Monster: A Werewolf Romance

51. ANOTHER WORLD

KAEA

"What is this, Mason?" I asked, picking up a piece of paper that had fallen from his hands. He had been handing these over to the football players gathered around him.

"Quarterbacks will work on the Ferris wheel." I read aloud, and then scanned the rest of the text. "What is this?" I asked, confused.

"Your man, Kyle, thinks it is a brilliant idea to make football players double-shift as construction workers," Mason answers, a sarcastic but not a malicious bite to his tone. Somebody snorted.

I looked back at the paper again. "He asked you guys?"

"Asked? He told us, Kaea." Some guy, I think his name was Dean said.

"Yeah. He entered the locker room, ordered us to be there or..." Another guy name Adam continued.

"Or?" I prompted, curious.

"That's what he said. I don't wanna know what comes after the 'or'." Dean said.

"What are my boys supposed to do? How will they practice? The season is coming up." His face brightened. "You talk to him. He will listen to you."

I snorted, but the other players were nodding right along with Mason. Have we lived in the same world? Did they think these years between Kyle and me some kind of psychopathic foreplay?

"The last person he would listen to is me." I leveled a look at Mason. "You should know that."

"Trust me. He would listen to you. The times he has not- they were times when he had to force himself to not."

I furrowed my brows. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Just talk to him. Please." Mason made a puppy face. I handed him back the paper.

"I don't see why you can't help."

His jaw dropped. "Oh my god. Don't be like him. This is going to be a full-time job for us. And we are like twelve people and Kyle. We would need a lot more if we hope to get any practice."

"Ask the basketball team?"

He leveled a look at me. "Yeah." He laughed humorlessly. "Right."

The other players also chuckled like I had cracked some kind of a joke. Goddess, jocks were so difficult.

"What?" I asked.

"We have never gotten well together. Put us in a room and-"

"It always ends in a fight." Adam chipped in.

I sighed, pressing the bridge of my nose. "LookI know this feels like a burden to all of you. But you are getting a letter of recommendation, and you are Kyle's teammates, and he can only count on you to do this for him." I looked at them in the eyes. "This is very important for him, and for the kids in the orphanage."

"It's for the orphans?" A black guy asked. Simon, I think.

"Yeah."

"I am in, then." He said.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "That's... that's great."

"Yeah." He said quietly. "I...uh...I was one."

Another guy slapped his back hard. "Count me in, too."

And then all the guys were nodding, and Mason looked at me surprised. "Why did he not tell us this?"

"I guess he got too distracted?"

"Doesn't sound like him." Then he looked at me. "But something is definitely keeping him more distracted than usual nowadays."

I hoped the blood on my cheeks didn't show. I coughed. "But you are right. You need more people. I will talk to the Basketball team."

"No! Kaea!" Mason looked at me horrified. "Please don't. Only Kyle gets along with them, and he probably won't be there to help with the construction."

"Who said that? You think he is going to just leave you to destroy the things on your own?" Mason rolled his eyes at me.

"I will talk to them, and I think this might make you less hostile towards each other."

Mason spared a single laugh. "Talk to them, and you'll only see why we don't like them. You wouldn't have seen bigger idiots in your life."

"We'll see."

***

"Kyle you can't just order people to volunteer. That is not exactly volunteering." I remarked when I found him lounging outside, looking at the sky. The veins in his hands standing out, and his adam's apple bobbing as he stretched his neck to look at me on the side.

I looked around, and sure enough, enough people were ogling him in his majestic form.

In all seriousness, he looked way too hot to be living. With his black leather jacket, black jeans, white t-shirt.

Ah, that outfit might be a favorite of mine.

"Kaea?"

I snapped out to see him smirking.

"What?" I asked, my voice unusually tight. I coughed. "What?" I asked again in a normal voice.

"Those idiots will be fine."

I gave him an amused look and then quickly returned to my stare, trying to remove my focus from how good he looked. "They need more help."

He got up. Stretched his neck, and I thought some people would die of this. Those people might or might not have included me. A guy made a high noise at the back of his throat.

"They will be okay. Most of them are werewolves."

I sighed. There was no point in asking him. I would just send extra help and then he can deal with it then, all because he was too busy coaxing me.

"Fine," I said lightly. "And next time you 'recruit' volunteers, you might wanna mention what for."

He frowned. "I didn't tell them it was for the rides?"

"You didn't tell them the rides were for the orphans."

His frown deepened. "That's not possible."

"Mason says your head is somewhere else these days." I let out a light laugh.

He looked at me intensely. "He might be right."

________________________________________

In the media box, you'll find, "Celoso by Lele Pons". This is the slowed-down and reverbed version of it. I am not a big fan of her content, but I just found out about this song and it is kind of a bop, so...here it is.

See ya!

K R Y S T L E