26- Decisions
"This is starting to be some sort of sick joke." I told Phil with disgust filling my voice as he stood and moved away from me. What I really wanted to tell him is just ignore his parents and continue what we were doing.
"You are telling me this?" He asked me with a self deprecating laugh. I looked down at his crotch, the bulge in his jeans was telling me he was still ready to go. I felt a little guilty for being the only one that had an orgasm. Phil's jeans seriously protruded out, I needed to get him naked soon; not that I could claim a great deal of experience but from what was evident right in front of my eyes Phil would be worth .
Apparently Phil was not so pleased with my perusal. "Stop looking at it like that," Phil scolded me causing my face to burst into flame.
"Well it is kind of at eye level, what am I supposed to be staring at?" I asked him sighing as I got up and pulled my pants on, not bothering with the underwear. I really was starting to get annoyed with all the interruptions, despite the fact that I had one orgasm it did not mean that I was done for the day.
By the time my shirt was pulled over my head Phil had his phone out. "It is getting close to noon, if you want we can go grab something to eat."
"Crap I have to go to work this afternoon." How had I forgotten the time, oh yeah I was playing with Phil. Well more like he was playing with you. I could see myself losing track of time a lot if we kept this up, and I was certain of Phil's ability to keep it up. All those long lean muscles would definitely equate to great deal of stamina.
I got distracted as he turned away from me and started towards the door. He really had a nice tight rear, the kind you just wanted to take a bite out of. Much to my disappointment he untucked his shirt and blocked my view of the denim clad ass. But I guess he had other things to cover up as well, like the very happy little Phil in the front of his pants.
"If you want to start getting ready for work I will go and entertain my parents. The bathroom should be stocked with everything you could possible need." Phil told me over his shoulder as he headed out of the room. I heard another light knock on the front door, this time it sounded a little more insistent.
I was not going to say no to a small reprieve from meeting his parents. I mean god only knows how old they were considering they had a two thousand year old son. This was probably not a good time to remember an earlier conversation with Phil, the one pertaining to his mother having a sniper rifle and shooting anyone he would bring home. I really hope she left her guns at home today, knowing Phil's family she could easily take out a werewolf.
I found the bathroom stocked with all the necessities. During our tour Phil told me that the movers were bringing his furniture from LA in the next couple of days, but I assumed my rooms had all new things so someone had not bothered waiting for the movers. He had not come out and said it outright but I was willing to be it had been Phil who had done all this, the carvings on the wood had the save level of detail that the vases he carved at his home. Phil's attention to detail could be both flattering and overwhelming at times. The fact that he had been aware that I valued my grandmother's necklace had been easily noticed by him, but then he had gone out of his way and spend who knows how much time gathering all the pieces and putting them back together again. He had put together all those college applications together for me, and had gone out of his way to decorate this room. Between the natural colors, and the intricate carving of the wood it really reminded me of the forest and home. I had missed the easy escape that came with living on the reservation. Looking out the window I was going to guess that we were out in one of the suburbs of Seattle, one of the further ones if the lack of traffic noises were any indication. The solitude of the trees called to me, tempting me with the possibility of gaining a few hours of solitude to gather my thoughts. Checking out the window, I contemplated how easy it would be to slip outside and disappear into the forest until my mind could catch up with all the new revelations. Unfortunately I could not do that to Phil, there way no way I could embarrass the man put a great deal of time into ensuring my happiness and success by vanishing.
"How could you have been so blind?" I asked myself yet again. Actions speak louder than words and Phil had been telling me he loved me probably from the very beginning. Looking back at his behavior now with the understanding that he cared made me realize I had misunderstood most of what he had done. The one time he had spoken of the woman he loved he had claimed to have told her of his love but she had been to distracted to listen - in reality I had been in a too dark place in my head to actually hear him say it.
His need to know everything about my tribe had not been just general curiosity, he had been trying to get to know my past and my traditions. Everything he had done to encourage me to go to college was in part due to the fact that he valued education but it was also because it was what I wanted to do. He listened when I wanted him to and had not pushed when I was not ready to answer questions. He smoothed things over with my mother when I had my little breakdown and even threw in a decoy to distract her.
