Lizzy's Lessons (The Hunt Family Series) (2 page)

*****

Ethan sat back in his chair and sighed at the memory of that night. He knew that true blood vampires didn’t come in to their own until they were sixteen, but he didn’t know that that meant their life mate’s did as well.

He wondered if after all these years she had changed much. She had decided to go to college, major in psychology, and minor in mythology. He wondered if she was still the sensitive, sweet young girl he remembered. Then he began to wonder if she had had any boyfriends over the years, and if she had, had she been with any of them intimately. That thought left him jealous and annoyed. He tried to think of something else. Finally, he wondered if she would ever forgive him for the way he treated her that night. If she would accept him as her life mate. He was quite lucky, because most vampires had to go through the trouble of finding their life mate, then trying to explain what they were, and allowing them to come to terms with it. However, Abby had lived with Ethan’s family since she was nine and she knew all too well, what they were. It fascinated her and he wondered if that was why she decided to minor in mythology.

She always found it funny how many myths about vampires were wrong, like they could only come out at night and they were hideous blood sucking monsters. Vampires needed blood, but most of them had donors, or fed off animals. They rarely killed humans; only the rogue vampires succumbed to that. They thought of themselves as the top of the food chain. Vampires could eat and drink, but it didn’t fill them the way blood did; most of time it made them feel ill and slowed them down. Therefore, they usually stuck to their donor’s blood, except when they were around humans. They wanted to blend in as much as possible. The one she loved to tease Ethan about was vampires slept in coffins. He would come into his room often when she was younger, and she would be jumping on his bed. He would just give her a stern look and she would flop down on the mattress and say “Sorry, just testing out the coffin.”

He couldn’t help but smile and usually ended up tickling her until she ran out of the room laughing. He thought about what it would be like to tickle her now. Having her body wiggling underneath him, rubbing against him, his cock twitched at the thought. He couldn’t wait to see her again, and hopefully get the chance to find out.

Chapter
Two

The day was beautiful, the sun shined in a cloudless blue sky. Leaves and flowers were budding on the trees and bushes around the garden. The grass in the field was green and lush, with dandelions splashing dots of yellow all over. Abby Dodgers stood inside the double doors that lead to the patio in the garden. There were already people gathered outside, eating, drinking, and mingling. Abby didn’t want to be a part of it.

They were celebrating her and Liz’s graduation but she didn’t really feel like celebrating. It was the first time she had seen Ethan Hunt since her sweet sixteen party. She was still bitter about how he treated her and how he has spent the last six years avoiding her. She wanted to yell at him, she wanted answers for his actions, she wanted an apology. Who was she kidding? She just wanted him to love her again. She had been in love with him since she was a little girl. It was silly, because he was quite a bit older than she was. He looked like he was in his early to mid-twenties, but the truth was he was over three hundred years old. Even if he wasn’t that old, being in his mid-twenties when she was only nine was a silly schoolgirl crush.

Nevertheless, it never went away. Even now, she stood in the doorway, watching him as he talked to some of the guests. He was so charming and handsome. He had dark hair that he kept in a ponytail, but when it was loose, it came to his shoulders. He had a strong yet soft jaw line, lush red lips, a straight perfectly shaped nose, and emerald green eyes. He stood over six feet tall and was slender but muscular. He was beautiful. He was wearing a black polo shirt and khaki pants, and when he walked with his back to her, Abby couldn’t help, but ogle his butt.

She was staring at him, thinking about what it would be like to kiss those lips and have that body on top of her, when he turned around and faced her. She jumped when she realized that he was looking her in the eyes. He waved and her face went flush, but she didn’t wave back. Instead, she frowned, turned, and walked inside.

She hates me
, Ethan thought to himself as he watched Abby walk in to the house,
she won’t even come out to join her own celebration
be
cause I am here
.

He considered leaving and giving her the space she seemed to want, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He wanted to go to her, beg her to forgive him, to be with him, and to love him.

