The Forgotten Fairytales (16 page)

She barked a laugh. “No, I’d be living. You, Norah, you’re like a virus sucking the life out of me. You make me want to kill myself. A life without you would be the answer to all my problems.”

In pure April style, she stormed out of the courtyard, leaving me alone with my tears. My throat tightened, making it hard to swallow. I was officially done with this school. Done pretending like faking it for her sake was the best. Obviously nothing I did would help her. I swiped my hand across the table, knocking papers and books all over the ground. A million curse words spiraled out of my mouth in the form of a whisper.

I dropped onto the cement, my knee hitting too hard, as I tried to collect my folders. My forearms touched the ground and I prayed. For what, I wasn’t sure, but I needed something. Something to tell me I wasn’t a total fuck-up.

A shadow hovered above and for a split second I hoped it was April coming back to apologize, but the warmth crawling across my neck when he touched me told me otherwise.

“Are you okay?” Wolf asked. “I saw…” everything. He’d seen everything. Fantastic. As if April and I ever needed an audience. “I’m sorry.” All I could do was stare, tears streaming down my face, as he knelt down and gathered my papers and put them in the correct folder for me. My heart hammered, pain coursing through me so fast, I wondered if it’d kill me.

Wolf stood and placed the folders and books neatly on the table. Then he held his hand out for mine, which I declined. Not for any other reason than because of bitterness. April’s hatred was infectious.

“What you saw, it’s not…it’s not what it seemed.”

He flinched. “Really? Because it seemed like your sister ripped you a new one. Undeservedly so.”

Even after what April said, I hated the thought of anyone thinking badly of her.

“Just stay out of it.” I gathered my books in my arms. “She’s my problem, not yours.”

“I know, I just, I don’t know, thought we could talk it out,” he said. In the deepest part of me, I felt guilty for walking away, but I knew I had to. Nothing good could possibly have come from that moment. Not when I felt like jumping off a bridge. I glanced at my watch, it was already time to go call my dad. What I’d say? I had no clue. But I knew I had to leave. Forever.

“
H
i Dad, it’s me, Norah, your daughter. The one who only calls you once a week. The one you abandoned while you’re off enjoying Moscow. You promised you’d be there when I called.”

Tears swarmed my eyes.
This can’t be happening.
Why wasn’t he answering? He knew I was going to call at this time. It was scheduled! The recording ended and the voice rattled off options. I sucked back tears and when it gave me the chance to erase and re-record I said yes. There was no way I could leave that message.

“Hey dad, it’s me.” I cleared my throat and forced myself to sound happy and cheerful. “I guess we missed each other. I’ll call next week around the same time. I love—”

Click.

The phone sat in the receiver. I held my breath. The room fell silent and unnerving. No other voices haunted the tight air around me, yet I felt as if it’d shatter at any moment. After using my three chances to call him—in a row—Dad never answered. What the hell else could’ve been so freakin’ important that his daughter sat on the backburner? And worse of all, I would have to wait another week to talk to him. It’s not like I could have left a voicemail about the fairy tale freaks or my suicidal sister. He’d call about April and I was almost certain they’d lie, as they had to begin with.

This place was not good for us. No way, no how. But as always, I failed at getting him the truth. And failure seemed to be something I did an awful lot lately.

The chair groaned as I pushed back, my feet dragging across the room as if I had on ankle weights. The urge to drown my sorrows flourished within. Drinking wasn’t an option, not tonight. It didn’t feel right, plus, drinking out of sorrow wouldn’t help in the long run.

But I had to free my mind, I had to find peace but I didn’t want silence, didn’t want to be alone. The nightmare of my life had to disappear and fast. I felt like I was drowning, sinking, hardly able to breathe through my failings.

I wasn’t sure where I was headed until a dark brown door stared back at me. The first time Wolf took me to April’s dorm, he mentioned where his room was, not the exact location, yet somehow, I found it. The two slashes carved into the wood looked like haunting eyes. I knocked three times before the door opened.

Wolf stood in the doorway, shirtless. I sucked in a deep breath and drank in his smooth, washboard abs. Droplets of water trickled down from his damp, shaggy hair.

“Norah?” Wolf’s thick eyebrows peaked with interest.

“He didn’t answer.”

He shifted out of the way, allowing me to walk inside. His room was dim. The crimson curtains, thick and heavy, were pulled shut, keeping the setting sun from entering. The bed frame was made of thick wood, like something you’d find in a cabin. It had a deep, forest green comforter and tons of pillows.

“Who?”

“My dad.” I swallowed back my tears but it was no use. “I tried three times.” Why wasn’t he there? What could’ve been more important than me? But I already knew that answer, I always had. April thought he favored me, but he didn’t. I was the easier of the two. The more tolerable one. The one who never challenged him.

I sank into Wolf’s arms. He froze for a moment before stroking the tips of my hair, holding me so close the wetness of his skin stuck to my cheek, but I didn’t mind.

“I’m never going to be his number one, am I?”

We were always on the move, always going from one place to another because Dad was never happy staying still. Never happy settling in one place where we could build a life like a real family. And I followed him, ready to conquer the world because I didn’t want to be without him. Now I was. He’d abandoned me and didn’t have the decency to answer one phone call because wherever he was, was more important than me. His life was
always
more important than mine.

