Wolf (A Little Red Riding Hood Retelling) (Brother's best friend romance) Read online

  “I don’t want to know.”

  “I wasn’t going to tell.” His face lights up in a sly smile, and I shiver with disgust.

  I make us coffee then place the mugs on the table. “So, did you manage to shift things around and come hang out with me?”

  He shifts in his seat and I already know the answer. “We’re signing a new client this morning, and once that’s done …”

  “It’s okay.”

  He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, sips on his coffee then stands, “I have to get ready…”

  “Go.” I give him a tired smile.

  It is okay. I don’t mind being all alone in a new apartment, that doesn’t belong to me, three days after finding out my boyfriend of two months was a lying, cheating dick monkey.

  I wrap my hands around my cup and decide that pity parties are for losers, and I’m not going to be one today. I would save that label for another time. I’ll grab my sketch pad and go find inspiration and maybe some sunshine. I don’t need people to make me feel less alone.

  I stare at my cup until it blurs, then finish my coffee. I hear Hunter leaving the shower and suddenly I’m gripped with the need to wash myself.

  I head for the shower where I stand under the hot water letting the angry stream wash away the last few days.

  I want to stand there forever. I want to let the water erode my humiliation and shame. I can feel it drilling into me, about to crack open the well of emotions I’ve been keeping shut, when someone pounds on the door.

  “Hurry the fuck up.” Wolf’s angry voice radiates through the door.

  “I’m almost done,” I call back to him, realising I haven’t even started to wash. I grab the soap and start scrubbing.

  “Not almost, now! I have to get to work.”

  “Just hang on,” I scream at him as I throw some shampoo into my palms and start scrapping my scalp like a crazy person.

  “You have one minute or I’m ripping the door off its hinges and coming inside! I have a meeting to get to.”

  Heat explodes in my core at the thought of Wolf bursting into the shower, but I quickly douse the fire with painful memories.

  I run conditioner through my hair when he pounds again, “Tick-tock, Red.”

  I run my hands through my hair in a growing panic, I suddenly feel like a very small pig in a house made of straw and the big bad wolf is about to huff and puff and blow the door down.

  I turn off the tap feeling the remains of conditioner in my hair, it will dry later and will either make my hair super soft or ultra-crusty; I guess only time will tell. I grab my towel, wrap it around me and swing the door open just as Wolf starts pounding again.

  His sweaty face is set in a scowl and his eyes land on my face, then trail my neck down to where my hand clutches the towel closed.

  “Excuse me.” I nudge by him, my shoulder sliding against his hard body. I ignore the shiver that runs up my spine and trudge to my room. I close the door behind me and lean against it panting. Fuck. Why does being around him still make me so fucking nervous, like I was that night.

  Disappointment eats up my skin as the memories flood back inside me. My heart pinches with pain and I let loose a long breath. If only my body would forget the past, the promise he never kept. Maybe then I could move on and not have to pretend that he doesn’t affect me.

  Wolf

  I’m glued to the floor. I can’t shake her. Her smell is everywhere and so is her stuff. I rip my sweaty clothes off my body, step through the steamy veil into the shower and cut the water on.

  I smirk when I spot her open shampoo bottle on the floor—discarded in a hurry. When I pick it up to close it, I can’t help myself but inhale the fruity smell that I’ve come to associate with her. It’s been so long since I’ve smelt it in such powerful concentration, my whole body grows rigid like a cold finger just ran a path up my back and left an icy trail.

  I step under the hot water letting it pelt my tingling skin. I wait for its magic to work, for the streaming rivulets flowing down my face to help me forget, set my mind into a dreamy fog, and let all my dirty thoughts spill into the drain.

  But the memories nick at my heart and won’t stay buried in their coffin. Just having her in this city pulls everything back to the surface; all the ways my body wants hers and my heart craves her. But it doesn’t matter, Hunter’s threats and my guilt gnaw at me. She’ll never be mine. I won’t let the way I feel about her take away the only family I’ve ever had.

  I grind my teeth and wash my aching body, dreading the day ahead.

  11

  Red

  The morning passes in cold white walls and tiled floors. My phone slices the silence of the apartment. I’ve been pacing. Nothing feels like it’s mine. I feel like I’m a hostage in a building with too many ‘no access’ areas.

  “Hi.”

  “Hey, Red.” By the tone of Hunter’s voice, I know it’s not good news.

  “What’s up? You gonna be home soon?”

  He’s silent for a beat too long, and I know the answer. I sigh.

  “I can’t. Actually, have to leave for a few days.”

  “What?” I shout into the phone.

  “The client needs to fly out and I’m head of his security team, it’s just what we signed up for Red.”

  “So, send Wolf.”

  “Doesn’t work like that, he has his own clients. Anyway, I’d feel better about it if there was someone there watching over you.”

  “I don’t need him to watch over me, I don’t need anyone—"

  “—not really up to you.”

  “Hunter.” I grind my teeth, this conversation feels awfully familiar.

  “Shit, I was hoping to do this in person…” He trails off for a second, moving the conversation into a new direction, and I already know what’s coming.

  “You don’t have to say it - again.” I stop him before he does.

