A Blessing or a Curse

Chapter Seventeen: Say What You Need to Say

I collapsed on my bed and let out an annoyed sigh. Although I was relieved to be in my bed at home, I was more than pissed I’m grounded. My aunt and uncle apparently were up all night worried about how I was gone all night and most of the day. When I came home and claimed to have lost my phone and ended up lost, they didn’t buy it and grounded me for all of April and May without hesitation. I sighed and pouted my bottom lip. Just my luck.

Ting and Aja were barking loudly and chasing each other like all young creatures do. I just stared at my lavender ceiling, followed the swirls of my silver chandelier that was honestly another unnecessary accessory in my room.

I was exhausted and didn’t want to do anything but sleep, but the burning discomfort on my stomach made it impossible to sleep.
I took a long, cool shower but my burn was still hot and healing very slowly, thankfully a few painkillers numbed the pain. I got up and walked to my full body mirror and lifted the baggy tee-shirt I was wearing.

It was definitely a 2nd degree burn, no doubt. Right before the let me free, the asshole that held me captive burnt me with a branding iron and left a small horse shoe symbol the size of a ring box on my lower left ribs. It’d definitely leave a scar. It was so painful and impossible to ignore.
I made my way downstairs avoiding my aunt and uncle I was currently pissed at even though they had every right to ground me and grabbed the first aid kit and ran up back to my room, and into my bathroom.

I washed the burn with cool water and put on polysporin and put on a bandage. After I finished cleaning up my burn I went on my MAC notebook and started going through tumblr and twitter mindlessly. After getting bored of that I finished an English essay and a Religion book report and left my A.P. History research paper for some other day.

~

Into two days of being grounded I managed to finish all my homework assignments, clean my room and bathroom spotless and eat almost everything in sight in my house. I was beyond bored and seriously just wanted to get out of the house.
I wanted to be occupied with something other than my own haunting thoughts. All I could really think about is how I was fucking kidnapped, but as fast as I was taken, was as fast as I was released. Who were they? What did they want? How did anyone but Ashelle and Valentino know about us?

I debated going to where Carter and I usually met to speak to him and demand answers but I was far too afraid. I didn’t want to risk being taken, not again at least. But just thinking about the mess made me curious and itch for answers. Plus, I more than anything wanted to make sure my mate was alright, so I could kill him myself.

I was so confused and frustrated with the whole situation it was driving me freaking insane. Obviously my mate wasn’t just the funny and gentle guy I spent time with. He had much more baggage and a lot more past than I intended to deal with. He must’ve messed with the wrong people to have people so angry with him. I needed to know what’s going on.

Tuesday night, the first week into my Spring Break I was making high-waisted shorts out of some old jeans I had at midnight when a smell made my nostrils flare. Ting and Aja who were peacefully lying on the floor watching the Lady & the Tramp jumped up and began barking.

That Chocolaty scent with a hint of spice. A spice I couldn’t put my finger on, but one that made one hell of a scent.
Soon there was a light knock from my balcony door and a “Psst.” Coming from outside.

I dropped the scissors in my hand and opened my balcony to reveal my one and only mate looking as hot as ever. This was the first time I’ve seen him fully clothed. He was wearing a red and black flannel shirt that was unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up revealing his decorated forearms, and a grey tee shirt that you could almost see the out-line of his chiseled stomach and chest, dark blue jeans and black combat boots. He was dressed so casual but managed to almost knock me off my feet by how gorgeous he looked.

He ran his hand through his usual messy black hair with the sides shaved off and flashed me a sexy half smile. “Let’s go see a movie.”

Without thinking my mouth dropped open and no sound came out. What? I wanted to yell at him for him keeping secrets, even though we hardly knew each other and yell at him even more for getting my kidnapped and even more for looking so hot that I can’t even yell or be upset with him!
After a moment of looking at him like an idiot with my mouth wide open I snapped out of it and squeaked out “What?!”
He pressed his large hand over my lips and shushed me. “Shh, be quiet. We don’t wanna wake up your folks.” Then he brought his hand to my face and brushed my brown hair out of my face.

