The Bet

Chapter 4

"So, what exactly was the SOS about?" Cora asked, sitting on Louise's bed while Louise typed up her chemistry report.

"Jackson f*****g Whittemore is in town, that's what it was about. I have no f*****g clue what the hell he wants or why he even popped into the shop to see me last night, but that doesn't matter, okay? What f*****g matters is that when I see him, or am around him, I feel like I'm sixteen again. It's like he f*****g owns me, that I would do whatever he wanted me to do as long as he loves me again. I never really got over him, Cor. And that f*****g kills me inside."

"You still like him?" Stiles piped up, even though he wasn't really adding to the conversation.

"Of course she does, Stiles, try to keep up," Cora said, slightly annoyed. But Louise shook her head.

"It's not like that, okay?" she said. "It's more like I..." her voice trailed off before she looked up from her laptop and wiped a hand over her face, defeated. "Goddamn it. Okay, yeah, it's exactly f*****g like that."

"f**k him," Cora said, but then looked around awkwardly as Stiles laughed. "I don't mean like that. I mean, who the f**k even cares what he thinks?"

"I do," Louise said, almost snapping. "I mean, I get that he doesn't love me, but I think I still kinda love him."

She saw the looks on Cora and Stiles' faces that they tried to hide - looks of sympathy. That just pissed her off. So, deciding she was done talking about this, she said, "Okay, that's it. Everybody out."

"Why are we being kicked out of your room?" Stiles asked.

"Because I'm calling Tak and he's going to come over and f**k the thought of my ex right out of me. That's why."

Louise was sure that she saw a look of disgust on Stiles' face, but actually laughed when Cora made a face and said, "Ew, gross. TMI, seriously."

-x-

Louise had only been waiting for about five minutes when she looked over at her window and saw Tak sitting on her windowsill. "Don't you Hales believe in doors?" she asked him. She may have sounded a little upset, but the fact that Tak, and even Cora and Malia always came through the window whenever they wanted to see her kind of amused her, in a way. It was almost like they didn't want Allison or Kira to know they were there.

Tak just shrugged, slipping off his leather jacket as he came closer His eyes ran up and down her body before he said, "If you were the type to kiss on the mouth, that is definitely what we'd be doing right now. I can't exactly be seductive when I can't kiss you."

Louise shrugged, starting to pull off the white tank top she'd been wearing. Tak just shook his head, "No, that's my job."

Louise shrugged once more as Tak started undressing her. Tak wasn't going to say it, but he was pretty irritated at the fact that he couldn't kiss her on the mouth. He had gone into this bet knowing full well that Louise didn't kiss anyone on the mouth, but he was starting to wish that she would. Or, at least, that she'd bend or break her rule just for him. It wasn't like she was seeing or f*****g anyone else. If she was, he'd know - and not just because he'd be able to smell it on her. Tak pretty much knew everything that happened on campus, and people had been watching Louise for the last few weeks. When people wanted to get in with Tak's clique (or whatever the hell you wanted to call it) they went to him and tried to barter, usually with information they thought he'd want. He was pretty popular on campus and a lot of people were dying to hang out with him.

When they were both naked, Louise slid to her knees. She looked up at him through her long lashes and then grasped his d**k with one of her small hands. She started jerking it slowly, trying to figure out which way he liked it best, and that's when it hit him: since they had been sleeping together, she'd never gone down on him. She licked her lips as she watched him, running her hand up and down his length. Tak felt a little insecure with her just looking at him like that, which was really out of character for him.

She didn't start of slow; she sucked his d**k into her mouth and started sucking it, hollowing out her cheeks. She put everything into this b*****b, and it wasn't long until Tak was thrusting into her mouth. She grabbed his hands and put them in her hair. She pulled off and said, "Pull my hair, Tak. f**k my mouth. Be rough with me - I like it."

Tak started f*****g her mouth and she groaned. She was totally into it. Her hand reached down to rub her clit while she sucked him off - the friction felt f*****g amazing - and it wasn't long until Tak tried pulling her off of him. She continued to suck him down, her eyes connecting with his.

"Don't want to come yet," Tak gritted out, but Louise didn't care. She put all the experience she had ever gained into making him come right now. When he finally went over the edge, she swallowed every drop and then pulled off with a dirty pop. Looking up at him, she started to get up of the floor.

"I like the way you taste," she said, answering the unasked question. Tak wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just shrugged.

"I want you to take me from behind and f**k me. I want you to pound into me," Louise said, grabbing a condom out of her nightstand drawer and handing it to him before she got onto the bed on her hands and knees. "I want it hard and fast. Think you can do that for me?"

