Unraveling Mathias by Marisa Maichel (reading women TXT) 📕

"But your words were directed at her," I said. "And you looked right at her. She had no way of knowing."

"You're right. I should explain it to her. It's better if she hears it from me directly."

I tried calling Sarah again. She answered on the seventh ring.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Sarah."

"Oh. Hey. This really isn't a good time right now."

I should have said that to you on that day.

"What?" Sarah said.

"What? I didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did. You said that you should have said that to me that day."

"Sarah, I didn't say that."

"Yes, you did!"

Temperamental witch.

"Don't call me a witch!" she snapped. I paused. Was I saying what I was thinking out loud?

"I thought this was a bad time," I snapped. "So why are you wasting time arguing over my thoughts?" She hung up on me. I looked at the phone in disbelief. I texted her back.

Reese: Sarah, I'm sorry. Please call me back when you get a chance.

Sarah: I am driving.

Reese: Why didn't you say that in the first place? Then we could have avoided all this drama! Quit being petty.

She ignored me.

"I don't understand her," I said with disgust.

We all went our separate ways.

Two days later, Father told me that Sarah had handed in her two-week resignation.

"For what?" I snapped.

"To work in a salon as a receptionist," he said. "Reese, I think...I think you should break up with her."

"Are you fucking kidding me? Who are you to tell me how a relationship works?" He looked hurt and disappointed, but said nothing more.

Mother started coming to see me every night. She had said that Sarah had been moody and unpredictable. I told her what had happened with us and what Father had said. She told me to ignore him, and that Sarah would get over her mood soon.

I soon discovered why Sarah was acting the way she was. I was staking out her house, when I suddenly smelled that earthy, leathery tang that always encompasses a werewolf. My eyes widened, my fangs grew. Sarah came out, holding her middle. My girl looked stressed. Her hair was tangled and snarled, dark circles were under her eyes, and she'd grown, yet she'd also lost weight at the same time. I jumped down.

She jumped and gasped, spinning around. "Reese!"

"Sarah," I said tersely. She burst into tears.

"I'm sorry I've been such a bitch lately, but I couldn't see you!"

"And why is that?" I asked darkly.

"ERIC! GLEN! They won't leave me alone!" she shouted, then started crying. I embraced her, pulling her close. I breathed in her flowery scent. She was wearing jasmine perfume, and her underlying gardenia scent was weaker. There was another smell, a strong one. It was the baby inside her. I was smelling him or her.

Sarah sobbed into my chest for a while. I waited until her sobs subdued to whimpers and hiccups before speaking again.

"Sarah Harper Cresley, I love you more than life itself. I could have taken care of it."

"No," she said. "You couldn't have. Glen tried to have sex with me."

I growled. I could handle Eric, but Glen was becoming a handful.

"How?" I asked.

"He took me to dinner, pretending to be a friend of mine. You can imagine my surprise when he showed up in his car. He told me to get in, or he'd...do something drastic. I was so stupid! I got in his car, and he took me to get steak. He'd even previously ordered for us. It was almost romantic if it weren't so damn creepy. There were candles and roses and everything. He told me that he was glad that I decided to give him a chance. I told him he was full of shit. He kept asking personal questions, everything from my exes to my favorite colors.

"When the check came, he had already paid for everything, including the tiramisu he made me eat. I don't know how long I threw up after that. But that's why you have to stay away from me, at least until I get this sorted out."

"What do you take me for?" I asked. "No freaking way. If anyone so much as looks at you funny, I will kill him."

"Reese!"

"I'm serious, Sarah! My father is still upset because he thinks you're still angry at him!"

"Oh, well, you can tell him that I've forgiven him."

"You can tell him yourself. You are coming with me."

"Reese! Not now! Eric will be here any minute!"

"For what, exactly?"

"I need to tell him-"

"What?" said a deep voice. "You need to tell me what?" I turned and hissed at Eric. He growled, his wolf swirling in his eyes.

"Stay away from me, Eric," Sarah said. "I will never date you. I don't even know why you started liking me. I have Reese. He's my boyfriend. I choose him."

Eric looked defeated. "As you wish."

We both looked at him in shock. "Excuse me?" I said.

"I concede. She is yours, bat boy. I know I've been a jerk, and I will leave you alone from now on, Sarah."

"Thank you," she breathed. Eric held out his hand to me.

"Truce?" I grabbed it.

"Truce."

With that, he said goodbye to us and left in his car. I looked at Sarah.

"I should have just done that in the first place. God, I am so stupid!"

"You're not stupid, Sarah. You're a seventeen year old girl who has been somewhat sheltered her whole life."

"Not as sheltered as you. You don't really turn into a bat, do you?"

I smiled gently at her, my fangs receding. "No. Only shapeshifters, werecreatures, and vampires with special powers can turn into animals. Merpeople and selkies don't count."

"There are merpeople? How come I've never seen a real one?"

"They prefer the deep. And you wouldn't want to meet one anyway-she'd probably try to drown you." I grimaced at the thought.

"Oh, then I don't want to meet one."

I brought Sarah home with me. Mother was furious when Sarah told her the truth. Sarah told Father that she accepted his apology, and Grandfather said he was glad she was okay.

