Chapter 9 Beneath Me

• Chris's POV
• "Please! Someone let me out of here! Help! Someone, please." I hear a small voice screaming from inside of Bryce's room.
• "Goddess Damnit," I groan thinking that he has locked another she-wolf in his room for the day. But when I try the doorknob the door swings open easily.
• Walking into his room, I let out a loud whistle. It looks good. I have never seen it so clean. I remember Rita saying that Erica was to be assigned to clean each of our rooms as her first assignments here in the pack house. Forcing her to start in Bryce's room is like baptism by fire, I don't think he has cleaned his room in the past ten years. But I must say that Erica did an impeccable job.
• I look around the room and I don't see a she-wolf in distress. Chalking it up to my imagination. I turn to leave the room, when I hear muffled sobs once again. I can hear the sound of scratches coming from within the wardrobe in the corner.
• I groan angrily. "Fuck, Bryce," I say as I flip the lock on the wardrobe. "This is a new low."
• Just as the lock flips open the right door to the wardrobe flies open and a mess of blonde hair comes toppling out. The she-wolf falls flat on her face and the scent of lavender wafts into the air. Damnit, I groan as I help the she-wolf to her feet. It is Erica.
• "What the fuck were you doing in there?" I ask her trying to hide the smirk on my lips. I know damn well that Bryce locked her in there. "We don't play hide and seek anymore."
• Erica steadies herself on her feet and wipes her tear stained face. She looks at me with a pissed off look spread across her face and slaps me across the face.
• "Whoa, there Little Fox," I chuckle. "I'm not Bryce."
• "I know which one you are," she screams at me.
• Tilting my head back, I let out a loud laugh. "Is that so?"
• "You are Chris," she says as she straightens her shirt and smears blood across the front of her white shirt.
• She must have been in there for a while. Her knuckles are bloodied and bruised from beating on the wood on the door. Grabbing her hand away from her body, I closely inspect the knuckles on her fingers. I feel a rush of excitement as I brush my lips across the bloody knuckles.
• Suddenly there is a sharp sting across my right cheek and I realize that Erica has slapped me again. I touch the stinging side of my face and act like I am in a tremendous amount of pain. "What was that for?" I pretend to cry.
• "Touching me," she hisses back at me. "Don't ever touch me."
• Erica grabs the bucket of cleaning supplies that was abandoned by the door and heads out of Bryce's room. Following her out I watch as she stands outside of my bedroom door. She chews on her plump bottom lip, probably trying to decide if she is going to go in or not.
• "What are you waiting for?" I tease her. "I don't have any wardrobes in my room."
• Erica lets out a little sigh and pushes open the door to my bedroom and takes a look around. She looks around my room and her shoulders slump over. "Don't any of you pick up after yourselves?'
• I scratch the back of my neck awkwardly as I look around my room. My floor is covered in dirty clothes and several dirty dishes set on my dresser. "I... uh..." I suddenly feel bad for leaving my room in the state that it is in just to give Erica a hard time. Usually, I keep things pretty tidy.
• "At least it's not as bad as Bryce's room," she mutters to herself as she sets down the bucket and begins to gather the dirty clothes from the floor.
• "I'll leave you to it," I tell her as I walk out of the room. Erica grunts in response, not really paying attention to me.
• As I walk down the hall I hear Bryce's loud laughter coming from Ace's room. I fling the door open to catch the tail end of what he is saying. "I bet she is still in there..." Bryce chuckles.
• "No," I sigh. "I let her out."
• Bryce turns his head and gives me a disappointed look. "You ruin all of the fun."
• "Dude, she was flipping out," I defend my actions. "Her knuckles were bloodied from banging on the door trying to break out. I think you took it too far this time."
• Rolling his eyes in my direction, Bryce shakes his head. "It is Erica. I thought we agreed to make her miserable."
• Suddenly, I feel a need to protect her. "There is a difference in hiding her panties all over the pack house and scaring the shit out of her. What you did wasn't really funny. You should apologize."
• "Bullshit," Bryce yells out in protest. "She gets everything that she deserves. I thought the point was to try and make her leave."
• "It is," I murmur. "But I am beginning to think that maybe she should stay."
• "What?" Bryce yells out. "We want her gone before our birthday celebration. That was the whole plan."
• Bryce looks at Ace who is sitting silently in the corner of his room, listening to the conversation. "Maybe Chris is right," he chimes in. "She really has nowhere else to go. Father would never forgive us for running her off."
• "Whatever," Bryce groans. "I don't plan on making her life any easier while she is here. She has been waltzing around this place for years like she is a fucking Princess. It is time she learned her place."
• "And exactly where is her place," Ace rolls his eyes.
• "Beneath us," Bryce says with a smirk across his face. "Or at least beneath me."