"Guys! We're back!" Xavier's shout rings throughout the house.

"Holy shit! What do we do?" Avelyn whisper shouts, desperately trying to cover her naked body with the blankets to salvage her dignity. I chuckle at her but soon stop when I realized I'm naked, too.

"Fuck!" I'm quick to find my plain blue shirt and put it back on, my boxers and pants as well. I'm sure I probably look a mess right now, but now's not the time to dwell on such things.

"Damn it! I'll be right back, kitten. You get dressed in here while I go distract them. I'll just tell them you took a nap up here," I instruct. Her eyes are wide and frantic, probably more afraid to lose her pride right now then for them to actually see her naked. I mean, it's not like it would be the first time.

"Wait," her voice stops me from walking out the door. "What will you do if they come up here and find that I'm not asleep, and why would I come in here to take a nap when I could just sleep in our bed?" She asks hastily.

Shit. I didn't think about that.

"Um... just say that it was too hot in there and you decided to come up here. And as for the first question, if they come up here to check on you and see if you're awake, just pretend like you've actually just woken up. They'll be able to tell if you're just pretending to be asleep."

She nods her head, and I take that as my cue to exit the room. I honestly don't care if the boys found out what happened with Avelyn, but I know that she does. Plus, I'd rather them not see me naked. I'm not ready for that quite yet. So I'm just trying to spare her dignity right now. Besides, the guys know that I wouldn't go too far with Avelyn before her birthday.

We're saving that for the markings because we all have to be there to mark her and mate with her. Since we're all her mates, we all have to be present. It only makes sense for us to mate with her after we've marked her. Our wolves wouldn't be able to contain themselves if we didn't; they're all too possessive over Ava, their mate.

I bound down the stairs quickly to meet with the guys. I hear their voices in the kitchen and decide to go in there. When I enter, I find them unpacking grocery bags and talking amongst themselves.

"Hey guys," I greet as casually as possible. They both turn to me, sniffing the air.

'Shit! I probably smell really strongly of Avelyn right now.'

How did I not think of that before? They look at me with knowing expressions on their faces.

Busted.

Damn it.

"So," Ashton drawls awkwardly. "What did you two do while we were gone?"

My face pales and I can't help the blush that spreads across it while I shift uncomfortably on the balls of my feet.

I clear my throat, trying to rid the air of the awkward tension. It's so thick it's almost tangible. "Um," I start, rubbing the back of my head bashfully. I remember the plan and decide to try to stick to it even though it's no use at this point. "She got tired and went to sleep upstairs. Before that we... watched a movie?" I try to make something up on the spot, but it sounds more like a question than an answer.

Okay, there's no way they believed that. And I'm sure they already know of what actually happened; they're just trying to spare my pride.

Too late.

"Right. A movie. Did this movie happen to star a beautiful girl that goes by the name of Avelyn?" Xavier asks, also trying to ease the tension with a joke.

I let out a noise that's somewhere in between a cough and a laugh. "Uh, would you be uncomfortable if it did?" I ask.

Ashton smirks. "Only if I got to watch it too."

My eyes bulge. Did-did he really just say that?

"Yeah, count me in. It sounds like a good movie. Would you say it's more like 'Fifty First Dates' or 'Fifty Shades of Grey'?" Xavier questions, rubbing his chin like he's actually curious. I glare at both of them.

"You guys are assholes."

They laugh. "Oh come on, we were just teasing. Weren't we, Christian?" Ashton taunts, looking at Xavier in mock question.

"Who's Christian?" I ask through my annoyance because I'm genuinely confused. He looks at me in exasperation.

"The guy off of 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. Y'know, Christian Grey," he rolls his eyes.

"How do you know that? Did you watch the movie?"

He blushes at my question.

'Ha, sucker! That's what you get for teasing me, asshole.'

"Never mind," he grumbles under his breath, making me chuckle.

"So, Ava isn't actually asleep, is she?" Xavier asks.

I shake my head slowly, clearing my throat again. "No... she's in Ashton's bedroom."

"Did you guys seriously do that shit on my bed?" Ashton asks, his rose-colored cheeks fading back into their normal color, irritation seeping through his words.

I roll my eyes. "It's not like we haven't done that shit on the couch before. And besides, you don't even sleep on that bed anymore. So there really shouldn't be a problem." He shuts up at my declaration, realizing there isn't really anything else he can say.

I won.

In your face, bitch.

"Well, I guess I'll go tell her she can come down now," Xavier announces, turning to walk up the stairs and retrieve our angel. I grab his wrist, stopping him.

"No, let me. I'm sure she'll be too embarrassed to find out that you guys knew about what happened. For her sake, pretend like you're unaware." He nods his head and I take that as my cue to walk up the stairs. Alone.

When I reach the door to Ashton's room, I knock on it, telling her it's just me. She calls back a soft "come in" and I open the door, walking into the room and shutting the door behind me.

"Hey, kitten," I greet. She blushes, her fingers playing with her silver hair shyly.

She's adorable.

"Hi," she says back. "Did you tell them you'd come and wake me up?" She asks softly. I chuckle.

"Yes, I did, Ava. Come on, they wanna see you." She nods and takes the hand I have offered out to her. Her touch never falters I making my skin catch fire.

I lead her down the stairs and she follows along silently.

"Hi, princess," Xavier says upon our entrance. "How was your nap?"

She blushes again. "It was good," she answers, her voice coming out as a squeak. We all chuckle, knowing full-well that she didn't get any sleep.

"Have any good dreams?" Ashton quizzes with a smirk. I turn and glare at him over Ava's shoulder. Her face grows impossibly more red.

"Yes," her eyes hold a cute, dazed look for a moment before she snaps out of it and smiles at me. "I did."

I growl under my breath, knowing exactly what she meant.

"Welp," Xavier claps his hands together loudly, snapping me out of my lustful trance and gaining Avelyn's attention as well. "What do you want to do, princess?" She looks thoughtful for a moment then looks like she's got an idea.

"I wanna go out," she declares, shocking the boys and I.

"Are you sure you're ready for that, Avelyn?" I ask her skeptically. I don't even think that I'm ready for her to go out yet. How could she be?

She nods her head. "Yeah, I'm sure. I haven't been out in two months. I'm ready to go out into the world. I'm a big girl; I can handle it. Especially now that there're no bad guys after me anymore."

I give her one last skeptical look, but upon seeing the determination on her angelic face, I huff out a breath.

"Fine," I cave. "What would you like to do?"

Her determined face turns into one of excitement, and she starts to giggle with absolute glee, throwing herself onto me. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she squeals, separating herself from me, beaming at all of us. She lifts a finger to her chin and taps it in contemplation. "I don't know, actually. I've never really done much before; my parents would never let me out of the house. You guys decide. I'm sure whatever you pick will be fun."

"Hmm," Xavier hums, clearly weighing his options. "Well, I heard the fair was supposed to be in town today. We can do that, I suppose," he suggests.

"Ooh, really?! That sounds like so much fun!" Avelyn squeals in utter delight.

"Well, I guess the angel has chosen. To the fair it is, boys," Ashton chuckles and we all nod.

This should be fun.

____________________________________

Sorry for the short chapter, but Wattpad is still acting up. I'm currently in the process of writing another chapter, but I'm struggling a little bit. Everything was fine until Wattpad's newest update. Still, I'll find a way to make it work, and I'll try to post the other one ASAP.

But, as always... until next time...

Sincerely,

The Annoying Author Lady