❦ღ❦   

ღEASTONღ  

You might think it's creepy when I say this... but I have been lying in bed for almost an hour now just watching Red sleep. 

Raising up on an elbow, I rested my head a bit on my shoulder, admiring the slow rise and fall of his back. With his head turned away, the sunlight peering through the window and revealed the different shades of red in his hair. It was pretty fascinating to stare at.

I couldn't help it when my hand rose, letting my fingertips barely graze along his spine. I think I've counted and memorized by now that Red had exactly three moles on his back; one on the back of his left shoulder, another on his right side, and then the last one directly in the middle of the small of his back. 

I think that one was my favorite. 

Red was just my favorite. 

My fingers grazed down his skin again, his body unmoved which indicated he was still in deep sleep. I tried not to shift around too much, just so he could stay asleep. It might sound corny, but... I really liked this moment. In fact, I never thought I'd have a moment like this where I'd enjoy waking up next to someone.

Red has been staying at my place for half a week. And let me tell you that I had a lot of making up to do during that time and it was worth every fucking minute. 

Trying to make it upstairs without tripping over my feet while in the middle of a makeout with Red was difficult, but we managed. I kept chuckling and cursing to myself between our desperate kisses when I'd knock myself into either the wall or the stairway. 

Red found less humor in it. I only say this because I'd never seen someone so fucking aggressive in my life. 

When we had reached the top of the stairs, he'd shoved me hard against the door of my room and I barely had a second to blink and register the heated look in those brown eyes prior to him grabbing the sides of my face and locking our mouths together. 

A growl escaped me, the thrill of where this was going tingling every part of my body. When I pulled back a bit, my face still held in his hands, I opened my eyes. Red grinned, looking my face over before muttering, "Gold is a good color on you." 

Lip curling, I felt my wolf vision focus even more on him before growling, "Yeah... but I think me on top of you is even better."

Normally, Red would have laughed---that uncomfortable laugh he'd get because of how shy he was with my blunt responses. But not this time. My words just seemed to set ablaze the spark in Red. He just nodded frantically. 

"Yeah..." he panted in between kisses, "Let's make that happen."

It was a side to Red that was... well... hot.

And between making out against the wall to finally getting behind my bedroom door was aggravating only because I couldn't get him out of his clothes fast enough. But, dammit, it was fucking worth it once I finally got him where I wanted.

The corner of my lip curled upward remembering the way Red pleaded that he couldn't take it anymore. How his fingers gripped the bedsheets while he couldn't control the panting cries and long moans. 

He was beautiful to watch every time. 

So now that I'm just lying here watching him sleep, it is still hard to believe that he was actually here again. With me. I don't think I could be any happier than these past days where I had Red all to myself. I didn't have to share him and I didn't have to worry about him leaving because he was mine again. 

My gaze followed my fingers grazing down his spine again. This time, I made it to the small of his back where a fingertip circled around the freckle-looking mole. I glanced at Red whose shoulders tensed a bit, rolling back.

I grinned, removing my hand and chuckled, "Red... Red, are you awake now?"

The redhead groaned, his head moving slowly and shifted so that his forehead rested on the mattress. Just briefly. Then he turned his head to rest it on the mattress again but facing me. 

One of those brown eyes opened, making him wince from the sunlight hitting his face now. He groaned again, pushing himself a little on his elbows and squinted around the room. Amused, I watched him do this; squinting at one side of the room like he didn't recognize any of it then turned to the other side to do the same thing.

"What are you doing, Red?" I laughed, lowering a brow at his odd behavior. 

Red's nose scrunched, lifting his gaze to mine and hoarsely replied with his own question.

"Why are you smiling so fucking early in the morning?"

I raised a brow, grinning even more before telling him that it was close to one in the afternoon. So it wasn't early. At all.

He raised a hand, his fingers rubbing away sleepiness from his eye. His face scrunched into a frown once he dropped his hand to stare at me again. He blinked once... twice... then lowered himself back to the mattress. 

"You creep." Shutting his eyes, he muffled out, "I'm going back to sleep. Nite."

"C'mon, Reeeed..." I drolled out, bending to kiss his shoulder then tilted my head to see him peer an eye open. "I think we've spent enough time sleeping, don't you think?"

He didn't move other than frowning and scoffed, "I don't know in what damn world you live in, Ease, but I'm pretty damn sure that we spent enough time doing something but it definitely wasn't fucking sleep." 