His need to know about my family made so much more sense after I interacted with his family members; Phil and his reasoning were becoming so much more clear because I had seen him interact with his family. First and foremost came, they always were in the number one spot. That did not mean he was not annoyed by them, like today for example but that was just amongst themselves. In general if you fucked with one of the family member you had better bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. When Phil needed them his family was there without question, how else could he have rallied his family yesterday to come find me? They had immediately gone into action when Seth had gone missing last week, no questions asked just solutions given.
As messed up as this world was it was good to know I had Phil and his family to watch my pack's back. Not that I needed a prince charming to rescue me every time, but it was good to know if things go overwhelming they would be there to help out. I felt kind of selfish knowing that they were giving us protection while we really did not contribute much. "You had better get started on the shower." I told myself, I could not put off meeting his parents forever - though it was a tempting thought.
The shower took longer than usual, but I would bet money no one would be quick to leave this shower. The bathroom was of family caliber with a massive bathtub and an equally large shower with six different shower heads - you practically had to be trained in order to operate the thing. I might have been avoiding going to meet Phil's parents, I mean what would they think of me. How could I possibly meet their expectations? I was a freshman in college compared to their freaking doctor of a son. I had the binding thing going for me, that seemed pretty unique but that did not alleviate al of my insecurities. Maybe they would be wondering what the heck the spirit thing was thinking when it picked me. With my luck it would tell Phil you know what I goofed up, this girl is not the one you are supposed to bind to.
Instead of going down to meet Phil's parents I enjoyed the water hitting me from three different directions while I soaped up every little portion of my body. I had noticed the family was really big into hygiene and always had the most awesome bathrooms I had ever seen in my life. Phila's apartment may only have two bedrooms but it had two full bathrooms. In the cabin, each bedroom had its own bathroom with showers and a separate bathtub.
But I guess not needing that much sleep, they probably spent more time in the bathroom than the bedroom.
After my shower I grabbed a towel and quickly made my way across the sitting room to the bedroom closet. Aunt Katie had really outdone herself, this closet was almost a complete replica of the one on the island in terms of number of clothes. I had asked Phil about that once, the fact that clothes appeared in my closet without me having to go out and buy them. Phil had mentioned that Aunt Katie used shopping as therapy and it was just best to let her have her way or she would go psycho. She was also the woman you went to if you needed an outfit for a specific planet. Who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth, I needed clothes since being a wolf tended to be hard on your wardrobe, and from the impression I had the family was not hurting for money.
I found some underwear in the back of the walk-in closet. Someone had gone out of their way to up the sexy quota, they were all essentially the same style, tiny lacy scraps of fabric in various colors. I picked up a white one and held it up for inspection; this thing could hardly cover the palm of my hand let alone my rear. After a moment of consideration I thought of what Phil's reaction would be if he saw me wearing these.
"I think he would definitely like these." I told myself smiling while pulling them on. I totally scored when I found a matching lacy camisole, as small as I was in the breast department I could get away with no bra. Not that Phil seemed to complain about my breast size, in fact he had been quite enamored with my breasts and had spent a great deal of time admiring them.
I quickly located a pair of black slacks and a white shirt, this was pretty much the standard uniform at my job. I could see several high heels, but I had to dig around to find a pair of flats. As short as Aunt Katie was she needed the heels, I did not have that problem; there was also the small fact that being on heels for hours on end while running orders back and forth from the kitchen was torture. Not that I did not enjoy wearing heels sometimes, it would be fun to dress up and go out with Phil - it was also nice that Phil was tall enough that I would not have to worry about wearing too high heels and hurting his manly ego.
The past two days had been hell on my hair, between the constant shifting and the salt water - and the fact that I had been too lazy to properly brush it out. I might have naturally straight hair but it did not mean that I could not resemble a scarecrow. Someone had been considerate enough to stock my bathroom with heavy duty de-tangler, but even that was not enough - I finally broke down and blow dried my hair straight. I wanted to look my best, especially since I was as nervous as a whore in church. What am I supposed to say to my boyfriend's older than dirt's parents? Come to think of it I did not even know if he was my boyfriend or not.
