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

  He says nothing, like everything I say bounces right off him.

  “You. You knew how lonely I was, how abandoned I felt, especially after my grandma…” I suck in a ragged breath, “You were the first person to look at me like I was more.”

  I swallow all the pain as he looks at me like it’s the first time he’s ever seen me.

  “You made me feel… More. You gave me hope and you snatched it away in the cruellest possible way.”

  Our eyes collide and a single tear slices my cheeks, “It wasn’t a little betrayal. It was the biggest, and it broke everything. You were meant to be my everything and instead, you destroyed me.”

  With that I turn away from him and return to my room.

  This isn’t going to work.

  14

  Wolf

  I watch her walk away and my heart crumples at the pain on her face. Pain I caused. Pain she’s been carrying with her all these years.

  Fuck.

  A heavy groan rips from my mouth and remorse pinches at my gut as I glare at the deserted corridor. The house feels empty, even with two heartbeats.

  I need to make peace with Red. I have to make this work, just till she gets herself back on her feet and leaves. Then things can get back to how they were. She can be happy and I can go back to fucking randoms—to help me forget about her. Again.

  My stomach growls and I’m guessing she’d be hungry too.

  In the kitchen, I scour around the cupboards and open and close the fridge aimlessly. When I slap the last cupboards closed, I grab my phone and dial the Chinese shop. I order the Peking duck for myself and a chicken chow mein with two extra portions of spring rolls. Her favourite.

  I nod to myself, happy with the effort, then sit and watch the clock like I have nothing better to do. But, food means an excuse to go knock on Red’s door and coax her out, and maybe even have a conversation while I get to look at her face, the delicate contours of her lips, and the deep soulful emerald of her eyes.

  The doorbell finally rings, and I grab the plastic bags, pay the delivery guy and set the containers on the table.

  I edge to her room and stare at the door like an idiot for a second before I pound on it, “Red.”

  It swings open and my body stalls for a second when she stands on the other side, her eyes burning with unshed tears. She sniffs in a tattered breath and her fingers lace together then pick at her shirt.

  I clear my throat and take a step back, “I got us some food.”

  “I’m not a hungry little girl anymore Wolf, you don’t need to feed me.”

  “Don’t be like that. I got your favourite, chow mein with extra spring rolls.” Her eyes grow wide for a second.

  “Yeah, I’m good thanks.” She goes to close the door, but I shove my foot in the gap and force it open. She stumbles backwards, and I reach for her. My hands land on her delicate waist and I draw her to me. My body instantly hardens, and I get a whiff of her strawberry shampoo.

  She claws at my hand, “Let me go!”

  “Come eat with me!” I growl drawing her closer, trying to quell the anger in my voice, but I can’t. It floods through me with crushing force and I know it’s not anger I’m feeling but bitter disappointment—at myself. I’m trying to be the good guy, trying to pretend that everything I ever felt for her stopped that night, but she’s fighting me, goading me, making it fucking impossible. I have a gnawing need to take care of her. I need her to forgive me.

  “Get one of your whiney girls to eat with you,” she sneers and shoves away from my touch. “You can screw her afterwards too.”

  “I don’t screw whiney girls.”

  “Pffft, that’s all you screw.”

  “What the fuck are you on about?”

  “All those chicks you fuck, just to ghost them the next day… You’re the same asshole you’ve always been.”

  I snort and wonder how the hell the conversation derailed this far off its tracks. “Whatever.”

  “The only reason they sleep with you is cause little girls sleep with little boys.” She digs, trying to hurt me.

  “Watch yourself Red.”

  “Or what? The big bad wolf is going to run away and come back in the morning?” She taunts and fury flares inside me.

  In a swift, savage move, I grab her shoulder and throw her against the wall where my hand curls around her neck. I lean down so I can look into her infuriating eyes, and we glare at one another, frozen in a silent, angry battle.

  “What are you going to do?” She smirks and swallows hard against my palm, her heartbeat thrashing beneath my fingers. My body tenses and my hand closes just another inch around her while the other rises to her shoulder, and my knuckles glide along her perfect hot skin. I relish the way she feels, though I’m bitterly aware that I’m perilously close to her. It’s too dangerous, her very presence makes me want to rip into her, to annihilate her senses and make her mine—like she’s always been.

  Red doesn’t back down, her eyes burn into mine.

  “Fuck,” I growl and release her. She has no idea what she’s doing to me. I storm out of her room and into the lounge. The food forgotten on the dining room table. I grab my keys and head for the door letting it slam behind me.

  My heart threatens to shatter my ribs and my nails dig into the flesh of my palms as my fists clench tighter. I suck in breath trying to calm the raging tempest of emotions that grows inside me. I step away from the house, needing to put distance between us, uncertain why I feel so rattled by her. I take off sprinting. My feet pound the ground as I dart along the darkening streets. I don’t want to think about anything—not how she felt or smelt or how her burning eyes looked at me with so much pain. I push myself, straining my body till my throat rasps and feet are too heavy, and then I push even harder till my heart screams and my lungs burn, and all I need is air.