  “Don’t I?”

  “I know. I owe you. I need to get my shit together blah blah blah.”

  He doesn’t answer, like he’s nodding on the other end, forgetting I can’t see him.

  “How long will you be away?

  “About a week.”

  “A week?”

  “It’s not that long and you’ll have company, you guys used to be good friends.”

  I scoff, “He was never my friend.”

  “It will be just like old times.” But I don’t want it to be like old times. I wilt. “Just play nice. I have to go. Try get along and maybe get a job?”

  “Ugh. See you when you get back.” I hang up, not letting him have the last word, knowing the annoyance will churn in his stomach on whatever flight he’s going to endure.

  A smile flickers across my face at the thought. It’s a small victory, but one I’ll happily enjoy.

  I look around and sigh. Now that I have nothing to wait around for, I grab my backpack from my room and head out to the tube station.

  The station is a teeming mass of humanity, a murky consume of people shouldering past each other, rushing to live their lives in hyper speed. Somehow being on the platform finally cements the fact that I’m back home. It’s all so familiar; the noise and smell and leering angry glances of everyone competing for space on the metal worm that will take us to our next destination. Even the crude graffiti made me smile.

  The train shakes beneath my feet, and the passengers sway along with the movement like we’re a strange living wave. They all have blank empty faces. I study them as they lock eyes with anything but another human and wait till they can get off and on with their day.

  The train comes to a stop with a whine and a hiss, I mind the gap and meander my way to the escalators.

  I squint when I step out of the station. The sun is beautiful, and the air holds the autumnal bite that stings my cheeks as I make my way to Hyde Park. It’s always been one of my favourite places. A green haven teeming with life, I always found inspiration in its ever-changing landscape and colours. Jailed by
concrete, this green mass blooms in splendour.

  The bench is dwarfed by the giant oak which casts a long shadow across the walking path, allowing the sun to bathe the beautiful sculpture on the other end.

  I sit on the bench and pull out my sketch pad and a pencil, and soon I disappear into the page.

  My phone rings and I’m dragged away from my pad, the cherub face smiles back at me from my pad.

  “Hello?” I don’t recognise the number.

  “Why aren’t you home?” Wolf growls at me.

  “Because I don’t want to be.”

  “Hunter told you to wait for me.”

  “No, he told me he has to leave for a week, and I’ll be stuck with you. Not the same.”

  “Where are you?” He snaps.

  “Somewhere you’ll never find me.” I hang up and tuck the phone back into my backpack pretending I can’t hear it ring.

  After the fifth try he gives up, and I hear the ping of a message. I ignore that too.

  12

  Wolf

  I hate how predictable she is. And it’s not because she’s boring or stupid, it’s because she’s passionate and that passion takes her to the same place it always has. My heart stings with a stab of memory and I push it away. Like every other feeling I’ve ever had for her.

  I find her curled up on a bench, her shoulders hunched, her eyes squinted as her hands move in a delighted frenzy over her sketch pad.

  I step closer. She doesn’t notice me. She’s so deep in her own world, and for a second, I wish I could see it through her eyes, a beautiful array of colours and shapes and voids to fill with her talent. She rips her gaze from the page and studies the sculpture across the path, Peter Pan—her favourite. My heart constricts as she studies him with intense concentration, her pencil darting in and out of her mouth making my cock twitch as she rolls it around along her lips.

  I clear my throat. She startles, looks up, and her eyes land on me, instantly narrowing.

  “How did you find me?”

  I stare at her like an idiot, completely drawn to her lips. When I don’t answer she rolls her eyes, and I wrench my eyes away.

  “I told you I don’t need a babysitter,” she starts.

  “It’s a free world and I’ve just come to enjoy a stroll in the park.”

  She trails an annoyed path along my face and shakes her head, returning her attention to the boy who never grew up.

  I stroll over to the bench and sit down right next to her. It’s the closest I can allow myself to get.

  She turns her back to me, and I can’t help but smirk at her irritation—it rises off her like steam.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Sitting.” Stalking.

  “Can you go away?”

  “I can.” I shrug and don’t move. Instead, I stretch my hands out over the bench, enjoying being close to her, even when I know I shouldn’t be.

  She bristles and brings her legs up. A smile tugs at my lips and I look ahead as we sit. The pencil hits her pad and she sinks back into a trance as her hand sketches across the paper. She doesn’t even notice as she relaxes and leans against me. But I do. My fingers could so easily reach out and stroke her naked shoulder.

  My body is way too aware of hers, of how it’s changed since the last time I saw her. How all the teenage marks of womanhood have shed away, and what’s left is a woman’s body, all curves and dips and holes I’d love nothing more than to explore for the rest of eternity. My cock jerks at the thought and a dark ball of sensation builds in my chest.

  I clear my throat and shoot up, erasing the thought. Red falls backwards and her hands flail, her pencil marks a long black line across her work. Her eyes latch onto mine and she gives me a death glare.

  “Let’s go.”

  “I’m not done.”

  “You are.”

  “No, I’m not.” She gives me a scathing look and goes back to her pad.

