Chapter Ten
Mason
"Caspian! Where are you headed off to?" Tessa stepped up to him, latching onto his wrist, causing him to flinch away. I held in a laugh, and slapped Casp on the shoulder as I walked by him. Clearly, I was still losing in the Tessa race and wasn't planning on sticking around to see him win.
I paused, hovering by his ear as he stood a deer in headlights in front of Tessa. "Good luck," I whispered, having a little too much fun and letting my lips graze his ear. He totally noticed too, because after he shivered, he sent me a hard glare as I took off down the hallway snickering.
As soon as I rounded the corner, I stopped and pressed myself against the wall and listened. I wanted to get the hell out of Tessa Land, but I still wanted to know what the fuck she was doing to him!
I listened as Casp laughed awkwardly. It put a smile on my face.
"Uh, I should get to class?" his statement formed more of a question, which Tessa thought was utterly hilarious.
"Oh, Caspy, you kill me. Soo, I absolutely love this outfit. It's not a suit and tie, but it still shows how much of a man you are," she purred, and from the sound of his elevated heartbeat, she was touching him. I chose to ignore the fact she used my nickname and the fact I agreed with her completely regarding his wardrobe change.
He cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, I thought I'd try something a little more casual..."
No one spoke after that, but my ears were thumping with how fast his heart was beating and the sound of his labored breathing. I pushed myself off the wall slightly, just in case I had to save him.
"Tess, stop," Casp whimpered, but Tessa only giggled.
"I mean it!" he told her, louder this time.
"You love this, don't lie," was Tessa's response. Confusion swept through me, so I craned my neck around the corner only to see that she had Casp pushed up against the wall, one hand on his chest while the other plunged down into his pants.
Caspian let out a low growl, and pushed her off him. She shrieked, promptly landing on her ass.
"I told you to fucking stop," he barked, his heart rate still jumping all over the place. As soon as he began to storm down the hallway towards me, I jumped back, pressing myself against the wall again. But Casp never passed me. The slamming of a heavy door right behind me told me he went right into the boy's bathroom. And I was just going to leave it alone and get to class, but the sound of dry sobs coming from behind the door caused me to think twice. I rounded the corner and pushed open the door to see Casp leaning against one of sinks, his hands gripping the porcelain so hard I thought it would shatter.
"Casp," I called out to him, reaching over and placing a hand on his back. Which probably wasn't a smart decision because he whipped around and slapped me so hard my teeth shook.
"Don't fucking touch me. Don't touch me, I told you not to touch me," his voice was dangerously low and all over the place as his blood-shot eyes stared into mine dangerously. His hair was dripping with sweat, his cheeks flushed with tears, and his body shook with anger, but his eyes shone bright with fear.
I took a step away from him, my hands up in defeat. I gave him a few seconds to control his breathing before I began to speak.
"Cas-"
I cut myself off, the sound of footsteps very close by entering my ears. I swore and grabbed Casp's arm-despite his cussing at me-and pulled him into the first stall, locking the door. I didn't want anyone to see him like this.
I put a finger to my lips, indicating that he should be quiet. He was. The footsteps stopped and the door sprang open, and someone whistling a tune stopped to wash their hands. Judging by their loud footfalls and dress shoes, it was Mr. P, the biggest and most Italian teacher we had here. I bit my lip.
But he didn't notice us. After he washed his hands, he promptly left, slamming the door behind him as I let out a sigh of relief. Casp stared at me, then shook my grip off his arm and unlatched the door, heading back into the bathroom. I followed behind him.
"Casp, is everything okay?"
Slowly, he turned his head and sent me a murderous look that I wished I hadn't seen. It made him look frightening and scary and those were two things that Casp was not.
"Do I look okay? If you hadn't fucking left me there, I wouldn't have nearly choked her out in the bloody hallway!"
I was taken aback. "So now this is my fault? Sorry that I was just trying to help you finally close with a girl who likes you!"
He took a step closer to me and my heart skipped a beat. I could feel how pissed he was. And a pissed Casp was not very pleasant. "I don't need anything from you. I'm not some charity case, Mason. I would appreciate it if you and your little mothers and secretaries and everyone else you've banged, could get the fuck out of my life."