Finally running out of excuses to delay the meeting, I reluctantly headed downstairs. I followed to sound of quiet voices coming from the first floor. I could not understand a word of it, the language was one I had not heard before - it sounded guttural and harsh. It would have sounded like they were arguing if it was not for the fact that they were speaking softly.
I walked past the future dining room to find Phil and his parents standing around the empty kitchen.
I would have recognized his mother as family even if I had not known who she was. The resemblance between her and Blossom was almost uncanny. She had long dark brown hair that was pinned elaborately to her head, it looked as if it would fall gracefully around her shoulders with just a simple touch but I was willing to be that her coiffure could probably withstand hurricane strength winds. Heaving a small sigh of relief I was glad for having taken the extra time to do my hair.
Her pale green eyes were the exact same color as Phil's, and I could see that they had very similar strong, square jawlines. Her charcoal grey slacks and deep purple suede jacket were understated but elegantly cut. He ramrod straight posture making me think that she might have been a ballerina in a past life. Suddenly I felt like the lowly servant next to the lady of the manor.
She quickly ruined the image by smiling and showing me the dimples her son inherited from her. "Oooh, so you must be Leah," Phil's mother told me before she suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of me. I was immediately wrapped up in a flowery scented hug, gardenia and lilac if I had to guess. "It is so nice to finally meet you."
"Mother you are scaring her." Phil told her while I enjoyed a bone crushing squeeze. Wow she certainly was strong.
"Of course I am not scaring her, she is not weak." Phil's mother replied with a dismissive snort. But luckily for me she eased up on her "hug".
"Leah these are my parents, Tamora and Ailen." Phil made the introductions. I murmured my greetings. Tamora smiled down at me, I could see the intelligence and the humor in her eyes; another thing Phil had inherited. Wait a minute, I have to look up to her?
After my growth spurt last spring I was taller than every woman and most men that I met. It was kind of disconcerting to be considered almost average height when I interacted with members of the family. As it was I had to look up a little bit to meet Tamora's eye; but it might have helped that she was sporting some insane heels.
"You can call me Tam, everyone does." Phil's mother told me with a wide smile. Was this not the woman who preferred shooting people that had the misfortune of being brought home by her son? I gave Phil a questioning look, he gave me a brief shrug.
Ailen, Phil's father, was a great deal more quiet and reserved, he made no move to come over to embrace me. He gave me a thorough perusal from across the room. I was kind of glad for the distance, he looked like he could be very scary.
I could not see any resemblance between Phil and his father. The man was built like a linebacker, I swear his muscles seemed to have muscles. While Phil had the longer leaner muscled look, his father was pure bulk. But then I recalled that first night on the island when I met Myles, Phil's younger brother. Phil had obviously taken after his mother's side of the family while his brother resembled their father. Though both boys had the green eyes of their mother, somehow it was dominant over the dark brown eyes of their father. That seemed a little bit strange, from what I could remember about genetics and eye color brown should have been dominant.
"Is anyone else hungry?" Tam asked with one arm still wrapped around my shoulders. I was not complaining that much, Tam had not freaked out about Phil and me.
"There is no food the house as of yet, and obviously very little by way of furniture. We will have to go out to eat, but first I need to use the bathroom." Phil explained as he went around the corner.
"Phil, your father told me he wanted to drive." Tam spoke quickly before Phil was out of hearing range, making some strange gestures at her husband.
For a moment Phil's father was confused but the light quickly turned on. I was willing to bet Ailen had only now learned that he wanted to be the one to do the driving.
"If we want to eat anytime soon we don't want Phil trying to find the place. He gets lost so easily." Tam told me with a playful wink.
"Oh it is all right, I think he turned on his GPS this morning, we did not get lost even once." I explained, quickly understanding her meaning. Poor Phil, I should be defending him from being the family joke regarding to his ability to navigate. Unfortunately for him I found it somewhat refreshing that he was not totally perfect, it was good to know he messed up sometimes.
"There you go father," Phil said tossing a set of keys to his father as he returned a few minutes later.
