“Caeden,” I said. I had completely forgotten about decorating my room. “That’s not necessary. I don’t want the others to have to work overtime.”
He waved his hand and blushed. His feet thumped against the cabinet in a steady rhythm as he swung them back and forth. “Yeah well,” he rubbed the back of
his head nervously, “I realize
that I overreacted. Our usual patrols are more than enough to keep check. I’m new at this whole Alpha thing and I just don’t want anything to happen to the pack.”
“I understand,” I kissed his dimple.
A smidge of ice cream was left on his cheek and I wiped it away with my thumb.
He smiled at me. “I’ll get the hang of it eventually.”
“We both will,” I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“No, no, no. No way!” I shook my head and looked at
the offending black motorcycle. “I am not getting on that
thing!
”
“Sophie, it’s a motorcycle, it doesn’t bite.”
I turned my head to look at the beast. “Really? It looks like it could bite
,
to me.”
“Please, Sophie,” he held out a helmet.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What if I fall off?”
“You’re supposed to hang on to me, Soph. What happened to my mighty little she-wolf?”
“She packed her bags and left,” I said.
“I’ll go really slow,” Caeden said in a coaxing voice that was meant to soothe me. It did anything but. “The hardware store is only two minutes from here. We can go there, get your paint, and come right back. I won’t make you ride the bike to Target, we can take your car.”
“I don’t want to
.”
“It’s safe Sophie. I wouldn’t ask you to do something that isn’t safe.”
I bit my nail. “You’ll go really slow?” I asked.
“Of course,” he said, grinning. Obviously he could se
nse
my imminent defeat.
“Give me that thing,” I snatched the helmet from his hands and pulled it over my head.
Grinning like a fool Caeden climbed on the bike and started it. The loud rumbling made me jump and let out a squeal.
“No! No! I can’t do it!”
Caeden began to laugh. He held his own helmet in his hands.
“Just put one leg over here and hold onto me. I started towards the bike but ended up taking three steps back. I bent down at the waist.
“No! No! No! No!”
“It’s fine Sophie
,” he said softly and held out a hand to help me.
I started once more towards the monster before screaming. “I can’t! I don’t think I can do this!”
He grabbed my hand in his and pulled me closer to the bike. I let out a
high-pitched
girlish scream.
Caeden dropped my hand and covered his face in order to hide his laughter. I was too busy screaming to tell him he failed miserably.
I saw a few neighbors peek out their doors to see what the squealing was about.
“Sophie, it’s fine, r
eally,” Caeden wiped away tears of laughter.
“No, no, no, no!” I squealed.
I closed my eyes.
I can do this. It’s just a motorcycle. Come on, Sophie, don’t be a wimp.
I told myself this with as much determination as I could muster.
I swung my leg over the side of the motorcycle and wrapped my arms around Caeden; all with my eyes closed.
He revved the bike and pulled out of the driveway much too fast for my taste. I would have preferred one mile per hour. It got even worse though when he sped through the neighborhood.
“Caeden!” I screamed and my thighs dig into his sides while my fingers gripped his shirt.
When he parked in the hardware store parking lot I was still screaming and apparently paralyzed. “Sophie?” he rubbed my leg. “You okay?”
I closed my mouth in order to cut off the
high-pitched
keening escaping my lips. Who knew a wolf could scream like a jungle cat?
“Sophie, you need to get off now,” he coaxed.
I finally found my voice a few moments later. “I can’t move.”
He chuckled, which shook the bike, and made me scream again.
“I’m going to help you off the bike. Okay Soph?”
He sounded like he was trying to talk a suicidal person off a ledge.
“Put your feet down on the ground,” he said. I did as I was told and a whimper escaped my lips. “Good, now let go of my shirt.”
“No, no, no,” I leaned my head against his back. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” he pried my fingers from his clothes. “Now swing one leg over and you’re off.”
I slowly swung my one leg over but held onto Caeden’s shoulder for support.
My heart was beating faster than it ever had before and my stomach was rolling. I was afraid I might throw up so I quickly pulled the helmet off.
Caeden climbed off the bike, locked our helmets inside the storage compartment, and then took my hand.
“You did great,” he kissed my forehead.
“And you’re a liar,” I said. My voice sounded shaky.