I felt my chest ache harder and harder with each passing word. After he finished, I swallowed back the lump and my throat and just stared at him. Waiting.
But this time was different. This time Casp turned away from me and went back to gripping the sink, his knuckles turning white. His face didn't fall into a state of realization, recognizing the hurt he caused me. He didn't apologize, or try and make an excuse for his words.
"Fine then," I told him, my voice shakier then usual. "But don't come crying to me when no one wants to put up with your shit like I do. No one will treat you like I do, Caspian. No one will have your back every step of the way like I do. No one will bring you flowers after one of your fights like I do. Because no one actually wants to put up with your crazy motherfucking British self like I do."
He didn't even flinch.
I shook my head in amazement as he continued to look down at the sink, not even daring to glance my way.
"Well fuck you too," I told him, turning around and pulling open the door so quickly it made me dizzy.
I swallowed again, took a deep breath and started walking down the same hallway for the second time today. And I'm not sure if I imagined it, or wished it, but as soon as I turned the corner, I heard him whisper:
"You brought me flowers?"
~~
Sam
In terms of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life, this was probably ranked at number two. The lunch table was silent. Troye's head was on my shoulder, Mason was no where to be found, Caspian looked like he just found out his hamster died, Bryce and Chase were out sick, and even Terrance was just staring around at the four of us, wondering what the fuck was going on.
Zeke was the only one acting normal! Well, acting normal for Zeke was not saying anything, so I guess that doesn't really count. No one wanted to mention Dallas, or where the fuck Mason was, or why Casp was so upset.
So Zeke did.
"Where did Mason go?" he looked directly at Caspian as he said it, and even his small voice had everyone's eyes snapping to his in surprise. Terrance even smiled.
Casp looked flustered, and didn't answer for a few seconds before he said: "And why are you bloody asking me?"
A tired look formed on Zeke's face. "Who else would I ask?"
Caspian sighed, realizing there was complete truth to that statement. Caspian and Mason were attached at the hip. Where one went, the other followed.
"I don't know," Casp said, staring down at his untouched lunch. His voice was low and sad and it was so unlike Caspian. Troye and I exchanged a look that said "what the fuck."
But we just left it at that. Everyone went back to not touching their food, feeling awkward, and leaving everything unaddressed.
Troye nuzzled into my neck and I put an arm around his shoulder. God the poor kid was a wreck. I felt absolutely terrible.
"I know John sucks pup, but maybe he'll come around," I told him, trying to give him a little hope. He just sighed and shook his head, choosing not to respond.
"Do you need me to take care of anything?" Zeke asked from my left, his voice low and unwavering.
I clapped a hand on his shoulder, looking into his deep chocolate eyes and long lashes. "Zeke, there is no need."
He nodded slightly, and then turned away from me; he didn't really like eye contact all that much. It was almost scary how loyal he was. Or how badly he wanted to kill someone.
"Z, give me your switchblade."
My neck snapped towards Terrance. His hand was outstretched across the table, his eyebrows raised expectantly. I sighed, there was no way Zeke was giving up any knives. One time, I asked him to borrow one to open up a package I got from my uncle, and he yelled at me. He told me to get my own knives; he wasn't going to allow me to "soil" his. It was the most I had ever heard him speak in my life.
I glanced at Zeke. He stared at Terrance's outstretched hand for a few seconds, then glanced reluctantly up at him. Terrance nodded, indicating he should continue. And he did. Zeke turned his switchblade in his fingers a few times, before slowly placing it in Terrance's hand.
My mouth fell open. What the actual fuck.
"Good. Now the others," Terrance demanded, clearing off a space between them. Zeke sighed, then dug around in his jacket. He opened it up and pulled a knife from the inside flap, and two from the outside ones. Then he dug around in his pants and pulled out three more. Lastly, he rolled down his sock and pulled out a four-inch dagger and set it down on the table.
Terrance smiled. "See, Z? That wasn't too bad was it?" Then he proceeded to open up his backpack and sweep all the blades into a small pocket, being careful about the dagger. Then he zipped it up, and threw it on the floor and went back to eating his mac and cheese like nothing happened.
