Chapter CHAPTER TWENTY - WILLOW
I woke up with my body being sore but for the first time in about a month it was the good kind of sore. I replayed the night with Tobias in my mind and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Don’t you know it’s illegal to look that happy this early?” Amelia groaned as she stretched out beside me.
My smile only grew as I tucked my arms under my pillow to get comfortable.
“You’re just grumpy that Tristan decided to take part in boy’s night after Jennica and I fell asleep instead of being in you ’til five in the morning!”
“Maybe but mornings still suck regardless.” She said and we both laughed.
“Do you two have a mute button? One of us is still trying to sleep.”
Jennica yawned and turned over so her back was to us. Amelia and I laughed again before trying to get comfortable enough to fall back to sleep. It was no use, not for me anyways. For whatever reason my body was wide awake.
I tried everything from tossing and turning, to covering my face with the cold side of the pillow.
“I give up. I’m going to go make some breakfast.”
“Make me some.” Jennica groaned from underneath her pillow.
“Me too.” Amelia echoed.
“Fuck that, you lazy asses can make your own breakfast.”
I climbed down to the end of the bed and crossed the room to the door, still managing to dodge pillowed being thrown at me in the process.
I stuck my tongue out at the both of them then pulled the door open. I screamed at the top of my lungs and nearly fell on my ass as an uncontrollable fit of giggles took over me.
Jennica and Amelia were both out of bed now and looked like they were going to kill me.
“What the actual fuck!” Jennica screamed until Colton came into the room dressed in a full piece monkey suit.
The only part of him that was visible was his face.
“Ok, I knew you had some seriously fucked up issues but that the hell is wrong with you?” She yelled and helped me to my feet.
I still couldn’t control the giggles, but then again who would be expecting a grown man in a monkey suit outside their bedroom door first thing in the morning.
All Colton did was blow Jennica a kiss and put a boom box down on the dresser. My sister was about to lose her shit while Amelia and I could barely keep it together.
Colton pressed the button and music filled the room. I recognized the song instantly, ‘The Bad Touch’ by Bloodhound Gang.
Was this seriously happening? One by one each of the brothers filed in wearing a monkey suit, including Tobias. I sat down on the end of my bed because if I didn’t sit down I was going to end up hurting myself.
I covered my mouth to stifle the laugh as they all started dancing. My cheeks were staring to hurt and my eyes were watering from laughing so hard.
Sweat, baby, sweat, baby sex is a Texas drought. Me and you do the kind of stuff that only Prince would sing about. So put your hands down my pants and I’ll bet you’ll feel Nuts. Yes, I’m Siskel, yes I’m Ebert and you’re getting two thumbs up.
This was not happening. There was no way that this was really happening. Jennica stood there with her mouth open and Amelia was lying on the bed clutching her sides while laughing.
I watched as Tobias made his way to the front and stood in front of me mimicking the dance from the music video. My whole body shook and I could no longer hold in the laughter.
You’ve had enough of two-hand touch. You want it rough, you’re out of bounds. I want you smothered; want you covered, like my Waffle House hash browns. Come quicker than Fed Ex, never reaching apex like Coca-Cola Stock you are inclined to make me rise an hour early just like Daylight Savings Time.
Tears were streaming down my face and all Tobias could do was give me a wicked grin while he and his brothers continued to dance and sing to the most ridiculous song in history.
You and me baby ain’t nothin’ but mammals
So let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel
They continued until the entire song was done. Four minutes of terrible dancing that consisted of hip thrusting and floor humping. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to ask them what the hell was wrong with them, or call animal control.
Jennica still had the ‘what the fuck’ expression on her face and I was beginning to think she was in shock.
Amelia was barely able to recover herself as the song finally ended. I was about to ask Tobias what kind of a bet they lost last night when he dropped down to one knee in front of me and took my hand in his.
I was completely unable to form words as I tried to wrap my head around what was going on. I could feel Tobias’s hands shaking a little and he was really nervous.
“Willow, you have changed my life from the second I met you, even though I did sort of kidnap you at the time. Before you I was nothing. My life had no purpose, no joy, no meaning. Every day that passed was just another day, but as soon as you came in to my life, it was like every day was a fresh breath of air and suddenly my life had meaning. I was able to feel again, I rediscovered myself and my dreams of a life with someone who loved me, a future with a woman I can’t live without. I love you, and I’ve fucked up a lot but I’ll spend every waking moment of the rest of my life making it up to you, if you’ll just do me the honor of becoming my wife.”
My heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute. Tobias pulled out a black box and when he opened it I swathe most beautiful ring.
The princess cut diamond in the middle had to be at least a carat, and the band wound around itself like a twisted vine. It was absolutely gorgeous.
