Stuck Like Glue (Derek Hale Fanfiction Book #2)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Reunion

            As Derek came down the hall, closely trailed by Isaac, Alice and Erica, I saw his green eyes flash and he glared at me.

“Hey guys!” I chirped, deciding to ignore his foul mood and instead make our friends feel welcome. I gave Isaac and Alice quick hugs before showing them to their seats, and they immediately started to dig in.

“This looks great, Chris,” Alice said sincerely, and Isaac quickly murmured something in agreement over the mouthful of pancake in his mouth. Meanwhile, Derek and Erica were standing on opposite sides of the kitchen counter, scowling, and I hesitated over whom to calm down first. Deciding that I missed Erica more, I ran over and wrapped my arms around her tightly.

“Erica, I missed you so much. I can’t thank you enough for coming to help us.”

“Anything for you, Chris,” Erica replied, emphasizing the fact that she did it for me, not Derek. I sighed, linking arms with my friend and leading her to the table. Finally we were all seated, with Derek seated beside me at the head, and I quickly engaged Erica in conversation before Derek and her could start.

“So how’s Texas been?”

“Eh, you know, boring. Alex is really cool, though,” Erica said in her usual jeering tone, cutting into her pancakes with gusto and drizzling them in syrup. My pancakes, on the other hand, were swimming in syrup, as was my bacon. Yum, I thought as I nodded along to Erica and prepared to take a bite. Right as I was about to put the fork in my mouth, however, the doorbell rang again. Strange. We’re not expecting anybody else. Derek and I exchanged a worried look as I rose out of my seat and went to see who it was.

“Mind if we crash? Word on the street is there’s a delicious breakfast in Apartment 301,” Stiles joked, offering me a smile as he, Scott, Cece, and Monica trooped in and entered the kitchen. I quickly rushed around, fetching extra chairs for them and whipping up a few more pancakes to accommodate the extra mouths to feed. Monica approached me as I was about to start pouring the batter, a worried look plastered on her face.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I said anxiously, setting down the bowl and turning to give her my full attention. My friend was wringing her hands as though she was hesitant to tell me what was going on, and I set one hand on her forearm.

“Tell me.”

“I was told to give you a message as soon as I saw you, and that it was urgent, but I don’t want to because I know that the minute I do you’ll be unhappy and you’re in such a good mood right now so-“

“Monica, what is it?” I demanded in a no-nonsense sort of way, my worst nightmares tugging at my heart. Whenever something was wrong, my mind immediately assumed the worst and I quickly shot my gaze over to Derek, who was inhaling bacon like a vacuum and smiling at something Isaac had said. He’s fine, stop worrying.

“Well, after the fight, Marcus came up to me and he…he told me to tell you that he really needs to talk to you. That it can’t wait.”

“But I don’t even know where he is-“

“He also told me to give you this.” Monica locked her hand around mine, discreetly handing me a slip of paper before she damn near blinded me with a brilliant smile and sauntered back over to the kitchen table as though nothing had happened. Confused, I unwrinkled the note and read it over twice, just to be sure I’d comprehended.

The Beacon Inn

Suite 1102

Come alone

            Once again, my eyes flew over to Derek, who sat with all our friends, unaware of what I’d just received. Come alone. I knew I couldn’t sneak out without Derek noticing, so that left me to make up a very convincing excuse to leave the apartment for an hour, maybe more.