Zeke just blinked at him.
"I don't get it," Terrance said through his food. "You're a bad ass motherfucking werewolf. Why the hell do you need all these knives?"
Zeke only shrugged, his eyes trained on the table.
I didn't think there was going to be much more out of that conversation, so I leaned over to Troye and told him I was going to see Damien. Troye asked if he could come, and based on the situation here, I wouldn't have it any other way.
But right before we were leaving, Zeke spoke for a record four times in one sitting:
"Why did you take my knives?"
Troye and I paused, hovering above our seats, waiting for the answer. Terrance looked up at Zeke, positively beaming.
"Because I care about you, idiot."
Simultaneously, Troye and I let out a high pitched "AWW" to which Zeke blushed furiously at, and Terrance ignored.
"So, Z, I'm gonna go fill Mr. P's car which chicken feathers, you in?" Terrance asked him, his bright blue eyes shining mischievously like always.
Zeke nodded. "Totally."
That was the most excited I had ever seen him in my life.
Troye and I exchanged a knowing look, then said our goodbyes and head for Damien's classroom. We walked in silence, and when we arrived I paused outside of the door and peered through the window. Damien was sitting back in his chair, his feet kicked up on his desk while he ate a Cup O' Noodles and looked absolutely adorable. I was so glad he had a free period.
I pushed open the door and stepped inside with a small smile, my palms sweating with nerves that I always seemed to get around him. He glanced up at the doorway just as he was about to shove a spoonful of noodles into his mouth, but instead, he dropped his spoon and smiled, jumping up out of his chair to greet me.
"I'll be over here," Troye grumbled, sulking his way to a seat in the back row. My eyes flashed back to Damien, realizing how close he had gotten to me.
"Sammy," he breathed, making my heart flutter. "Did you get the note?"
I shook my head yes. This morning when I woke up-pre world war 3 in the guest room-Damien was gone, but he had left a note on my bed stand. I already had it memorized:
Sammy-
Had to go home and change for school. I hope you slept well. I did.
Good luck with Dallas. Call me if you need me. And eat breakfast.
Later Wolfy.
-Dame
And right on top of the note, was a skinny glass vase that I had never seen before, and in it was a single rose.
Damien's eyes flashed over to Troye before he brought his voice to a whisper. "What happened with Dallas?"
Right as I opened my mouth to answer, Troye so nicely interrupted me.
"I'm a werewolf dickwad, I can hear you. No need to whisper."
A guilty look crossed Damien's face as he sent an apology at Troye. Troye "whatever'd" him and went back to his phone.
"It was ugly," I told him simply. "But Troye helped calm him down and get him to the airport."
Damien nodded sympathetically as I spoke, but his only question was: "Were you hurt?"
I was taken aback. "Was I hurt?"
"Yes you, moron, are you okay? Did he bite you, scratch you physically harm you...?"
I smiled at his eagerness to know, and felt my heart grow as he worried about me. "Nothing I can't handle," I told him honestly.
He grinned and shook his head, then headed back for his desk. As he went, he grabbed the back of a spare chair and dragged it over next to his own. I followed him, and sat down in it, my hand propping up my head as I leaned on his desk. He began to grade papers as I sat there. It was mesmerizing, watching him.
His eyes only flicked over the paper and he could tell if the answers were right or wrong. He didn't even use an answer key. He went through four-page test in 15 seconds flat. He was incredible.
"You're so good at that," I told him, my tone sounding a little more sexual then I intended. But when you're looking at Damien, its hard not to make everything sound dirty. He just instills this desire in me that I've never felt before. It even had me pulling my chair closer to him.
He chuckled deeply as our eyes latched. His were sparkling, telling me he did catch that little innuendo. Within a minute, he had finished the stack of papers he was grading. He capped his pen and lay back in his chair, then turned to look at me.
"You got a 100. I graded yours right before you walked in."
"I did?!"
Damien laughed at my exclamation, and I cursed myself for sounding so eager. It was just a test grade, Sam jeez.
"You did. I didn't realize you were so good at History," he told me, leaning forwards. His scent hit me hard and I leaned in towards him as well, feeling an overwhelming desire to see him naked.
