Beast Behind the Mask

Chapter 20

"What happened is that you fu*king barged into my life." He growled angrily, "And ruined everything."

I gasped, my eyes getting wide, his words like knives piercing my chest.

"My control. My ability to think straight. Everything. That wolf was in there before we even entered. I should have sensed it. I would have if it wasn't for you messing with my head!" He punched the wall beside my head, making me jump. "I have never made a mistake so fu*king stupid in my entire life. Until you came." He growled, his eyes shooting daggers at me. "So get the fu*k out. We'll. Talk. Tomorrow." He turned around, dismissing me, stalking towards the punching bag then went back to punching.

I stood there for a moment, trying to wrap my head around what just happened, then pushed myself off the wall and took off through the door. I rounded the corner of the corridor, then ran straight to my room, shutting the door. Only then did I stop to think about what had just taken place in the gym. I knew Hunter was angry at me, that was obvious. But why? It wasn't my fault that we were attacked. And his words just kept echoing in my mind, 'You ruined everything'. A sob caught in my throat as that sentence kept playing on repeat inside my head. I thought we were making progress in our relationship. I thought we were moving forward. But apparently not. I crawled up in the bed and curled around a pillow. I wiped at my face angrily as the tears started dribbling down my cheeks. I didn't want to cry, but his words hurt so much. I wish Mom were here. I could really use one of her hugs right now. What I actually needed was Hunter right here with me. But there was no way I was going to go to him now. He was mean and rude and didn't know how to treat his mate. I sobbed as I turned my face in the pillow. I knew without that jerk's arms around me sleep would be a long time coming.

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"Hey, Ariana!"

I looked up from setting the bills in the cash register to see Eric, standing there grinning at me. Even though it was my day off, I had called in and asked Sam in she needed any help. She was more than happy to avail of my services. So here I was, on a Sunday afternoon, at Christie's Diner, just so I could avoid Hunter, not that he had made any move to talk to me. I still couldn't fathom what had actually set him off at me last night. I was still hurting really badly, his anger, his lashed out words, so fresh in my mind, I couldn't stop thinking about them. How did I make him lose control? I was right there with him, it wasn't like I was trying to put distance between us. Maya had told me that if the mates were far from each other for too long the wolf would feel the effects earlier compared to a human and start losing control. But I was right there. I shook my head. I had to stop thinking about it or else my head would explode. Moreover, I hadn't even heard from Janet, and after everything that happened I completely forgot to talk to her, I reminded myself to call her later and ask about last night.

"Hey, Eric." I greeted back. "How're you doing?"

"I'm good thanks. How are you?"

"I'm well, thank you. What can I get for you today?" I recited the specials and told him about the free-milkshake-with-two-burritos deal.

"I'll just take a chicken wrap with a soda, please."

"Here or take away?"

"Take away."

"Okay, one chicken wrap with soda coming up." I turned around and relayed the information to Linda, another waitress.

"So, how was the club last night?"

"Excuse me?" I asked, perturbed. "How did you know I went there?" I took a step back cautiously.

"No no no no!" He rushed, "Janet told me. Last night when we were together, she couldn't come to dinner with me because she had plans to go to a club with you."

My brows furrowed, "You were with Janet last night?"

"Yeah."

"You're seeing Janet?" I asked.

"Well, kind of." He gave me a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I mean I really like her but she says she's not looking for anything serious, so we're not exclusive or anything." He looked at me with wide eyes, "But that doesn't mean I'm seeing other girls. I mean I want her to be my girlfriend. Wait don't tell her that. She'll run away from me. But like-"

"Eric." I interrupted, "Slow down. I'm not going to say anything to her."

He took a deep breath, calming down, "Okay, thanks." He smiled.

Linda walked over and handed me his order, "Here you go, that'll be 6.99."

"Okay, thanks, Ariana. See you around." He paid and slipped out the door.

I looked at the space he'd just vacated. I wonder why Janet hadn't mentioned that she was going out with Eric. I shrugged, I'll ask her about that later as well.

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