I restrained from blushing, I was wearing a spaghetti strap tank top, with no bra and Hello Kitty underwear and no pants and my hair was straightened but still messy and out of this world, plus I was wearing no makeup. I seriously didn’t need or want him seeing me like this.
“…What?” I repeated dumbfounded.
“Let’s go see a movie.” He echoed his early words casually like this was a normal thing.
“How do you know where I live? How’d you find me?” I asked out loud.
“Your scent. I can smell it from miles away.” He grinned at me.
I just stared at him like he was crazy. Out of nowhere, he appears on balcony at midnight, after getting me kidnapped-well he wasn’t aware but still- and just asks me to go to the movie like its normal. “I can’t.” I snapped at him. “I’m grounded!”
He shrugged and smiled at me “So?”
“So!” I paused unaware what to say. Do I tell him now? “I-I can’t go out! My curfew is 11:45 anyway. It’d be too late to even go out.”
He just shrugged, “So, sneak out. I’ll have you back long before your parents wake up.”
I frowned and sighed. “Aunt and uncle.”
“What?”
“Aunt and uncle.” I looked up at him. “I live with my aunt and uncle.” I didn’t know why but I felt a need to say that. Usually when people assume things that involve parents I let them think mine are still alive.
“Oh…” was all he said for a second then regained his playful composure. “So let’s go. I’ll have you back before dawn. I promise.”
“No Carter!” I protested once again. “I’m grounded! What about that concept do you not understand?”
He frowned and hesitated before saying anything else. I regretted snapping at him so harshly but I was beyond upset about what happened a few days ago. I sighed and took his large hand in mine and led him into my room “Come inside.”

After explaining everything that happened Carter was seated on the edge of the bed right next to me, his elbows on his knees, his body crouched over and his hands pulling his hair. “Fuck.” He groaned; his voice was low but strong. He knew what was going on.

He got up and paced around my room silently his hand running through his hair nervously. “What the fuck? This has nothing to do with you! Why would they involve you? Fuck. I’m going to kill Jack!” He growled his fist clenched up and shaking.
“Carter…what happened?” I’ve been meaning to ask him. “Who’s Jack?”
“I’m going to rip his tiny ball sack off and shove it down his mother’s damn throat and make him fucking watch. Then I’mma scalp him and make him eat it then I’m going to burn his whole fucking family in front of him and I’m going to pull off his toes and shove them so far up his ass he’ll vomit it out and then I’ll set his hand on fire and wait until the fall off then I’m going to rip out his earlobes and slit his mate’s throat in front of him and then-”

I cut his gruesome rant off by holding his hand in mine and looking him in the eye. “Calm down. Please?” I pleaded.
“No! What he did to you isn’t fucking okay! Do you understand that Marilyn?” he practically shouted.
I stood up and placed my hand on his muscular chest and started rubbing it up and down to soothe him. I could feel his heart raging in his chest. “Relax, just relax. I don’t want you going after this Jack guy.”
“Why not? He hurt you.” He seemed upset by my choice of words.
“He wanted me to tell you. He wants you to go after him. I was just bait. Please baby, don’t do anything reckless or stupid.” I begged. “He’s ready for you. He’s anticipating your next move. He’s ready for it. Think clearly.”

I took a deep breath closing his eyes and then looking back at me. “He will regret this.”
“He will.” I agreed. “Just not now. We have to do this carefully.”
He didn’t say anything or make any movements. Just tried to steady his angry, rapid heartbeat.
I let out my pinky and looked at him with puppy dog eyes. “Promise me? Nothing irrational or stupid. You’ll plan out revenge carefully.”

He wrapped his much larger one around my tiny, slender pinky and nodded. “Promise.”

“What did you do to make them want to hurt you like this, hurt me. Hurt us.” I said taking a seat back on my bed.
He stopped and looked at me for a moment softening his expression and sighed. He kneeled in front of me and pressed his forehead to mine and grabbed my hands in his. “I did something stupid. Something that I regret, for the dumbest reason ever. Lolita, I’m not who you think I am.” He paused for a moment and sighed, his cool minty breath washing over my face making me shiver slightly. “I…I’ve hurt people…”
His words made my heart stop momentarily. It made me wonder, who is my mate? Who is Carter truthfully? “What do you mean?”
He sighed and shook his head rapidly. “I…I done some stuff Lolita.” He got back on his feet and started pacing around my room and fidgeting nervously. “And now it’s affecting you. My mate.”
“What stuff? What have you done?” I didn’t mean for my words to come out so demanding but I was getting impatient.
He looked at me with sad eyes, “I can’t tell you.” He murrmed sadly. “I don’t wanna loose you…not yet-not ever.”
I grabbed his hand in mine and placed a small soft kiss on his knuckles. “You won’t lose me. I like you way too much to just ditch you.” I admitted softly with a small smile on my lips.
He gave me a sad smile and sighed, “There’s certain things that you might not be willing to accept. Certain mistakes that aren’t easily forgiven.” He muttered in a sigh.
I pulled him next to me, my lips brushing the knuckles of his large left hand. “You’re my mate.”
“Yeah, I know.” He looked at me, “And honestly I feel bad for you.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes, “Well, I think I got lucky.” I admitted shyly. “To have you as a mate…”