  I jog back home and stare at the building while catching my breath. Yellow light from the lounge room spills onto the roadside. I suck in a galvanising breath then crack the door open.

  She’s on the couch, sketching again, lost in a world known only to her. Her earphones are pushed into her ears and she doesn’t notice me.

  My parched throat aches with thirst, I go to the kitchen and grab a drink. On the table, the plastic bags have been disassembled. A single spring roll lays abandoned on a plate and one of the containers is gone.

  I find it in the fridge.

  I gulp the rest of my water and swipe my t-shirt over my face, it comes away with a wet sweat stain. I walk back into the lounge and fall on the couch across from Red. For the first time, she sees me. She startles but doesn’t move as I shuffle closer to her. I reach for one of her earphones, pull it from her ear and push it into mine. Strange ambient music filters through the earpiece and I lean back into the couch, tension leaking from me and into the pillows.

  “What are you doing?” Red is still looking at me her big eyes suspicious and wary. She looks like prey that’s just been found by a very hungry predator.

  “I need to stop thinking,” I shrug and let my eyes close.

  “About what?”

  “About you.”

  Her sharp intake of breath makes my heart pinch. I ignore the sensation and sink into the music.

  15

  Ten years ago

  Wolf 18, Red 15

  Wolf

  I stroll into the house and spot Red sitting on the couch. As always, one leg crossed over the other, her sketch pad on her lap, her pencil rolling between her glistening red lips. I stare at them for a minute then shake myself awake as I find her looking at my face, a ghost of a smile tugs on her lips.

  “Brought dinner,” I hold up the containers. “Where’s Hunter?”

  “Thought he was with you?” She shrugs and her eyes dart back to her sketch.

  “Must be out with someone else.”

  “Must be,” her pencil brushes the page.

  “I brought dinner.”

  “You said that already.” She doesn’t
look up.

  “Well, do you want to come and eat with me before it gets cold?”

  “In a minute,” she says absentmindedly, “I just want to finish this.”

  She doesn’t look up as I walk to the kitchen and dump the food on the counter then plummet next to her on the couch. “What are you drawing?”

  Her head snaps up and her big green eyes land on my face, “Nothing.” She grabs the sketch pad and holds it close to her chest.

  “Don’t be like that, show me.”

  “No,” she whines and curls further away. It’s such a sweet sound it makes my body tighten, and I have to remind myself it’s not allowed to feel that way.

  “Come on, I won’t bite.” I lunge for her and she squeals rolling onto her stomach and into a small ball. I smother her with my bigger body and reach for the pad. And suddenly, I am way too aware of the way her body curves against mine and how soft her skin feels when I graze it and how she shudders when I touch her.

  “Let me see,” I growl in her ear.

  Her muffled ‘no’ amuses me.

  “Final warning, Red.”

  “Get off me,” she wriggles beneath me. “It’s not finished yet.”

  The way she says it piques my curiosity, and instead of letting her go like I should, my fingers find the delicate soft flesh over her hips and dig in. She shrieks in surprise and her body arches with the pain. I seize the moment, flip her over, pin her legs down with my body, then dig into her flesh again.

  She giggles and screams, and the sound sends a thousand electric volts into my cock—which is already hard.

  “Get off me,” she squirms beneath me trying to slither free, but I have her locked down.

  “Show me.” I dig my fingers in again and she shrieks with insane, beautiful laughter followed by irritated embarrassment.

  “Stop it, Wolf.”

  “Show me!”

  “Get off!” She struggles and tries to pry herself loose. This time I let myself lie on top of her, my larger body pinning her down into the couch.

  Her ragged breath is inches from my face, and I drop my forehead onto hers—all too aware of how she feels against me, all too aware of the way her mouth is inches away, and my cock is only a few cotton fibres away from being inside her. All too aware of how wrong this should feel, except that it feels a little too right.

  She gasps as she feels me, and I smirk covering up my sudden desperate need for my best friend’s little sister. “You can’t win, Red.”

  “It doesn’t mean I’m going to stop fighting.”

  “Why fight when you can just give in?” I whisper against her cheek and I wonder which one of us I’m actually asking. “Just give me what I want, and I’ll let you go.”

  “And what about what I want?” Her hips rise just a touch and she grind against my hard cock.

  My breath catches in my throat with her sudden move and my body stiffens. I shuffle slightly down, breaking the contact, needing to get away from how good she feels; except that she slides down after me and brushes against me, taunting, again and then a third time.

  Our hot breaths mingle as my cock swells and sensible thought is about to disappear. She smirks and I realise she’s playing a game. Anger flares and floods my veins, it’s an easier feeling to latch onto then disappointment. For a second, I thought she wanted me as much as I want her.

  In a swift movement I push up and rip her wrists from her body, the sketch pad falls to the floor and I roll off her, snatch it and stand.

  She’s on me a second later, clawing at my chest and neck as I hold the pad above my head knowing she’ll never reach it.

  “Give up Red.”

  “Give it to me.”

  “You want me to give it to you?” With one hand still above my head, I grab her and smash her into the wall. My body pins hers with cruel intention. She gasps and her mouth falls slightly open in a delectable pout and I can’t help myself, my lips graze hers, “I’ll give you everything Red,” I whisper.

