~Celine~
Walking into the kitchen, I met Martina preparing breakfast, and when she saw me, her countenance dropped.
“Celine, I’ve always told you not to come in here when I’m cooking. It’s dangerous.” She muttered, removing the pot mitt from her hands.
“C’mon, Martina. I’m pregnant, not sick.” I answered with a smile as she squatted in front of me, staring at my protruding baby bump.
“Good morning, Angel. How are you today?” She spoke to my belly, and I chuckled.
I wasn’t surprised because she kept doing it every morning since she saw my bump. Ever since Alpha Jovan and the pack returned to New Orleans and Martina asked that she and one other Beta stay back to protect us, we have grown even closer.
I must confess, she is the best female friend I have ever met.
“I can’t wait to start feeling his little kicks.” She uttered, raising her head to look at me.
“His?” I asked with furrowed brows. “You don’t even know if it’s a girl,” I added.
“Oh, please. I want it to be a boy, so I have started manifesting it. It would be nice to have a younger Ethan around.” She teased, and I let out a feeble smile.
“A younger Ethan indeed.” Kiara scoffed, but I ignored her. I looked around the kitchen for Ethan, but he was nowhere to be found.
“Where is Ethan?” I asked, and she stood up.
“He went out with Gary to get some groceries. We ran out of them last night.” She answered, picking up the pot mitt again.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you out? I can still slice the potatoes, carrots…”
“No, Celine. I can take care of all that. You should rest. Just because your injury is all healed up doesn’t mean you’re immortal. Moreover, your boyfriend is going to kill me if he knows I let you work.” She added, carefully opening the hot lid on the pot which was on the fire.
“He will? Please don’t tell me he gave you the rules that I shouldn’t work.”
“No, he didn’t! Of course, not…” I saw her gaze move from my face to my back, and when I turned back, I saw Ethan and Gary behind me.
“Talk of the devil. Ethan, can you please take your girl out of the kitchen? She wouldn’t stop bugging me about helping out.” Martina uttered, turning to face the pot.
Just then, Ethan moved closer to me, and to my greatest surprise, he planted a kiss on my cheek.
“Good morning, beautiful.” He whispered, and before he walked past me, he kissed my forehead too.
“Good morning,” I answered with a faint smile and turned to do the same to Gary.
“I wanted to tell you we were leaving for the mall this morning, but you were sleeping beautifully and I didn’t want to disturb you,” Ethan uttered as he placed the plastic bags on the kitchen cabinet.
“Of course, she’d sleep beautifully. She slept with her lover, cuddling up throughout the cold, rainy night.” Martina teased, winking jokingly at me.
Well, Martina was right about one thing, and that was about sharing the same room and bed with Ethan. But cuddling? There was no epitome of truth in that. I cuddled my duvet throughout the night, and so did he.
“Well, I tried to do the same with you but you kicked me off the couch,” Gary mumbled, causing Ethan to burst into laughter.
“Why would I want to cuddle with you, Gary?” Martina answered, rolling her eyes in disgust.
With a faint smile, I turned to leave the kitchen and headed back to the room. I wasn’t interested in the conversation anymore, and maybe I did want to lie down and rest.
Entering the room, I shut the door behind me and heaved a loud sigh.
“You need to stop letting their teases get to you. It’s been a month. You should have gotten used to it now.” Kiara uttered as I slammed into the bed.
“Gotten used to it? How is that even possible? Do you see the excitement on Ethan’s face anytime they talk and tease about us being together? And at night, how he’s trying so hard not to come close to me and touch me?
“This isn’t easy for both of us, and talking about us being intimate all the time keeps making things worse.”
“Well, you promised to pretend, so you can’t just give up now,” Kiara responded.
There was a knock on the door and I looked in its direction. “It’s me, Ethan. Can I come in?” He asked in a low tone from behind the door.
“Yes, you can,” I answered and shortly, the door opened and he walked in. He held eye contact with me for a while, until he sat at the edge of the bed.
“I’m sorry about Martina and Gary. That’s how they joke around.” He uttered, and I let out a smile and shook my head.
“C’mon, Ethan. It’s nothing. I’ve known them for weeks now.” I replied.
“But you don’t like it, and it always shows that you don’t. I can tell them to stop, Celine…”
“No.” I butted in. “You don’t have to. I promised to pretend that we are couples, I’m not going to just stop now.”
He nodded and went quiet for a while. There was an awkward silence between us and I wished he could say something because I was becoming uncomfortable.
“But why? Why do we have to pretend when it can be real?” He asked out of the blue and turned his head to look at me.
“I…I…” I thought really hard about it, but I couldn’t come up with an answer. “I don’t know, Ethan.”
“You still love Alpha Kilhan, right?”
“No! No! Of course, not! That’s not it.” I immediately denied it.
“Then what is it? Are you scared? Am I not good enough for you? Or do I have to be an Alpha before I can make you love me, Celine.”
“No, Ethan. That’s not it.” I shook my head, trying to get those thoughts out of his head. He was getting it all wrong. Even though I wasn’t sure what the answer was, I knew his assumptions were wrong.
“Then what is it, Celine?” He moved closer, shortening the gap between us. He cupped my face in his hands, staring into my soul.
I gulped hard as I felt myself drown in his intense and desperate stare. “Tell me what I have to do to have you back. I’ll do anything. I swear.” His voice sounded like an echo in my ears as he spoke.
“I… You… you deserve better.” I stuttered as I finally found some words to say after struggling and thinking so hard for a while.
“No. I deserve you.” He answered and before I knew it, his face was so close to mine and he captured my lips in his hungrily, fondling and nibbling on them.
It didn’t feel right at all, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t want it. I grabbed his arms and tried to free myself from his grip.
“Uhm… Uhm.” I groaned, tightening my lips underneath his. “Ethan, stop!” I yelled as I finally pushed him off me.
We both stared at each other, panting. His eyes widened in realization of what had just happened, and he shook his head, showing instant regrets.
“I am so sorry.” He muttered as he dashed out of the room.
I touched my lips as I felt slight pain from them. They had become sore from the way he devoured them.
“Ethan?!” I heard Martina call from outside the room, and soon, she was in front of the door.
“What the hell just happened? Ethan is beating himself up right now!” She uttered in terror, and I lowered my head. Tears began to gather in my eyes.
“It’s all my fault,” I mumbled in tears, and when Martina saw this, she hurried to the bed where I was.
“Are you alright? Did he hurt you?” She asked worriedly, and I shook my head.
“No, he didn’t. I hurt him.” I responded with my head still lowered in tears.
“What? Why? What’s happening between you two?” She asked worriedly, and I raised my head to look at her.
“I… I am not Ethan’s girlfriend. It is all a lie.” I said before thinking.