South Mountain Pack Ch. 14

Erin was quiet as she thought of what to say and coming up with nothing she asked Caitlin. After filling her in on their plan, Caitlin was laughing and asked, "I wonder if that'd work on Damian? Let me think a moment." Two minutes later, she said, "I got it. Say 'Thanks, I'm glad you asked me out and I think you looked really good in your uniform too.' Then giggle and snuggle up to him."

Erin waited another minute and repeated what Caitlin told her and heard a loud growl as she snuggled up to Bob. "I think it's working," he whispered as his body shook with laughter. "You should see his face."

"What the fuck is the matter with you? Why do you keep growling?" asked Marcus as he looked around trying to find out what was setting Lorenzo off.

"You don't see what's going on? He's practically molesting her," Lorenzo answered with a snarl. "And she's sitting there giggling like an idiot and telling him how good he looked in his fucking football uniform."

"You're losing your fucking mind, he's not molesting her. They're laughing, so let them be," Damian said with a grin. "And stop the fuckin growling. The manager's gonna call Animal Control cause they're gonna think a dog's loose in here."

Lorenzo slumped in his seat, watching Erin while everyone else watched the movie. Fifteen minutes passed and he got angrier and angrier, his wolf was no longer pacing but running as if trying to break free, his eyes were amber and the hair on his arms was growing longer. He heard a loud giggle and said, "THAT'S IT, I'M GOING TO MOVE BEHIND THEM." He tried to get up but Damian threw his hand over his chest from the right while Gianni threw his over from the left.

"Sit your ass down, you're acting like a jealous possessive mate," Marcus said as he turned to look at his cousin. Seeing the scowl on his face and feeling his anger, he burst out laughing, "Face it Lorenzo, it's time to shit or get off the pot. She means something to you, so you need to deal with it. Until you decide to man up, leave the poor girl alone and let her enjoy her date...the date that she's on with another male... an UNMATED male who is holding her, scenting her and whispering in her ear while she enjoys it. And from the looks of it, she's REALLY enjoying it."

"SON OF A BITCH... TAKE THAT BACK," Lorenzo yelled, throwing Damian and Gianni's arms off and launching himself at Marcus who was sitting four seats away. Sal seeing what was happening grabbed Gabby and pushed her out of the way. The four couples turned to see what was going on and Anthony, Alberto, Pat and Bob went to help as it dissolved into a free for all in the back of the theater.

Ten minutes later, the girls were leaning against the seat backs as they watched them and Gabby said, "This is boring, I've run out of popcorn."

"Have some of mine, I've got Juju Beans too," said Caitlin with a smile.

"I can't believe they're still fighting," said Erin as she took a sip of soda.

"I can...they're idiots," Maria responded as she rolled her eyes before she picked up Alberto's tub of popcorn. "What set them off this time?" Seeing the look of guilt on Erin's face, Maria's eye lit up. "Spill." The girls moved close together as Erin told them what she and Bob had done. The girls put their hands over their mouths to hold in their laughter and Maria had a twinkle in her eye, "He deserves it."

After another ten minutes, Sophia said, "We've eaten all the snacks, we have no idea what's going on in the movie and we're bored. You all ready to leave?" The girls nodded and she whistled loudly, stopping the boys instantly. "Let's get out of here. Damian, you know what to do." She spun on her heel and they followed her out of the theater. They waited in the hallway while Damian went to the office explaining they had an issue in the movie; he gave the Manager $500 to help with the cleanup and a Triple C business card if the damages exceeded that. The lobby was quiet as people stared as the girls led the way while the boys followed two steps behind with black eyes, split lips, torn shirts and covered in bruises and food.

As they stood in the parking lot, the boys shook the food off as the girls stood away so they wouldn't get dirty. "What should we do now?" asked Caitlin with a smile.

"I wanna go home and take a shower, I've got soda running down the crack of my...well, someplace it shouldn't be," said Damian with a smile. "I say we go back to the house, get cleaned up then figure out what to do." Everyone climbed into the assigned vehicles and Bob gave Erin and Caitlin a blanket to wrap around them so they wouldn't get dirty sitting next to Gino.

"Dinner was delicious Holly. I'm glad we were able to save the steaks after the fire was put out," said Gina as she helped bring in plates from the patio.

