And There Were Wolves

twenty two | I don't want you like a best friend

* another chapter for you, hope you enjoy this *

I woke up with a slight headache. I hadn't been drinking much but the whole thing that had gone down last night was a bit much for me. If I recall correctly, Trish had dropped Davina at her house last night since she was the only one of us who was sober enough to drive a vehicle. Although I'd insisted on the three of us sleeping in my bedroom and having a sleepover, one look at Trish and I knew she wouldn't agree. She still had that reluctance of entering Luna's bedroom. I wasn't sure what her deal was and started to wonder if Ryker had specifically given her an order and forbidden her from ever entering. One of these days, I would find out her real reason. I put this into the list of things that I was trying to figure out.

Picking up my phone from the nightstand, I sent a quick text to Eros, briefly informing him about what had happened last night. Then, since the thought about this sorceress that Ryker had mentioned a few days ago was still bugging my mind, I also asked him if he knew anything about a sorceress who lived in the northeast or east region. After I hit the send button, I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom. It took me no less than fifteen minutes to clean up and at around 10 AM, I headed downstairs to get something to eat.

My feet came to an abrupt halt as the sight of the kitchen finally registered in my head. Dmitry was standing in the middle of the kitchen, chopping what looked like onions while wearing a pink apron. This was a sight I would never forget no matter how hard I tried. Ryker was on the table, seemingly reading newspapers through his phone. There was a half-empty cup of coffee in front of him. Without even glancing to the doorway, Ryker noticed my presence and greeted me, "Good morning, Love."

I scoffed. "Don't call me that." Every time he did, it reminded me of that first night when we had met. He had used the same endearment too. And now that I'd decided to take revenge on him and Alana, I didn't want to be reminded of my lapse that night. Not only that I had yearned for his touch, ready to have sex for the first time with him – of all people, but I had also betrayed my boyfriend's trust that night. I had cheated on Brett with Ryker. It did not matter that Brett turned out to be an arse, the fact that I'd cheated would haunt me forever.

"Good morning, Dmitry," I greeted Dmitry as I approached him, curious about what food he was making. "I don't know you can cook."

Dmitry took a pause and turned to look at me. He didn't smile. One thing I'd picked up about Dmitry was that he barely showed any expression at all. He was completely unreadable. "Just a few recipes I learned from my nana."

I was trying to guess what he was making and failed miserably so in the end, I ended my misery and asked him instead. "What are you making?"

"Pirozhki," he answered.

"And Syrniki for me," said Ryker, jumping into our conversation uninvited. I glanced at him and saw that he was unexpectedly eyeing us. He had that odd look on his face which faded after a few seconds. He moved his attention back to whatever he was reading.

"Sure," Dmitry answered curtly.

I figured I'd be in his way if I continued being there so I grabbed a mug from the drawer and poured myself a cup of black coffee. I added two blocks of sugar inside the cup and then placed the mug on the island to get the milk from the refrigerator. Once I fixed my coffee, I went to the far end of the big kitchen island, placed my mug there, and sat on the barstool. I purposely didn't sit with Ryker at the dining table by the window. Mainly because I didn't want to seem like I was pursuing him. Although it was my plan to seduce him, he should still do the pursuing, if you know what I'm talking about. It was like what Dr. Gray had said in 'Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus' that a rubber band was the perfect metaphor to understand the male intimacy cycle — a cycle that involved getting close, pulling away, and then getting close again. Right now, I was doing the 'pulling away' part to make him curious and want more. I wasn't sure if this would work but I trusted Eros and he said that it would. Just like everything else, it simply took time.