The garage was empty save for a white four door mercedes, I recalled seeing this parked in the cabin garage next to the truck last Fall. Though I had never seen Phil drive it before, I had assumed it was the actual owner's car and had not even considered that Phil might own it.
Phil held the door for me before walking around and joining me in the back seat. I was surprised how easily Phil's father was able to get in the car. I know some of the wolves had a hard time with having enough leg and shoulder room sitting in the smaller cars; there was something to be said for luxury vehicles, the back seat was very large and comfortable too.
As we drove into Seattle, Tam spent the entire time questioning me about my future plans, my family, my classes and my hobbies. It was done in a good natured way but I still felt like this was an FBI interrogation. Phil spent most of the time alternating between fending off some of Tam's more personal questions and holding my hand. I don't know if he meant it as a comforting gesture but he kept rubbing his thumb gently over my wrist; on one hand it felt really good, but unfortunately it felt too good. I never realized my wrist was an erogenous zone. Under normal circumstance I would be enjoying the caress except for the fact that his parents were in the front seat, and there was a high possibility that at least one of them could read minds.
"I don't really have that much downtime these days between school and work but back when I had some time my hobby was making jewelry." I answered what seemed like an endless stream of questions, trying to pull my hand away from Phil without looking obvious. I tried glaring at him but if his smile was any indication the bastard knew exactly what he was doing.
Tam turned around in her seat looking a little bit less than impressed, her mouth open to make some comment. "It is a family tradition, she even has one made by her great-grandmother." Phil interrupted before his mother could say anything. Tam's frown disappeared as soon Phil pointed out that making the traditional necklaces had been something my father had taught me to do. Phil's family really valued skills that involved history, maybe it had something to do with their age.
It was a great relief when we got to the restaurant, Phil's father picked a Thai place - it looked a little bit like a hole in the wall but those tended to be the best tasting ones.
The interior looked a lot nicer than the outside, even though someone had gone a little overboard with the Buddha and this waving cat theme.
"It is a Maneki Neko," Phil explained as I looked at yet another waving cat. "It is considered the lucky or welcoming cat. It brings in luck and customers."
"Maybe a little better paint job on the outside would help with that," I muttered under my breath. The woman seating us did not hear me, but if Tam's sudden laugh was any indication she had heard my rude comment. I seriously had to remember that I was around people with good hearing, my usual sarcastic commentary would have to be heavily censored. It would not do to make a comment about Phil's edible looking ass and have his parents overhear me.
The hostess took our drink orders before going through the usual spiel about the specials.
"Phila had said good things about this place," Tam pointed out as we got comfortable in the small and well worn booth. Phil and I sat on one side while his parents sat across from us, it was a little bit of a tight fit with everyone being so tall. Not that I was complaining but my initial impression of Tam was that she would have preferred a much more upscale place.
The waitress finally brought our waters and everyone but me ordered the extra hot version of their meal. I ordered the hot, it was better to look like a wimp than not be able to eat my food.
The waitress wasted some time trying to convince them not to get the extra hot.
"Trust me, hot sauce is like mother's milk to them." I finally interrupted wanting her to get on with it so that we could get our food.
Ailen laughed at my comment, it was a pleasantly low rumble. "I guess Phil has been cooking for you."
"Yes and it is a good thing that he can cook because I can burn water. Though he is determined to teach me." I explained with a laugh.
Much to my relief Tam finally ran out of questions so we actually started to have a conversation instead of the interrogation. We talked about books, music and movies; it was not surprising that both of Phil's parents were well versed in most topics we covered. Ailen started to bring up some politics but both Tam and Phil quickly told him to stop.
"You really don't want to start him on politics." Phil explained with an indulgent smile at his father.
"So I get a little excited," Ailen told me with a bashful smile.
"Yeah you get excited and break things." His wife told us with a laugh.
"One time, just one freaking time I was emphasizing my point with my hands and I broke a table in half. Now I hear about it every time I even consider mentioning politics." Ailen told me with a shrug, I could not blame him for that one since sometimes the werewolf strength could be more of a hinderance that not.
I made a mental note not to do anything stupid around a family member, from the looks of it I would never live it down.
