The Wolf’s Contract Marriage by Layla Silver

Chapter 10 – Teagan

It wasn't long before Caelum and I settled into something of a routine.

He didn't take me back to the site after the second time since he was going through the final stages of checking that things were above board before opening the building to the public. So instead, I stayed at his house, sitting on the most comfortable couch I'd ever had the pleasure of interacting with. I mostly worked on illustrating various things for my clients or compiling curriculums.

I'd demanded that we go shopping for supplies after the second day I stayed at the construction site with him. I'd enjoyed the pizza for breakfast the first morning after I'd arrived. However, when my stomach growled shortly after I'd walked into the office on the second day, Alice had fussed over making sure I had something to eat. She'd sacrificed half of her lunch for me in the process, and I realized that I couldn't go without breakfast again. And if I'd felt starved five minutes after arriving at the site, I wondered how Caelum felt.

We'd wake up at around about the same time each morning. Generally, I made coffee and breakfast while Caelum showered before I kissed him goodbye and started my own day. Then, after I'd worked for a while, I'd start thinking about what I would make for dinner. I'd never been a good cook by anyone's account, but luckily Caelum's house had an excellent wifi connection, which helped when I trawled through Google for a simple recipe. Caelum came home shortly after I'd finished with dinner, and we'd eat together at the kitchen island with a bottle of wine and a candle sitting in the space between us.

Sometimes we'd retire to the living room and watch some TV once we'd finished eating or go up to bed. Most nights ended in sex, but there were some exceptions, like the night I had a migraine or when Caelum was so tired he nearly fell asleep in the spaghetti I'd made.

Since things were wrapping up at the construction site, and Caelum was busy, he'd asked if we could go on our date after the building he'd been working on was open, and he was completely done with the job. Of course, I was happy to comply—I knew he was a busy man, and I'd rather have his attention solely on me rather than split between different people and projects.

Three days before Caelum's building was set to open to the public, the doorbell rang unexpectedly at around ten in the morning. Caelum had left a few hours earlier, and as I walked towards the door, I hoped it was him coming back for something he'd forgotten, rather than a crazy ax-murderer coming to take my head off with a chainsaw.

Having an overactive imagination, which came hand in hand with being creative, was sometimes more of a curse than a blessing.

I opened the door slowly and hesitantly, as there wasn't a peephole for me to look out of beforehand. However, as I peeked around the sliver of space I'd opened, I was shocked to find a little girl standing on the doorstep, looking worried but hopeful. She was in her school uniform, complete with pigtails, with her backpack on her back. She had dark eyes that immediately reminded me of Caelum, which was one of the main things that made me open the door wider.

"Hello?"

"Hello, ma'am. Is Mr. Burroughs here?"

"Not at the moment. Can I take a message?"

"No, thank you, that's okay. I'll just wait here for him," the little girl replied mildly before she sat down on the doorstep and pulled a book out of her backpack as if settling in to wait until after five in the evening for when Caelum would arrive home.

Something definitely wasn't right.

I walked back into the house without closing the door behind me. I wanted to keep an eye on the little girl while I called Caelum—not because I didn't trust her, but because I was worried for her safety.

Caelum's phone rang five times, and I was about to give up, bundle the kid in the back of an Uber and head to the construction site before he finally answered.

"Teagan?" He sounded distracted, but underneath that, I could hear a definite note of worry. "Is everything all right?"

"Well, you have a visitor..."

"Is that Daddy on the phone?" the little girl asked with a giant smile on her face.

"Is that Tavi I hear in the background?"

"If your daughter is the most adorable little kid with pigtails and dark eyes that I have ever seen, then yes," I replied as I sat beside her. I was glad that this particular problem had been solved, but the fact that she was turning up on her father's porch was not a good sign.

"Oh, thank God," Caelum replied with a relieved exhale of breath. "When I got a text from the school saying she hadn't arrived, all sorts of..." He trailed off, and I could only imagine what was going through his mind. "Anyway, can you put her on for me, please?"

"Of course, Caelum, you only had to ask," I replied gently before I turned to Octavia and held the phone out towards her. "Your father wants to speak to you."

The little girl visibly perked up as she took the mobile device from me. "Hello, Daddy. Please don't be angry at me."

I was close enough to Tavi to hear both sides of the conversation, though I had to strain my ears a little to hear Caelum's replies.

"Oh, sweetie," he replied with another sigh, "I could never be mad at you."

"But I've ditched school," she replied contritely. Octavia sounded like she'd committed a cardinal sin by not going to school that morning.

"I'm sure you have a legitimate reason for it, honey," Caelum replied soothingly, echoing my exact thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Daddy."

"It's okay, baby. I'm glad you're safe with Teagan," Caelum replied gently. The way he was taking care of his daughter with the same tenderness that he did me did nothing but warm my heart more than it was already.

