Taming A Predator

Chapter 34

Doe's POV:

Spring was approaching rather quickly and today showed it nicely.

Grabbing my book, I'd gone out into the garden and settled myself down onto the grass, leaning back against the thick trunk of a tree.

Putting on a sleeveless turtle-neck and long jeans to hide the remnants of what Xander left behind.

I found the perfect spot where the light from the sun got to my body, but the branches shaded my face.

The touch of the sun gave such a perfect warmth to my skin, allowing me peace to crack down on this book.

And felt great against my still-aching legs days later.

Since apparently being in my room was too much of a distraction, even when Xander had stuff to do like today, I wanted to give this a try.

Which is why when Marcus showed up and sat next to me, only to fall asleep against it a few moments later, I didn't mind.

He'd seemed more exhausted lately ever since that incident with Khloe, so I let him be.

I'd gotten nearly an hour's worth of reading done this way, so I'd say that it was effective.

And this book was entertaining, to say the least.

The main girl absolutely despised the dude in this book. At least outwardly.

Reading her thought process showed something different, however, and the conflict of both was what got me interested.

"Oh, there you guys are!"

My head lifted at the sound of Khloe's voice, seeing her step into the gardens with a book of her own wrapped in her arms.

Marcus squinted his eyes open as well, intertwining his fingers and stretching out his arms.

"I was wondering if you were gonna show up," I chastised, patting the grass to my right side since Marcus already occupied my left.

She took it with a quiet giggle, settling in quickly, "Yeah sorry. Nico and I got a late start, and I wanted to get something to eat before trying to find you two."

"One and a half," I corrected, jerking a thumb to my left, "Marcus here is barely conscious,"

If his job has got him this tired, then I'm sure Khloe and I will be able to guard him from his responsibilities for a little bit.

"Very true," He muttered, leaning his head back onto the tree.

Khloe just smiled at his groggy response, "I'll take what I can get when it comes to the three of us getting to hang out together."

Her eyes fell to the open pages on my lap.

"Whatcha reading?"

"Oh uh-" I kept my thumb on the page I left off on before closing the book to show her the cover page.

She gasped before I could finish.

"I love that one!" She beamed, "Those two are absolutely ridiculous in the beginning though. Acting all avoidant with one another even though its completely obvious that they're painfully in love with each other." She grumbled her frustration towards the end there.

I just blinked at her excitement for a moment.

Well, obviously I've been missing something then.

"They are?"

She looked surprised by my confusion.

"Well, yeah," She glanced down to where my thumb was, gauging my progress in the book, "I'm pretty sure it's at least a little bit present by where you are."