Cry wolf! (Sequel of 7 mates for 7 brothers)

A crush on me?

“Tyler, where on earth are your socks?!”  Mandy leaned over and pulled his pants higher up on his legs to make sure she was not just imagining that he was wearing formal shoes – which she knew he hated – without socks.

Tyler flashed a sheepish smile her way.  “I kinda was in a hurry.”  A teasing glint brightened up his eyes.  “I had to make sure I got at least one dance with the birthday girl.”

She rewarded him by rolling her eyes at him before sitting up straight next to him again.  After the last song had been played, her guests all wished her well again before going their own way.  Tyler had ‘kidnapped’ her and brought her to their usual hang out.

Mandy ran her hands over the grass.  It had grown quite a bit since they had stopped coming here together; and she had only been here once since then, hoping that it would make her feel better.  It did not.  It had only made her feel worse so she hadn’t come back here again.  Normally they were here so often that the grass never got the chance to grow much; now it did.

The sound of a loud and nervous swallow made her look up at Tyler.  His eyes were pinned on her, and as the intensity of his gaze increased, she became uncomfortable.  “So?”  She asked hoping that her discomfort at his close scrutiny did not show too much.

Trying to put the words into the correct order, he played for time by pulling the top buttons to his shirt undone while his eyes skirted around.  “Everyday, I woke up and I wondered if that day would be the right day to tell you that you were mine, my mate.  And everyday I was so scared that you and I would lose the easy and relaxed relationship we had.  I was scared that if I spoke to soon, I would drive you away from me.  So I didn’t.”

He looked at her, his eyes clearly revealing the hurt he was feeling.  “If I had any idea, that not saying anything would hurt you that much, I would have told you every single day.”

Mandy flicked her eyes away from him nervously as she thought about all the insecurities and uncertainty she had gone through during that time.

“Hey,” he spoke softly and lifted her head so that he could see her eyes.  “Please believe me; I did not want to hurt you in any way.  I am so sorry.”  Tyler sucked in his breath when the moonlight caught the two teardrops rolling down her cheeks.

Mandy heard him curse softly as he lifted her onto his lap.  “I am so sorry, so very, very sorry Mandy.  I am so sorry.”  He kept muttering the words to her softly as he rocked her in his arms.  Over and over he said the words as he kissed her on her head; over her hair and on her forehead while she quietly cried into his shirt.  He kept that up until she eventually stopped crying and sniffed, very unladylike.  She gave a half hearted giggle; laughing at herself and he squeezed her tightly before allowing her move away from him when she pushed away with her hands against his chest.

With the backside of her hand she wiped over her eyes and looked at him.  His eyes were still haunted, and although he had come clean; she owed it to him and to herself to explain why she had felt so hurt by his silence.

“I wish I could take it back, all those times I never told you; but I guess I will just have to apologize for all the opportunities I did not tell you the truth.”  He took her face in both palms.  “I am sorry squirt.”

Mandy smiled at him wryly.  “I am not a squirt anymore.”  She covered his hands on her cheeks with hers.  “And I know you are.”  With a grimace she closed her eyes.  “I guess I should tell you why I felt the way I did.”  Bravely she opened her eyes to look into his deep green eyes.

“Tyler,” her eyes flickered nervously with her uncertainty, “I didn’t only feel hurt that you had not told me; it felt more as if you had lied to me by not saying anything; and that hurt; it hurt real bad.  I felt betrayed because it seemed to me as if you led me to believe that we had a special friendship that I came to believe was not true.  I was hurt because you were not able to share that with me.  You have always told me everything; or at least I thought you did; and I felt like I was wrong in thinking that we were able to share everything with each other.”