  Her wide eyes lock with mine for a beat, and my heart ricochets in my chest before she pushes me away with all her strength. I take a small step back. Red slides beneath my hands and rushes upstairs. I hear her door slam behind her, my forehead kisses the wall while I catch my breath.

  What the fuck was that?

  I roll onto the wall and lean against it then look at her precious sketch pad. I was anticipating doodles, so what I saw took my breath away.

  An intricate and delicate pencil drawing of me.

  The boy on the paper looks directly at me, like he’s somehow looking right into my soul. Her haunting realism stings. Linear grey-black strokes that smash into powerful, blunt lines, tipped with darker, sharper, wirelike delineations that create a dramatic composition and stunning tonal shadings. The picture glares at me and a shaky breath rattles out of me as I find air in the suddenly oppressive room.

  I flip through her pad, searching through a few of the pages. Half-done drawings of fruit and other still lives, but none as delicate or intricate or loved or worked on as the one which held my image.

  For a second, I allow myself to wonder if Red did want the same things I did; maybe the girl who was growing up into a beautiful woman wanted to be mine as just much as I wanted to make her mine. Maybe she saw me as more than the guy who brings her food and hangs out with her brother.

  I take a steeling breath and take the stairs two at a time, stopping at her door. I knock and wait in the silence that followed.

  “Red?”

  “Go away.”

  “I’m coming in,” I say and push the door open.

  She’s sitting on the edge of her bed, staring out into the evening, the colours ink into murky shades of purple and dark blue. She doesn’t turn around.

  “Your artwork is amazing.”

  “It wasn’t for you to look at it, it was personal.”

  “But it’s stunning.”

  She turns to face me and her face burns with anger, “You shouldn’t have…”

  “You’re incredibly talented Red, why do you want to hide it away.”

  “I wasn’t hiding my talent…” she bites out the words. She says nothing more. Her burning wanting eyes lock with mine, like she can really see me behind all the masks I wear— all my desires I thought I’ve hidden so well.

  I clench my fists around the pad as I fill in the rest of her words. I want to reach for her, desperately, but I don’t because I crave her too much. She fills me with more. More emotion, more want, more desire, she’s not like the other empty girls.

  I step closer to the bed knowing I shouldn’t, “It’s beautiful.”

  She chews on her lower lip and her cheeks colour with crimson.

  “You could have just asked, I would have sat for you.”

  The crimson turns a shade darker and she shakes her head, “I don’t need you to sit for me, I know what you look like.”

  I nearly cave then, nearly wrap myself around her, make her mine, take away the burning ache in her voice. But I don’t. Instead, I break the cord that tethers us together in the moment, cause if I don’t … I throw away the thought.

  “Not in the nude,” I deadpan and the red in her cheeks burns hotter spreading down her neck.

  “No thanks, I’m creating art not horror movies.”

  I chuckle at her insult while my insides burn.

  “Can I have it back now?” Her voice breaks a little.

  I hold it out to her, and she snatches it away and clutches it to her chest.

  “You really are amazing.”

  She nods, “I’m going to apply to UADL.”

  “The arts university?”

  “It’s the best one in London, plus if I get a job and Hunter picks up some extra shifts.” she shrugs.

  Shit he hasn’t told her.

  “That’s great Red.” I grip the back of my neck to stop myself from reaching for her.

  “It will be.” She’s beaming at me.

  I’m about to tell her not to get
her hopes up when the front door opens.

  “Red?” Hunter’s voice echoes through the house. “Wolf?”

  He must have discovered the food I left in the kitchen.

  “Up here,” she calls, then by passes by me, our shoulders touch and I thrill at the feel of her skin.

  She runs downstairs and their muffled voices travel up to her room where I sit for a moment and stare at myself through her eyes.

  A shiver wracks up my body as I realise I’m done for.

  16

  Present Day

  Wolf

  When I wake up Red is gone. I stand up and the blanket that she threw over me pools at my feet. I glare at the fabric and my traitor heart wants to expand, like it thinks she might care about me. I snuff out the feeling, pick up the blanket and march to her room.

  She’s not there.

  “Fuck.” I mumble to myself and wonder how I managed to sleep twelve uninterrupted hours.

  I check my phone. Fourteen voicemails and a few emails. They’ll have to wait.

  I call Red.

  “Hello?” she puts on an innocent voice, like she doesn’t know who it is and the urge to strangle her returns.

  “Where the fuck are you?”

  “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the couch?”

  “Where?’

  “You didn’t get my note?”

  I hesitate and brush my hands over my face, “No.”

  “Awe, must be cause I didn’t leave one.”

  “Red,” I warn her, “where the hell are you?”

  “None of your business,”

  “Red—”

  “Find me if you can,” she taunts me before the line goes dead.

  “Fuck!” I growl into the empty corridor.

  I grab my phone and grind my teeth as I flick it open. I shut my eyes for a second then open up the tracking app Hunter installed on her phone the first night she arrived. It’s not like she needs a babysitter or that she can’t take care of herself, it’s just that I know she’ll be safer if I was around. At least that’s what I can keep telling myself.