A/N Thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a little shorter than the others but I wanted it to be this way. Let me know what you think!
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When Jackson left rain poured down like a faucet had been turned on. Aiden ran inside, drenched from head to toe. When I asked him about his night, he mumbled something tiredly and ran upstairs. I waited for the tiny "click" of the lock on his bedroom door before I decided to call it a night. My phone vibrated in my hands. Declan had already left five voicemails, but he was going to have to wait for a response until morning. Aiden had discretly stepped into the shower while I wasn't paying attention-and since he was soaking up all the warm water I decided a shower would also have to wait until morning. I combed through my blonde locks as I simultaneously removed my makeup. I slipped on an oversized t-shirt that reached just above my knees and pulled my hair back into a messy bun as I climbed into bed. Tuck's bedroom light flickered on from outside my window. A pebble was thrown at my window, making me jump. I waited for another one to hit the glass until I got up. I glided towards the window in my fuzzy socks. Tuck was leaning outside his open window, a pile of pebbles in his hands. I unlocked the latch on the window and pushed it open. "I had a feeling you would still be up." He smiled at me, his bulging muscles taking up all the space in the window's small opening.
I sighed and hopped onto my window seat, listening to the quiet thuddering of rain as it trickled down. "Do you ever sleep?" I teased. "Not to sound like a total creep or anything, but your bedroom light is almost always on." We both laughed.
"It's hard to sleep when there's so much you have to worry about." He replied as a bolt of lightening struck against the sky. We both watched it silently. "How are you holding up?'
"Could be better, but I'm not complaining." I shrugged. "What we you guys doing all night?" I changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on the past.
"Have you heard about the wolf attacks?" He asked. I nodded. "There was another one tonight."
I leaned forward. "Who was it this time?"
"A Junior girl. She was walking home from school when she was attacked. She's stable condition, but the attacks are progressively getting worse each time. The first time it happened the boy got away with a couple scratches, the second time the girl got broken leg, the third time the boy was practically skinned, and this time...."
I was almost afraid to ask. "What did they do to her?"
"Her eyes were gouged out." I clasped my hand to my mouth. Tuck blew out a long breath of air. "Maybe she saw something she shouldn't have, I don't know. All I know is that these attacks aren't going to stop themselves, we have to do something about them."
"It doesn't make any sense. Why would they be targeting random people?"
"I think it's a scare tactic. The Caedis way of telling us that they're not afraid to to get innocent people invovled. It's almost as if they're previewing what they are going to do to us."
"This is all my fault." I leaned my head against the window. "I was the one who provoked Carter." I admitted.
"Carter's known for his short temper. He holds grudges, but he's never been like this."
"Do you ever miss him?" I asked, and immediately regretted it. "I'm sorry," I apologized. "I didn't mean to..."
"It's fine." Tuck assured me. "And to answer your question: yes. I do miss him, but I miss the old Carter not the monster he's become. We're twins, we've been attached at the hip since birth. He was like my other half, now he feels like a stranger."
"I wouldn't say that's a bad thing." I said, to lighten the mood. "You're nothing like him and that's what makes you so great."
"You think I'm great?" He smirked. I rolled my eyes at him and we both laughed. "Can you do me a favor?" He asked. "I'm not sure if you've heard but the Homecoming Carnival is tomorrow night," How could I forget? Declan was supposed to be my date. "and I sort of promised someone that I'd go with them."
"A secret crush?" I teased.
"Something like that." He blushed. "Do you think you could ask your brother to take the watch for tomorrow?"
"Sure." I agreed. "I bet he was already planning on it."
"What about you?"
"What about me?" I chuckled.
"Aren't you going to the carnival?"
"I don't think so. Aiden would never let me..."
"Not like that's stopped you before." He grinned.
"I have no one to go with."
"Did you ask Jackson?"
"Are you kidding?" I laughed.
"I'm being serious!" He smiled. "You two are cute together."
"You sound just lke your sister."
"You should give him a chance, he's a great guy."
"I'm pretty sure he's bipolar or something."
"We've all got our issues." Tuck shrugged.
"What are yours?" I asked, looking at the clock on my bed side table. It was already two in the morning. Sleep no longer seemed like an option.
Tuck hesitated for a moment. "I have anger management problems, and I'm sort of a control freak."
"I find that extremely hard to believe!"
"No, really." He assured me. "You can ask Scar. I once punched a hole through our TV because I got mad when my favorite character died on Lost." He chuckled to himself. "And I don't like it when things aren't in my control, it freaks me out. I hating being vulnerable, and feeling as if there's nothing I can do." He paused before asking,"And yours?"
"I was afraid you would ask." I blushed. "I'm afraid of commitment-and getting attached to one person. I don't like letting people down, and even worse; being let down by other people. I also have trust issues. I feel like the only person I can trust is myself."
"You can trust me."
"Jackson has issues but they all have to do with his personality. If he weren't so cocky or sarcastic then maybe I'd give him a chance."
