Alpha Bully (10 page)

“Will do.”
He took Scarlett’s hand and made his way toward his bedroom.

Should you go to the bedroom?

He started to doubt the direction he was going when
Scarlett started talking. “Your parents are nice,” she said.

“Yeah, they’re amazing.” He didn’t know what else to
say.

Taking the lead, he took her down the hallway to his
bedroom. In the distance he heard his parents talking. His mother was squealing
about how adorable Scarlett was. She was a nice girl. The innocence she
possessed came off her in waves. No one had touched her. Marshall wasn’t a
virgin. He’d been having sex for a couple of years. It was probably something
he shouldn’t have been doing, but he’d always been highly sexed. There was no
way he was going to be having sex anytime soon with Scarlet. He’d be happy to
wait. She wasn’t even eighteen yet.

It would be a long few months.

Opening his bedroom door, he walked into his room,
quickly stashing the books with her pictures in it into the nearest empty
drawer. When he turned around, he found her still waiting on the threshold of
his bedroom.

“You’re not a vampire, are you? You can come in?” He
winced at his own words.

“Erm, I’ve never been in a boy’s room before. I don’t,
I’m not, I’m, erm, I’m not comfortable right now.”

Feeling like the worst kind of idiot that ever lived,
he went to her. “Nothing is going to happen, Scarlett. Seriously, I just didn’t
want to be alone. I knew my parents would be home, and that’s why I invited you
here.” He took her hand, leading her into the bedroom. “This is why I brought
you here. I knew you wouldn’t want to be here without an adult present.” He
slowly pulled her into his bedroom. She didn’t need to know that his parents
being home wouldn’t stop him touching her if she let him.

Marshall curbed those needs instantly. She wasn’t here
to help him with his dick.

“See, nothing else is going to happen.”

She chuckled as he eased her inside, going back to
close the door. When he saw her eyes widen, he quickly opened the door back up.

“I won’t try anything I promise.” Going back to her,
he took her bag, placing it on the floor.

“Why did you bring me here?” she asked.

“I wanted to share something with you.”

“Why?”

Taking her hand, he led her to his bedroom window. His
room overlooked over the forest and lake. Around Christmas when it was covered
in snow, it always looked totally beautiful. He would spend hours looking out
of the window.

His mother was in the kitchen, buzzing around to make
a meal.

“I’m proving to you that I’m not here to hurt you.
This is part of that promise. I’m sharing with you part of me.”

“You’ve never brought a girl here?”

“No.” He stepped behind her, resting his hands on her
shoulders. She wore a denim jacket, and he slowly removed it. “It’s too hot for
you to be still in that jacket.”

She glanced over her shoulder, smiling at him. “Thank
you.”

Throwing the jacket onto the bed, he placed his hands back
on her shoulders. She didn’t flinch away from him as he touched her. He tried
to work out the kinks that were in her shoulders. Slowly, she started to relax.
He was starting to realize when it came to
Scarlett,
he had to give her time to feel comfortable.

“You’ve got a beautiful view.”

“Thank you.”

“The lake, do you go there often?”

“Yes.” He leaned in close, breathing in her floral
scent.

Don’t scare her away.

He tightened his grip on her shoulders in an effort to
stop himself from scaring her.

“This is beautiful.”

Sliding his hands down from her shoulders, he rested
his hands on her waist.

No, you’re beautiful, and I’m a fucking prick for not seeing it before.

“Cheryl was wrong,” he said.

She made to turn around, but he held her tightly.

“I know you don’t believe me, but what she said is all
lies. You’re beautiful, Scarlett, and I’d be happy to call you my girl.”

“Stop,” she said.

Pressing his hand on her stomach, he rested his chin
on her shoulder. It was as close as he could get without scaring her. The urge
to press his face against her neck was strong, but he held it back. He kept
control over his wolf. It wouldn’t do him any good to lose control.

“I’ll stop for now, Scarlett, but I’m not going to
hide what I want.”

She pulled out of his arms to turn to look into his
eyes. “Please, stop.”

He cupped her cheek, stroking over the dark bruise. “I
fucked up. I was an asshole to you, and nothing I say is going to change what I
said and did to you.” He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “But I’m going to
prove to you I’m a changed person, Scarlett. I’m going to prove to you that
when you’re in pain, hurt, crying, you’re going to come to me. I’ll take care
of you. I’ll be the one you depend on.”

Someone knocked on the door, interrupting the moment.
Letting out a sigh, he glanced over to see his father on the threshold.

“Carla wants to know if you’d like to call your
parents. She’s happy for you to invite them to dinner or at least to let them
know you’re here,” Luke said.

“Yes.”

She stepped away from him. His wolf pounced inside his
head, wanting to follow her. The moment she was gone, his father stepped into
the room.

“Enough!”

That one word silenced the wolf inside him. His wolf
grew silent until Marshall was able to take breaths without fear.

“Thank you.”

“You’ve got to take your time. Don’t rush.”

“I’ve got a lot to make up for.”

Luke sat beside him. “You’re not going to hurt her
with this other boy?”

“No. Trey will fuck up
on his own
.
I’m not going to get involved. I’m going to show her she can depend on me
instead.”

“I’m pleased you’ve finally decided to take that stand
and not another one.”

Marshall wanted Trey out of the picture. “Is it
possible for her to be my mate?”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s human.”

