha tone in Sam's voice. I nodded. "Okay, then go home kiddo. Your mom's waiting."

...innocent…

In a daze, I locked myself in my room. My mom hadn't yelled, and promised not to tell my father, but made it very clear how disappointed she was in me. Even if she had, I wasn't sure my broken heart would have cared much, knowing that Quil didn't want me. She did have a punishment for me though, I was to spend a week with my grandma in Oregon in two weeks' time. I refused to go most summers, not wanting to be parted from Quil or my friends. I accepted my punishment and decided to take a nap. This day had already outlasted its worth.

I woke from my nap at seven when my dad came home from work, sometimes he worked a shift on Saturdays and took a day during the week off instead. We had dinner together as a family and he looked at me concerned, usually, I contributed the most to the conversation. Tonight I was silent. "You okay, sweet pea?"

"Yeah, dad. Just tired." I shot a nervous look at my mom.

"She's upset because I'm making her go to my mom's in a few weeks." My mom added.

"You'll have fun Claire-Bear, I remember some fun nights myself drunk under the stars at the fair." Dad winked at me.

"Robert!" My mom reprimanded.

"What honey? Claire's old enough. You were not much older when we met, and I remember you being quite dr-"

"That's enough Robert. Don't give her any ideas." Usually, my mom wasn't quite so uptight, but tonight was not the night to test her.

"I think I'm going to head to bed." I broke the silence, my dad's confused eyes meeting mine. "I promised to help Anna with something in the morning."

I woke the next morning to the usual grey clouds and sprinkling of rain that made Washington so green. I skipped breakfast, something Quil claimed was sacrilegious in his household and headed to Anna's before my parents got out of bed. I let myself in, knowing better than to wake a hibernating bear, and snuggled under her warm sheets. I hadn't slept much last night, spending most of my time tossing and turning as horrible scenarios played out in my mind. But in the comfort of her queen-sized bed with three blankets and a mountain of pillows, I finally found some rest.

"Spill." Anna stared at me with her brown no-nonsense eyes. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and sat up in bed. Then I spilled because while I couldn't tell Anna about werewolves, I refused to hold anything else back. "That's bullshit!" She finally exclaimed a half-hour later when I finished my woeful tale. "You can't go to Oregon. And your aunt and uncle were totally unfair. I think they just misunderstood the situation. If you explained how you truly felt-"

I shook my head vehemently. "No way Jose. I am never saying another word about this again."

"Then they win!"

"Who wins?" My forehead wrinkled.

"Them of course. The non-romantics."

I rolled my eyes, "I really have no idea what you are saying."

Anna huffed. "Do you love Quil?"

"Yes." The truth fell easily from my lips.

"Then you can't give up! We'll just have to make you even more innocent so that he ends up being the one who makes the first move. From everything you've told me he's definitely interested. Then no one can get mad at you." She paused thinking, then mumbled to herself, "would they get mad at him? You are kind of jailbait, no? Whatever," she shook her head, "that's not what's important. What's important is that my best friend in the universe gets the man of her dreams, of every girl's dream really. And that's what best friends are for. Support, love and scheming."

"Okay, but please let's never use that word again."