The Mates Pull

27

"It's getting pretty late," I had to say. "I gotta head home now or I'm gonna get locked out."

Braxton looked down at me for a moment before he finally spoke. "You know you could always spend the night with me." He smirked.

I smiled back, "as much fun as that sounds, I should probably do some laundry if you're still taking me to the lake house tomorrow."

"You still want to go...even after tonight."

I could see guilt and sadness washed over him and I offered him a kind smile before I reached up and touched his handsome yet tired face...these rogues must've taken a lot out of him.

"Of course I do...I don't feel any less about you because of what you had to do tonight...if anything I admire the extreme lengths you took to keep everyone safe, though I wish you wouldn't have to put yourself in harms way to do so."

"But I killed them." He countered.

"And they killed innocent people." I said before I kissed him, "Try not to be so hard on yourself please."He nodded.

"Fine," He sighed. "I'll give you a ride, you ready?"

"I just gotta run in really quick to grab my purse."

I turned and made my way inside, I walked through the house, it seemed eerily empty as silence filled the large space, I went toward the office door (since that's where Ryder and I had stopped when we first arrived) and spotted my purse, I bent down to grab it but was jerked back up as a hand gripped my upper arm quite tightly.

I was spun around and was now facing a frantic looking Patrick.

"You can't tell him."

I stared at Patrick, fear and panic were written plainly on his face, it was a sight I've never seen before and it was honestly disturbing.

His hold tightened even further and it made me wince, once more I knew I would have obvious bruising come the next morning. "Damn it Harper" he growled, "are you listening, if Braxton ever found out, h-he'd kill me, he wouldn't even care that I'm his cousin."

I let his words sink in, Braxton wouldn't really kill Patrick, sure he'd probably be a little angry but nothing extreme.

"Promise me!" He pleaded.

"Y-yeah sure, just let go, you're hurting me."

His eyes went wide with worry "oh shit, are you alright?" He asked, his voice full of concern.

This was too weird, "I gotta go Patrick, your cousin is waiting for me."

He looked around a little before he nodded and stepped back allowing me to leave. I stepped out of the house and the cold air shook me of my curious conversation with Patrick, I spotted Braxton standing next to some random car and went over to him.

"There you are, I was just about to go in and find you." He smiled as he opened the passenger door for me.

I smiled up at him and got in, as he closed the door I couldn't help but think how absurd Patrick's worries were.

Braxton is loving and kind, there is no way he would ever even think about hurting his family. Then again it's not like I'm just going to bring it up to him, that is one topic I don't like to talk about unless I absolutely have to.

We took off and soon the silence of the car was filled with a comfortable silence.

I looked over at him and could see his facial profile as he drove...a determined sort of look on his face, I'm sure his thoughts were clouded with what happened tonight, and mine were a mix of these rogues, Patrick's desperate pleas and my upcoming trip to the lake house with my boyfriend...alone.