He laughed as the sliding doors opened with a gush of air, ushering us inside. Caeden led me straight to the paint section.
“What do you have in mind?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I
picked
up a few paint chips to study. “Something different.”
Caeden snorted. “I
kinda
figured that.”
There were so many colors to choose from and since I had no idea what I wanted to do with my room anything was an option.
“What do you think of this color?” I held up a peach shade to Caeden.
“Eh,” he made a face. “Do you really want to sleep inside a fruit?”
“Good point,” I said and put the chip back.
Caeden picked one up. “What about this one?”
“It’s blue,” I commented.
“Yeah, so,” he glanced at it and shrugged.
“My room’s already blue,” I stuck my hands on my hips.
“So? That’s an old, faded, ugly blue. This is a nice pretty pale blue,” he said.
“No,” I said and took it from him. “I don’t want blue.”
“What about green?” he asked.
“Hmm, green? Maybe,” I said, “I do like green.”
I switched my focus to solely shades of green.
I settled on a funky shade of green that wasn’t overwhelming.
“This is it,” I said.
Caeden motioned to a person working in the store. The man came over and said, “Can I help you with something?”
“Yes,” Caeden took the paint chip from my hand and gave it to him. “We need a gallon of this and a gallon of white ceiling pant.”
“It won’t take long,” the man said.
I watched as he mixed the colors and then the machine shook it. For some reason this process had always amazed me.
Caeden ventured down the aisle and returned with paint pans, rollers, and brushes. He put them down on the counter while we waited for the paint to finish mixing.
“Here you are,” he handed the two
jugs of paint to Caeden. “Check
out’s over there,” he pointed.
“Thank you,” I called
to the man as he left to do something else. I gathered the paint supplies in my arms and followed Caeden to the checkout.
The cashier entered the prices of the paint
, scanned the other items,
and I pulled out my gift card.
“Have a nice day,” she said, giving me the receipt.
Outside, Caeden took the helmets out and placed the paint there instead. He tossed a helmet to me and said, “Please, no screaming this time.”
“I
’m making no promises Williams’.
”
He chuckled. “I’ll probably lose all my hearing.”
“What a shame,” I said. “I think the punishment is just for forcing me on this… this… creature,” I pointed to the bike.
He stuck the helmet on my head to shut me up.
Caeden climbed on the bike and put his helmet on. He tilted his head towards me.
“Are-
aren’t
you going to- to- start it?” I stuttered.
“I was going to wait until you got on this time,” he said.
“Oh,” I played with my fingers. I gulped and swung my leg over and then wrapped my arms around his muscular middle. My heart was beating so fast I was sure he could feel it through the thin cotton if his shirt.
He started the bike and it growled beneath me. I screamed and some guy turned to look at me befo
re shaking his head and chuckling
under his breath.
Jerkface
.
Caeden peeled out of the parking lot, going faster than he had before, and my fingernails dug into his abdomen.
I silently thanked the gods of really fast things that I didn’t live very far from the hardware store.
Luckily, I did start to ease up a bit. My muscles loosened and I relaxed. Caeden pulled in the driveway and cut the engine.
“Well?”
“That was better the second time,” I breathed.
He laughed as he removed his helmet. “Really? I thought you were going to forcibly remove the skin off my stomach.
“Sorry,” I released him and climbed off. My legs were still shaky but not nearly as much as the first time. Caeden removed the paint and then took my helmet from my head.
He locked up the helmets, grabbed the paint, and started for the door.
“Are you coming?” he called over his shoulder.
Right foot, then left foot, then right. I had to force my quaking legs to move. I’m sure I looked like a bumbling drunk.
Gram was
gone;
working at the store, so the house was quiet. Archie snoozed peacefully on the couch.
Caeden set the paint down
in my room and turned to me. “Target first? Or paint first?”
“Let’s paint first so that it can be drying while we’re gone
.”
“Good idea,” he said.
We moved my mattress and furniture out into the hallway before draping the carpet with old sheets.
“Thank your mom again for me. She didn’t need to give me that bed,” I pointed to the black
old-fashioned
iron bed.
When Amy had heard that Caeden was helping me redecorate my room
she had smiled
enthusiastically and asked us to follow her. We ended up in a storage room off the basement I’d never noticed before.
“Do you like it?” she had asked motioning to bed frame.