He knew he had made a mistake treating her the way he did when they saw each other last, but he couldn’t just take her then as young as she was, she was just a girl. Now though, she was very much a woman, she was wearing lavender colored sundress with matching high heels. Her light brown hair was half up in a bun and half falling over her shoulders in curls, framing her beautiful soft face. She still had those beautiful full lips and amazing blue eyes that stood out against the color of her dress. She had changed a little, her breasts were now full and luscious, and even though she was still slender, her hips were wider. When she walked away from him, he couldn’t help but notice how plump and round her butt was. His cock twitched when he pictured himself groping it, while he buried himself between her thighs.

“Ethan,” a loud squeal broke Ethan from his fantasy.

He turned to see his little sister Liz coming toward him with arms outstretched. He hugged her as her arms wrapped around his neck.

“Lizzy,” he smiled, and then kissed her cheek.

“Oh Ethan, call me Liz now. Lizzy is so little girl.” She said as she let go of him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Liz.”

She stood there for a minute then said, “Did you see me graduate?”

“Yep.”

“How did I look?”

“You looked,” Ethan couldn’t stand how conceited his little sister had become, “great.”

“So,” she just stared at him in anticipation.

“So?”

“What did you bring me?”

True to form, so spoiled
, Ethan thought. He wondered if her life mate might be able to tame that high maintenance attitude of hers.

He pulled out an envelope and handed it to her, “This is for you. I figured it would be better than getting you something you didn’t like.”

She opened the envelope and counted five thousand dollars. She gave a halfhearted smile, and then kissed Ethan on the cheek, “Thanks, brother.”

Before she had a chance to walk away, Ethan spoke, “Where is Abby?”

She looked around, “Hmmm, I don’t know. She’s not a very social person. She’s probably hiding in the house, like she usually does at these things.”

“That’s weird, she always used to love these things,” Ethan said.

“Yeah, well,” she smirked at him, “that was before our sweet sixteen party. Now she tries to hide, so she won’t be humiliated again.”

“Liz, I wasn’t trying to humiliate her. I just---”

“Hey don’t worry about me being upset, Ethan. Abby and I don’t get along anyway. I thought it was kind of funny the way you put her in her place. Before that, she thought she was so important. She always talked about how well you treated her and how close she felt to you. She was so in love with you.”

Liz’s words stung him, he was angry his sister would talk like that about Abby, but when she said that Abby was in love with him, he felt hurt. He had ruined everything. He couldn’t stand to listen to her go on. He turned toward the house and walked away.

Ethan sniffed the air as he walked through the halls of the house. Not that he had to look for Abby. He already knew where she would be. It had been her favorite place to go since she came to the house all those years ago. He pushed open the door to the study and scanned the room. Books lined the walls, a large desk sat at one end with an oversized leather chair. On the other side sat two large black sofas and two large cushioned chairs surrounding a large coffee table.

He couldn’t see her yet, but he could smell her throughout the room. He walked toward the set of couches and saw her head peak over the back of one of the chairs. As he circled the chair and sat on the couch adjacent, she put her head back down and pretended to read the book on her lap. He examined her for a moment. Her legs were tucked under her with a light green throw covering them.

“I missed you outside at your graduation celebration.” He said trying to take her attention from the book.

She continued to look down at the book, “It’s not my celebration. It’s Liz’s celebration.”

He frowned, “I think my parents meant it to be for the both of you.”

“Tell her that,” she turned a page in the book.

“You two used to be inseparable, I don’t know what happened between you two.”

“It seems to happen to me a lot.”

“What?”

“The people I think are closest to me; leave me, without reason.”

He sighed and put his head against the back of the chair.

They sat for a moment in silence, and then she cleared her throat and spoke, “Why are you in here?”

Her words stabbed into him, “I-I came to see you.”

She just smirked.

He grew angry, “I missed you.”

She laughed, “That’s rich.”

He slammed his hand down on the arm of the chair and clutched it tightly, “I did damn it!”

She glared up at him, “You are the one who said you didn’t want anything to do with me anymore.”