It didn't take long at all for him to get hard again, especially with Louise saying stuff like that, and he stroked his c**k a couple of times before rolling the condom on and entering her with one thrust. Louise groaned at the sensation. He pounded into her from behind as she reached down to rub her clit. He grabbed her hair and pulled hard - and Louise groaned at that, too. She wasn't going to last long, and she knew it, but was enjoying this so f*****g much.

It wasn't long before she was coming around him, and she said, "Don't you f*****g dare think about stopping, Hale. I want more. I want all you can f*****g give me."

She had reached three orgasms before Tak came, ripping off the condom and coming on her back and ass. She didn't usually let guys do that, but with Tak, it felt awesome. Louise was finding out that a lot of things she would never let anyone get away with, she liked it when Tak did them. That fact was really starting to worry her.

Louise gathered his come on her fingers and sucked it off. She wasn't making it up when she had said she liked the way he tasted. After she cleaned his come off of her, she laid down on her bed, on her back. Tak just looked at her for a moment.

"You're welcome to stay," Louise said, sighing and pulling a blanket over her naked body. "That way we can have more s*x later. Or you can go. Whatever you want."

"Is Jackson f****d out of your system yet?" Tak asked.

"Nope, definitely not. I'm going to need more help doing that, trust me."

Tak lay next to Louise, deciding on staying, but Louise was starting to get sleepy. She looked at him, "If you try to cuddle me, Tak Hale, I will cut your balls off," she threatened. "I don't cuddle. That's a couple thing, not a me thing."

"I know for a fact that you cuddle with Stiles and Cora all the time. So, that statement's not entirely accurate."

Louise sighed, "Fine. I don't naked cuddle anyone, and I sure as hell don't cuddle after s*x. Ever."

Tak nodded silently, getting out of bed and pulling his clothes on. Louise was breathing deeply, so Tak knew that she was already asleep, and went out into the living room. Kira was out there, playing video games with Scott - Stiles was there as well, but he was working on his chemistry report. Scott and Stiles had taught Kira how to play Halo not that long ago and she had really taken a great liking to it. In fact, the Xbox they were playing it on was new, because Kira loved the game so much she wanted one of her own.

"Halo again?" Tak asked as he sat down in the recliner next to the couch. "Aren't you ever going to get sick of that game?"

"Probably not," Kira said, shooting at Scott on screen. "I love this game."

"You were playing it yesterday while I was here," Tak commented.

"Spending a lot of time here, Tak?" Stiles asked. "I still think that this is going to blow up in your face."

"It's not," Tak said. "I know exactly what I'm going. This is going to work."

Stiles gave him a disbelieving look, but didn't say anything, before he went back to typing up his paper.

-x-

November fifteenth was a bad day. It was the day that Louise's dad was killed by a mugger in New York City, and Louise liked to spend the day with her mom. This year, she wasn't going to make it back to Beacon Hills, and that made her worry about her mom even more. She was worried about her a lot, being so far away, even though the parents of everyone in the pack usually got together with her to kind of take her mind off of things. It was still a bad day for Louise, though, and she didn't usually even get out of bed on that day. She always skipped classes and called in sick to work.

This year, the fifteenth of November was on a Saturday, so Louise didn't have class, but she called in sick to work anyway. She lounged around her bedroom in a pair of pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt that had belonged to her dad. Her mom had given away a lot of his clothes after he died, but Louise had kept a few items. She didn't really feel like doing anything today, though. Kira and Allison were out with their boyfriends. They had a scheduled double date on Saturday afternoons - they always went to the movies and had pizza afterwards. Knowing that she was alone actually made Louise feel better. On this day, she liked to just be. She didn't want to do anything, she didn't want to see anyone - she just wanted to be alone. She didn't want anybody to bother her.

Of course, when she went into her room to take the third nap of the day around two o'clock, Louise cursed when she saw Tak sitting on her windowsill.

"What do you want, Hale?" she asked rudely. Today, she didn't give a single f**k about how she sounded.

"I was checking up on you. I know what today is."

"Yeah, I know. The whole f*****g pack knows. Something you'd know, Tak, if you'd have ever bothered to actually talk to me or get to know me at all in the past, is that I like to be alone today. I don't want anything to do with anyone. Why do you think that neither Stiles nor Cora are here?"

"Because they're out with Scott, Kira, Allison and Isaac?" Tak asked. Louise just gave him a look, so Tak said, "What? They are."

"Don't care," Louise said. "I'm sure you can show yourself out."