Then Red sniffed, "You wouldn't let me."

I laughed, shrugging a shoulder that I couldn't get enough of him so he should sue me.

"I just might," he huffed, turning on his back and winced. He slowly leaned to the side as he grumbled, "I feel sorer than when we slept together the first time!" 

"Well, yeah, Red. That's because I was taking it easy on you. It was your first time. Ever." 

He shot me a look, muttering under his breath something about me being lucky that he liked me so much.

"Correction, Red." His brown eyes looked my way. I smirked, "You love me."

Red's nose scrunched, eyeing me for a moment before sighing with a shrug of his shoulder, "You'll do, I guess." 

He fought the smile tugging at his lips from my scowl. A low growl vibrated out, switching my vision that made the redhead's brow rise. 

"Ohhhh no! Not again, Ease. I just got done telling you that I am hurting all over and you have that fucking look in your eye where I know where this is going!"

I raised a brow, inching towards him. 

Just seeing the way he swallowed and was rising onto his elbows to push himself back satisfied me that I was able to make him so nervous. He was in the middle of trying to fend me off but I mean... C'mon. Let's be real.

With Red cornered against the headboard behind him, I was able to hover over him; our faces centimeters apart. I caressed my nose along his jaw, feeling him tense from that alone. 

"That's the problem, Red. You know where this is going..." I mumbled, pressing my lips down the side of his neck for a moment. "You know what's going to happen..." 

His chest was already rising and falling a bit quicker though he was trying to hide it. I didn't stop teasing him though; continuing to leave tender kisses down the side of his neck, between his collarbones. I left a small trail down the middle of his chest, whispering against his skin, "So why fight it?"

His response was not verbal. I felt his fingers slipping into my hair while I was focused on the biting kisses that made him shiver. 

Red swallowed, panting, "May---Maybe I---Oh, Jesus..." 

I glanced upward from making my way down his stomach. 

"Maybe I... I like fighting with you," he finally breathed out, tilting his head back with a groan. 

Chuckling, I nodded against his skin, "Yeah... I know, Red." then rose up to stare at his frowning face from me momentarily halting. His cheeks were red as they would get when he was being worked up and that face he was making was a silent-tell that he wanted me to continue... he needed me to continue.

Placing a small peck on his lips, I grinned, "Why that face?"

Red narrowed his eyes, lifting his chin and clenched his jaw as that stare of his remained silent. His nose scrunched, slowly shaking his head while raising a hand towards my face. I could feel his finger tracing along my jaw as I watched him following his own hand. 

When his gaze met mine, Red had this soft look that kind of made my head jerk back a little. Grinning, I questioned what he was staring at. 

"I'm just thinking how..." came out softly, his gaze following his fingers tracing my face again. "How lost you were these past years without your sister."

My brow rose, turning my head a bit while eyeing him. 

Red sighed, shrugging a shoulder. He hadn't noticed the look I was giving him since he was still letting his fingers graze along my shoulder. 

"And how difficult it must have been for you to have to open up to someone you didn't want to. That kind of... kind of was like a reflection of myself and I didn't even know it." 

His brown eyes lifted to mine. 

"I really am the red fish."

I frowned, blinking a few times while looking upward and trying to scramble through my brain of what the hell he was talking about. When I squinted up at the ceiling, reminding Red that Bodhi was not red, but gold a small smile crept on his lips. 

A small laugh escaped him, shaking his head and sighed, "No..." and raked his fingers through the front of my hair; my eyes shutting and growled at how nice that felt. 

Red lowered his hand, relaxing back against the headboard with a shrug.

"I meant from the pet store."

I pursed my lips to the side, staring off at nothing in particular while trying to remember what he was referring to. 

The only time I'd been at the pet store was way back when Auric needed to get fish food for the fish that had been intended for his son's birthday present. I had volunteered to buy it and deliver it since I knew I'd be heading to see Red. 

That had been the start, I remember, of the road leading up to now. 

But then I remembered the second time I was in the pet store was with Red when I accompanied him to purchase a present for Little Maddie. I'd managed to get him into the back room with all the aquatic pets. 

Now that I was thinking about it... I do remember what Red was referring to now. 

He'd come into the back room after some hesitation and he was wondering where I was. From where I bent forward staring at one particular fishtank I called him over. He stood awkwardly beside me for a moment then I decided to try and make conversation.

"See that fish there...?" I questioned, keeping my gaze on the tank.

