Tamed: A Huntress Spin-off Novel (5 page)

I scowled and folded my arms. “I never asked you to babysit me, Taylor.”

“Someone had to. Mom lived in California, and Dad was never home, so someone had to be the authority figure—well, at least try to be, anyway. I was a teenager, too. I wanted to have fun and be carefree, too, but I couldn’t do that because I was too consumed with making sure you didn’t wind up accidently killing someone else!” All of his pent up anger toward me just kept pouring out, wounding me further.

It hit me so hard; the pain, the regret, everything I was trying so hard to run away from slammed into me, forcing me to suck in a deep breath. I casted my eyes down. I didn’t want to feel the pain, but I couldn’t stop it either. My heart, my soul felt like it was withering away, slowly dying from the waves of sorrow that crashed through my insides. I was drowning when all I wanted was to swim. The fragile armor of glass that I worked so hard to build over the years was finally cracking. Everything was happening all at once. The hurt just kept piling on, and soon, very soon, that glass was going to shatter.

I heard him sigh, but I wouldn’t look up, I couldn’t.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” he said.

I didn’t care—at least, I didn’t want to care. I didn’t want to hurt anyone; it wasn’t my intention.

I said nothing. I tried to brush it off as much as I could. Grabbing my drink, I began to gulp it down.

“Alcohol isn’t going to solve anything. If you’re troubled and need to talk, you could talk to me, you know,” Chelsea said.

Sympathy filled her baby blue eyes. Oh God, she pitied me. Was I that much of a sad sight to see?

“I think I’m going to pass.” 

I didn’t let anyone in anymore. Walking away was the better option for me, because the longer I stood there dwelling on the past while Taylor smacked me in the face with everything I wished I could change, the more power I fed my destructive beast. So I walked away.

“Where are you going?” Taylor asked.

As my irritation grew, I spun around and glared at him. “Don’t worry about where I’m going. You don’t have to watch over me. I am
not
a teenager anymore!”

His faced hardened as his chest rose and fell quickly. As I turned around to walk away once more, I gasped as he gripped my arm and yanked me forward. It was then that I saw a streak of orange rush through his eyes.

“I’m your brother. I will always feel the need to watch over you!”

I winced as he squeezed my arm, feeling pain rip through my muscles and soar down to my wrist. “Let go of me!”

“Taylor,” Chelsea said, warning him not to do anything irrational.

He cut her a look from the corner of his eye then let me go. I stormed out of the kitchen.

This wasn’t the Taylor I was used to. Whoever that guy was back there definitely wasn’t my brother. He had never been the kind of man to get aggressive with women, and he had always been a mild tempered person. Now, it seems like he had trouble keeping his temper under control, but I knew that had everything to do with me. I brought out the worst in him. And his eyes. I knew I saw his eyes begin to turn orange. Something was going on around here. I could feel it. Taylor, Eli, and Chelsea were hiding something, and it left an eerie feeling in my stomach.

As my phone began to vibrate in my back pocket, I reached for it and opened the message.

Andie:
Don’t make any plans tonight. We’re going out.”

I smiled as I quickly typed back.

Andie, I love you so much right now! Take me away, take me far away. I can’t wait until tonight. I need to let loose!

I didn’t care where she was taking me. I was relieved to get away from this home and the weird people in it.

Chapter Four

I stood in my bathroom with a towel wrapped around my shivering body as the water from my hair and legs dripped on the bathroom rug. I was observing my arm, the one Taylor had squeezed, and noticed a nasty bruise had begun to form on my skin. As I looked back on the morning, I saw the rage that stirred inside of him. I felt the incredible strength that had marked me. There was so much power behind his anger that it had actually frightened me for a moment.

I shook my head. “What happened to him?” I said to myself.

The more I thought about the altercation between Taylor and me, the angrier I became. I didn’t like the person he had become, but I was sure he could say the same about me.

I grabbed my towel from the bathroom vanity and ran it through my hair, soaking up the excess water. As I looked up into the mirror, I saw Chelsea walking in my bathroom.

My body sagged as I let out a breath. I turned around and scowled as I held out my arm, showing her the bruise. “Did you come to bruise me up, too?”

I walked past her and entered my bedroom, grabbing my purple, leopard print boy shorts from my bed and sliding them up my legs before dropping my towel and putting my matching bra on.

Chelsea stood by the bathroom door with her arms folded. “He’s really sorry, you know. Sometimes he can’t-” She paused, searching for the right words to say. “Control his temper when he is upset,” She finished.

“That’s what I don’t understand. He has never had a bad temperament, so what has changed now? Is it me?”

I realized the longer I stayed there, the more questions I had that would constantly swirl around my head. Taylor, my own flesh and blood, had become a mystery, someone to solve, and I was determined to unlock his secrets.

I grabbed my black, lace bustier top and skimpy, black, high waist, flared, mini skirt and put it on.

“Well, you do test him, but the reason he is the way he is, is not because of you.”

