After Curfew

Chapter 10 - Smoke

Chapter 10 - Smoke

It took a lot of convincing but after twenty minutes of begging, the boys finally gave in and let me keep the puppy. I even forced them each to pet him and even though they would never admit it, I could tell that the little guy was growing on them.

"Bye guys, I'll be back soon." Christian said grabbing his keys as he made his way to the door. Slate and I were currently feeding Rolex (yes we named the dog after an expensive wristwatch manufacturing company) some canned tuna because that was all we could find in the cabinets.

"Where are you going at 1 o'clock in the morning?" I asked with clear amusement.

"To get my needs fulfilled." Christian replied turning and giving me a suggestive wink. "I was supposed to go over an hour ago, but someone had us worried." He finished and I stuck my tongue out at him in response right before he left the apartment leaving Slate and I alone with Rolex.

I picked Rolex up off the floor and I was painfully aware of Slate's piercing gaze on the back of my head as I made my way to the couch. I sat down and let Rolex sit on the couch next to me where he started to get comfortable. I could hear Slate walking towards me but I continued petting Rolex, not looking up. Slate sat down on the coffee table so that he was directly in front of me.

"Willow." He said his tone both soft and demanding. I didn't reply and I didn't look at him. I had a feeling I knew where this was going...

"Look at me." Slate said his tone almost begging, and I felt my body react to his mesmerizing voice. Before I knew what was happening, Slate had his fingers under my chin and he softly turned my head so my eyes met his. I didn't flinch away from Slate's touch, unlike Rage's it was soft yet possessive in the most innocent sense of the phrase.

"How did you get home?" He asked me and I could tell by his tone of voice that he already knew the answer. Once he saw my expression his face softened. "I didn't mean for it to come out like I'm some overbearing parent, I know you can take care of yourself. I just know there's some immature asshole's who hangout near here and the thought of any of them laying a hand on you makes me want to drive my fist through a cement wall." He said his jaw clenched by the time he was finished talking.

I debated on whether I should tell him about the boys I encountered, then decided against it. They hardly touched me and I didn't need him getting worked up over nothing. I also hate playing the damsel in distress...Without thinking I ran my thumb and index finger over my ear piercing. As soon as I realized I did it I pulled my hand away slowly trying to play if off but when I locked eyes with Slate I knew he caught me.

"What aren't you telling me?" He asked quizzically but before I had the chance to answer he grabbed my arm and brought it towards his face. "How the f*ck did you get this?" He said motioning to my wrist where the skin was bright red and already starting to bruise. Anger was rolling off of him in waves and I hesitated before answering as I tried to decide what would be the best way to go about this.

"Funny story." I finally responded letting out a nervous laugh. Apparently that was the wrong answer because he stood up abruptly and started pacing back and forth trying to calm himself down. I was scared of what he was going to do next, not because I thought he would ever hurt me, I knew he wouldn't, but he had just said he would punch a cement wall and we were surrounded by a fair few.

"Continue." He said pausing to look at me.

"It's not a big deal, I ran into a group of boys who...weren't in their right minds...and one of the guys stopped me by grabbing my wrist but then they let me go, it's fine, I'm fine." I said giving him a reassuring smile. As if I'd predicted what was going to happen, the next thing I knew Slate was driving his fist through the wall. He pulled his arm out revealing a huge hole in the wall. I looked at his hand and noticed it was red, I had no doubt he was going to have bruised knuckles in the morning.