We lingered over lunch, ordering another round of food. I had tried some of Phil's plate and found that while the extra hot burned a little bit it was not intolerable. Our waitress had learned the first time and did not make one sound of protest when we ordered the extra spicy.
When we finally finished our meal it was getting close to three, I had to get to work. Surprisingly once the interrogation was over I began to relax around Phil's parents, Tam had been telling me embarrassing childhood stories about Phil.
"So there I was changing his diaper asking him when he would learn to go to the potty like a big boy. Do you know what he told me?" Tam asked with a small chuckle.
"No," I snickered a little knowing this was going to be good. It was especially humorous since Phil had not stopped rolling his eyes since she started.
"Mommy, I am never going to be potty trained and you will have to change my diaper forever." She finished her story with a loud laugh. I could not help but join in, he must have been pretty old to be able to come up with such a long sentence.
Phil's father joined in the laugher, he was the more subdued of Phil's parents. He was not completely silent but there was no way he keep up with his wife. It had taken me a little time but I noticed he could be amusing; his humor tended to be a little more dry and subtle.
The more I listened to him, the more I realized Phil was not completely like his mother. The ability to sit back and observe was from his father, Tam seemed incapable of observing since she had to be in the middle of the fray. She was much more confrontational in a discussion, but you could always see her coming at you. While Phil and his father would sit back and bide their time.
Phil walked me to the back entrance of work, while his parents waited in the car for him.
"Have a good evening," he told me with a soft kiss on the lips. I was a little disappointed with the innocence of the kiss, but it was not like he could kiss me the way I wanted to with his parents watching. Again I dreamed of a moment when we could be alone without an audience.
I went inside with a goofy grin on my face, some of my coworkers gave me a funny look but no one asked.
Work was busy as usual, keeping my mind occupied with my customers I did not have too much time to reflect on meeting Phil's parents. This was all in all a good thing, I did not want to think back on all the things I should not have said. On a happy note not one of them had outright come out and told me that I was a loser and should leave their son alone - that counted for something.
It was Phila who picked me up that night, she had a new phone for me.
"Try not to lose this one," she told me as she handed it over. She drove me to her apartment in near silence, even the radio was turned off. After the chatterbox that was Phil's mother and the noisy time at work it was nice to have a little quiet.
I needed some time to come to grips with everything that had happened in the past few days. I would have to decide if wanted to move in with Phil, he had meant it when he told me it was my choice. The moving in with Phil well it seemed a little bit sudden for my comfort, I had only figured out he liked me yesterday. Shit had it been only yesterday, it felt like it had been weeks ago.
In terms of my physical safety moving in with Phil would be a safer option, I am sure that there were some pretty strong safety measures in place at the house. Plus I would be around Phila and Phil, there was safety in numbers. But there was more to consider here than just my physical safety, was I emotionally and mentally ready to move in with Phil?
We took the stairs, the elevator in the building was as slow as molasses, Phila continued to be silent maybe she noticed my utter absorbance with my own thoughts. Blossom was no longer at the apartment, I guess she had gone home now that Phila was back.
"I have to go join Phil, he is determined to hunt these guys down. We are going to go in a wider circle around the Rez. You should be safe here; if anything happens Aurora should be able to shut this place down, and nothing will be able to get in." Phila told me as she pulled out her silver tablet to calculate her jump coordinates. "I am headed back to the cabin for now and might be staying there for the next couple of days, if you need to leave the apartment just take my car. Please for the sake of Phil's sanity warn us if you are headed out of Seattle."
After she disappeared I wandered over to the fridge to find something to eat. If someone asked me later I could not have been able to tell them what I ate - suddenly the past few days finally caught up with me and I was completely mentally and physically exhausted. Between the attack yesterday, the lack of sleep, and trying to figure out what I was going to do about Phil, my head was spinning. I stripped down and without bothering to put on any pajamas I stumbled exhausted into bed. I instantly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
I don't know when I woke up but all of a sudden I felt something moving above me. I would have gone into full panic mode but he quickly noticed I was almost awake.
"Shh I did not mean to wake you up, I was just checking on you." I heard Phil whisper in his deep voice. "We are back for a little bit. Go back to sleep Princess." I may have felt his lips touch my forehead softly but I could not be sure.
