AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My mom ripped into me as soon as I stepped foot in the door, apparently news of the morning’s events travelled faster than I thought. Mom is still seething at me and won’t give me a chance to explain, I suppose I should be glad she hasn’t kicked my ass out. She cooked dinner for us, I offered to help but she just glared and told me to bath Harlem. I didn’t argue, I was glad for the excuse not to be around her while she was wielding a knife. Dinner was eaten in silence except for when Harlem spoke, I’m just finishing up the dishes when a knock sounds at the door, I rush to answer it before they knock again because mom just put Harlem down and I don’t want him to wake. I swing the door open, and I’m shocked as hell to see Cairo standing there.
“You gonna invite me in or just stand there staring like a dick?” I shake myself out of my stupor and step aside to let him in.
“Is Jess, okay?” Ro scoffs and rolls his eyes as he drops into one of the single chairs, I’m too on edge to sit right now.
“Do you really think I would be sitting here if my sister was in some form of trouble?” Yeah, he does have point there, I drop into the other seat and open my mouth to speak but snap it shut when my mom walks in. When she spots Cairo the angry look on her face vanishes and is replaced by a tender loving smile–– I scoff.
“What a lovely surprise Cairo.”
“Thanks Meg, just wanted to drop by and see Creed and check in on how the monster is doing?” Mom beams at the mention of her grandson.
“He has been such a good boy, even brushed his own teeth and sat still while Creed cut his hair––.” Ro leans forward and cuts my mom off as he stares at me in shock.
“You cut his hair?”
“Uh, yeah why?” Ro shakes his head and slouches back.
“Dude, no one has been able to cut that kids hair since the day he was born.” I furrow my brow for a moment and then something Jess said comes back.
“I didn’t even think about, Jess did say that a while ago at your house, but I asked him today and he was happy for me to do it.” Ro laughs and shakes his head; mom and I share a look of confusion before she mutters something about boys and being silly, then leaves.
“Wait till I tell Jess; she is going to flip it.” I tense.
“I didn’t do it to piss her off––“
“Calm down Romeo, I meant she will flip it as in a good thing. She has been dying to cut his hair for so long and I honestly think she will thank you for that.” Pride has me puffing my chest slightly, but when Cairo’s face changes and the laugh lines disappear from his face I sigh and ask.
“Why are you really here Ro?”
“Because I wanted to make sure that you and the monster were okay.” Guilt eats away at me as I stare at him.
“After what happened today you came here to check on me?” I can hear the doubt in my own voice, Ro shrugs his shoulders as if he doesn’t give a shit.
“You didn’t know what she was gonna do, I’m pissed you had a plan and didn’t tell me, but I can’t exactly blame you for what Davina did now can I?” Holy shit, Cairo is a bigger man than me, I would be salty as fuck and holding a grudge for years!
“Thanks…”
“Don’t sound so shocked, not everyone is an asshole like you.” Both of us chuckle, sitting here with him feels like old times growing up when he would come back for a visit. Back then neither of us had to worry or stress like we do now, we were young and carefree and just enjoyed running wild in our wolf forms. A sense of longing and sadness hits me as I think about how our lives might have turned out if my mom and dad didn’t lie and I didn’t trick Jess into coming to Rosewood.
“How did we get here, Ro? Things used to be so easy and none of the shit with council ever mattered to us, things were so different back then.”
“We grew up, life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows Reeves, the council didn’t matter to us then because we didn’t understand what they were about. Don’t live in the past brother all it will do is eat you up, focus on the here and now.”
“That’s a bit hard to do right at this moment.”
“Look my sister is stubborn and hardheaded––“
“I wonder where she got that from?” Cairo scowls at me playfully. He leans forward and rests his arms on his legs and meets my gaze, the look he gives me tells me that we’re about to have a serious talk.
“Look, when Jess first came to me, she was scared and unsure, she didn’t get a lot of time to deal with what had happened. When she found out she was pregnant that was all she focused on, and she poured her energy into that and blocked everything out, until she couldn’t. After the twins were born it was like that sparkle was back in her eyes and she even smiled more but then…”
“Katy died.” It’s a lot harder to say that out loud than I thought.
“Yeah, after that, it was like she went backward again, she blamed herself for what happened. The doctors told her that it was a horrible thing that can occur, but she became fixated, she read through so many books to see if any other shifter babies had gone through this––“
“Were there any others?” He drops his gaze and I already know the answer before he voices it.
“Not that she could find, no.” My heart sinks. “She gravitated toward Cole… a lot. We all knew why she was dependent on him and why he was the only one she wanted near her, when she would wake in the middle of the night screaming. She seemed to get better over time with Cole being around––“