"I'm surprised the men let Matt near the grill," Annie added with a laugh. "Did you see the look on their faces when they saw the flames?" The women looked out the patio doors as the men drank beer and watched while the girls practiced with Paulo and Vin and Dom shingled the roof.

"I really want to know what Dante found out, and if it has anything to do with what happened at the game," Holly looked at Gina with a thoughtful look on her face. "I've never felt that kind of power before, he had the whole stadium submit to him and he wasn't even trying."

Gina sighed loudly as she said, "We've always known he was powerful, but seeing it like that was totally unexpected and he hasn't even come into his gifts yet. I worry if he'll be able to handle all the power and responsibility that comes with it."

"He's always been mature, responsible and level headed... except where it concerns my daughter," said Rose as the two women smiled. "Sophia is mature for her age, responsible, a fierce fighter, detail oriented, able to withstand pressure, but most of all she's a calming influence...she's had to be considering the twelve heathens she's put up with since the day she was born. They'll make a good Alpha pair; they'll enrich each others strengths and overcome their weaknesses."

Gina started to laugh and said, "I notice you didn't say anything about her having a bad temper. She's part Vitti, and I know the temper you have."

"That was a given, us Vitti's are legendary when it comes to our tempers, it puts Frank and Joe's to shame," said Rose with a shrug. "I'm afraid the combination of Vitti and Carlucci tempers has given all of our youngsters a horrible temper, but on the plus side it brings out their forgiving side too."

They pulled in front of Frank's house, and after the youngsters got out Lorenzo looked at Pat and Bob and snarled, "The date is over. Go home." He grabbed Erin by the hand and dragged her towards the house while the boys stared and the girls hid their smiles. After unlocking the door and punching in the code he continued to drag her into the kitchen where he pulled out a chair and ordered her to sit. He took a deep breath and stared at her before waving his arms in the air and shouting, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?"

Upon hearing him holler, the youngsters hurried into the house while Marco kept Pat and Bob outside saying, "It might be better for the two of you to leave. Seeing you around Erin will probably set him off again." Noticing the smile on Bob's face, he started to laugh, "You did all of that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. I heard him growling whenever I got close to her, and I saw the way he's been looking at her. I figured he either liked her or was her mate and decided to have a little fun. What are friends for, if not to torment the hell out of each other," Bob said with a smile.

"Well, it was entertaining as hell, we haven't had a good brawl in weeks," replied Marcus as they gave each other fist bumps. "I'll see you guys tomorrow evening at training. Oh, and Bob, you'd better hope you don't get partnered with Lorenzo." He watched them pull out of the driveway before going into the house, setting the alarm and as he walked in the kitchen he saw Lorenzo standing over Erin continuing to rant while the youngsters stood there with amused expressions.

"What the hell Lorenzo? She's not responsible for all of that. She wasn't even part of the Pack when you got in trouble for breaking curfew or shattering the window in your truck. I said it before, hell we've all said it before, but you're losing your fucking mind," Marcus said before he started laughing.

"That's not the point I'm trying to make. My point is...fuck, she has me so fucking confused I don't even know what my point is anymore," Lorenzo said as he threw his hands in the air. Erin smiled which set him off again, "You think it's funny? It's not fucking funny, none of it is. You're too good for him, he didn't talk to you, he didn't tell you how beautiful you looked, didn't bring you flowers, didn't treat you the way you deserved. And you're giggling like an idiot while you let him SCENT you. Why? Why would you do that? You deserve so much better."

Erin stared into his eyes and saw they were flickering between emerald and amber and said quietly, "I want my mate and thought it would help."

"If your mate doesn't realize who he is, then he's the biggest fucking fool on this planet and a gigantic ass," he snarled. "Anybody would be lucky to have you as a mate; you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, you're smart, sweet, funny and you dress nice. He's got to be the biggest fucking idiot around." He stopped talking and looked at her and felt his wolf snarling and pacing again, "I'm going to ask Dad and Uncle Frank to change the protection detail. I can't deal with this anymore and I don't want to be around you right now."

The youngsters watched as he strode down the hall, anger radiating off him in waves and Anthony said, "What the fuck was all that?"

The girls ran over to Erin who was crying, "He really hates me. What did I ever do to make him hate me so much?"

"Go get showered and changed. We'll take care of her," Sophia said in a firm tone. The boys quietly left the room, and once Sophia was sure they were upstairs, she ushered the girls to her mothers sitting room and closed the door. She handed Erin some tissues and Caitlin held her twin as her tears slowly stopped.

