"Okay, so we deserved that." He said, walking in with a small smile appearing on his face, which I was oddly proud to have put there. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who smiled all that often.
Walking up to me, he leaned against the reception desk and hit a bell to announce our arrival. The door heading out to the back opened and the most beautiful woman I had ever seen stepped through, smiling broadly at the two of us. With long, blonde hair flowing down her back, she was petite but with curves at her hips and brilliant blue eyes. A man was following behind her, very clearly related to both Jackson and Isaac. They each had the same prominent cheek bones, with ruggedly handsome good looks with bodies that men would happily kill for. His hair was slightly longer and dark and he too had a smile on his face as he saw us waiting at the desk.
"Jackson!" The man said. Standing behind the desk he threw his arm around the woman, whom I presumed to be his wife. "How can I help you this evening?"
"Noah, this is Laura. She needs a place to stay for the night as her car broke down."
"Yes, thank you Jackson, I am capable of speaking for myself." I said, slightly annoyed with how much he was treating me like a child. I looked towards the couple and smiled in relief to see no hostile looks being thrown my way, just amused glances between Jackson and me as they tried to figure out what had happened.
"Never said you couldn't, Laura. My apologies for any offence caused."
Sarcastic bastard. The beautiful woman laughed and walked around the desk, holding her hand out for me to shake.
"Hey Laura! My name's Jasmine, and that's my husband, Noah. We'd love to have you for the evening and hope you'll be comfortable here." Her smile was infectious and I couldn't help but return it.
"Thank you for having me. You really do have a beautiful place."
"Well, we love it. Is there anything else you need, Jackson, or can I show Laura upstairs?"
"Of course." He reached a hand in to his jeans pocket, pulling out a card which he handed to me. "Just in case you need anything, my numbers on the card. Your car should be waiting outside for you when you wake up. It was a … well, it was interesting to meet you Laura."
"Yeah, you too." I said, before shoving the card in my bag without even looking at it. I know it probably seemed quite rude but to be honest, all I was thinking about right then was getting in to a warm cosy bed, and forgetting about the strange night. Jasmine smiled at me again, before leading the way up the winding staircase which definitely had a certain charm to it. As we reached the top of the stairs, I noticed beautiful windows overlooking the large woods surrounding the cottage, with a wooden hallway covered with thick, plush rugs which gave it a cosy feel. Jasmine approached a door on the right, opening it with a large, old fashioned key. She showed me in to a gorgeous room with cream, luscious rugs on the floor, a large four poster bed, a desk with a large mirror and a door that led in to an en-suite. My heart rejoiced as I glimpsed the size of the bath tub through the door and I could not wait to get out of my wet clothes and take a long, relaxing soak.
"Wow, this room is beautiful." I said, as I dropped my handbag on to the bed.
"Thank you. It's rare we have anyone from out of town, so I'm so excited to be able to help you."
I grinned, as for the first time since arriving in the strange place I actually felt welcome. After explaining that breakfast started at 7am, Jasmine gave me a small wave and left the room, closing the door softly behind her. The first thing I did once the door shut, was head towards the bathroom, kicking off my shoes as I went. All I could think about was spending a good hour in that tub, so I left my clothes hanging near the radiator to dry, as they were the only clothes I would have in the morning. As I started to run the bath, I kept thinking about my situation and how I had come to end up in this town. A month ago I'd believed that my life was pretty much over. Just one week after the best day of my life - my wedding day - I'd walked in to my own bedroom to find my new husband in bed with my best friend, who had been maid of honour at the wedding! I'd gone from the happiest woman in the world, to wondering what the hell I was supposed to do now. Oh, he'd tried to grovel and told me it was just one time but I knew that if I forgave him once, he would just do it again. It just proved to me that I didn't know the man at all, which scared me. My trust had been broken by not just my husband, but also my best friend. I knew it would take me a while before I got over it, hence my desire to get away somewhere else. I didn't have any family, so the only thing that was tying me to my house was him, but he was no longer an issue anymore. It hurt more than I thought possible, but I knew if I stayed I would just be lying to myself. I respected myself more than that.