By the time I woke up the next morning, there was a note waiting for me next to my bed.
We left early this morning to go search for your friends. Will spend most of afternoon trying to deal with movers since they will finally get here. If you need anything call.
Love Phil.
PS The car keys are in the drawer next to the fridge if you need to go anywhere just take Phila's Volvo.
I had nothing better to do, so I spent the morning cleaning the apartment and doing some laundry. It might not be my place but I probably had spent more time here this week than Phila.
It was driving me insane that while everyone else ran around in the woods trying to locate the group of vampires that had kidnapped me and Jenny I was stuck in this apartment.
I was tempted to ask to go join them, but if I were to meet one of Sam's pack it would be hard to explain what I was doing near the Rez when I was supposed to be several hours drive away in Seattle. So I stayed in Phila's apartment and did boring mundane things like laundry. I really could have used this time to catch up on my studying but since all my teachers had decided to have tests last week we really did not have any new materials.
It was in the middle of moving wet clothes to the dryer that my phone rang. I ran across the living room, jumped over the couch to make it to the bedroom where I had left the phone. "Hello." I said in a breathless voice.
"Hi Leah, this is Jenny. Did you get back to Seattle all right? Sorry I have not called, I had to replace my cell phone." I heard a perky voice.
I was severely disappointed, not that I did not want to talk to Jenny but it was not her voice I wanted to hear. It became apparent that the initial question about my well being was small talk.
"So who is this guy you stayed with yesterday?" She asked me straight away, I could hear the curiosity in her voice. "And why have I not heard about him, I thought we were friends." There was a pout at the end of that sentence, I could see it even over the phone.
"I told you about Phil," I replied defensively, at least I was pretty sure I told her about him.
"Nope I would have remembered had you mentioned a hot guy that you knew." She accused me again.
"Yes I did tell you about him. I told you he helped me by proofreading my essays." I remember having that conversation last week.
"No you said grandpa did that, I specifically remember you mentioning your grandfather." She told me in an accusing tone.
"Phil is grandpa, I call him that as a joke." I explained, she had no grounds for accusations I had not been holding out on her.
"Well he certainly is not old enough to be a grandpa." Jenny pointed out.
I might have giggled a little, if she only knew how old he really was.
"Regardless of all that, so are you two dating?" She continued, I would have almost preferred Tam's questions to Jenny's. At least with Tam I did not have to worry about trying to remember to hide all my secrets.
"I don't know if we are dating..." I started to explain slowly but Jenny interrupted me.
"How can you not know if you are dating?" I don't know if it was curiosity or her being a good friend, but Jenny seemed determined to figure out what was going on between Phil and I.
"Well it is complicated." I had not yet figured out my place in Phil's life. From the hints I had gotten from his family and Phil this had the potential of being a forever thing. "First and foremost Phil is a very supportive friend who got me through some hard times. Now the way things look we might be more than friends but we are just starting to explore that."
All of a sudden I remembered how much exploring Phil had actually done with his tongue. I was in the middle of a recalling a very good memory when I heard Jenny call my name.
"What was that? Sorry I did not hear you." I told her. She started to laugh and tease me about my new boyfriend.
"No seriously, he is a good family friend. I hang out with his cousins and that sort of thing." I tried to downplay it, even though I had just admitted that we could be more serious. Jenny attempted talk me into going out with her tonight but I told her I had to work. It would have been nice to get a second perspective on Phil and me, a girls perspective would have been nice. I could talk to Phila but she had been friends with Phil forever and I did not think she could be impartial. Sadly the only girls that I could talk to regarding Phil were his family members, not even my mother could know the full extent of Phil's binding.
After hanging up on Jenny I called my mother to tell her that I was safely back in Seattle and that I got a replacement phone. She reprimanded me for not calling her earlier, I used the excuse that I had not replaced my phone until now. For some reason I did not mention Phil, or possibly moving in with him. So I was a complete coward. I quickly hung up feeling guilty for keeping secrets from my mother, but if I was going to date Phil I would have to learn to keep his secrets as well as mine.