He stood up and stepped toward her, “I know what I said. Don’t you think I don’t replay that entire night over in my head every day?”

She threw the book down and stood up to face him. Her head barely met his shoulders. “No, I don’t think you do. Especially considering you have gone out of your way to avoid me for six years.”

He grabbed her arms, “I regret that night every day, damn it. I wish I had done things differently but I had to leave and stay away.”

“Why?” Tears streamed down her face, “Why did you have to leave? Why did you have to stay away? What did I do?”

He felt like he was choking, he wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her. He wanted to take away her tears and her pain.

His tone grew silent, “You didn’t do anything.”

“Then why did you leave?”

Before he could answer, someone stepped into the room.

“Master Ethan,” Robert, the butler said.

Ethan looked at Robert angrily, “Yes Robert, what is it?”

“Your mother would like a word with you.”

“Tell her I’m on my way.”

“Yes Master.”

Robert exited the room and Ethan turned back to Abby. He let go of her arms and wiped the tears off her cheeks, “Look, I can’t explain my actions right now, but I will, I promise. I never meant to hurt you Abby. I would never want to see you in pain.”

Then he left to join his mother

*****

Abby couldn’t understand what had just happened. For the last six years, she went around feeling bitter and wondering what she had done to deserve the way Ethan had treated her. She had dreamt of the day he would finally come to her and explain himself. She wanted to be able to hurt him like he hurt her. She wanted to hate him, but now she stood there longing for him to come back and hold her.

Abby picked up the book she had thrown on the floor and placed it back where it belonged. She left the study and walked through the house, back toward the party. When she got to the double doors again, she saw Ethan standing next to his mother speaking to some other woman and her husband.

As the couple left Ethan and his mother, they began talking to each other about something.

She couldn’t take her eyes away from him. His hair became disheveled during their confrontation and fell around his jaw line. She wished he would just let it all out of the ponytail it was in. She wanted to run her fingers through it.

*****

“Where did you wonder off to, Ethan?” Ethan’s mother smiled sweetly at him.

Over five hundred years old and she still looked as young as he did. She was beautiful, with long ebony hair and deep sea green eyes.

“I had to go find Abby.”

“Why?” She looked at him concerned.

“I had to speak to her.” His cheeks warmed as he began to feel like he was being interrogated.

“About what?” she frowned.

“I would rather not discuss that at the moment.”

“Well, whatever it is, I hope you don’t plan to hurt her like you did the last time.”

“Trust me mother, I never plan on hurting her again,” he said abruptly.

She saw that she had struck a nerve so she just smiled and straightened the collar of his shirt. “Well that’s good to hear. It’s not nice to hurt your life mate. You’ll end up spending eternity having to make up for it.”

Ethan was astonished by his mother’s words. How had she known that Abby was his life mate? He hadn’t told anyone.

“Don’t stand there looking at me like that,” she smiled. “I’ve known who Abigail was to you since we brought her in to this house.”

“But, how? I didn’t even know until----”

She covered his mouth with her hand, “I am your mother, Ethan. Ever since she’s been here, you’ve been different. Before she came, I rarely saw you, and after she came, you were here almost all the time. You were always so protective of her and tried spoiling her. Besides the way you look at her would give it away to anyone with eyes.”

He blushed at the thought that he was that apparent.

“Don’t be so embarrassed. She feels the same way about you. She hasn’t even attempted to date another boy. Any other mother would be worried about that, but I knew why she wasn’t interested.”

His face went flush as he swallowed. He was still speechless.

“You’re a lucky man, Ethan. She is a very beautiful, compassionate person. She deserves to be treated like she’s a queen.”

“And I plan to treat her just that way.” He was annoyed that his mother would think he wouldn’t.

“I know, I know. She is just as lucky to have you, as you are to have her. I just hope that you two are as happy together, as your father and I are.”

He couldn’t help himself anymore. He hugged his mother tightly then kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you mother, I love you.”

She chuckled, “Oh, I love you too Ethan. Now go find your love and try to make things right with her.”

“Okay mother, good night.”

“Good night.”