"Look, Louise, I wanted to make sure you're okay. You know that Malia still gets depressed on the anniversary of Aunt Vanessa and her siblings' deaths, too?"

"Your point?" Louise asked.

"You should be around people. We're pack, we're family."

"Not you, Tak," Louise said. "You may be pack, but you are definitely not my family. You've always made that clear in the past. The only difference is that now we're f*****g, and you're going out of your way to be nice to me. Don't f*****g do that, okay? You can go now."

Louise lay down in her bed, but Tak didn't leave. He sat down on her bed beside her, and she said, "What the hell, Tak?"

"Hey, at least let me draw you a bubble bath. Bubble baths always help Malia on her bad days. At least let me do that for you."

"You know, knowing that about your cousin is just a little creepy."

Tak rolled his eyes, "Just let me do this for you, Louise. Please."

Sighing, Louise nodded, "If it's the only way I can get rid of you, then fine."

This was the first time that Tak had shown up to talk or be with Louise where there was no s*x involved. He disappeared into the bathroom, and she could hear water running. What the hell was wrong with her? Louise didn't let her f**k buddies in, except to f**k. And hell, she and Aiden had been f*****g for a year and a half, and sometimes they saw each other at places, and sometimes they shared a meal, but that was that - they weren't friends. They were f**k buddies. This is what her relationship was supposed to be with Tak. It wasn't working out that way.

When Tak came out to help her into the bathroom, Louise snapped, "I can do it myself, Hale." She didn't care about how she sounded because Tak Hale was not her friend. He was a f**k buddy and nothing more. She had to remember that.

He had been right about one thing, however. The hot water in the bubble bath felt heavenly. She was so relaxed that she almost fell asleep, and didn't even realize it when Tak came in, lifted her out of the tub, toweled her off and put her in bed. She fell asleep right away and Tak wasn't one hundred percent sure what to do. He went out into the living room, turning on ESPN to have some noise. They were talking about college teams that were going the distance this year, but he wasn't paying any attention to that. He was too lost in his own thoughts.

What the hell was he doing here? He had only started this thing with Louise to prove that yes, even Louise Martin could fall in love. Louise'd been f*****g around for years, and she'd never given herself a chance to really fall in love with anyone. Tak knew what kind of a d**k Jackson Whittemore was; hell, everyone knew what kind of a d**k Jackson was. The only three people who even tolerated him before he left for London had been Tak, Louise and Danny. Nobody else could stand to be around him. But when Jackson had broken up with Louise, he messed her up. Tak knew that Louise was never going to be the same person she used to be. Of course, when Louise found out she was a banshee in the middle of sophomore year because she got bit by a rogue alpha and was left bleeding out on the lacrosse field definitely changes a person.

What Laura had said to Tak about him being in love with Louise was true, he was in love with her, and he had been for a very long time. Ever since the first time Cora had brought Louise home with her when they were in the seventh grade, Tak had been hooked. One look at her, her overwhelming scent had told him - she was his mate. He knew right away, as his mother had always told him that he would. And she wasn't just his mate. Louise was everything - she was gorgeous, she was brilliant, and she didn't take anybody's bullshit. Tak was actually pretty surprised that she had put up with Jackson for as long as she did.

So yes, Tak had a thing for Louise. It was getting worse lately, though, and Tak had tried desperately to move on before now. He'd dated Kate, who turned out to be a psychotic b***h, and then there was Paige, but they just hadn't clicked. He had only avoided Louise when they were teenagers because he was afraid to be around her - he wanted her badly, and practically everyone with a working werewolf nose knew it, too. He wasn't as bad of a person as Louise accused him of being, but then again, despite her living in his house for a year and a half in high school, they still didn't know each other that well. He wanted to change things, to make them different, but what if Laura was right? What if doing this stupid bet just made them worse? What if Louise didn't fall in love with him?

When Louise came out of her bedroom once more in her pajama pants and oversized t-shirt, Tak was still there, not really watching TV. She just glared at him, "What are you still doing here, Hale?"

"I stayed. To make sure you're okay. I'm worried about you, Louise."

"You do not get to worry about me, Tak. We're not friends. We've never been friends. Your family is my family, and that is because they were there when I needed them, but you almost went out of your way to avoid me. Since that is the way it is, I don't understand why you would change just for me. I don't need your f*****g sympathy."

"I know, and that's not why I'm here," he said, but he could tell that she didn't believe him.

She let a moment of silence pass between the two of the before she said, "Look, I'm okay, right? Besides that, Allison and Kira are going to be home from their date any time now, so you can leave. Everything will be fine. Now please, just go."

Surprising both Louise and himself, Tak did as she asked.