Shuffling outside my room wakes me up. Who can it possibly be?
I grab a gun from my night stand and stand right beside the wall. The knob turns slowly and the door starts to open.
I tackle the intruder. Pinning him on the floor with me sitting on their chest and a gun in their face, they stay still.
"Calm down, Kels. It's just me." Reed's voice chuckles nervously. I jump up off of him.
"Damn it, Reed. You cannot be coming to my apartment without me knowing! I would've shot you in the face." I glance over at the clock on my night stand. 3:36 AM.
"Thirty minutes of fucking sleep." I grumble. Well at least this is spring break. Oh yeah. Did I mention I'm a senior at my high school?
"Why are you here, Reed?" I set my gun back on the night stand.
"I wanted to see if you were okay. I dropped your brother off and told him to just leave you alone for a while." He stands up too and brushes his jeans off as if they got dirt on them.
"Well thanks, but I don't need to be checked up on. I've lived plenty of years without it." I sigh and walk out into the living room.
"You're my mate. I need to know you're safe." He follows me and sits on my couch.
"You don't get it, do you? I don't need someone to be looking out for me! I don't need you and I don't need a mate." He stares at me with hurt on his face. My heart's coldness melts a little. No! I refuse to let anybody in.
"I don't care. I'm going to be in this town for the rest of my life. I'm not leaving. Just talk to me, Kels." He runs a hand through his hair, which is quite sexy. Wait! Stop looking at him!
"No." I turn away and walk over to my keyboard.
"Do you play?" he asks after a few minutes. I glance at him, nod, and then turn back to the piano.
Then I play.
"I'm tired of being what you want me to be. Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface." I sing Numb by Linkin Park so low that I can't even hear it, but I play loud. "Don't know what you're expecting of me. Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes."
Reed stares at me again through the whole song.
"You have a lovely voice," he says when I finish the song. I shrug.
"Whatever. Go back home. Both of you just leave me alone. My life was great before you two showed up." I snap. He narrows his eyes.
"Your life was not great."
"It was good enough! I make my own money, I support myself, and I feed myself. I provide myself with protection, shelter, clothes, and a vehicle. What more do I need?" My voice rises with every word.
"You need Garret. You need me. By what you said earlier, Garret's the only family you've got and I'm definitely not letting you go. Your my mate and I love you."
"No." I shake with anger. "I will never love anyone. I don't know what you expect me to be, but I will never be the girl I used to. I have no soul, Reed. That was ripped away from me the day they never came back. I'm sorry I can't be the perfect mate."
"I don't-"
"Get out."
"Kelse-" he tries again.
"Get out!" I scream. With one last look, he leaves me by myself.
Finally.
I wake up to my alarm and a pounding skull. Great, a hangover. Huh. I must've drank and gone back to bed.
Grabbing a pair of black skinny jeans, a blue shirt that matches my eyes, a bra, and underwear, I head towards the shower.
Fifteen minutes later, I step out of the tub feeling refreshed. After that, I dress and then quickly apply eyeliner, mascara, and chap-stick before continuing to the kitchen.
There, I grab a water bottle, my keys, and head out of the door. I lock it, of course.
Hey, Rave. Meet me somewhere? my best friend, Olivia, texts me.
Sure. How about at Floras? I reply as I sit on my motorcycle. Flora is a small walk-in diner where you can get basically anything.
Okay. See you there in ten minutes.
Five minutes later, I'm sitting here eating an ice cream, waiting for Olivia.
"Come on, Olivia." I tap my fingers on the picnic table impatiently. She shows up a few minutes later.
"Sorry! My brother decided he wanted to hide my keys. I found them in the dryer." Olivia walks over, stuffing something in her purse. I laugh.
"The dryer?"
"Yeah! So anyways, what's been happening? You look pissed." She observes my face. I sigh.
"My brother is back. And he brought a friend." I clench my fist.
"What else?" She knows me so well.
"His friend is my mate." I grit my teeth. Oh yeah, Olivia is a werewolf too. She shifted a couple months ago. Seventeen is a bit early for a female shifter, but I was super early.
"Ah, hell." She pauses to pick at her nails. "You look tired... Did you drink?"
"You always ask me this," I mutter.
"You can't keep drinking like this. I don't want you dying or anything." I don't reply to her. Though clenching my fists angrily, I blow hot breath between my lips.
"We're wolves. We can't die from alcohol poisoning."
"But we can die if we do something stupid while drinking. What if you get-" Her phone vibrates. She reads the message and groans. "Shit, I need to go. My brother just threw my mom's vase across the room."
Frustration now gone, I laugh again as she runs around the corner and out of my view.
"Come on! It's torn. I'm not paying full price for it!" A young girl with colored highlights yelling at a store owner catches my attention.
"Either you buy it or you don't!" The owner, an old man, argues back. I get up and walk over to the both of them.
"Aren't you a little old to be screaming at a teenager?" I snort at the man. He glares at me.
"I'm not letting her buy it for five dollars! It is fifteen and will always be fifteen dollars!"
I pull out a twenty from my pocket. "This should cover it."
He shakes his head. "No, she will pay."
"Take the damn money and get out of my sight." I snarl. He jumps back, eyes wide. "Keep the change."
I walk away from them, about to get back on my motorcycle, when the girl comes running up behind me. A faint smell of werewolf rolls off of the girl. She must be a shifter too.
"Wait." she calls out. I stop and she almost runs into me. "Why'd you buy this for me?" Looking down at the scarf in her hands. They were arguing over a scarf?
"Because I did. Now go home or something." I take about five steps away when I hear her mumble, "Yeah, what home?"
I turn around slowly. "You're homeless?" She looks up at me.
