Talons

Chapter 45: The Wait

Rhea’s POV

It's been a week since I moved to campus. I found out that coach Jim is the alpha of a city pack, and the girl who came with him is his daughter Jamie. She and I live in a two-person suite on campus, which cost me a five dollar pay cut per athlete I tutor. It's not too bad, since I’m also given a meal allowance.

Jamie helped me set up the empty room in our suite, while her mother took me to buy the basic things I needed, like bedding and toiletries.

Coach Jim's family has been supportive of me, and I’m grateful for all the help they have given me. He even made his pack help me move my things so I wouldn’t have to see Raven for long. She cried the entire time I was packing my clothing, and while I will always love my sister, her betrayal is too much for me to handle right now.

Before leaving for the final time, I let her know that I have not and will not mention our altercation to anyone from Claw, and she just looked down in shame. She must have been wanting to ask but couldn’t bring herself to do it and I can’t help but to wonder if Tucker is worth all the stress.

The only downside to living on campus is my new flow of company. The guys found out that I can cook, thanks to Mike, who just so happened to visit while I was making dinner, and they now come to my room regularly.

Jamie stays away from the athletes in the school because she is annoyed by their immature behavior. She is studying sports therapy and having lived on campus for three years; she has seen things she cannot forget.

She told me stories of drunken dares that resulted in hairy men running around in thongs and while she is clearly disturbed, Sylvia and I are tickled by her account. I can imagine the guys being drunk as absolutely entertaining.

Jamie has mocha skin and thick curly hair that is black at the roots but turns lighter as it grows. Her body has a lot of meat on it for a wolf, and she tells me that city wolves don’t have territory to protect so they have less need to train; in her father’s pack her body type is considered normal.

I confided in the Charles family about my lost sense of smell, and when they offered to have me join their pack, I had to let them know about the issue of double taxes.

Coach Jim was livid when he heard my story, he said that I was pretty much being forced into staying a rogue, but he also told me that I’m likely better off. He said that Raven had a faint hint of rogue on her, which meant that she had been away from her pack for too long.

For me, it's different because I have never belonged to a pack, so I won’t feel the effects of being without one for a very long time. That is probably working out in my favor since I have been away at school for most of my collegiate studies.

Weeks have gone by, and Mike and I have gotten much closer. He has forbidden his teammates from coming to my room uninvited, something Jamie is beyond grateful for. I too am relieved by it because if I had to hear one more graphic story about the shape and density of breasts, I was going to go crazy.

We have a three-day weekend and Jamie has gone on some type of preplanned getaway with her friends. Mike had invited me to a party, but I told him that I wasn’t feeling well. That must not have sat well with him because at around midnight he showed up at my dorm room, completely and totally drunk.

I am not afraid of Mike, so I let him into my room, where I attempted to sober him up. For that, I had to reach out to my mysterious friend for advice. Since Jack decided to go back to ignoring my calls, he is the only person I could think of; Lark and Luke are not an option.

I get a large glass of water and bring it to Mike while I wait for the coffee to finish brewing. He stands up abruptly, and I try to steady him. It's obvious that he is about to pass out, and I don’t want him to get hurt.

“Mike, sit down. I will call someone to get you.” Mike pushes back a stray strand of my hair and traces the sockets around my eyes with his finger. I had forgotten to put my glasses on, and it’s only the second time he has seen me without them.

“You are really a beautiful girl.” He leans into me, and I close my eyes, waiting to experience my first kiss, but instead, thick warm liquid splatters on my chest.

I have never been grateful for not having a sense of smell, but right now, Sylvia and I are actually thanking Colton for being a violent jerk.

After Mike has thrown up probably everything he had inside of him, I help him into my bed. He has conveniently missed himself completely, and all his vomit is either on me or on the floor. Once he passes out, I start cleaning, and when I’m done, I grab spare blankets and make a place for me to sleep on the floor.

Mike’s POV

I wake up in an unfamiliar bed and start to panic. I start feeling around for a hopefully used condom, and when I don’t find one, I stand up in fear, but I step on something or rather someone. I jump off the person and when I see it is B, I relax.

I have been contacted by two professional teams that want me to visit their camp this summer, and many girls have been trying to screw me into a relationship. I don’t love B or anything like that, but if I had to be trapped by anyone, she would be the best choice.

Coach discreetly told me that she will graduate from school as a millionaire, so I know she will not be after money. I wasn’t kidding when I told the guys I wouldn’t mind shoveling sh*t with B. they just don’t believe me because they can’t see past her glasses and clothing.

They refer to her as a fat goth chick, but I know that B wears a lot of black so she doesn’t have to worry about matching her clothing. They would all know that if they ever asked, but other than finding her nice, no one sees her the way I do.

“Did I hurt you?” I ask, and B shakes her head. I know she has had a rough life, but I can’t see how stepping on her with my full body weight didn’t hurt. “Please tell me the truth.”

B laughs as she promises that I hadn’t stepped on her as hard as I think I did, and she cleverly changes the subject by reminding me that I threw up all over her the night before. I cringe when I recall the memory. I was going to kiss her, and instead, I spilled my guts; literally.

I start pacing, and B stands. There is a hurt expression on her face that confuses me, but I’m so embarrassed that I can barely look at her.

“Don’t worry,” she says. “I know you were drunk and anything that happened last night was the alcohol in your system. Your secret is safe with me.” I stare at her, she thinks I’m embarrassed about wanting to kiss her, and like an i***t I don’t even correct her.

Rhea’s POV

Mike is so embarrassed by what happened the night before that he keeps pacing back and forth in my room. I can’t understand what the big deal is because I am more than sure he has drunk himself sick before.

It suddenly occurs to me that he is embarrassed because of me, and I put his mind at ease by telling him that I won’t say anything to anyone. He nods and puts on his sneakers before sneaking out of my room.

"You are a human minor. He is too old to be with you," Sylvia says and I shrug her words off.

“He wasn’t thinking about my age when he called me beautiful, nor when he tried to kiss me, but hey, what did I expect?”

"Stop it. We are beautiful." I chuckle at my wolf, and I try to keep my mind blank. "You're blocking me out?" She asks in shock, and I quickly correct her.

“I just don’t want to get my hopes up again,” I say, and Sylvia tells me that Mike isn’t like Jack, but I find that hard to believe.

For days after that experience things were awkward between Mike and I, but we have slipped back into our friendly relationship. He comes to my room to study a lot, claiming that he can focus better when I’m around.

I think he just wants to get closer to Jamie, but so far, he hasn’t even looked at her, even when she is all dolled up in club wear. He doesn’t stand a chance with her anyway. She is a free spirit who doesn’t want to be tied down to one man, and while she doesn’t date anyone on campus, she has plenty of boyfriends from other schools.

I am so lost in my own thoughts that I don’t notice Mike staring at me until he sits on the bed beside me.

“We need to talk,” he says, and I nod. “What happened between us… I should have been honest back then. I like you a lot, but you are only sixteen.” Sylvia hits me with an ‘I told you so’ that would have been annoying if I wasn’t so distracted by Mike’s closeness. “Have you ever kissed anyone?” I shake my head, and Mike slowly brings his lips closer to mine, pressing a gentle kiss on them before pulling away. “I won’t do that again until you're legal.”

Excitement courses through me as Mike asks me to wait for him. We are in the same graduating class, and he tells me that he will make us official in the last semester of our senior year. By that time, I will be eighteen so no one will be able to stop us.

He and I slip back into a comfortable silence, but Sylvia is doing literal backflips in my mind. She is elated, and I can’t blame her.