My voice was caught behind the lump in my throat so all I could do was nod my head as the tears began to fall.
Tobias put on his best panty dropping smile and scooped me up into his arms and kissed me while all the guys in the room whistled and cheered. When he finally released me he slid the ring onto my finger.
I sat on the end of my bed staring at the ring on my finger. I was expecting to wake up and find out this was all a dream but nothing happened.
Tobias kissed the top of my head before the guys all filed out of the room to change out of their ridiculous costumes. Amelia pulled my hand over so she could take a look at the ring.
“That was the most fucked up proposal I have ever heard of.”
“Oh shut up, you’re just jealous.” Amelia said and rolled her eyes at my sister.
I knew Jennica didn’t like Tobias so I didn’t expect her to suddenly change but the least she could do was be happy for me.
“Jealous of what? Being a juice box for an over grown mosquito?”
I looked at my sister and shook my head. I so excited a minute ago and now I just felt like I wanted to cry.
“What is your problem?”
“He tried to kill you!”
“No, he didn’t. You don’t even know him. You’re judging him based off his worst moment instead of taking the time to actually get to know him.”
“I know enough, Willow. The hunters I met told me all about his kind and the things that he does. Yeah he’s playing nice now but it’s only a matter of time until he loses control and kills you.”
“Hunters?” Amelia asked, but no one paid attention.
“I’m happy! For once in my life I am truly happy and Tobias is the one who makes me that way. I love him, Jennica. And I am going to marry him. I would have loved if you were my maid of honor and if you don’t like it, at least accept and respect me decision. If you can’t do that, then please pack your shit and get out of our house because I will not have you destroying this family.”
Jennica looked like someone had just slapped her in the face. I waited for some kind of a response but I got nothing. I got off the bed and headed for the door.
I didn’t even notice Amelia had already left until I made it to the kitchen and everyone was discussing the hunters Jennica mentioned.
“We don’t even know if the hunters are after us.” Tobias said.
“They might not be now, but the will be soon, especially if she tells them.” Colton argued.
“She is my sister! She isn’t going to tell anyone anything.”
“Do you know that for a fact?”
“No, Colton. I don’t. But she is my sister and I trust her.”
“Yeah, well I don’t.”
Everyone started arguing again and I couldn’t even make out what they were all saying. Words like ‘deal with her’ and ‘lock her away’. It wasn’t until I heard someone say ‘kill her’ that I was fed up.
“ENOUGH!” I yelled.
Everyone stopped and stared at me. All the happy feelings from less than half an hour ago were gone now and I didn’t know if I could do this anymore. This place was a nut house at times.
“No one is locking my sister up and you sure as hell aren’t going to kill her, Colton.” I spat out his name like it was a bad taste in my mouth.
“Cupcake is right. We don’t even know who these hunters are or what they want. They might not even be looking for us, and if they are then we will deal with it when it happens.”
I gave Tobias a small smile and he winked at me in return.
“There are four of them.”
Everyone turned around at the sound of Jennica’s voice. She stood in the doorway with her arms crossed.
“Two of them are just lackies who do what they are told and that’s about it, but the other two are the ones you have to watch out for. William and his daughter Destiny are after anything even remotely super natural. A vampire killed Will’s wife and he’s been on the hunt ever since. They haven’t made it out this way though. I ran into them about seventeen hours south of here when I lost track of Willow and thought maybe she headed down that way.”
“And why should we believe you?”
“Because.” She said then sighed. “Despite how much you and I hate it, this is our family now and you protect family no matter what.”
No one argued with her, not even Colton. I guess this meant she would accept and support my decision to marry Tobias.
I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. She hugged be back and whispered an apology in my ear.
“Well then that is that. After the wedding I’ll head south and check it out. I’m a hunter too, maybe we can do a bit of work together and I can lead them away from here.” Jasper said.
“You’re a hunter?” Jennica asked.
“Yep, the best damn hunter you will ever meet.”
Everyone laughed which lightened the mood a bit. I was glad my sister decided to actually give Tobias a chance, it made all of this so much easier.
“So, we have a wedding to plan.” Tobias said and punched Tobias in the shoulder.
Colton kept bugging everyone about the hunters. Apparently he wasn’t so willing to move on and drop the subject; he was convinced that they would be coming for them.
To shut him up we chose a wedding date sooner rather than later. It wasn’t like it was going to be a huge wedding anyways. Aside from our family that was already here, plus Micky and the boys there was no one else to invite but it suited me just fine.
I bought my wedding dress in town the day after Tobias proposed from the same place Tobias bought my birthday dress. They don’t usually sell formal wear but Tobias commissioned it for a pretty penny and the seamstress couldn’t say no.