"He doesn't hate you Erin, I know he doesn't," whispered Maria as she moved to Erin's other side. "He's really stubborn and right now he's so confused by what he's feeling for you that he's lashing out."

"Was it like that for you and Sophia?" she asked with a hiccup.

"No, but we knew Alberto and Anthony our entire lives. They had time to develop their feelings; with you and Lorenzo it's been really fast. Brianna and Morgan were lucky because Vin and Dom were ready to find their mates and Lorenzo...well...he's Lorenzo and totally different," she responded.

"He said some really nice things about you, concentrate on that instead of the end of his little rant," added Gabby with a smile.

"He did, didn't he?" asked Erin as a smile crossed her face. She took a deep breath and said, "What do you think I should do now? I've tried ignoring him and we've had the debacle of him seeing me with another male." The girls thought for several minutes and came up with another plan for both Erin and Caitlin.

The boys got their clothes and went to the pool house to shower and change; there was a large shower, reminiscent of a locker room and it would be easier for all of them to shower there. Lorenzo still had an angry expression on his face and after several minutes Ant said, "You want to talk about what happened?"

"Not really," said Lorenzo angrily before he sighed. "She just makes me so mad and irritated that I don't know what to do and then I get mad and holler at her."

"You made her cry again," said Gianni with a frown.

"Oh fuck, I didn't mean to make her cry again," he said putting his hands on the tiled wall as his head fell down. "Was she really crying or just tearing up?"

"Big fucking tears running down her face, eyes all red and puffy, hiccupping...the whole works," added Angelo with a frown. "What are you going to do to make things right? We were raised with the same set of principles Lorenzo and what you did was wrong and you know it."

Lorenzo started to hit his forehead on the tile as he said, "I know. It was wrong on so many levels that I don't know where to start."

"You can start by apologizing and being nicer to her. She didn't do anything wrong, you over-reacted to a harmless bit of flirting," Ant said in a firm tone. "You also ruined the girls first date, something they were looking forward to and will remember the rest of their lives."

"Fuck, I wasn't thinking of the rest of them, I was only thinking of Erin. I always seem to be thinking about Erin lately. It's like even when I'm trying not to think of her, I'm still thinking of her. When I'm not with her, I'm wondering if she's okay and what she's doing," he turned around and slid down the wall, putting his head in his hands. "Seeing Bob with his arm around her and scenting her...I wanted to rip his fucking head off. He's lucky he didn't try to kiss her; I know I would have lost it. Bob's my friend and I want to kill him for touching her. That's why Dad and Uncle Frank have to take me off this detail, I can't think straight any more. It's driving me nuts cause I don't even like her."

Ant and Alberto looked at each other and Alberto said, "Could he really be that dense? He's feeling all this for her and doesn't realize she's his mate?"

"He doesn't realize he's saying the same things we were about our mates and the issues we had," said Ant and saw Gianni about to say something and shook his head. He opened the link to include the boys except for Lorenzo and Damian, "They're obviously mates and what he's feeling is the mating pull. He's so fucking stubborn he won't listen to anybody and he needs to figure it out on his own and until he accepts it, he'll be more and more miserable." He turned to Damian and watched him as he was muttering something about Caitlin and continued, "I also think Caitlin is Damian's mate. If you look under the smart ass remarks and attitude, he's extremely possessive of her, listen to him over there rambling."

"...and Caitlin didn't let Pat scent her, but he was sitting entirely too close to her," Damian said with a scowl. "And did you see all the guys from SP looking at her, or Weaver and his group of dickheads? I know she's beautiful, but they were acting like they've never seen a beautiful girl before. What a bunch of fucking idiots. Now that I think about it I don't think either of them should go on any more dates." He stopped talking and rinsed the shampoo out of his hair.

Enzo asked, "Are you going to tell us why?"

"They're too young, they should wait until they're in college or something. It's disturbing to see them with other guys," he shrugged as he stepped out of the shower and started to dry off. "Lorenzo's right ...fuck...that's something I never thought I'd say. Anyway, they deserved a lot more out of their first dates."

Michael said, "What about the other girls, and their first dates?"

"Who?" Lorenzo responded with a blank stare.

"Sophia and Maria, you fucking idiot," retorted Ant with a scowl. "Remember them?"