I felt him shifting around, his head moving around to figure out which fish I was pointing out.

When he didn't seem to see which one, I use a finger to press against the glass on the side of where I was looking. 

"That red one there, Red."

Then he saw it and stared at it a few seconds before nodding, "Yeah...?"

I lowered my hand, staring at the fish a little longer before sighing, "It keeps swimming around in circles... like it doesn't know where to go. Like it feels it doesn't belong."

Red looked confused. Or disturbed. One of the two since I was looking a little deeper into the tank than one normally would. He lowered a brow, glancing at me with that wariness he always had around me.

Thought I could feel him staring at me, I didn't turn as my focus remained on the red fish swimming in circles repeatedly. I just nodded while sighing, "That's you."

Immediately I felt the frown staring at the side of my face, but I waited a moment, bracing myself before actually turning to look Red beside me. We both just stood there, me staring at him... him staring at me.

"How do you figure?" I remember him asking me, keeping our stare intact. Internally, I was not expecting him to and I felt a small twinge in that moment that the stare he was giving me was different than I had with other guys.

I lowered a brow, briefly scanning his face and admiring the dim blue light from the tank making his skin a lot more pale than it normally was. I think that just added to the number of times I liked staring at him.

Taking a deep breath, I shrugged a shoulder.

"Because it doesn't even try to mingle with the other fish. It just rather stay in a corner and swim around in circles than try to put itself out into the open. Somehow..."  

I remember pausing for a moment, thinking of the right way to piece my words together. Trying to piece what I wanted him to understand from the moment I laid eyes on him. Though... I was talking about the fish.

"It doesn't realize that maybe it's not as different to the other fish in the tank as it likes to think."

He just stared at me. That frown on his face forming slowly, like he was thinking over what I said. Like he was getting a hint that what I said had an underlying meaning. Which it did. 

When he looked away I looked away to the tank in front of us, I carefully watched his brown eyes focus on the red fish in question. It was still swimming around in circles and mentally wondered how the hell it didn't get dizzy. 

Do fish get dizzy? Is that a thing for them?

With how quiet we both got, I wasn't expecting Red to say something. But when he did, it made me frown at the tank, watching the fish swim past the chaotic traffic they were in. 

"He's an idiot," I heard him mutter. I glanced at him still staring at the red fish.

I think that's what made me cling to Red as I did all these past months. Years, too, I guess. The fact that he might have been so calm and collected on the outside, but internally... Internally he was like me. Doubtful about who he was and where he fit. Who he needed and who would want him. 

It was that moment that I knew. Knew that meeting him on that particular wedding day several years ago that I was never... going to be the same. 

I went back to staring at the fish tank, admiring how decorative it was with the neon lighting. I grinned to myself, settling my gaze back to the red fish I liked so much. That's when I shook my head. With my sights still on the swirling fish, I admitted with my own mumble, "I think he's adorable." 

And til this day, I have to agree.

Red stared at me; those brown eyes of his looking a bit worrisome. 

He swallowed, frowning a bit when he hoarsely said again, "I'm the red fish. I didn't even see how out of place I was among the other fish. It's shameful, now that I think about it when I remember that fish, on how he kept twirling around and didn't even pay attention to how out of sorts he was."

I kept quiet, sensing he wasn't done.

"And---and I have been swimming around in circles this whole time. All my life... Because I couldn't find someone like me. Who could see me and... and not... and not think anything less of me and my quirkiness."

The grin that tugged at my lip made Red chuckle lightly while shaking his head.

"My Cousin is right, you know...?" he sighed, looking up at me again.

"About what, Red?"

Red shrugged a shoulder, raising a hand to gently caress my bottom lip with his thumb. He kept his focus on what he was doing, brows furrowing a little when he said that his cousin would always say how everything happens for a reason. 

And that for Red, he was supposed to tag along with Thea those years ago for the wedding. He was supposed to meet me that day and build the awkward moments between us leading up to my sister's supposed death. That he was supposed to get the small shove he had for befriending me despite how he might have felt about me at the start.

"If I hadn't..." Red swallowed, looking out at the window and I had to admit that the sunlight hitting those brown eyes of his were making their hue a lot lighter. A honey color was taking over from the way the sun's rays hit the irises. 

Almost gold...