“I want to be good enough.” I murmured.

“I know,” he said. “I know.”

A weight pressed on my chest, tightening my stomach into a million knots. The truth was heavier than the lies I fed myself. But out here, in a place where I functioned on my own, I couldn’t lie any longer.

“I’ll never be.”

“You are.” Wolf untangled his arms from around me and cupped my chin, dragging it to meet his fierce gaze. “You’re better than him. Better than anyone. If he can’t see that, then he’s an idiot.”

My throat tightened as I bit on the inside of my mouth. Tingles spread over my skin as we stared at one another. His eyes silently telling me truths I longed to hear. Curling up on the balls of my feet, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you.”

I kissed him on the cheek, his scruff tickled my skin. We were eye-level now, my attention flickered to his lips. Without thinking, I brushed mine against his. A craving built inside me, begging for more than a simple peck.

Wolf’s eyes were shut, but they opened when I stopped, staring at me as if kissing him was the crime of the century. Like a warning, crimson streaked his irises. After all the hype, did he not want to be kissed? In the time we spent together, the red usually meant he was upset or angry.
Please don’t be angry
, I wasn’t sure if I could handle him hating me too.

“Are you mad?” I choked the words out, barely able to speak. My knees knocked against each other.

“Furious.”

Wolf slammed his mouth into mine, kissing me so hard, I gasped. If this was him furious, I loved it. His hands traveled through my hair and ran down my sides.

The comforter scratched against my exposed skin as his thick arms scooped me closer to him, propelling us backward. His hot mouth ran down my neck and to my chest. Excitement seared through me. I’d forgotten how amazing he kissed. My mind clicked off and all I felt was him on top of me, cradling me up so I could take my shirt off, kissing me like we were the only two people in this dreaded castle.

I tried to suppress a moan as his teeth raked along my neck but I couldn’t, it felt like my body was on fire and the harder he sucked, the more I wanted him, the more I needed him. My hands discovered the ridges of his body, the tone and definition in the muscles he hid so well under layers of clothes. My back arched and my hands slipped beyond the strap of his pants, exploring the outside of his boxers.

When I realized he had stopped kissing me, I looked up hazily and met his gaze. His thick brows furrowed and he panted. The flecks of red in his honey eyes darkened.

The mattress sank as he flopped beside me and stared at the ceiling. I did the same. Above us was a mural of the night sky—stars, a moon, even gray clouds and low fog. In the dim light of the room, the stars twinkled like they were real.

“You should go.” His voice was low.

“Why?” I sat up and stared at him. Not a single part of me wanted to leave. “I thought we were having fun.”

He chuckled low. “We were. But I can’t hook up with you.”

A haunting feeling washed over me. He didn’t want me anymore. I was a conquest, something he fantasized about but didn’t like as much as the dream. I swallowed hard, feeling more rejected than I had when I came here.

“I get it.” Bending down, I fished around the clothes on the floor for my shirt, yanking it over my head to cover my shame. “You don’t want me.”

“What? No.” He grabbed a hold of my face and made me look at him. “It’s not about wanting you or not.”

“Yes it is.” I broke from his grasp and stood up, holding myself tight. “You hook up with girls all the time, but not me. What the hell is wrong with me?”

Wolf laughed and rose from the bed. I bit on my bottom lip, my heart hammering against my chest like a freight train. “You are
nothing
like them.”

I scowled. “Can’t you just, like, I don’t know, pretend I’m someone else?” Even as the words slipped out I cringed. The last thing I wanted was for him to imagine some other girl when he kissed me.

“As tempting as that might sound.” He backed me into the wall, a wolfish grin toying with his lips. At least he found me amusing while I wished I could die of irritation and embarrassment. “You’re the only one I think about.”

My attention stayed on his mouth when he spoke, remembering how his lips molded against mine. “Then I see no problem.” Closing the space between us, I kissed him slow, dragging my tongue over his bottom lip and nipping at it with my teeth.

He growled and in one quick movement, he pinned my arms back against the wall. “You’re
killing
me.” My stomach lurched into my throat and his head fell beside mine. Hot puffs of air beat against my shoulder and then on my hair as he breathed into my ear. “You need to go before I change my mind.”

“Isn’t that the point?”

He growled again, low. His nails scratched against the wall behind me, his grip tightening around my wrists. Our bodies were still close, so close I felt every movement he made against me. I wished he’d change his mind. Something was going on in his head, a war or a battle. Either way, as I placed gentle kisses on his bare shoulder I found joy in driving him crazy. His head tilted, ragged breaths hit my hair and I willed him to kiss me again. I felt his lips hovering above my skin.
Do it. Kiss me.

“God, Norah, you have got to go.” He broke away from me. My body screamed, completely on fire for him from the top of my head to the tip of toes.

I nodded dizzily and as my hand closed around the doorknob, the weight of his fingers on my back stopped me. I turned to him.

“You know I want you, right?” His pleading eyes were deep crimson, sparkling with splashes of gold. So beautiful. I nodded and he kissed me once, slow and soft, and unlike any way I’d ever been kissed. He pulled back and the lazy grin I loved slithered over his mouth. “See you tomorrow, princess.”