I told her exactly what I had wanted and for the past two days she has been working her ass off to put it together. It was a long way from being completed but she wanted me to come in later today to get it fitted properly.
We had a few hours to kill so the girls and I decided to go out back and see if the guys needed any help. Tobias had insisted on building a gazebo in the back to use as a alter for the big day.
All of them were hard at work, Daniel and Jonathan came to help out and even Colton was helping. Amelia and I walked over to where Tobias and Tristan were working and I smiled as I felt a kiss on the top of my head.
“Hey, cupcake. Don’t you girls have an appointment to get to?”
“We have a few hours to kill. Do you guys need any help?”
“Sure. You can help me with these posts while Tobias goes and grabs some more wood.”
“What about me?” Amelia asked.
“You can go over there and start stretching so I can watch your ass as you bend over.” Tristan said with a wink.
Amelia smacked him but laughed. Instead she followed after Tobias to help with the wood. I picked up the nail gun and started turning it around in my hands examining it.
“Careful blueberry. You don’t want to shoot your own eye out before the big day.”
I rolled my eyes at him but he laughed and grabbed a log from the ground and stood it up in front of me.
“Alright, let’s practice first. Point the end against the log and pull the trigger. It’s pretty simple but I want you to get a feel for it before we work on the deck.”
“Alright.” I said cheerfully and placed the nail gun against the wood. I tried pulling the trigger but it wasn’t working.
“The hell?” I asked and started shaking the gun as if it were broken. “Why isn’t it working?”
I dropped the gun at the sound of a crisp popping noise and screamed. Tristan was also screaming but I couldn’t figure out why.
He dropped to the ground curled up in a ball and my hands flew to my mouth. Oh shit! Did I shoot him? Fuck!
“Oh my god! I am so sorry!”
I wanted to help him but I didn’t know what to do. Tobias and Amelia came flying across the yard with everyone else right behind them.
“What the fuck happened?”
“I think I accidently shot him.”
No one seemed worried about it since he couldn’t die, but I still felt guilty as hell.
“Tristan I’m so sorry.”
Tobias took hold of Tristan’s shoulders and rolled him onto his back trying to get a better look at what had actually happened.
A chorus of empathetic groans rang out as most of the guys clutched on to their own crotch. I looked over and too my horror I saw Tristan’s jeans completely covered in blood.
“Holy shit!” I yelped and covered my mouth again.
“Babe, I think you guys should head to that appointment. Grab lunch or something if you’re early, I’ll take care of this.
I kept my hands over my mouth but nodded my head. Jennica and Amelia followed me around to the front of the house. The butterflies of guilt were going crazy in my stomach as I climbed into the passenger seat of Amelia’s car.
As soon as Amelia and Jennica got into the car, both of them exploded in laughter.
“It’s not funny!” I yelled.
“Actually, it is.” Jennica retorted.
“No, Willows right.” Amelia said while trying to sober herself. “It’s not funny; it’s hilarious.”
Both of them broke into fits of laughter again and I looked at two of them like they were from a different planet.
“I’m sorry Willow but you shot my boyfriend in the nuts. It’s pretty funny especially after you threatened to mount them to the wall.”
I almost forgot about that. I did threaten to hang Tristan’s ball on the living room wall if he didn’t bring home Tobias. What a coincidence.
I covered my face in embarrassment and started laughing. If it had happened to anyone else I’d probably be laughing my ass off too, but I still felt bad. It was going to be a long time before Tristan forgave me for that one.
After grabbing a bite to eat the three of us walked over to the boutique for my dress. The seamstress seemed over the moon to see me; my guess was Tobias was giving her a big bonus to keep me happy.
I stared at myself in the mirror while waiting for her assistant to bring the dress to my dressing room. I had regained the weight I lost while being held captive but my stomach was still having issues keeping some foods down.
Finally the girl brought me my dress. It was absolutely stunning. I thanked her than disappeared behind the curtain to put it on.
The dress itself was an A-line strapless white satin dress that fit my body perfectly. There was a navy blue sash that shaped the bottom of my bust with a crystal broach in the center.
The back of the dress opened up to reveal the navy blue under layer. To finish it off there were crystal embellishments beaded into the satin along the bottom of the dress as well as the white satin of the bust.
The dress was breathtaking. I bit my bottom lip than come out from behind the curtain. Amelia and Jennica both gasped at the sight of me. I swear Jen had tears in her eyes as I turned in a circle to show off the dress.
“It looks absolutely amazing on you.” Amelia said and came over to get a closer look.
The seamstress came over and began playing with some of the fabric. Almost everything fit perfect but she insisted on making a few more adjustments before I could take it home.
I was too ecstatic to argue. This was my dream dress. It has been what I wanted ever since I was a little girl and it was finally coming true. It was all so surreal.