Red smiled to himself, facing me again and I raised a brow through the silence. He kept that smile, shaking his head slowly and rested his hands on my shoulders then rested his forehead against mine. Our noses rested against the others and I felt myself smiling again with seeing Red being so carefree with the intimacy between us now.

"I'd still be swimming in circles," he mumbled. 

There was a twinkle in his eyes now. I could see that Red was... well, finally at peace with everything. With what I was... what he was... what we were together, and everything in between from when we first met to now at this moment. 

I didn't pull away when I shook my head, correcting Red that I didn't see it that way. That I didn't see those swimming circles as a bad thing. His brows furrowed a bit, curious at what I meant. 

"I think that's what I liked so much about you, Red. That you did swim in circles when others wouldn't. That you stood out because of it. Because of what you did, said... looked like, even."

"You still swim in circles, Red," I clarified then leaned closer to kiss his cheek. My lips moved towards his ear to kiss the shell of it. 

With my lips against it, I smiled, "The only difference isn't because you're trying to figure out where you're going... You're just happy."

Red sighed and a smile made its way onto his lips before sighing, "And are you?"

Shaking my head, I was leaning closer and whispered, "Because of you."

I'm pretty sure that we would have been able to have a repeat of the night before. But during the middle of our passionate makeout where Red was riling me up with his nails purposely dragging down my sides, we heard a buzzing vibration. 

It was loud and I pulled back a bit, growling through a sneer and letting my wolf eyes take over while mentally smashing the phone that was on the side dresser. The vibration's intensity was strong enough that as the phone buzzed, it was sliding to the side. 

I looked back to Red who lowered a brow and mumbled, "Dammit..." which lowkey made me happy enough to know I wasn't the only one disappointed with the interruption.

Stretching to the side, Red snagged the phone and frowned at the screen. 

"It's Thea..." he muttered, glancing at me and I sighed, pushing off him to sit back next to him. 

He looked at me as he answered the phone and placed it to his ear. 

"Hey, Thee."

His brows furrowed, lips reeling in and was nodding, "Mm hm... Yeah..." then looked upward and squinted an eye as he said, "With Easton."

There was a pause in the conversation and I raised a brow at Red who shrugged at me. I rolled my eyes before mouthing, "She's going to stab me." which made him frown, shaking his head that his cousin wouldn't do that.

My flat expression was not wasted when Red frowned downward and scoffed while shaking his head, "No, Thea! I don't need you to stab him!" He glanced at me with a weak grin.

I sighed, pushing off the sheets and stood up as Red was finishing up his conversation with his cousin.

"Okay... Okay, Thea, we'll be right there."

Once he hung up, Red raised his brows and grinned, "She says 'Hi'."

I narrowed my eyes, lip curling that maybe it wasn't such a great idea for me to tag along. Red pointed out, however, that I was going to have to get along with Thea since Red and I were together again. He added that it was the same for her to get along with me. 

"It was a stressful day, Easton. We all said and did things we didn't mean."

"I'm pretty fucking sure that Thea would have been happy to shove that sword up my ass if you all let her."

Red rolled his eyes, pushing the covers off and standing up. I couldn't help admiring him as he was moving his hands around and explaining something to me about how I should be used to Thea's temper by now. That she has been out of sorts with her Hunter Mode and just needed to learn to contain it again.

The whole time I nodded, "Uh huh..." until he was standing in front of me and said my name sternly.

Blinking up at him, Red's brows rose and questioned if I was listening to him. 

"Well, it's fucking hard to, Red, when you're just walking around naked! How the hell do you expect me to concentrate on anything serious?"

Red narrowed his eyes, shaking his head before sighing that I had a problem before walking into the bathroom. I raised a brow, my gaze following him before my body followed suit. 

"I have a problem?" I repeated. I scoffed with a grin, "This coming from the guy who was trying to rip my clothes off on the way up here?"

He shot a look over his shoulder, lip curling before trying to slam the door on me. I laughed, catching it and walked inside. 

"Just... Please, Ease. Try to be the bigger person when we get there. Thea just gets vicious only when she has to defend those she cares about."

I muttered while watching the toothpaste being squeezed out of the tube and onto my toothbrush, "Or when she's hormonal."

After shoving my toothbrush into my mouth, I glanced up in the mirror to see Red freeze from turning on the shower. He slowly straightened then turned around to stare at me through my reflection. 

"What?" I still had my toothbrush in my mouth.

