Chapter CHAPTER NINETEEN - TOBIAS
I watched Willow get dressed as I did up the button to my jeans. Even covered in bruises she was the most breathtaking woman I have ever met.
“Did I hurt you?”
I tried to be as gentle as I could with her, but when a human is hurt you can’t be too careful. The last thing I wanted to do was bring my cupcake any more pain.
“No. If anything, you made the pain go away.”
He smile was genuine and her blue eyes made me want to undress her and have my way with her all over again.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, a little bit. Maybe we should see if Micky and the boys want to come over for a Barbecue or something.”
“Anything you want Cupcake. It’s a nice night for a Bon fire too.”
I watched her walk over to me and I melted at the sweetest kiss I had ever felt. Damn that woman, she has found a way to tame me; something that was once thought impossible.
Once she was dressed I took her hand in my own and kissed her knuckles gently before leading her down stairs. Micky was back behind the bar cleaning up while Daniel and Jonathan played pool.
“Well thank sweet fucking Jesus you two made up. Tobias, I love you son but I cannot spend another week being roommates.”
I rolled my eyes but Willow laughed before taking a seat at the bar.
“We are having a bonfire tonight, and we want you all to come, now before you say no, I’m not asking. Attendance is mandatory or Willow may use force against you and according to my brothers, she likes to aim for the balls.”
I made sure to say the last part loud enough so Daniel and Jonathan would hear me from across the room.
The guys laughed and Willow blushed a little but still had a smile on her face. I pulled out my phone to text Tristan and the guys to set up then took Willow by the hand again.
“You guys have to be in the truck in twenty minutes or I’m kicking ass.”
Willow waved bye to them and walked outside with me. It was still pretty bright out and the shops were still open for at least another hour or so.
Willow stopped outside of a jewelry store and I watched her admire a charm bracelet that sat in the window.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” She asked.
I glanced over her shoulder and took a look. It was beautiful and unique much like Willow. The think that caught my eye though was the small charm of a willow branch that hung from the chain.
It was an amazing coincidence. What were the odds that they would even have a willow branch charm, let alone showcase it in the window.
I walked pulled Willow into the store and the lady behind the counter offered the pair of us a polite smile.
“Welcome to Tilly’s, how can I help you today?”
“There is a charm bracelet in the window that caught my cupcakes eye; we’d like to take a look at it, please.”
“Absolutely. This way please.”
Willow followed the woman across the store. I didn’t need to take a look, I already knew the charm bracelet was perfect and Willow would be in love with it.
I glanced through the showcase while the women were busy with the bracelet. Last time I was in this shop I was helping Micky pick out his engagement ring for his wife.
“See something you like?”
I glanced up to see an older gentleman across the counter.
“What? Oh, no. My girls looking at a charm bracelet in the window.”
“You can’t woo a girl with a charm bracelet you need to find a ring; the perfect ring.”
Did he just say ‘woo a girl’? Do people seriously still say that?
“We aren’t getting married.”
“Do you love her?”
“What?”
“Do. You. Love. Her.”
I had no way of answering that. Of course I loved her, but I could barely admit it to myself, let alone a complete stranger.
“She’s the reason I breathe.” Was the only response I could come up with?
“Then you, sir, need to make an honest woman out of her.”
I smiled at him and shook my head. We just got back on track, there was no way I could purpose to her after the way I treated her for the past few days.
The woman returned with the bracelet and Willows face was lit up like a child on Christmas morning. It felt good to see her smiling like that.
“She’ll take it.”
Willows eyes nearly popped out her of head at my comment.
“Tobias, its twelve hundred dollars! I can’t afford that.”
“Good, because you’re not buying it. I am.”
“I can’t let you spend that kind of money on me.”
“That’s nothing, cupcake. I’d pay a million to see you smile.”
Willow was rendered speechless. The woman behind the counter smiled and went to ring in the purchase. I pulled out my card and paid for the bracelet as the man helped Willow put the bracelet on.
It looked beautiful on her. I took my receipt and kissed the top of her head.
“Make sure you don’t throw away the case for it.” The man said directly at me.
“Uh, alright. Thank you.”
He smiled and nodded to us was we waved goodbye. I slipped the bracelet case in my pocket and laced my fingers with Willows as I took her hand.
When we got back to the bar the guys were coming out the back door. Jonathan and Daniel jumped into the back of the truck with their dad and Willow slid into the passenger seat.
The drive back to the house was quiet. Willow had her eyes closed and I’m pretty sure she fell asleep.
When we pulled up to the house Tristan came out to greet us with his arms full of firewood. I reached over and poked Willow in the side to wake her up.
“I was beginning to wonder if Willow threw you off a cliff, we were going to start placing bets.”
“Very funny.”
I jumped out of the truck then walked around to open Willows door for her. I took her hand then wrapped my arm around her waist to pull her out.
Willow slid down against my body as I lowered her to the ground which made my cock spring to life again. I groaned because the grin on her face told me she knew exactly what she did to me and she didn’t plan on taking care of the problem.
Evil little cupcake. I shook my head at her. I’d pay her back for that later without a doubt.