"Might as well be." She sighs heavily. Hm. This girl interests me.
"Are you hungry?" I ask her. She shrugs. "Let's go get something to eat. I'm still hungry."
I practically drag her to Floras.
"What did you mean when you said you might as well be homeless?" I take a bite of my burger. She just got a salad.
"I don't really want to bother you with my life story." She takes a drink. "I don't want pity."
"Pity?" The girl squirms in her seat.
"Yeah, pity. I'm so sick of pity."
"Tell me about it. I know you want to tell at least someone." I smile politely. Hey, I can be nice when I want to. Plus, children warm my heart.
"My parents abuse me. They hit me, call me names, and don't feed me." I frown. Her parents abuse her?
"How old are you?"
"Fifteen. Well, turning fifteen. I've got another month." My eyes flash.
"Do you think your parents would notice if you... disappear?" She gulps when I say this. This makes me chuckle.
"W-what do you m-mean?"
"Will your parents notice that you're not there anymore?" She shakes her head hesitantly.
"Move in with me." I say simply. She cocks her head to the side.
"Move in with you?"
"Yeah, you know, I'll provide you with food, a home, clothing, money." I list off.
"I-I can't! I don't want to take your money. You're a stranger."
"I have plenty of money." I hold out my hand. "My names Kelsey. But call me Rave or Raven."
She looks at me confused for a second and drops my hand. Then exclaims, "Whoa. You're the Rave?"
"What?"
"The badass fighting machine. The kick ass girl that can beat even the biggest guys up?"
I laugh and nod.
"You're not going to kill me are you?" She shrinks back in fear. I smile.
"No. What's your name?"
"Melanie. Melanie Ridge."
"Well, Melanie, now we're not strangers." I smirk. "Now will you move into my house with me or not?"
"Uh-"
"I take that as a yes! Now let's go!" I pull her over to my motorcycle.
"We're driving this?" Melanie's eyes go huge when she sees it.
"Yes, I'm driving it. Are you scared?" We both get on, her behind me.
"Hell no! I love motorcycles!"
***
"Why'd you even offer for me to live with you?" Melanie asks me as we enter my apartment.
"I know what your life is like." I throw my keys on the table. "I have two bedrooms and two bathrooms, so I already have the master bedroom and bathroom. Your room is at the end of the hall and so is the bathroom." She nods her head.
"Now the ground rules." I sit on the couch and so does she. "You keep your room clean, don't stay out past 1 AM, keep up your grades, and don't ever touch my weapons unless I tell you that you can."
"Fair enough. And 1 AM? Shouldn't it be like 11 PM?"
"If you want to come in at eleven, then hell, you come in at eleven." I smile.
"What do you mean weapons? You have guns and knives?"
"Yes, because what I do for a living isn't safe. People will come after me because they may be angry. But that doesn't matter." I pop my fingers. "As long as you follow these rules, you'll get an allowance of $100.00 every Friday. Deal?" I hold out my hand.
"Deal." She shakes it and grins. I glance at the clock. 4:38 PM already?
"Do you want to go out to eat dinner or will you be good here? I need to go to work soon."
"I'll be fine here. I'll see you later tonight?" I shake my head at her.
"No, I'll be back around 4AM."
"Oh, okay. Do you have any days off of work?" Melanie asks quietly.
"Usually I have Wednesdays off, but since it's spring break, I'll be working as much as I can."
"Okay. Uh, bye?"
"See you later." I grab my duffel bag and lock the door.
Time to go to the gym. Belch.
***
I punch the punching bag as hard as I can, and the rope that holding it tears a little. Oh well.
I kick it and hit it repeatedly. I don't even notice when the whole rope snaps.
The bag swings back and finally falls on me. My back slams against the hard ground. Then, my head makes contact right after my back. Ribs cracking and losing oxygen, my vision has dots forming in them.
"Kelsey!" Two familiar voices scream in panic. The punching bag is ripped off of me.
"Kelsey, you need to wake up. Don't go to sleep." One of the voices, which I recognize as Reed, pleads.
"Don't move her. She could've broken a rib." Garret, I presume, commands.
"Well duh. That fucking bag crushed her." I groan as my ribs pop back into place. "What happened, Kelsey?"
"What did it look like? The damn punching attacked me!" I try to sit up but he pushes me back down.
"Don't get up. You might hurt yourself anymore."
"Just get the fuck off. I can deal with pain." I snap and jump up, but groan and stumble when the pain ricochets through my body. Luckily, Reed catches me before I fall. Our bare skin touches and fireworks burst in my body, making the pain go away.
"Fuck. That was weird." I mutter and step away from him.
"You should probably go home and rest. You need time to heal." Garret says as he picks up the bag that just crushed me and lies in against the wall.
"I need to work, Garret." I scowl and walk over to my duffel bag.
"Can we come with you?" I look over at him and roll my eyes.
"I guess. Same rules as yesterday. Don't mess with anybody, talk to them, or tell them your name. And don't think I'm not pissed at you from yesterday's incident." Pursing my lips, I toss the bag around my shoulder, which hits my back and makes me wince, and exit the small gym with them following me.
"Rave, what is this job? Is it street racing again?" Garret asks me as I start up my motorcycle.
"No, Garret. This is completely different." I smirk. He is not going to like the idea of me street fighting. Reed either.
****************************************
I hope this is good enough!! It's just kind of a filler chapter :) The pic on the side is Melanie, the girl who just moved in with Rave.
What do you think about Rave letting some stranger move in with her? What do you think about Olivia? Or Rave? Or Garret and Reed?
Please vote and/or comment!!! Thankyou whoever voted for me! I'm #743 on Werewolves :) Thankyou all sooooo much for reading!!!