Red grinned, chuckling lightly as he shook his head. His brows furrowed a bit when he nodded, "It would make sense why Thea has been ready to bite everyone's head off lately. Plus... her and Dennison have at one another any chance they get."

My brow slowly rose, me pulling my toothbrush out of my mouth before turning to face Red. He still had that smile on his face and I squinted my eyes.

"You think...?"

He nodded, raising his brows. He clearly was trying to hide his excitement.

"Well, I'll be damned," I mumbled, grinning with a small shake of my head. "Auric really needs to work on his pull out game."

Red laughed, now going on how excited he was of that possibility. That it was higher than anything else. 

"I mean... C'mon. It's Thea." 

I nodded, silently agreeing. 

He jumped into the shower, calling from behind the curtain if I'd hand him his toothbrush. After shoving my hand behind the curtain with what he requested, I went back to the sink to continue brushing my teeth. 

Red asked if Roman was awake yet and I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when I answered back that I didn't know. That I had been up here all morning. 

Roman was also another occupant of my house. I kept him downstairs because... well, reasons. 

I let Roman take over the living room but I warned him as I feigned a scowl while pointing at him as I made my way out of the room. I made sure to remind him that if he made a mess that he better pick it up. That I wasn't his maid. 

He proceeded with raising his hand and signaled the "OK" sign while nodding that the living room would remain spotless.

I just rolled my eyes and made my way back upstairs for Red.

"He'll have to tag along too," Red told me and I frowned, "Why?"

His head popped out from behind the curtain and he narrowed his eyes at me through the mirror. I couldn't help finding it funny to see that he was in the middle of shampooing so his hair was completely soapy and had been styled into a strange mohawk. 

I turned around, resting back against the sink and crossed my arms. Red sniffed that in addition to getting along with Thea that I had to get along with his "best friend Thorton". I groaned, tipping my head back and whined, "Do I have to?"

"Really? You're whining?" he frowned.

"I let him sleep on the couch. Isn't that enough?"

The flat look he was giving me silently said, 'no. It wasn't enough'. I grumbled under my breath and sighed, "Fine. I'll work on being nicer to him. Though I technically am since I would have let him sleep outside."

Red had already gone back to showering as he retorted, "You would not. I know you, Ease. You might think your armor is made of stone but it has a crack in it. It is slowly crumbling and you don't want to admit it."

I sighed, raising a brow while going over to grab a towel from the cabinet next to the sink. I agreed that perhaps... in some small way... my hate towards Thorton Roman has subsided. Slightly. 

The shower shut off and Red yanked the curtain to the side. He glanced at the towel I was holding out to him and he took it. As he was drying off, Red grinned that I was lying, that I found out the truth about what really happened with Roman and then with the guy checking up on me the past months, just meant that I was finding it difficult to admit I was wrong.

Red smiled, wrapping the towel around his waist. "You missed him."

I narrowed my eyes, growling a bit and left the bathroom. I could hear Red laugh as he was following me back into my room. He continued to poke that I was having hard feelings of how I treated Roman all these years and now I was having a hard time making it up to him.

"Lies!" I growled, snatching a clean pair of boxers before making my way back to the bathroom for my turn in the shower. 

Red laughed again. 

"C'mon, Ease. You missed him. Admit it. He was your best friend as a kid and now you are getting him back and you can't contain your excitement."

I sneered at him over my shoulder, grumbling that he was pushing it. 

"Am I?" he teased, "Am I really?"

Rolling my eyes, I sighed, shaking my head before grimacing through clenched teeth, "I... might... have... kinda, sorta... missed--- You know what? No! No, I can't do it. I won't say it. It's just not happening."

"Well, why not?" Red smiled, crossing his arms as I faced him. 

I huffed, "Because. It wouldn't be genuine."

"Aw..." My redhead tilted his head making me growl under my breath again from his teasing. "See? You do care."

Raising a brow, I kept my gaze on him before purposely swinging the door to close. 

I heard Red laugh again.

❦ღ❦    

ღKALEღ   

"I'm hungry," I announced as we were heading downstairs. 

Easton nodded that he was too then looked up at the living room once he got to the first floor. He immediately froze, frowning as his eyes took in the entirety of the room in front of him.

I curiously continued down the steps and turned before my eyes widened.

There were pizza boxes open on the coffee table with a few uneaten slices, potato chip bags also opened but there were crumbs on the floor, table, and couch. Clothes were thrown on various pieces of Easton's furniture and so were shoes, except one shoe was on one side of the room and the other was beside the couch. 