  “I’m not fucking around here Red, you’ve had enough time. Now it’s getting late and I have work to do, and I say we need to go.” It’s not that she needs a babysitter, and it’s not that I actually need to be here or watch her, but it’s easy to twist Hunter’s words and use them for an excuse to be around her. Lying to her is easier than lying to myself.

  “So, go.”

  “If you don’t stuff that pad back into your bag and get up, I will pick up you up off this bench and carry you over my shoulder.” I don’t have to be so cruel and I have nowhere to be, but siting next to her is making me spiral.

  “You wouldn’t”

  “Try me?” I look down at her and wish with every fibre of my being that little Red would decide to fight me like she always did. I want my fingers to slither up her thighs and hold on to her fleshy ass, feel the weight of her above me as her perky tits hit my back. The thought sends my cock reeling.

  Red snatches her pad and shoves it into her backpack then makes a show of zipping her bag and standing up. All the while shooting me fierce looks that make my body so hard, I grind my teeth till my jaw hurts.

  “Lead the way,” she taunted me with a heated stare and a wave of her hand.

  I turn to walk away and Red takes the chance to stomp off in the opposite direction. A small smile tugs at my lips then vanishes. Red will always fight.

  I follow at a safe distance admiring how her body moves in space, all curves and femininity.

  Maybe if I spend enough time with her today, I’ll realise that all this time I’ve spent trying to avoid and forget her was unnecessary, and that she’s just bland and boring and has always been more of an infatuation than anything else. Maybe I only want her because I know I could never have her.

  But even as I try to talk myself into disliking her, I’m drawn to the way she moves and the way she looks at things—like she’s taking everything in, storing it for later just to bring it back to life on paper.

  I hate how she intrigues me and how I crave to know even more about her, everything there is to know. Every speck and crumb of information she would throw my way, I want to devour and keep for myself.

  Most of all, I hate that the more I think about it, the more I know how much I still want her, how her smell does things to my body on a molecular level, how her smile makes me fight every impulse to taste her lips, how her skin makes mine simmer with savage desire, and how none of it matters because she is Hunter’s little sister and that means she’s off limits.

  Nothing has changed. His warning echoes inside me.

  Besides, she deserves someone better than me.

  Red speeds up, exits the park, and takes a sharp right disappearing out of sight. I roll my eyes and start after her.

  I don’t need to run; I know exactly where she’s going.

  I get to the tube station and scan the crowd, the advantage of being my height is that I can see over everyone. I spot her backpack; it peaks behind a column and I can’t help but be amused by her silly little games. Doesn’t she know I will always find her?

  We get on the tube and it shakes beneath us as it shoots out of the station. I get the usual suspicious looks, and everyone gives me a wide berth. It’s another advantage of being tall and broad, and a little battle weary—people can read that on you, and they stay the fuck away. Red sits on the opposite side of the carriage, pretending I don’t exist. The space between us makes it easier to think again.

  She walks ahead of me when we head home, giving me her back and her silence. I unlock the door for her and she barrels inside, side steps me, and goes straight to her room.

  I close the door and clench my fists. I wish I was anywhere else than here with her.

  13

  Red

  I’ve locked myself up in the room like a child, and I’m furious at myself. Why should I be punished because he’s here?

  I draw in a breath and reach for my door. All I have to do is forget our history, forget our pain, forget how he used to make me feel every time he walked into a room.

  I stroll out
and find him in the kitchen, he’s pacing with a phone glued to his ear and a laptop open on the table. Words like ‘shifts’ and ‘per hour’ drift into the lounge room and blend with the voices that spill from the TV.

  I’m not really listening. My heart pounds so hard, it drowns everything out anyway. He’s not even in the same space and I’m falling apart.

  When he walks into the lounge he sighs and falls into the couch. He looks too big to be sitting in it, all tangled, long limbs. It’s almost comical. I stand up to leave and a strange look crosses his face.

  He stands up and blocks my way.

  “You can’t keep avoiding me if we’re going to be living together.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t encroach on your space too much.” I try to move around him but he’s too quick for me.

  “That’s not what I meant,” he says and runs a hand over his face.

  “It’s fine, get out of my way please.”

  “Not till we talk this over.”

  “Nothing to talk about.”

  “Red,” he warns me.

  “I have nothing to say to you Wolf.” I watch how it stings when I throw his nickname at him. “You made your feelings about me perfectly clear.” I try to storm past him, and he snatches my arm, his fingers biting into my flesh as he spins me to face him.

  “Red…”

  “No.”

  “Stop fighting me.”

  “Never!”

  He growls deep in his throat and his face twists into something menacing, “This doesn’t have to be so difficult.”

  I try to tug away from him but he’s too strong, and his fingers dig deeper. “Let. Me. Go.”

  “Fine,” he growls and releases me; I stumble backwards and my back hits the kitchen counter. He scowls when I wince, “Keep carrying your stupid grudge. It was one little betrayal, years go.”

  I freeze at the harsh cadence of his words and my insides shrivel. My gaze finds his angry eyes, “It was more than that, I trusted you,” I whisper and swallow all the hurt that tries to scramble into my throat.