"I think it's just my teacher," I told him, my voice a whisper. His tongue darted out along his lips before he bit them, making me extremely hot below the belt. He opened his mouth to say something, but for what felt like the ninehundreth time today, Troye beat him to it.
"Oh get a room! You two are so gross!"
I felt myself growl as I whipped around to face the sassy little shit. "We have a room, Troye! And you're in it!"
Troye sneered at me, and I was about to retaliate, but Damien grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him.
"Sammy, as much as I love to see you hot and bothered, he's having a hard time. Let him be."
I felt my eyes widen at his statement, and the deep blush tinting my cheeks had me forgetting all about my bad mood. Damien smiled at the state of me, and then cupped his hand around my cheek. I sighed, leaning into his touch like it was so natural for me to do so, when in reality it wasn't. We were never touchy-feely-lovey type of people. It was usually just "can we fuck" and "yeah, then lets go get some Mexican food."
This kind of intimacy was foreign territory for both of us.
"Let's go out tonight."
After the words left his mouth, I leaned backwards in surprise. I chuckled awkwardly for a few seconds, thinking he was kidding. He's my freaking teacher, not my husband! We can't be seen together, whatsoever.
But he just kept staring at me, the same expectant look on his face.
"You're kidding, right?"
He furrowed his brows. "And why would I be kidding? You know I'm not much of a joker."
He really wasn't. "Dame, we can't go out in public together. Have you forgotten that you're my teacher?"
He bit his lip, but before we could continue the conversation, the bell signaling the start of class rang. I groaned, getting up and pulling the chair back to its original place.
"Take your seat, Sammy," Damien told me, a wild grin on his face that told me he loved being in control. Reluctantly, I began to turn and head towards the rows of chairs, but something stopped me.
"Dame?"
He looked up from his attendance book, although no one had walked in the class yet.
"I forgot to thank you for the rose."
An unexplainable panic-stricken look crossed Damien's face as soon as the word "rose" left my mouth. He turned away from me quickly, and began fumbling with papers on his desk.
"Yeah, no problem," he muttered. "Now seriously take your seat."
I grumbled a whatever, confused by his sudden drastic mood change, but sat down nonetheless. By the time I took my seat and looked up to stare at Damien until class started, his fearful eyes were already trained on me.
~~
"None of you have seen him?"
Troye and Kate shook their head no, but Casp remained still in the drivers seat. I turned, sending him a hard glare that told him I knew that he was hiding something.
"I saw him when we got here. Haven't seen him since."
I sighed in frustration, knowing that wasn't the whole story. "Has anyone tried calling him?"
Katie shook her head up and down. "He didn't answer my call. And trust me, Mason always answers my calls."
Casp let a deep gust of air out of his nose, and gripped the steering wheel with immense force, even though we weren't even out of park.
"Alright, I'm calling Terrance," I told my three pack members, then quickly dialed him.
"Sam? Whassup?"
"Hey, Ter have you seen Mase?"
Terrance paused. "Uhhh...."
"Don't you 'uhhh' me, tell me where he is!"
"Yeah, I'm with him now," he told me, his voice low and not the happy-go-lucky tone I was used to.
"Dude, what the fuck is going on? No one has seen or heard from him all day! Is he alright?"
"Yeah, Sam, he's okay. He's just decided to hang with me and Z today, that's all."
Confusion spread through me. Mason always hung out with us. What the hell was going on?
"Umm, ohhkayy..."
"Yeah, I'll see ya tomorrow. Mason says don't wait up."
I shook my head, now more surprised then ever. "Whatever you say, dude."
"Later."
I pulled the phone away from my ear and ended the call, then turned slowly to look at Caspian.
"What the hell did you do, man?"
Casp bit his lip, then yanked the car gear into reverse and floored it out off the parking lot, not answering my question. The only person who had this much influence on the way Mase felt was Caspian, and vice-versa. So shit must have went down after this morning.
"Kate, why are you in my car?" was what Caspian asked instead of responding to me.
Kate was beautiful pale-skinned, blue-eyed blonde who belonged to our new pack. She was coming over to help me study for the Calculus test tomorrow.
