The first person who appeared was Felix. His eyes looked at them with worry and anxiousness, "Jessie, are you ok!?" He asked before he froze on the spot.
Caught off guard, the others ran into him.
"What's wro-?" Austin paused mid sentence as he too, froze at the scene in front of him.
The two girls stood very close to one another, so close that it looked almost as if they were about to kiss. To make it even worse, Amara's hand was placed on Jessie's cheek and even from this distance, you could tell that she was blushing.
Austin's eyes widened in disbelief. They never thought that they'd see their mates in such an ambiguous situation.
Jackson nudged at Austin, and without taking his eyes off the two girls asked, "Hey Austin? Have you ever considered that your mate might be..." He coughed, "Gay?"
Austin and Felix remained frozen, ignoring Jackson's words. Normally, he would retort but... could he? What if his mate might really be attracted to girls? What would he do then?
Jessie looked at the them with her mouth agape. Seeing them burst through the door at once surprised her, but the moment she saw the way that Austin and Felix stared at them, she knew that they had conceived some kind of misunderstanding.
She took a deep breath and quickly stepped away from Amara; her heart still beating fast in her chest. She didn't know why she felt as if she had been caught red handed having an affair but she unconsciously averted her eyes.
"U-um." She fanned herself with her hand to try and could down her burning cheeks. Wasn't she overreacting a little? Although she doesn't have many female friends, she did know that girls often did this, right? Plus, she didn't even swing that way so there was nothing to feel guilty about.
After trying to logically reason with herself, she was finally able to calm down. With this new insight, she faced the group of meant the door who were still frozen in their spots.
"What's going on?" She asked them.
Jackson raised his eyebrows before throwing the question back at her, "We could ask you the same thing," he said, his eyes darting between her and Amara.
"I was helping her change, like I was told too," she answered back.
She sighed and walked towards Felix who still stood frozen in his place. He immediately pulled her into a tight embrace. Jessie chuckled at his actions before wrapping her arms around him. She gently patted his head as he buried his face in her neck.
Felix took a quick glance at Amara and silently admitted that she was quite the beauty, but in his mind no one could compare to Jessie and became slightly wary of her.
Soon after, Austin also snapped out of his daze and walked closer to Amara and asked with a gently tone and tender eyes, "Are you ok?"
If a different women saw him now, they would have melted on the spot to have been shown a little concern and tenderness from him.
Hearing his voice, Amara moved her eyes away from Jessie and nodded her head before sneezing.
Her sneeze immediately reminded everybody that she was still wearing her wet clothes. Jessie, who had almost forgotten was she was going to do, quickly broke free from Felix's arms and ordered everybody to get out.
Just as Austin was about to leave he noticed Amara's unbuttoned shirt that revealed her beautiful collarbone. He silently gulped as dark thought filled his mind. He quickened his pace and quickly got out of there before his mind conjured up anything more indecent.
"You guys aren't going to flirt again, are you?" Jackson teased.
Jessie's cheeks immediately went red, "Jackson!" She yelled, before punching him.
Jackson chuckled and dismissively wove his hand before being finally pushed out of the room. Felix, who was behind him slapped his head garnering an "Ouch," from Jackson.
.
.
With everyone gone, Jessie was then able to help Amara finally get changed out of the wet clothing. The men who were once again kicked out, loitered outside of the room. Everyone was quiet until Jackson burst out laughing.
"Oh my god, you should've seen your faces!" He hunched over, holding his stomach while he hysterically laughed.
Austin remained silent and pretended that he didn't exist while Felix discreetly glared at him before ignoring him as well.
Jackson continued teasing them ignoring the sour faces they made at him.
It wasn't long before Jessie invited them back in. The clothes that Amara were given was a plain white shirt and grey sweatpants. After Austin took in Amara's figure, he quickly ushered her back into bed.