"I met her," Octavia replied, looking at me out of the corner of her eye. "She seems nice."

"Believe me, Tav, she's very, very nice."

Octavia looked at me with interest, as if her father's words had piqued her curiosity.

"But I need you to do me a favor, Octavia, a huge favor," Caelum continued, and Octavia's eyes slid back to staring sightlessly at the street in front of the house while she concentrated on her father's voice.

"Anything for you, Daddy."

"I need you to be a big, brave girl and trust Teagan until I get home, okay?"

"Okay. I can do that."

"That's my girl." Caelum's voice rang with pride and pure love, making me ache in places I'd thought were long dead. "Can I talk to Teagan again?"

"Sure. I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, honey. See you in a couple of hours."

Octavia made kissing noises into the phone before she handed the device back to me. "Daddy wants to talk to you," she said before she got to her feet and walked into the house.

"Caelum?"

"I can't believe Camilla let this happen, Teagan," Caelum replied hotly, and in my mind's eye, I could see him pacing up and down while clenching and relaxing his fingers in a fist at his side. "What the hell am I going to do now?"

Caelum was rapidly spiraling into an angry rant, and I had to stop him. He was at work and at a crucial time to boot. He couldn't start going on a one-man crusade against his ex-wife.

"Caelum, listen to me. You're going to stay where you are and keep working, safe in the knowledge that I'm taking care of your daughter. Then, when you come home, we can attack this together, but only then. Don't do something stupid in the meantime that you might regret."

"You're right." He made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat. "How I'm going to concentrate on the job at hand is the next question. I guess it's just another way Camilla has fucked me over." Caelum sounded so miserable at that moment that I wished I could teleport to his side and hold him to me until all the shit was over.

"Just take it one step at a time, babe."

"That's actually some pretty sound advice."

"Should I be offended by the surprise in your voice?" I asked as a teasing smile crept its way over my lips.

"Not at all." There was indecipherable shouting in the background before Caelum came back onto the line. "I've got to go, though."

"Okay. Good luck, babe."

"Thanks. I'm going to need it." There were a few seconds of silence during which I thought Caelum was going to hang up. "And Teagan?"

"Mmhm?"

"Thank you." His voice was deadly serious, and I knew he was thanking me for what I'd done and was going to do for Octavia.

"My utter pleasure."

He hung up on me after that, and I turned on my heel and walked back into the house. Octavia was sitting on the couch, watching some sort of incredibly pink cartoon.

"Hi, Octavia," I said gently as I took a seat beside her on the couch. "I'm Teagan."

Octavia held her hand out to me for a shake. "Call me Tavi. All my friends do."

"Well, Tavi... what's your favorite thing to eat?"

"Caramel ice cream sundaes."

"Good choice." I was impressed. I wasn't expecting her to be so sophisticated; I thought she'd take after her father and request pizza.

"Thank you." Her smile was absolutely dazzling. I could see that boys would be falling over themselves for a second of attention from her in a few years.

"I think I have everything I need to make that for you, but first, I need you to tell me your mom's phone number."

The little girl's shoulders immediately sank. "Do I have to?"

"I just don’t want her calling the police and your father getting in trouble."

Tavi's eyes widened until they seemed to take up a good half of her face. Then, she slowly shook her head. "No way, Daddy can't go to jail."

Octavia dug around in her backpack before she pulled a diary covered in horse stickers out of its confines. She opened the book to the first page and handed it to me. "That's Mom's number," she said, pointing to a series of digits written in purple.

"Thanks, honey." Tavi grinned happily at me as I inputted the numbers into my phone. "Keep watching the TV while I call your mom quickly."

The little girl nodded while I walked back out onto the porch for privacy.

Camilla's phone rang twice before she picked up. "Hello, Camilla speaking," she parroted, sounding breathless.

"Hi, my name is Teagan, and I'm looking after your daughter for the day," I replied cheerfully.

"You're who? What are you doing with my daughter? She's supposed to be at school. Those teachers are absolutely fucking useless."

"I'm Teagan, and I'm currently staying with Octavia's father."

Before she hung up, I could hear a very male voice in the background before Camilla's screeching drowned it out.

The plot was most definitely thickening.

"How was Mom?" Tavi asked once I walked back into the house. My phone buzzed insistently in my hand, and I looked down to find that it was the same number I'd just called. "That explains it," the little girl replied, eyeing my device warily. "You might want to switch that off until she calms down."

I figured that taking advice from Tavi was as good as any since she knew her own mother better than I ever would, so I texted Caelum ("Called Camilla about Tavi. She's freaking out, so I'm turning my cellphone off for now") and switched my device off.

"Now, what were we saying about ice cream sundaes?"