Samantha.
Several minutes later and I think I can live outside the frosty fortress. I take a few pieces of ice, and I slam the freezer shut. I throw the ice in my mouth and begin munching away as I watch a confused and frantic Kim try and solve the mystery of my complicated love life. I hoist myself up onto the counter.
"Are you sure that's what he said?" Kim finally asks as she stands between my legs and rests her hands on my thighs.
"One-hundred percent. "
"But he didn't even look like he said anything. Eli said he didn't hear anything and he's a fucking werewolf!"
"I know what I heard!" I cross my arms.
"But-" the door to the back opens and we both look over to see a determined Jared standing in the entrance.
"Everyone took their party bags and left." He looks at us questionablely and Kim hurries away from me with a scowl on her face.
"Already?" I hop off the counter.
"Yeah, your mother told everyone you weren't feeling well after the fall. She and your brother cleaned up and took Alex home with her."
"Oh." I stare at him. He is holding a plate with a slice of birthday cake in his hand. He silently gestures it to me and I shake my head.
"Can we talk?" His eyes dance between me and Kim.
"I mean it's just Kim. She will find out sooner or later what we say here." I shrug.
"Thats right!" Kim grins.
Just then, Eli strolls through the door and clears his throat. He doesn't have to say anything.
"Kim, you should go." I whisper and she replies simply with "mhm!"
She scurries out the back room leaving behind a stench of tension. I wipe my sweaty palms on the front of my jeans.
"Who are you really?" Jared takes no time questioning Eli.
"Samantha's boyfriend." He answers as if it's obvious.
"No, who the fuck are you and why are you imprinting yourself on my family?!"
I stay grounded infront of the counter. Eli is slightly facing me and also slightly facing Jared. His eyes are fixed on only me. Jared is giving him his full attention, one hand balled up at his side, the other still clutching to the plate of cake but he's only watching me.
"Your family?" Eli smirks. "Last I checked, she dumped you."
Jared grits his teeth.
"Real question should be," Eli continues, "who are you to claim what's mine, when clearly she doesn't want anything to do with you?"
"What's yours?!" Jared shouts, causing me to flinch.
For the first time, Eli's eyes break contact with mine and drift over to Jared.
"She will never be yours, you bastard!" Jared marches over to Eli, stopping just inches from his face.
"She already is mine, and there's nothing you can do about it." Eli is frightenly calm.
My heart pounds in my throat, giving me no freedom to speak. For the first time in my life, I see to men fighting over me; definitely odd and nerve-wracking nerve-wracking.
Jared.
This bastard has the nerve to claim her in my face. Madeline was right. He thinks Samantha is his mate. He must be out of his fucking mind. "Big bad werewolf", Alpha has messed with the wrong human. If he thinks he can do whatever he wants because he is some dipshit "alpha", he has got it all wrong. This isn't his pack lands. This isn't his territory. This is human territory. He has to play by our rules and our laws. He can't just take who he wants and make them his mate. He especially isn't taking Samantha. He isn't taking my girl.
"She already is mine, and there's nothing you can do about it." Eli smirks.
This disgusting dog is adimit about taking her from me and from her family. What does he expect? If Samantha knew what he was, she wouldn't dare be with him. She wouldn't risk her or, more importantly, Alex's life for her "boyfriend". That's it, that is the new plan! Expose him in front of Samantha. That way, she would flat out see who she truly is in a relationship with and run. She'll run away from him right into my arms. My mind flies back to when Madeline got upset in the car and she had no control over her werewolf abilities. Her claws sprung out, and her face became slightly distorted and wolflike. Her eyes were black with anger. If I can get him that mad in front of Samantha, he will reveal to her the beast he truly is.
We are still in each other's faces. I study him, as he does me. That stupid smirk on his lips, causing my jaw to clench. I look down at the cake in my hand and act before I can think. I take the cake and smush it right in his face.
Samantha gasps behind me, but Eli himself says nothing. His shoulders visiblely tense upwards for a moment before relaxing back down. He doesn't say anything or react, so i continue to smear the cake in his face before letting the plate fall to the floor. I put a smirk of my own on my face as I lick icing off my thumb. Eli's hand reaches up to his face and wipes at the cake. He shakes his cake covered hand out beside him, causing icing and cake to splatter onto the floor. That is it. Any second, he will shift. Lucky for me, I never go anywhere without a sliver dagger anymore. When he shifts, I will gladly put an end to him right there and be Sam's hero.
I notice the flash of black cross his eyes, and I ready myself. However, nothing happens. Instead, the pitter-patter of Sam's feet gives an end to the silence as she rushes over with a pack of wet wipes and begins wiping at Eli's face. I watch as he bends slightly over so that she has no trouble reaching and his hands sliding onto her hips.
"Get away from him!" I grab her shoulder, and again, I notice Eli's eyes turn black. This time, the darkness stays. This is it he is going to shift. But Samantha, she is in the way. I pull at her shoulder, spinning her around towards me.
"Get away -" My warning is cut short as her hand swipes across my face with a sting. I jump back in surprise.
"Don't touch me!" She hisses. "How fucking dare you?!"
The shock still doesn't allow my body to move. This isn't part of the plan. If she can just look at him she will see the monster that he is. He hovers behind her, his eyes pitched black, but she is only focused on me. Why won't she just look at him.
"Sam, moon, look at him. He's dangerous!" She slaps me again, and again. I am still stunned.
"Don't. Call. Me. That. Get the hell out of here! I don't want to talk to you ever again!" her hands fly to her chest as I have seen all too well in the past. She is battling off a panic attack. "Your one job, be there for Alex and leave me the FUCK alone."
She grabs Eli by the arm and somehow drags him out of the room, the door slamming behind them.
"SHIT!" I stomp over to the fridge and open the door, then slam it closed multiple times trying to vent out my frustration. I pound my fists onto the counter before dropping my head between my arms and screaming yet again.
"SHIIIIIT!"
I don't know how long I stay there slumped and defeated until I stand up straight, I run my hands over my face and then into my hair.
The sound of the door creaking open has me reaching for the sliver dagger I have hidden in the waist of my pants. I put it back with a sigh as Madeline comes toward me.
"The owners are here to lock up." Her eyes fall to the cake on the floor. "Some party, huh?" She smirks awkwardly.
"What time do we leave?" I ask solmenly.
"He should be headed back around 6."
"So we leave at 4, 4:30ish and post up." I demand.
She nods silently in agreement as I kneel down and start cleaning up the cake. When I am done, the owners walk in, and I let them know they can welcome themselves to the extra packs of water bottles and drinks that were unopened and stacked on a nearby table. Samantha wouldn't mind. She would have done the same. They thank me and hand me three hundred dollars, which I assume is Samantha's security deposit. I take it and shove it in my back pocket. As Madeline and I walk out of the venue, I send a deposit of thirteen-hundred dollars to her mother's bank account and text her that it is Sam's security deposit. She texts me back with a simple smiley face emoji.
We climb into my car, and again, I slump over, my head pressing into the steering wheel. Madeline doesn't say anything, but I can tell she feels uncomfortable and awkward by how I am acting.
"Wanna back out?" She finally asks.
I peek over at her after a long thought and shake my head.
"More like get it over with."
Again, she nods silently.
I wonder if she is hoping I'd back out? If she is, too fucking bad, that fucker is mines. Her regrets will be her own.