As I sank down in to the hot water, sighing loudly at finally being able to relax, I thought back to how the evening turned out so oddly. Although most of the people seemed hostile towards me, there was also a sense of mystery about this place, my heart was telling me to find out more. I clearly had some kind of attraction to Jackson, but then who wouldn't? Not only was he gorgeous, but he had that whole brooding thing going on, which I never realised I was in to until then. I decided to see how I felt in the morning and choose what I was going to do, but at the moment my heart was definitely swinging towards staying in this unfamiliar place, discovering why the town was so wary of strangers. I left the tub with a heavy heart as I could have stayed in there forever, no problem, and threw on my underwear before getting in to the bed. Holy shit, it was the most amazing bed I had ever slept on. I pretty much just ended up lost in a mountain of sheets and warm blankets, drifting off in to the most comfortable and peaceful night's sleep I'd had in a long time.
JACKSON
"Fuck, she's beautiful."
"Don't even think about it. She's a human." Okay, so I'd like to think I was warning my brother away from the stranger because I thought she was dangerous, or I got a bad feeling about her. The truth of the matter was that I thought she was beautiful too. I'd only met the woman for five minutes and I was already having thoughts of jealousy towards my brother. Of course, Isaac despised humans more than anyone else I know, so I knew that he would never actually go there with her. Well, nothing more than a night in bed together, anyway.
"I know she's a human." Isaac curled his lip in disgust as we sat in the car, having just said goodbye to my other brother. "It doesn't mean she wouldn't be fun for one night though, right?"
"Urgh, can you think with your head instead of your dick for one minute?"
"Please, like you weren't thinking the exact same thing!" Isaac laughed, before I pulled away from the curb and started heading towards his place.
"Okay, I'll admit, she's beautiful. But where the fuck did she come from?" In a close-knit town like ours, any newcomers stuck out like a sore thumb. It was my job to make sure they never hung around, and disappeared before finding out our secrets.
"Jackson, I do believe I just saw a smile cross your face!" Shit, I thought I'd hidden that.
"Whatever." I wasn't normally such a grumpy guy, but sometimes the responsibilities I had laid heavily on my shoulders. Thoughts of the pretty new girl kept hitting me, before I remembered that I didn't have time to think about women, let alone hook up with them. Humans were bad news. I decided to make it my mission to find out exactly what the beautiful Laura was doing here; wondering why it was I was secretly hoping that she was going to stick around.
"For whatever reason, she managed to find us. I don't trust her though, so I'm going to help you keep an eye on her."
I laughed at Isaac's clear negativity about my capabilities.
"I think I can handle one human woman all by myself."
"I don't know, Jackson. She seemed quite fiery."
"Oh please, if I tell her she needs to leave then she will."
"If you say so." Isaac's smirk pissed me off, but I couldn't be bothered to argue with him. I let all thoughts of Laura leave my brain when my phone chimed alerting us to trouble in the town centre. Just a normal day, then.
LAURA
Okay, so when I woke the next morning, I honestly had every intention of making the most of the day and figuring out where I was going to head to next. When I woke however, all my positive energy had deserted me. Totally. Relaxing had - it seemed - allowed my facade to dim, the brutal emotion of all my ex's betrayal hitting me full force. Questions circulated endlessly in my mind; "Why me?" "What did I do?" "What do I do now?" And my personal favourite "What else did I miss?" I relived every second of what I had perceived to be a happy relationship and found in hindsight signs of trouble everywhere. I didn't know if the signs really existed, or my memory had altered somehow to put them there - taunting me. Perhaps I could have saved myself a lot of embarrassment and heartache if I'd paid more attention? Perhaps love really was blind, either way I was feeling all kinds of shitty. I tried to shake it off and give myself a hypothetical kick up the ass - but the effort was too great so I decided to indulge myself and allow myself to grieve for all I had lost. I called down to reception and said I was feeling under the weather, before continuing my pity party for one.