The moment her head hit the pillow, it seemed as if all of her exhaustion cam rushing at once maligning her eyelids feel heavy. Not even a minute later she had succumbed to her tiredness and fell asleep. So as to not disturb her, Austin and the other quietly left her room.
.
.
.
A couple days passed and thankfully nothing else eventful happened. Lucas checked on her almost everyday to make sure everything was fine. The scare that Amara gave Austin made it so that he had to check on her every single hour in order to calm his anxiety.
Three days later, most of her wounds scabbed over or healed, and thanks to a special cream that Lucas developed, there were barely any scars left (not that there would have been anyway considering that Amara is not human).
Austin had not left Amara's side for long periods of time since he found her. Amara was initially wary of him and was constantly on guard, but as she grew accustomed to his presence, she began to relax.
Austin was always quiet when he was near her; his facial expressions were stiff, but his actions were always gentle. Although he wanted to know who the culprit was that did this to her, he didn't want her to feel overwhelmed. In the meantime, he'd use whatever resources he had at his disposal to track down any leads.
He was fortunate in that she did not demand to be sent home; he didn't want her to feel compelled to stay, but he also couldn't just let her go; thankfully, he did not have to deal with this dilemma though it did also make him wonder why. Did she come from an abusive household? kidnapped?
He also noticed that she rarely spoke. He frequently caught her staring into space or absently looking at objects; he didn't know what to make of this at first but gradually came to believe that this was just how she was.
.
.
.
She was finally able to leave the hospital a week later. The day passed in the same manner as any other, quiet and peaceful. In the car, the only thing you could hear on the way home was Jessie and Jackson's constant chatter.
Felix remained quiet and focused on answering emails from his phone, demonstrating that he was still a workaholic even when he was not in the office.
Austin was driving, and he didn't say much because he was lost in thought. His mind wandered back to what he and Lucas had discussed before leaving.
"Because Amara lost a lot of blood, she'll be very weak and have difficulty walking for long periods of time; don't worry, this is completely normal; just make sure she gets plenty of nutrition to replenish it. Another point I'd like to make is that her mental state isn't 100 percent, so don't agitate her or overexcite her. She might still be suffering from a concussion, so make sure to look after her." Austin listened intently, remembering every word and warning as Lucas continued to list things to be aware of.
Back in the present, Amara sat in the back seat of her car, staring out the window and oblivious to the world around her.
The numerous buildings that looked as if it could touch the sky and the cars that travelled on roads all filled her with amazement. Everything seemed so bright to her, in contrast to the dark and murky oceans that were cut off from the rest of the world.
She was so absorbed in her surroundings that she didn't notice the car had come to a halt until the door besides her opened.
A lovely house with warm lighting stood in front of Amara. She took a step forward but tripped right away. She had only recently acquired these two legs and was still unfamiliar with them. Due to her frustration, Amara's brows scrunched together.
Austin noticed this and approached her from behind, swooping her off her feet and carried her like a princess. She gasped in surprise and clutched his neck tightly.
"I'm sorry but bare with me ok?," Austin said as he continued walking towards the house whilst holding Amara tightly in his arms.
The people left behind couldn't help but stare at the couple who seemed to be getting further and further away.
"Damn, he's smooth," grumbled Jackson. Jessie slapped his chest and trailed them to the mansion.
Amara leaned into Austin's chest. Austin's lips tugged upwards as the rhythmic beating of his heart filled her ears; he felt like the missing hole in his heart began to fill, little by little.
A/N
Ok, so the Jessie and Amara scene totally just popped into my head and before I knew it my fingers started writing it hehe. This is a total spoiler but there's going to LGBTQ elements in this story but it looks like it's going to be far into the story.
I finally edited this chapter and I'm pretty sure that it's better than the last one. I'll try to update as fast I can so that we're back at chapter 18! Damn I totally suck as A/N's, anyway, enjoy the story and tell me when there is an error and I'll fix it.
(This chapter is so long as well lmao oops)
Edit - 14/7
Re-edited the chapter!!!