"I think that's your commitment issue making up excuses." Tuck argued. "Jackson can be very sensitive, if you get to know him. He locks that part of him up, because he has the same issues you do. You know about him and Amanda, right?" I nodded and he continued. "Before Amanda, there was Madison. Madison was human, like you. They were friends since birth. They basically grew up together. But Madison didn't love Jackson the way he loved her. She thought they were just friends and Jackson wanted more. So he told her his secret, hoping it would bring them closer. Madison freaked out. She called him a monster and all these horrible things. She finally convinced her family to move away, but that was after she broke his heart. So he turned to Amanda. He wanted to connect with someone so badly, and Amanda was willing. That's why he sleeps around. He doesn't want to get attached to one person either, because he's afraid they'll just end up breaking his heart."
"Now I feel like the jerk."
"Don't get me wrong. Jackson can be a total dick sometimes. But he's a dick within reason."
We both laughed. "You're so much easier to talk to than Aiden."
"Don't say that-" I cut him off before he could finish.
"Aiden thinks it's his job to protect me from the world. I can't talk to him about anything, because he always turns it into an excuse to lecture me."
"He's just looking out for you." Tuck defended him.
"I know." I nodded. "And I appreciate everything he does for me, I do. It's just sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating!" I threw my hands up into the air. "God forbid I talk to a boy, and if anyone's crazy enough to like me back he always finds a way to ruin it."
"Now you're just over reacting."
"At our old school when a boy asked me to the dance Aiden strung him up by his underwear in the middle of the cafeteria." I said flatly. Tuck broke into hysterics, his face turning red. "You don't know Aiden like I do. He used to be a prank genius. He and our pack once threw all of my bra and underwear onto the roof!" I chuckled.
"I've never heard either of you mention your other pack before." Tuck stopped laughing. "What happened to them?"
"I don't like to talk about it." My face went blank. There goes my big fat mouth again-spilling all our secrets.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."
"No, it's okay." I sighed. "Things didn't end well with them, that's all." We both fell silent for a few moments. "Long story short, our pack came to a violent end. Aiden and I are the only ones left."
Tuck eyes widened. "I've never heard of an entire pack dying out like that." I didn't like the way he phrased that. It made it seem like my friends and family died gradually-naturally, instead of the reality: slaughter.
"Aiden and I were on our own for awhile. To be honest, I never thought we'd find another pack."
"Well you did." Tuck finished for me. "And we're not going anywhere."
"I hope so." I said quietly. "How's Scar? She's seems...on edge lately."
"Scar's got issues, too." Tuck yawned loudly. "She think she can make all the wrongs in the world right. She doesn't understand that's there are some things that don't need fixing."
"Care to elaborate?" I leaned forward. The rain had died out. It was only lightly drizzling now. I stuck my arm out my window so that the rain trickled down my skin.
"If things aren't exactly how she wants them to be, she goes a little pyscho. I bet she's already tried to convince you to do something you didn't really want to do. She thinks she's helping people." He bit his lip. "It started when she got the scar. Since she no longer looked "perfect" she had to make sure her life was."
"I hear you guys fighting sometimes." I admitted.
"We aren't like you and Aiden. Most of the time we can't stand each other."
"Does that have anything to do with the fact that she slept with someone from the Caedis pack?"
"She told you about that?' He raised his eyebrows. Maybe I shouldn't have brought that up. Scar had told me that in confidence, and here I was spilling everything she told me to her brother. If she did the same to me I would never be able to trust her. There I go, letting down people that I care about. "What happened with her and Declan was a long time ago. I'm over it." I decided not to ask any more about it. It wasn't my buisness. Siblings fight it's totally normal.
"What's Amanda's story?" I changed the subject.
"Amanda's problem is that she refuses to accept that she has issues. Instead, she goes around doing whatever the hell she wants because everyone else is too afraid to stand up to her. You've got to admire her for that. She doesn't let people walk all over her."
"Instead she walks all over other people." I muttered.
"Amanda used to have a sister." Tuck informed me. "She was five years older than her, a big party animal. One night she got into a fight with some guys from another pack. She was drunk and she wasn't in control of herself. And knowing how Amanda is, she problably wasn't the nicest girl in town. They ended up dumping her body on the side of the road. Ever since then Amanda's turned off her emotions. She hurts people because people hurt her. It's all she's ever known, and it's the only thing she's ever been good at." He paused for a moment before continuing. "That's why she's so close with Caroline. She's the replacement for the sister she lost."
"Have you ever lost anyone?" I glanced again at my clock. It was now almost three.
"I lost my best friend...my brother." Tuck looked away from me. "Except he's still technically still here. Sometimes I feel like it's his body, but Carter is no longer in it." He looked down at his watch. "Jesus, have we really been talking for an hour?" He laughed.
"It's easy to lose track of time talking to you."
"I better try to salvage what little sleep I have left." He stretched out his arms, showing off his muscles. "But before I go, remember what I told you about Jackson." He slowly started to close his window. "And the Homecoming Carnival is pretty awesome although it sounds lame. Don't be so sure of what your brother might say, you should be allowed to have fun once in awhile." He smiled, closing his window all the way.
I pulled down my window and locked it into place. Tuck shut off his lights-the rays no longer seeped through the blinds. Then I turned off mine.
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A/N
Who's issue suprised you the most? Which didn't suprise you at all?