“Son, it has been years since a human mated with one
of us in this pack, but it’s not unheard of.” Luke stood. “She’s coming back
up. Your mate is designed to suit you, to complete you. Your wolf will know
what to do when the time is right.”

Nodding, Marshall stayed sat as Scarlett appeared in
the doorway.

“My parents couldn’t make dinner, but they’d like to
extend the invitation to you this weekend.”

“I’d love to.” His father left them alone. Marshall
smiled at her. He’d do whatever it took to keep Scarlett in his life.

****

The weekend came around too soon for Scarlett’s
liking. Her mother had dragged her out to the shops in order to prepare for
dinner.

“What do they like?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know them.” They were walking
up and down the aisles looking at everything they could.

“Meat, men love meat.”

“It’s not just Marshall and his dad.”

“This is so hard.”

Scarlett stopped when she saw Jack was in the store.
He was pushing a trolley while holding a list. The moment he saw her, he waved.

“Marshall
know
you’re here?”
he asked, when they passed.

“Erm, I doubt it.” Her mother walked off toward the
butchery. “He’s coming for dinner, but we don’t have a clue what to do for him.
My mom, she’s not exactly the best person to plan a dinner.” Her cheeks were
heating.

If someone was to tell her months ago that she’d be in
the supermarket talking to Jack while also helping to plan a dinner, she’d have
laughed at the absurdity of it.

“You don’t have Marshall’s cell number?”

She shook her head.

He pulled his cell phone out, pressing the device to
his ear.

“Hey, I got your girl in front of me. She’s wondering
what to cook.” Jack stopped, and she heard Marshall talking. “Here you go. He
wants to talk to you.”

Taking the phone from Jack, she pressed it to her ear.
“Hello.”

“Hey, baby. I’ll make sure you have my cell number
when I see you.”

“It’s okay. You really don’t need to do that.”

“I’ll make sure you’ve got it. What do you need to
know?”

Heat bloomed inside her. Glancing up at Jack she saw
he raised a brow at her.

“My mom, she’s struggling about what to make you for
dinner. Do you have any suggestions?” she asked.

“Yeah, steak.
Anything with beef and potatoes and we’re all set.”

“What about your mom?”

“She’s the same. We’re pretty normal, Scarlett. Oh, we
love chocolate.”

“Okay. Meat and
chocolate,
got it.”

“Scarlett,” he said.

“Yeah.”

“I can’t wait to see you.”

Her cheeks were on fire. “Bye.” She passed Jack the
cell phone, wishing she could leave but knowing it was rude.

“Yep, she is.
Yep … yep … bye.”
Jack put his cell away.

“Thank you.”

“No problem. You need any help call me.
In fact.”
Jack pulled out a pen that he’d placed behind his
ear. She watched him scrawl on the paper in front of him, tearing it off.
“Here, call me whenever you need me and can’t get in touch with Marshall.”

She took the number from him. “
Erm,
thanks.”

“See you around, Scarlett.”

Pocketing his number, she didn’t know if she should throw
it in the trash. She still didn’t trust either guy. Grabbing the trolley, she
made her way toward the butchery department to find her mother still looking at
the array of meats.

“Beef,” Scarlett said.

“What, honey?”

“I found one of Marshall’s friends. I called him. They
like beef and potatoes as a family. They’re also chocolate fiends.”

“Oh, honey, you know you’ve got to bake them your
chocolate cake.”

“I don’t think—”

“We’ve got more than enough time for you to do it.
Come on, they’ll love it.”

She stood beside her mother as she ordered one of the
largest pieces of beef she’d ever seen. They were filling the trolley with all
the goodies that would last them a couple of weeks. Her mother begged her
around the supermarket until Scarlett caved, grabbing the ingredients to make
the cake.

When they got home, her mother started working on the
beef while Scarlett set to work on the cake. Her father was preparing the table
and watching football. Every now and then Scarlett would stop as she couldn’t
believe she was making a cake for Marshall and his family.

“So, honey, you’ve not mentioned this Marshall much.
Is he nice?”

“Erm, yeah.”
It wasn’t a complete lie. He was being nice so far. She didn’t know why,
but she wasn’t going to worry her mother.

She avoided any more questions as she got busy
cleaning up the mess while the cake was finishing in the oven. When it was out,
she used the time to go to her room where she sat on the edge of her bed.
Pulling out Jack’s cell phone number, she stared at the digits scrawled in a
line. Fisting the piece of paper, she threw it into the trash. Standing up, she
stared into the mirror as the doorbell rang.

Scarlett saw they were still early for dinner.

Her mother shouted her that the door was for her.

Heading downstairs, she found Trey at the bottom of
the staircase waiting for her.

“Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to head out. Maybe
go watch a movie?”

She stared at her friend and offered him a smile.

“I, erm, I can’t.” She made her way down the last
couple of steps until she stood in front of him. “My mom invited Marshall and
his family around. I can’t go out.”

There was no joy or thrill coming from Trey’s
presence. When she first met him, she’d been charmed by his attention. He
didn’t look that impressed with her answer.

He didn’t come to find me during lunch break.

The last couple of days it had been Marshall who found
her, Marshall who comforted her. They were working together on the comparison
of two very different poems. She’d been allowed to sit back for gym because of
her bruised eye. Marshall always took the time to come over and see her. Trey
started to treat her as a passing thought, not that she minded. She did however
notice that Cheryl was paying a lot of attention to Trey just lately.

“Okay, maybe another time.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” She didn’t make any
arrangements, and neither did he.