2. Twenty- two

It had been two weeks since that episode in Ethan's apartment where he had asked about my silver bracelet. I have no idea but at that moment I didn't have it in me to lie. Not because I couldn't think of a good lie, but because I didn't want to lie. To him.

When I had the realization, I was confused and frustrated. Why was I feeling this way? I had only known Ethan for a month and a half now and yet, he elicited such a response from me.

I tapped my foot to the bass of the music pumping in my earphones while I stood in front of the school library, waiting for Ethan to pick me up. Both Adam and Emily couldn't be happier when they came to know that Ethan was good with picking me up, it just meant that they had more time to catch up and not rush from one point of the city to the other.

Ethan's car rolled in the distance and I opened the passenger door to get in. He looked as good as he always did and I resisted the urge to eyeball him. 

He had, very maturely, let go of the subject of my silver bracelet after I had told him that I would tell him when the right time came. I had genuinely believed at the moment that there would be a time shortly when I would tell him about having Harper as a mate, or he would come to know about it myself. I had no idea how he would react to this information, so I was enjoying his friendship right now, without any complications hanging over my head. Well, none that he knew currently about.

Dressed in casual faded jeans and an orange polo shirt, he smiled at me and I couldn't help but return his smile. 

"I don't know about you but I missed breakfast and I'm going to get some food first. Wanna get something?" 

I snapped my seat belt shut and looked at him with wide eyes. "You're buying?" 

He chuckled and started driving in the direction of the nearest McDonald's drive-through. "I am."

"Then I won't say no to free food." He chuckled like he expected my response. Hell, maybe he did.

He parked at the drive-through and gave our orders to the computerized voice on the speaker. He may have raised an eyebrow at my order but he was smart enough not to comment on it. What can I say, a girl has got to eat.

He paid for our orders and drove around while I tried not to admire his side profile. The warm food in my lap kept teasing me but I stopped myself from munching down on my burger while he was driving. I may or may not have swiped a few of his fries and if he noticed it, he didn't comment on it. Good man.

He parked in the parking lot of the city park where we could see kids playing around and having fun. "Nice spot", I said, admiring the view.

"I come here most of the time to eat." He casually shrugged and took his bag of food from my lap. His fingers brushed against my Jean-clad legs but even the small touch was enough to send a zap of electricity through me. I prayed to the heavens to not let Ethan notice my extraordinary reaction to his touch.

"It's going to get cold." His voice snapped me out of my reverie and I met his eyes, confused at his words. He pointed to the bag of food growing cold in my lap and I flushed at my absence of mind. Of course.

I unwrapped my burger took a big bite of it and moaned. It was so damn good. Ethan chuckled at my reaction while muffling my laugh so that I wouldn't send food bits flying into his car. Pretty sure he won't appreciate that.

"You're really pretty when you eat." Ethan laughed and I coughed mid-chew while giving him the middle finger. 

"Never seen a girl eat? Doesn't Cecelia eat like this?" I fired back while still struggling to get my breathing under control. Ethan laughed while handing me a water bottle.

I chugged down mouthfuls of water and sighed in relief when I felt my airway clear. I was way too young to die.

"Cecelia does not eat like this." Ethan laughed while looking at my horrible way of eating and I felt a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach as he mentioned his girlfriend, who may I add, had been going strong for seven months now. Not that I was counting or anything.

"How come I haven't seen her around?" Why was I asking him this? I didn't want to know about his perfect relationship with his perfect girlfriend, who I couldn't even hate. 

"You haven't seen her because she's busy preparing for end-term exams,” Ethan said while popping a fry in his mouth and regarding me with a calculating look, only he could have perfected. "Why are you asking me about her anyway?" 

I shrugged, trying to be casual. I was asking myself the same thing, why am I asking him about her? "I don't know. She just popped up in my mind."

I took a big bite out of my burger to stop myself from talking and looked ahead to see kids still playing around. 

"So, you're telling me, while she's preparing for her exams, you are being my chauffeur and getting me food from drive-throughs." I leaned my head on the headrest and turned to look at him already looking at me.

"I guess I am." I looked into his blue eyes, which held no trace of humor. Not anymore. We looked at each other for I don't know how long, forgetting the remaining food in our laps, or anything for that matter.

A traitorous thought popped into my mind then. How would it feel if I just leaned forward and kissed him? How would his lips taste? Would his lips taste the beer he so dearly loves or the taste of his burger or some other manly taste that was all him? 

By the looks of it, we were having a moment because I have seen enough movies and read enough romance novels to know what one looks like. What I have always wanted to know is, if these crappy and jumbled thoughts race through the male brain too, or if this overthinking is reserved for the female brain?

Thoughts being the other women flew right out of the window when I realized the way he was looking at me. I didn't think even he knew what he was doing to me right now. 

Maybe I would have learned in or maybe he would have, I don't think we will ever know because right then a piercing pain erupted in my chest and I gasped at the sudden sensation in my body.

What a way to break a moment!

I clutched my chest as waves of pain traveled over my body. It felt like a million needles stabbing me all at once. 

Ethan must have got out of the driver's side and ran around the car because the next second he was kneeling in front of me, asking me what was wrong. He gripped my face with both of his hands and made me look at him.

How I would have enjoyed this five seconds ago when I wasn't gasping in pain. The universe had shitty timing.

"T-take m-me h-home." I moaned as another wave of pain washed over me and I clutched his shoulder with both of my hands because the pain was soon becoming unbearable.

I knew the only thing that could stop this gut-wrenching pain was the two silver rings that I had kept in my bedside drawer. This was the exact kind of pain I had felt over a month ago when I was driving away from Harper. Sebastian had come to my rescue then and told me it was because the mate bond between us wanted the both of us to be closer to each other and the only way to stop this pain was to wear silver, so the effect of the bond on my side could be numbed for a short time. 

I cringed as I realized that the pain I was going through was going to be tenfold for Harper, as he could feel the effects of the bond more than me.

The silver in my bracelet must have not been able to overcome the pulling of the mate bond between me and Harper. So, the only answer to this pain was more silver.

The pain was too much for me to handle and I didn't know how much time had elapsed when I looked out and saw we were parked in the parking lot of our apartment building.

I had to comment to Ethan that he was calm about everything, here I was gasping in pain and his face was set in stone, his muscles bunched, ready for action. He shot out of his seat and was on my side of the car in a second. He unlatched my seat belt and pulled me in his arms to carry me to my sister's apartment.

I would have found the gesture to be extremely sweet if I wasn't in so much pain.

He put one of his arms around my back and the other under my knees to carry me and I curled into him as much as I could. I whimpered in pain as another wave of unadulterated pain washed over me. I had no clue why, but being close to him was helping my mind to be at ease. 

I thanked my stars that Ethan was a werewolf because he carried me to my room without a grunt or any complaints at all. 

I put my arms around his neck, snuggled into his warm chest, and closed my eyes as I waited for another wave of pain. At this rate, I would be unconscious within a few minutes.

I was laid on my bed gently and as soon as Ethan let me go, I dived towards my nightstand to look for the rings Sebastian had given to me. As soon as I found them, I slid one onto my middle finger and relaxed as the pain numbed to several degrees and slowly vanished.

I took a deep breath and relaxed as the silver took effect on the bond between me and Harper.

"So, you have a mate you're running away from." My head whipped towards Ethan who had a blank look on his face and was looking at me with a cold look.

Before I could say anything, he stormed out of my room and slammed my door on his way out.