It was true, I did feel lucky. Carter was undeniably and seriously attractive; I never thought I’d end up with a guy who was hotter than most male models. On top of his perfect appearance he was funny and so interesting. Something about him just drew me to him, pulled me to him. Like a magnet. Maybe it was our wolves calling to each other but I did like Carter for him. His personality and all. The only thing that ticked me off is how secretive he is. Like he’s being now.
“Ha, let’s see how long you’ll be thinking that princess.” He chuckled humorously. “I’m just so fucked up.”

We were silent for a moment.

“Look, fuck all this heavy talking and baggage. Please understand…I’m not ready to tell you what I’ve done. One day…maybe I will. But until then I just want to enjoy my time with you.” He brushed one of my strand hairs out of my face. “How about that movie?”

I didn’t want to the drop the subject so easily but I tried to be understanding. There are certain things I didn’t want to tell him now either so I should put myself in his place. When he’s ready to tell me, he will. He better.

“Sure.”
I stood from my bed and walked to my closet. “I have to get ready though, out to the balcony!”

He did as he was told and walked out to my balcony and started shuffling through my closet looking for something cute to wear until I heard a knock at my door.

“Fuck,” I whispered to myself. I shut my closet door quietly and went to answer the door. Ting and Aja bolted out running out of my room barking loudly. It was my uncle Phil.
“Were you talking to someone?” he eyed me suspiciously.
“Just myself and Aja and Ting. Can’t really sleep.” I lied, but shrugged it off to make it seem like I wasn’t guilty.
“What’s that scent?” he sniffed the air cautiously entering my room.
I gulped quietly and tried to calm down my heart which was beating faster now. “Oh, it came from outside. I don’t know. I had my balcony and windows open just a few seconds ago, so it got in my room.”
He stopped in the center of my room and looked around for something until his eyes stopped at the doors of my balcony. I gulped again and bit my bottom lip nervously. “I heard a boy’s voice.” He said lowly turning his eyes to me.
“Oh, I don’t know. I was watching a movie too. It was on pretty loud.” I nodded my head toward the television which was thankfully on and the Lady & The Tramp were playing like earlier.

He stared at me for a long second before slowly walking toward my balcony. Fuck. He turned toward me again with an eyebrow raised. It was all happening and slow motion and I felt like God was taunting me. “Are you sure?”
I quickly nodded and started fiddling with my fingers nervously. “Your father would never approve of having boys in your room with the door closed at this hour. You know that.”
All of the sudden a pang of guilt hit my heart and my stomach dropped and I looked down. I felt so guilty all of the sudden. He was right. My dad would probably be so pissed off. “I know that.”I snapped bitterly. I hated when anyone mentioned my parents to guilt me out or make me feel like shit like he always did.

He turned the knob for the balcony and slowly opened the door, and I almost gasped out loud.
When he opened it all that was there were my usual two silver chairs and the railing. Carter was gone. Thank the good Lord Jesus Christ. I let out a breath of relief and felt my heart slow down.

My uncle stepped out and sniffed the air and looked back at me with a confused look. “Yeah…must be coming from outside.” He muttered more to reassure himself than me. “Get to bed.”
“Bonne nuit. Faites de beaux rêves.” I wished him sweet dreams.

He nodded and shut my room door behind him and walked back to his room. I stood there frozen for a moment letting out another breath of relief. I was so close. So close to getting caught.

Wait…where did Carter go?

I turned on my heels toward the balcony to go look for him when I bumped into something hard. Carter’s chest. I gasped out loud and opened my mouth to let out a surprised squeal but luckily he covered my mouth with his hand just in time. “Shh, I told you to stay quiet.” He whispered in a mocking, 5 year old tone.
I rolled my eyes and smacked his chest playfully. “Shut up.”

He grinned and shook his head. “I’ll wait out on the balcony for you. Hurry up! Get ready.”
“Actually, I don’t know if it’s such a good idea.” I mumbled nervously. “I should just…” what Uncle Phil said about my dad bothered me.
“Oh come on Loli. I promise you…you’ll have fun.” He brought his face close to mine and brushed a few hairs out of my face gently making me shiver.
“O-okay.” I stammered. I honestly couldn’t say no to him.
He then walked out and made his way to the balcony closing the doors between us giving me my privacy.
“Que Dieu m’aide.” I asked God to help me.