"Study date!" she fake cheered, shaking the back of my headrest in mock enthusiasm. We both despised calc.
Caspian only grunted in recognition. In a couple silent minutes, we arrived at my house, and I was pleased to see my uncle wasn't home yet. Dallas told me to charge all the expenses from the guest room mishap to his credit card, but I hadn't had the time yet.
"Troye are you staying or leaving?" Casp asked, not bothering to even put the car in park. If Mason wasn't here, Casp was off to go cure cancer or something.
"Staying," Troye told him, then hopped out of the car with Katie in tow. I clapped Casp on the shoulder and sent him a disappointed look.
"Fix it, Casp. You two need each other."
And with that, I was out of the Audi and up the front steps to my kitchen to grab some snacks. I settled on a bag of Doritos for me, a bowl of fruit for Kate, and cheeseballs for Troye. Why the kid liked cheeseballs, the world may never know.
I bounded up the staircase two at a time and carefully balanced all the snacks in my arms as I entered my room, Troye and Kate already set up on the floor. I dished out the snacks, then opened my backpack, ready to get some work done.
"So Chapter 7?" Katie asked, her long blonde locks falling in her face now that she had removed her headband.
I nodded, all of us flipping through the textbook to find where we were looking for.
Katie paused, mid flip, and took a deep breath in. She turned to face me, her eyes shinning brightly. "Sam, your room smells weird."
Troye nodded enthusiastically, stuffing his face. "Yeah! Smell's different!"
I shook my head at their weirdness, and continued looking for chapter 7. "It's probably the cheeseballs. I think they're expired."
Troye squealed, then made a throaty groan of disgust, spitting up artificial cheese everywhere. But before I could beat the shit out of him for dirtying up another one of these rooms, Katie gasped, her eyes trained in a wide-eyed stare at my nightstand.
"You have a demon's rose!" she exclaimed, jumping up off the ground and rushing toward the table. "No wonder your room smells different!"
"A demon's what now?" I asked, jumping up in a similar fashion to see what the hell she was going on about.
Katie had the slim crystal vase that Damien left in her hand, her eyes ogling it with awe. "This is so awesome, Sam. Congratulations!"
"Why the hell are you congratulating me? He gave me a freaking flower?"
Katie whipped around to face me in shock. "You mean you don't know what it is?"
"Yeah, we've established that! Now get to the point!"
By this time, Troye had wandered over too, eager to see what all the hubbub was about. Katie glanced between us, her eyes lighting up as she delved into an explanation.
"It's called a demon's rose. It's the way a demon claims the one he loves. It's not permanent like mating is, but it is a way of showing someone your loyalty. Every demon has one; his or her parents give it to them when they're born. It's soo romantic, isn't it?"
"Hold up," I said, my mind swirling with thoughts of Damien. "There is no way in hell that he has one of those. First, he told me he didn't have parents. Second, Damien doesn't do 'claiming the one he loves' He does sex and that's it. Third, this is probably just a normal rose he gave me as a nice gesture. No need to get your hormones outta whack."
Katie jumped up excitedly, despite my carefully formulated argument against her little idea. "No but it is his rose! That's why you and the room smell different! It's to warn others that you're taken! Oh my gosh, this is literally the cutest thing ever. I'm so giving you guys a ship name. I'm gonna call you guys Dam. No, no, that's not right....Wait, I've got it! Samien! Eeeek! It's perfect!"
I groaned at her fangirling, and collapsed onto my bed. That couldn't be true...none of it seems like Damien at all. He would never pledge himself to me, or whatever, and he most certainly wouldn't have one of those demon roses. He's a rogue, not some nice demon from a well-connected family who goes to church on Sundays. This is all wrong. And I was most certainly convinced that I was right, that this was all just some stupid theory that had no relation to Damien at all.
But then the doorbell rang.
~~
You right now: What? Two updates in two days? Is this real life, KB?
Well I'm here to tell you that is. Enjoy!!!!!!! Ahhh i was so excited that I had to. Tell me what you're thinking, and don't forget to vote! I love you all! xoxoox
my bb Sam in the pic *drools*