The game console was lying on the floor in front of the TV which was displaying complete static. One of the controllers to the game console was half lying in chip dip and the other was in the middle of one of the pizza boxes. 

But that wasn't all.

A number of glasses were on the coffee table (with what space was available from the pizza boxes), most were empty, others half full. Then there was the open jar of peanut butter lying on its side on the floor with the butterknife used with it was laying beside it. 

Easton reeled in his lips, taking a deep breath and slowly turned his gaze to me as my brows shot up and went back to looking at the destruction in the living room.

"Damn..." I mumbled, eyes wide. What the fuck, Thorton?

My Moody Asshat narrowed his eyes, growling before letting himself look over at the tall Were stretched out on the couch without pizza boxes. He was just laying back against a pillow, headphones in his ears and with his eyes shut. 

Thorton wasn't dressed in pajamas since I found those tossed carelessly on the side of the TV. 

Trudging his way into the living room, Easton stood to the side, placing his hands on his hips and frowned at everything. He silently looked from one side of the room to the other; growling again as he was moving around to inspect things.

I sighed, looking upward before walking over to smack Thorton's foot that was resting on the arm of the couch. The smack startled him, making him sit up and look around before seeing me. I raised a brow, shaking my head with wide eyes and scoffed, "Thorton! What the hell!?"

He frowned, blinking a few times before realizing he still had his headphones in then pulled them off. He weakly grinned, "Hey, Kale..."

"Don't you 'hey, Kale' me!" I looked around, waving my arms at everything. "What the hell happened in here!?"

Thorton raised a brow, blinking before turning to frown at the living room. I glanced over to where Easton was by the TV and leaned so close to inspect whatever was on the screen. His finger rose to wipe off some and squinted at it. Then his nose scrunched and I heard another growl coming out of him.

"Thorton... What...?" 

I couldn't even string words together. Everything was a complete mess! So much for Easton and Thorton getting along...

"Oh..." Thorton piped, swinging his legs off the couch and frowned while rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah... Sorry about the mess."

We looked over at Easton bent over in a different part of the room and grumbling to himself as he was hugging a bunch of soda cans to his chest and at the same time kicking what looked to be a shirt or sweater to the side. 

When Thorton looked up at me he weakly grinned, "I didn't do it..."

"How? How did you not do this?" I gestured to everything. 

The Werewolf held his breath; cheeks puffed out as his eyes widened. Then he let out the breath slowly to look up at me with the same wide eyes.

"It was Athena."

My eyes widened, switching over to Easton whose back was turned since he was collecting things in his arms. Everything was dropped to the floor, clattering against one another before Easton spun around. The gold hue intensified when his lip curled and growled in Thorton's direction.

My friend gulped, standing and holding out his hands in defense that he warned Valentine to keep the room clean. That Easton wouldn't be happy if there was a mess. 

"Why was Valentine even here?" Easton asked through grit teeth. 

Thorton frowned, glancing between the both of us then explained how Valentine said that Easton gave permission for him and Athena to visit. But Thorton told them that Easton wasn't up for seeing visitors yet so Valentine said he would hang out with him instead.

"I never said that," Easton growled.

My friend's brows shot up. It settling in that he'd been tricked. His nose scrunched and scoffed, "Fucker lied to me..." 

Easton's brow rose, the gold in his eyes brightening. 

Thorton took another look around the room and chuckled lightly before sighing nervously, "Wooooow... Val's girl really does know how to get wild, huh?" 

When he saw my scrunched nose and me groaning, Thorton tensed and went wide-eyed from the loud growl from across the room. He stared at me, squeaking, "Oh God... Easey Peasey's going to---ACK!" 

I jumped back, wide-eyed when Thorton disappeared behind the couch after Easton tackled him. 

Remaining where I was, I winced from the yelps on Thorton's part then heard him squeal before I sighed with an eye roll. 

I rushed over, jumping onto the couch as I called for Easton to lay off Thorton. I peered over the back of the couch my boyfriend wrapped his hands around Thorton's neck. My friend went cross-eyed and choked out that he was sorry.

"Not as sorry as you'll be when I beat your ass!" Easton snapped back. 

"Easton! Easton, lay off him!" I tried again but the blond was not having it. He was too preoccupied with choking the life out of Thorton. 

Thorton reached up, grinning through a wince and patted Easton's cheek. I groaned.