“Then it must be your doing. He was fine until he met you.”

She said nothing while her eyes said everything, yet she wasn’t going to open up. Feeling the burning embers ignite a fire of frustration within me, I shook my head and walked back into the bathroom. I grabbed my hair brush that was lying on the bathroom vanity and brushed the knots from my thick hair. Our eyes locked in the mirror as she stood behind me, watching me brush my hair.

“Was there anything in particular that you needed?” I snipped out.

Her brows rose as she folded her arms, clearly annoyed with me just brushing her off. “Do you have somewhere else to be, Paige? Am I keeping you from something?”

Oh yeah, very annoyed.

“Well, I’m supposed to be going out with Andie in two hours.”

“Your father asked Taylor to stay here to watch over you. He’s not going to let you leave here and cause havoc.”

I dropped my brush on the vanity and faced her, placing my hand on my hip. I was getting sick and tired of everyone telling me what I could and could not do.

“Are we done here?” I snapped.

As I said it, though, I immediately felt a sting of regret. I liked Chelsea. I didn’t know her that well to be the best of friends with her, but she had always been kind to me on those occasions. It felt wrong to just shove her away. She didn’t deserve that. As I opened my mouth to apologize, I stopped when she began to laugh. It wasn’t a joyful, happy laugh either; it was one of those ‘I’m so flipping frustrated with you I have no other choice but to laugh’ laughs.

I tensed, completely caught off guard as she came toward me, her swollen stomach brushing against me as she invaded my personal space. “You don’t know me that well, Paige. You’ve only met me twice, and I
really
am trying my hardest to be nice to you when all I want to do is smack the brattiness right out of your ass. I’m sure when you were younger, your parents thought it was adorable, but you’re nineteen now and it’s not cute anymore, so I advise you to knock the shit off. It’s not very wise to piss off a pregnant woman, and I’m not having such a great day, so if you want to try me, now is the perfect time!”

If only they were ever around to see if I was a brat. I wished they had been. Maybe I wouldn’t have had to try so damn hard to get at least an inkling amount of attention from them when I was younger. Maybe then I wouldn’t have made such a rash decision and wound up with blood on my hands.

I slid to the side away from her, creating some much needed space between us. “Okay, this is ridiculous. I’m not going to fight you. You’re pregnant, anyway.”

She laughed, and this time it was light and held so much amusement.

As curiosity struck me, my brows knitted together. “What?”

“Oh…nothing.”

Okay then. How she managed to find humor in that was beyond me. Why must everyone be so weird and cryptic around here?

“I actually came to see if you were okay. Taylor grabbed you a little too roughly, but I guess you don’t take well to kindness. I will see you downstairs.” She shrugged, gave a half-smile, and then to turned to leave.

With only an hour left until I had to meet Andie, I finished getting ready and headed downstairs. I wasn’t going to let Taylor, or anyone else, tell me that I couldn’t go out. Despite being the rebel they all knew, never did I ever intend on causing problems that got me in trouble in the past, and tonight was no different. They didn’t really know me, and I was not interested in letting anyone else in anymore either.

On my way down the staircase, I chuckled and shook my head as I heard Chelsea ranting about my bad attitude to Taylor. I stopped where I was and listened in on their conversation.

“Just try to be nice to her. She’s been through a lot. You know what happened,” Taylor said.

“Ha! Well, you’re not exactly brother of the year. I’m trying to be nice to her. I went up there to see if she was okay and she just about bit my freakin’ head off. Okay, maybe I should’ve handled it better, but I was just so caught off guard by her attitude, and it was more like a heat of the moment kind of thing.”

“Okay, well, make sure you apologize to her.”

“Of course, I will. You need to make sure that you apologize as well. What the hell were you thinking grabbing her up like that? You left a big bruise on her arm.”

I heard him exhale. “I lost it for a moment, okay. It’s not like I don’t feel bad about it. I let my worry for her well-being get in the way, and when she refuses to listen about her excessive drinking, I get frustrated. I’ve been dealing with her partying ways since I was a teenager; more so me than my father, because he worked so much. I guess I don’t really have that much tolerance for it anymore. I want her to be okay. I don’t want her turning to drinking anymore, but I don’t know how to help her either.”

“Gee, Taylor, that’s a bit hypocritical. You turned to alcohol just like she did.”

“Oh, come on; I wasn’t as bad as she is now. I certainly didn’t become dependent on it either.”

“Did you ever try to talk to her about the incident? Maybe then she wouldn’t have this habit.”

“I tried, and so did my father. She wouldn’t talk about it. She pushed us away. She said she wanted to forget, and I didn’t press the issue because she was already miserable. I didn’t want to set her off, so I let her be. Maybe that was a mistake, though. I don’t know. I was only a kid myself.”