Sassy came back to the apartment in the early afternoon, she smelled of salt air and pine sap. It was strange for a moment I had a hard time recognizing who she was. When I told her this jokingly she nodded and explained.
"It is a glamour, I don't want people to remember my face right now, so I let out a glamour that makes it hard for you to notice details about me." She waved her hands around her face a little in trying to explain.
"Paranoid much?" I asked only half joking.
"No it is not paranoia, it is something else completely." She corrected me, but she did not elaborate. I wondered why she was so particular about people remembering her face, Kendrick and Phila did not do the glamour thing.
It was Sassy that drove me to work, not that I would have ever admitted it out loud but she was very intimidating. She reminded me of my mother; her sharp eyes saw everything and she had this air of authority and age . She was one of Phil's cousins so I did not think she was that much older than her, maybe it was her character that made her appear to be in total control. Her driving style was minimalistic, she stayed perfectly within the speed limit and followed all traffic laws while she crossed town. I almost laughed as I remembered Seth complaining that he had received a lecture by letter when he had run off into the woods. I could see this woman being able to write a very intimidating lecture.
She seemed to radiate power, even though we were both wearing slacks and a button up shirt she seemed to carry it off with much more grace and gravity than I could ever hope for.
It was Friday night at work so it was more busy than the day before. This did not bother me, lots of customers meant more tips as well as job security. During my break I had less than ten minutes to grab something to eat before I had to get back to work again. One of the cooks had put some pasta and red sauce on a plate for me, I was busy trying to slurp it down as quickly as possible without getting any on my shirt when one of the busboys stopped by to chat.
"Hey where is your car? I did not see if out there." He asked after he put his heavy tub filled with dirty dishes down next to the dishwasher.
"It died on me on Wednesday, I guess I should not have driven it home to see my mom." I told him the partial truth, I was getting better at this.
Of course nothing can go right in my life, because just when I was telling my story about my car troubles Mr. Peters walked by.
"Leah what is this about your car not working? How are you getting to work?" As a small business owner he could not afford an unreliable worker.
"No, I have a ride, I just don't always get to drive it." I quickly reassured him. He had taken a big chance on hiring me when I had no waitressing experience. I really appreciated him for doing that, plus this was good money.
I was really tired after my shift, I was barely able to put one foot in front of the other. We had run late because some customers were determined to linger over their dinner. When I got outside Phil was leaning against his car.
"You have been gone," I whispered tiredly into his shoulder as he hugged me. I wrapped my arms around me and squeezed him as hard as I could.
"Um Leah, that kind of hurts." He told me with a laugh.
I quickly let go and apologized but realized he had been teasing me. He might be a little more fragile than I was but he was still stronger than the average human. I narrowed my eyes at him and punched him lightly on the shoulder, it would not be a good plan to break him - I had other plans for his body.
Phil opened the door for me and helped me get in before he walked around the car. Loud music blared out of the speakers when he turned on the car.
"Wow you listening to techno now?" I asked him over the music. He quickly moved to turn it down.
"Sorry about that, I was trying to stay awake, I have not exactly been getting much sleep the past few days." He told me as he pulled the car away from the curb.
I looked over to Phil quickly checking to see if he was alright, I might have been able to detect some darker circles underneath is eyes. But it might have been a trick of the low light in the car.
Staring at his strong profile I suddenly realized this was the first time we had been alone since yesterday afternoon on the couch.
I don't know why this hit me all of a sudden, while away from him all my free thoughts had revolved around figuring out if I wanted to stay with this man. But now sitting here quietly next to him I became uncertain, did he really want me? Or was it only this binding thing? I was knew I had some good qualities but that had not stopped Sam from leaving me. The insecurities that I had learned after my last relationship ended returned full force.