“Tobias, make yourself useful and brings some wood around back.”
I watched Tobias disappear around the house as I picked up an arm full of wood to follow.
“Hey, tweedle dee and tweedle dum! Move your asses.”
Micky laughed as his boys rolled their eyes and hopped out of the truck. I watched Willow take hold of Micky’s arm and the two of them headed into the house. She blew me a kiss before she disappeared.
I walked around to the back of the house and dropped the wood on top of the pile that Tristan had already started.
Jasper was lying in a hammock that someone had set up and Colton and Jennica were on the back porch arguing about something. Tristan and Jeremy were putting together a pit while setting up lawn chairs.
Someone had already moved one of the yard couches from the back porch and set it by the pit so all the heavy lifting was done.
Once the pit was done Tristan and I began filling it with wood to get ready for the bonfire.
Micky came out of the house with Amelia on one arm and Willow on the other, you could tell he was truly enjoying himself. Today is the happiest I’ve seen him in a long time and I think bringing his sons home and making him feel like a part of a family again had a lot to do with it.
“After a long talk with Micky about how he used to take the boys camping in these woods all the time, we decided to skip the barbecue and roast hot dogs over the fire tonight instead.” Willow said with a smile on her face.
“And I’m going to teach these girls how to make a proper smore.”
I gave them the thumbs up then took a seat on the whicker couch. Willow came over and took a seat beside me. I wrapped my arm over her shoulder and she leaned against me after putting her feet up.
Tristan took a seat in one of the lawn chairs and Amelia took her place on his lap. One by one everyone came and sat around the pit, until finally Tristan threw a pine cone at Colton’s head.
“Could use a little help over here.”
Colton held has hand out with his palm facing the sky than threw the fire ball that appeared at the pile of wood. Within seconds it was ablaze.
I kissed the top of Willows head as Micky started handing out sticks to cook hot dogs on.
The sky went dark fairly quickly, and it was so clear you could see nearly every star in the sky.
One of the best things about living so far away from towns and cities is that you didn’t have to deal with the glare of lights that snuff out the brightness of stars.
Everyone had finished eating and Micky had gone on to teach everyone how to make a ‘proper’ smore. It was no different than the regular smore, except it contained a lot more chocolate than any one person should consume in one sitting.
The girls loved it, go figure. The guys brought out coolers full of beer and the part that surprised me the most was that Micky’s boys were perfectly capable of keeping down food.
I pulled Daniel aside when I had the chance to try and find out a little more about what they had become.
“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain. We aren’t vampires, but we aren’t quite wolves either. It’s kind of a mix of both.”
“You’re hybrids?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that. We have the urge to feed on people and a craving for blood but we don’t need to drink it to survive. It’s more of just an annoying urge than anything. We survive perfectly fine on food.”
“And your abilities?”
“We can do everything a vampire can, and on the full moon we shift into a wolf just like Tristan.”
“Do you lose control? We have to chain up Tristan or he ends up slaughtering a bunch of people. He has no control over it.”
“I honestly couldn’t tell you. We don’t remember anything from when we shift. Alexander used to fly us out to a remote island that no one lives on and he’d pick us up the next day.”
“So it only affects you on the day of the full moon?”
“Yep, that’s the only difference I guess, other wolves feel the effects of irritation and have uncontrollable urges for days before or after but we are only affected on the one day.”
“Amazing.”
“I guess, it’s the best of both worlds and it means we don’t have to worry about dying.”
“So you can’t be killed either?”
“Not that we know of, but it’s not like we go out and experiment on what may or may not kill us.”
He had a point there. Before I could ask him anymore questions though Micky called me over to the porch where he sat on the steps.
I walked over and took a seat beside him. He was smiling but his eyes seemed a little sad.
“You alright?”
“I’m going to miss this.”
“What are you talking about?”
He sighed and kept his eyes on the fire in the distance. There was something he wasn’t telling us, and I could tell it bothered him.
“I’m dying.” He finally said.
There was an instant knot in my stomach at his words.
“What do you mean you’re dying?”
“I have cancer.”
There were no words for what I was feeling right now. This man had been my closest friend for years and the closest think I’ve had to family aside from my brothers.
“I made my peace with it before, thinking my wife and boys were on the other side waiting for me, but now my boys are alive and I don’t want to lose them again.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
“Only one. Don’t tell my boys.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat then nodded my head reluctantly. They deserved to know their dad was dying, but I’m sure Micky would tell them when the time is right.
Willow came over so I had to put a smile on my face like Micky didn’t just pull the rug out from under me.
“We’re supposed to be having a girl’s weekend, so the girls and I are going to head up to my room for movies and a sleep over. I’ll see you in the morning?”
“Absolutely, cupcake.”
I smiled as she leaned down and kissed me. I cupped her face in my hand and deepened the kiss. I wanted to devour her as my cock was still holding a grudge about being teased earlier.
I finally released her then smacked her ass as she walked past me heading into the house. I was rewarded with a small yelp and a giggle. I smiled and winked at her before she disappeared into the house with Amelia and Jennica.