I wanted to leave. I didn’t feel like dealing with the apologies and family drama. I just wanted to go out with Andie and have a good time. If I wanted to avoid the talk, I had to get to the door without them noticing; and they were still engaged in conversation, so now was the perfect time to make my escape. I eased my way down the staircase, and tip toed as fast as I could to the door. I snuck a look at them as I passed the living room, hoping they wouldn’t catch me as I walked by.

As I opened the door, I let out a gasp and jumped as Taylor’s hand slammed it shut.

“What the hell!” I shrieked.

How did he even get to me so fast? I thought for sure I was going to make it.

“I’m sorry.”

I scowled at him. “Who are you? You’re not my brother, because he wouldn’t hurt me.”

He frowned as remorse filled his eyes. “You know I didn’t mean to hurt you. There are a lot of things about me that I’m not sure I’m ready for you to know just yet.”

“You’ve changed.”

“I’m still the same Taylor. I’ve only changed toward you. Besides, I’m not the only one who has changed.”

I really just wanted to leave and the only way he was going to let me go was if I accepted his apology.

I gave a half-smile. “Okay, apology accepted. I have to meet Andie.”

He scowled. “Could you at least have one day where you don’t have to go out and get shit faced?”

I shrugged. “Who said I was going to get shit faced? I could be going out to dinner, who knows.”

His brows rose as he smirked. “Really? Alcohol always works its way into your plans. It’s your best friend. Besides, where in the hell do you think you’re going dressed like that?” He looked me up and down in disapproval.

I rolled my eyes. Oh God, his over-protectiveness was going to suffocate me.

I looked down at my outfit. “What’s wrong with it?”

“You look like a hooker in it.”

I gasped. “I do not!”

“I’m burning that outfit.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Don’t fight it, Paige. It’s going to happen.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that, buddy.”

“Come on; I ordered Pizza. Why don’t you come sit down and watch a movie with us? One night in the house isn’t going to kill you.”

I groaned as he grabbed my arm and pulled me into the living room.

“But it
will
kill me.”

He chuckled. “Well, in that case, I’ll make sure I sneak some booze in your casket for the afterlife.”

I let him think he won at the moment when, really, I had plans to go out, regardless.

Chelsea was sitting down on the tan, leather recliner couch eating a brownie. She gave a half-smile as I sat down. “You’re not going to bite my head off again if I apologize, are you?”

I shook my head. “No. I wasn’t that nice to you, so I’m pretty sure I deserved it, anyway.”

“Okay, well, I’m sorry. I know you’re going through a lot, and I’m pretty sure you woke up with a massive hangover. I’ll try to be more considerate of your emotions, and I hope you can be more considerate of my emotions as well. I don’t have the best temper, and it’s been harder for me to control since I got pregnant, okay?”

I nodded. “Absolutely.”

Taylor took a seat next to Chelsea, his eyes lighting up at the sight of her brownie. “Oh, look, a brownie.”

She growled and moved her brownie away from him as he leaned over to take a bite. “No, my brownie! You know you should never come between a pregnant woman and her chocolate.”

“Oh really?”

He gave a mischievous smile as he pushed her on her side, leaned over her, and grabbed her wrist. With much restraint from Chelsea, he pulled her hand to his mouth.

I smiled. Now this was the Taylor I knew. Fun and goofy.

“Taylor, no, this is my last brownie!”

She grabbed his hair and tried to push his head away, but failed. He was too determined to have that brownie.

“Chels, share the love. You ate almost the whole batch, and I only had one.”

“Taylor!” she shrieked.

His teeth chomped down on the brownie, ripping half of it off.

Chelsea pouted. “You big douche. Your daughter is very angry with you; you stole her dessert.”

Satisfied, Taylor grinned as he chewed his food.

My phone began to ring. I pulled it out of my hand bag and declined the call, sending it right to voicemail. It was Andie. I was sure she was calling to see if I left the house yet. Because I couldn’t tell her what I was going to do over the phone, I decided to text her my plan instead, telling her I would meet her in a few minutes and to stay by the end of the driveway so Taylor and Chelsea couldn’t see her.

I looked up from my phone as the front door opened. My heart quickened and I was suddenly a ball of nerves as Eli, looking hot as ever with a tight, navy blue shirt on that complimented his toned body, and a black hat that he wore backward on his head, entered the living room.

As his eyes found mine, his lips raised into a smile. An unfamiliar warmth settled inside of me. My angel had arrived.

His eyes ran down my body, lingering on me. And I could see it, though it was just a hint of desire, as he met my gaze once more.

“Hey,” he said.

I smiled as my cheeks warmed. “Hi.” Damn him for being so cute.

“You like what you see?” Taylor said.

My eyes widened with embarrassment as I looked at my brother. I couldn’t believe Taylor just called me out on my attraction to him, but that was all it was, though; an attraction. I didn’t expect it to turn into anything, nor did I want it to.

Chelsea elbowed him hard in the ribs, making him wince.

I narrowed my eyes as I had a sudden urge to piss him off for putting me in the spotlight. “Absolutely.”