I mean I knew that he was attracted to me at least physically. The playtime on the couch had showed me that at least. The feeling was mutual in that regard, after first seeing him I had dismissed him as not being handsome but having a nice body. After getting to know him I kind of had started to realize how much I had come to like his unique face. While picking up the apartment I might have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about him. I was kind of obsessed with seeing him naked, as much as I had imagined it I could not help but want to see the real thing. So maybe I wanted a little more than just to see it, maybe some touching would be involved too. But first and foremost I would have to figure out where we were going from here. I would not make the same mistake as I had with Sam, we would discuss what plans he had for the future. We would need to decide on living arrangements as well as what our mis
Yesterday had pretty much shown me that what I had done with Sam was practically nothing, I was no longer a virgin but now after just a few minutes of Phil I had come to realize the difference between Phil and Sam. Being with Phil was not even in the same category as Sam. Our hurried groping in the middle of the afternoon while we worried that his mother would come home and catch us could not be compared to what had happened between Phil and me.
I have to admit in retrospect my reasons for starting to have sex with Sam were not the most logical. It had been a combination of curiosity and peer pressure. Not that Sam had come out and said it outright, but it was not a big leap to know that a teenage boy was interested in that. I had thought I loved him so I had done it for the two of us.
So after many days of some pretty serious exploring, we did the deed. To say I was somewhat disappointed was an understatement, for a while I was afraid I did something wrong. But eventually we got the hang of it, not that there were every any fireworks or anything like that, it was pleasant and a way I could show him how much I loved him.
It had almost been better that Sam and I had been two virgins together trying to figure it out, with Phil I was totally outclassed. He had centuries of practice, and from what Blossom had implied he had not been a monk.
"You have been awfully quiet." He told me interrupting my thoughts. I looked out the window and finally took note of my surrounding, we should have be at the apartment by now.
"Where are we going? Are you lost again?" I asked, too tired to be diplomatic.
"No I am not lost, we are going to the house. There is more room there for everyone that will be coming and going while we figure out where those vampires that took you are." He explained as he wove through traffic.
"Great, more family to interrupt." I said sarcastically.
"What do you anticipate them interrupting?" Phil asked in an innocent voice.
I blushed, realizing yet again how out of my depth I was. "I did not mean ... I just thought."
"Stop, please. I did not mean to tease." He took one hand off the steering wheel and found one of mine, I watched as his long fingers entwined with mine. "I want to apologize for yesterday, I went too quickly and too far."
What did he mean by that? Did he not want me like that? Was he just being nice to me?
"I have spent the past thousand years dreaming of what I would do should I find you. It is kind of hard to resist putting some of my plans into action." He continued in a calm voice, rubbing the inside of my wrist. I looked up to see him turn to flash me a wry smile.
"You have been dreaming of me?" I asked him shocked.
"Not in the literal sense. More like what you represented since I did not know what you looked like. Only recently have I actually included you specifically in the plans. In very detailed plans I might add." Was it just me or did his voice sound extra rumbly as he spoke of his plans for me.
"Phil can you tell me about you? And I don't mean the person you present to the world, I mean the real you. Where are we going with this?" I needed him to let his walls down and let me in. I got the impression that this binding thing was forever but I needed to know his intentions. It was time for me to man up and get some answers.
A/N: Sorry that this took so long, freaking family reunion from hell combined with a sick child does not make it easy to write.
A BarbieStory: Sorry about posting this late in the day, hopefully you are still well rested. So what did you think about his parents? Not so scary were they? We will meet Tam again in a few chapters and she will be more forthcoming when her son is not around. :D
Ash186: See meeting the parents was not that bad, no major hiccups. Next chapter I promise Phil will give more answers.
Jaimie2772: Glad you approved of the slight lemon. It took me a while to write that, not really my cup of tea - I just like reading the lemons, writing them is a pain in the rear. (I know, I know: if sex is a pain in the ass you are doing it wrong.)
Leaa'clearwaterr: I too tend to consume stories if I get into them, which kind of sucks when you stay up late reading and your kid is up and ready breakfast at 7:30.
Twilighter: Congrats on the man of your dreams, doctor huh?
Ms animegoddess: Well did you like Phil's mom? I will tell you a secret it was Tamora who told her mother Bee that Leah would not be needing a BOB. :D Allergies can suck but they also can be very serious, when I worked at the clinics we saw a lot of asthma (a lot of kids have it but fortunately they outgrow it). We would try to emphasize to parents that while asthma might sound like a little bit of wheezing it can actually kill a child if left untreated.