Lorenzo finally stood and moved under the warm spray rinsing the nacho cheese out of his hair. "I know who the fuck they are. Erin's got my mind so fucked up right now that I wasn't thinking straight and was a little confused. But you're right; we need to make it up to her...to all of them. How about we go to Fred's and get some ice cream? That's one of the things Erin wanted to do."

"Sounds good to me. I'm getting hungry anyway, since we ended up wearing the snacks instead of eating them," said Anthony as the boys finished their shower and got dressed.

Frank hung the phone up and scowled, "That was the manager of the movie theater. Apparently our youngsters got into a fight and left such a mess the manager had to close the one theater down while it got cleaned. They left $500 but it wasn't enough to cover the damages so I told him to send the bill to me. It seems it's not the first time either but they always pay for the damages. He said that except for the fact they wreck the place, they're nice, well mannered children."

"What? Are the girls ok?" asked Todd with a concerned look on his face.

"I'm going to ask Lorenzo how everything is going. Carlo open the link so everyone can hear," said Joe with a frown. "Lorenzo, we were wondering how everything is going. Are the girls okay and having a good time?"

"Fuck, Dad's asking me how things are going," Lorenzo said as they stopped halfway to the house. "What should I say?"

"Tell him everything's fine," said Enzo as he looked nervously around the yard as if expecting his Dad to pop around the corner.

"Ugh, everything is fine," Lorenzo replied as Anthony opened the link to the boys and motioned for him to keep talking. "We had dinner at Carmelo's, and we were running late so we got tickets for 'S.W.A.T.' instead of 'Freaky Friday'."

"Are you still at the movies?" The boys froze and looked at each other. "Lorenzo, what's the matter, why aren't you answering?"

"Uhm, there was too much fighting so we decided to get ice cream from Fred's," the boys nodded in approval of his answer. He wasn't technically lying to his father, there was a fight, but it was the boys that were fighting.

Joe looked at the other men, they knew he wasn't telling the entire truth, "You know that father/son talk we had after Anthony's declaration, and everyone said they wanted another one? Well, we're going to have another one at the lake...YOU HEAR ME BOYS? I KNOW ALL OF YOU ARE LISTENING."

"Uhmm, okay Dad, we've uhmm, got to go," Lorenzo said as he closed the link. He turned to the boys and said, "We are so fucking busted."

"Come on, let's get the girls and get to Fred's. We told them we were going there and they might check," said Gianni with a worried frown. They ran into the kitchen and saw the girls sitting at the kitchen table quietly talking.

Lorenzo's eyes went immediately to Erin and his heart slammed in his chest as he saw her red eyes. He cleared his throat and said quietly, "Uhmm, Erin can I talk to you in private? We can go into the other room." Erin looked at the other girls and he saw them nod and she went into the family room where she stood uncertainly in the middle of the room. "Why don't we sit on the sofa, it'll be more comfortable." She sat in the middle of the sofa, smoothing her dress before clasping her hands on her lap, following the girls suggestions to act in a ladylike manner and let him apologize but let him know he wasn't going to treat her like that anymore.

Lorenzo glanced into the kitchen where everyone was pretending to be busy but were listening intently to what was going on. He sighed loudly before sitting next to her. "I'd like to apologize for my earlier behavior. There's no excuse for the things I said to you, and my mother would be appalled if she knew I behaved like that," he said in a sincere tone. "I'd also like to apologize for ruining your first date. Again, there's no excuse for my behavior except to say I acted like an idiot and I promise you it won't ever happen again." He ran his hands through his hair and sighed deeply again before continuing, "I'm not going to ask Dad and Uncle Frank to change the detail. I'm not sure why, but my wolf and I are extremely protective of you and it wouldn't be right to have somebody else doing what we consider our job."

Lorenzo leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his head bowed waiting for Erin to say something. Several minutes went by and he felt the tension ratcheting up before he heard that delightful soft Texas drawl that he liked listening to, "I accept your apology, but I want you to know how much you hurt me. You've said some really mean and hateful things to me, things I don't feel I deserve. I know the day we came over for the dating meeting I was a little sarcastic and I'll apologize to you for that now. But I'm not sure why you dislike me so much and I don't understand where the hate for me comes from. I'm not a bad person Lorenzo, and I think if you got to me know, you'd realize that and not hate me so much."