Sarah and I made out for what seemed like hours, and she let me brush and put her hair into braids. Father came in to tell her that her previous job was open to her anytime, and she thanked him.

"Those women are nuts," she said about her salon receptionist job. "The girls are snooty, and they don't like the fact that I'm still in high school and get paid as much as them. I might stay there for a while, just to see the drama unfold."

"You're naughty," I teased her. She turned around and flirtatiously winked at me.

"You have no idea just how naughty I can be," she said in a husky voice. I liked that. I kissed her. She kissed back. We made out for about half an hour.

Finally, she said she had to go, because she had homework.

"I already did it for you," Mother announced.

"You didn't have to do that," Sarah chastised.

"Nonsense, my sweet. It was easy enough to copy your handwriting and it was in subjects that I've studied a million times."

Sarah thanked Mother, but she had to go anyway, because she was getting tired.

"Why can't you stay here?" I asked her.

"My mom. She's drinking again. She's on the verge of losing her job." At this news, Mother's and Alexander's eyes darkened. I smiled inwardly at their reaction. Both of them, even Alexander, had come to think of Sarah as a daughter and loved her dearly.

I understand somewhat, but not completely. Mother had only met Sarah back in December. Alexander was...well, he was Alexander. I couldn't see him adopting anyone as a child, other than the baby, which I'd come to accept.

It was odd, though. I barely knew Alexander, yet he treated me like a second son. It was odd. I knew he had a half-vampire half-human hybrid son named Kieran, and that Kieran's mother was named Celine, but that was it.

"Let me drive you," Mother told Sarah. Sarah accepted the offer. When Sarah had kissed me good night, Mother took her home.

"Alexander, can I ask you a question?" I asked.

"Of course. You may ask me anything."

"Why are you adopting Sarah's baby? And how did my father and grandfather know to contact you?"

Alexander sat beside me. "My son Kieran has not spoken to me in years. I confess: I miss him. But he hates me because he thinks I am responsible for his mother's death. Celine was a beauty. She had sunshine in her hair, and the sky in her eyes. She was only sixteen. I did not love her, but she loved me. One day, she left her parents' farm to come see me, and we ended up sleeping together.

"Her parents did not like me. They suspected my true nature, but that didn't stop Celine. She loved me with all her heart. I thought she was beautiful, but I simply did not love her back. She was not very intelligent, see. Weeks after we slept together, she came to me complaining of abdominal pain. She had grown quite a bit-it was hard for her to hide her pregnancy.

"That night, Kieran was born, and Celine died in the process. I burned her body and spread her ashes. Kieran was told the story years later by someone else. He never forgave me for killing his mother. But that's why your father and grandfather thought of me; because my son hates my guts and he is my only child. Sarah's baby is sort of a replacement."

"Don't let her hear you say that," I said.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Of course, I admit that I've gotten rather close to the girl. What happened to her real father?"

"He died from stomach cancer almost two years ago."

"Ah."

We ended the conversation then-it was almost midnight, and I had school in the morning. He said goodbye to me, Uncle Soren, and Grandfather, threw an insult at Father, and left for his house.

I woke up early from a nightmare I barely remembered even seconds later. I was not surprised to see Father in my room, reading one of my books.

"Are you all right, Reese?" he asked, yellow eyes glowing in the dark.

"I'm fine. It was just a dream."

Since I couldn't go back to sleep, I started my morning routine. After I was dressed, I began to feel dizzy. Suddenly, I blacked out.

When I woke up, Father was shouting at me with worry in his voice. I reacted on instinct and kneed him in the gut.

"He's fine," Uncle Soren said after that.

"He'd better be," Grandfather said. "We are close to a cure for vampire porphyria. Reese, do you want to go to school?"

"I have a test today," I half-lied. It was really a quiz in Advanced Junior English about the dynamics of an autobiography.

"He should go, then," Uncle Soren said. "Mordecai, if anything happens, you know he's well-protected, with all his friends and teachers." Father still looked unsure.

"Sarah will likely be there," I told him. "And Ariella, Mason, Noah, Duke, and Amara."

"I don't trust Mason," Father said.

"And for what convoluted reason is that?" Uncle Soren rejoindered.

"His father-"

"Is the best warlock in the world. Yes, things didn't go well the last time Reese was at Mason's house. Yes, Krauvas and Antonia are divorcing. But Reese and Mason trust each other, and that's all that matters."

Finally, he let me go.

School proceeded normally. I asked Sarah if she wanted me to pick her up, and she said that she'd rather drive herself today, since she needed to drop off Sabine as well. At lunch, Rouge sat with us again. She clinged to Noah, which irritated Amara, whose hair was platinum blond with indigo tips.

"It's a close enought shade to my real hair color," she told me. "I decided I wanted to have a natural shade for once."

"Please," Rouge said. "No one actually cares about your hair, Amanda."

"It's Amara," Amara said through gritted teeth.

"Well, when you have naturally beautiful hair like mine, you don't need to worry about changing it!"

I decided then that I really didn't like Rouge.

"I know, it's tough being a fairy," I