"You can hurt me all you want, Easey Peasey. But I will still be your friend!"

Easton growled, now resorting to shaking the life out of the Werewolf he had hold of. Thorton's head bobbed around until the blond Were suddenly stopped. He stared at the way Thorton was dizzily looking around. 

My boyfriend then started laughing. Laughing. 

Thorton shook his head, frowning as he glanced down at the hold Easton still had on him then looked at me. He muttered from the corner of his mouth, "Sorry, Kale. Looks like your boyfriend's lost it."

I gave him a look before looking at Easton who rolled off Thorton to lay beside him. He was still laughing. My friend and I warily watched the blond until he simmered; sputtering out what laughs he had left.

Easton stared at the ceiling then sighed, "I remember how fun it was back then too."

Thorton lowered a brow, glancing at me then asked, "What... What do you mean?"

Nodding, Easton turned to look at Thorton. There was a softness in his eyes as he stared at my friend. He sighed again.

"We used to wrestle... Remember?" Thorton frowned more, slowly nodding. "And... And I remember how you'd squeal like you did just now. How you only did that because of how ticklish you were." 

Thorton must have known exactly what Easton meant because he began to grin. 

"Oh yeah..." he chuckled, looking up at the ceiling. "I was ticklish around my neck. And you used that to your advantage."

Easton nodded, grinning before sighing, "It was fun when you were close to peeing your pants."

I rolled my eyes. I shouldn't have been surprised that Easton had to ruin a Kodak moment.

But it didn't bother Thorton since he grinned and turned to look at Easton who did the same towards him. With a brief hesitation, Thorton raised a fist between them in the air. My boyfriend's blue eyes stared at it a moment, taking another second to meet Thorton's gaze before staring back to the fist in between them.

Easton bumped the back of his fist against Thorton's and they both smiled at one another, the latter mumbling that he was happy to see Easton again.

"Yeah... Me too, Thorton."

Thorton's eyes widened, staring at Easton who frowned, "What?" 

"You called 'Thorton'," my friend spoke in an 'aw' kind of tone. 

My Moody Asshat sneered, shrugging a shoulder, "So?"

"You do like me again," came the reply.

"Don't start your shit."

"But you do..." 

"I'll take it back!"

Thorton clicked his tongue against his teeth. "No, you won't."

"Yes. Yes, I will! Especially when you fucked up my living room!"

"But I already told you," Thorton reminded him. "It was Athena. She was hardcore jamming to the metal music I put on."

"More reason to wrestle you again and make you squeal like a fucking girl until you piss yourself."

"You... wouldn't."

Easton's brows shot up, "Oh, no?" then started to rise and Thorton yelped, already kicking his legs up in the air like he was riding a bicycle to keep Easton at bay. But my blond Were smirked before pouncing on his prey who squealed so loud that I winced.

I rolled my eyes again, seeing as this was going to take a while with the newly rekindled friendship. So I slowly turned around, sliding to sit on the couch and pulled out my phone to text Thea.

Running late. Ease and Thorton are working things out.

A few seconds later my phone buzzed and I opened up the text message I got from Thea's number. 

My money is on Easton.

I frowned, blinking at the message before squinting my eyes and texted back.

Kind of harsh, don't you think, Thee?

A few seconds later, I got another reply.

Only if he cries.

What... the fuck?

Then it hit me. I wasn't talking to Thea.

Huffing out a breath, I typed back: You've got issues, Dennison. But I'm serious, we'll be there soon. 

Then I quickly added a second message: Save me bacon!

A few minutes later, after staring at my phone and glancing over my shoulder to hear that the boys were still fighting, I felt my phone buzz. I swiped it open, reading it quickly then shook my head, scrunching my nose.

No was his reply.

When I texted back why he couldn't be nice this once and to just save me one piece, he replied with a photo of an empty plate with the message: Too late. Thea ate them all.

When I requested him to ask my Aunt Emeel to make more for us three, Dennison replied again with 'no.' 

It was like pulling teeth with that guy...

I sighed, resting back against the couch to sulk. But then a new message came through and I frowned before looking down to swipe it open.

"Fucking Dennison..." I grumbled, shaking my head as I was staring back at the new message he sent me. Or I should say it was a selfie that he sent me.

Dennison had the most serious look on his face (when does he not) as he tilted his head a bit and was flipping me off. All while he had two pieces of bacon hanging out of the side of his mouth.

Fucker.