Emotional Turmoil
1590 Words
CHARLES'S POV:
"Pita? What the hell is Pita doing in this old picture?" I scratched my head, trying to wrap the truth around the whole concept.
"I don't know. Maybe it isn't Pita?" Erik offers, running his hand through his bleach blonde spiked hair.
"No, that's definitely him," I argue back and grab the phone.
Pointing my finger right on Pita's forehead, I tap the screen showing them the obvious, "See the one white feather poking out between his eyes?"
Both Erik and Jake leaned forward and started looking at the phone. Erik confirms, "Yes, I see it. What about it?"
"Pita has the same thing right in the center of his forehead."
Erik shakes his head back and forth, "I never noticed it."
"Jake rubs his jawline and stares at the phone, "Me neither."
"That's because he's not stuck up your ass as much as Pearl and mine either."
"He's not stuck up your ass, just Pearl's." Randolph teases.
Erik shrugs his shoulders, "Good point."
Jake steps forward and boldly leans over both of us. "Got something to say, Jake?"
"Erik, this photo you took... look at it. The woman in it looks to be like she is what... Pearl's age?"
Erik tilts his head and says, "Yes, you're right, Jake. She was probably in her early twenties."
Jake pauses for a moment and puckers his lips. He only does this if he's debating on how to word something without me knocking him out. "She looks a lot like Pearl if you ask me,"
And there it went.
"Are you saying Pearl looks like this lunatic in the insane asylum?" I ask, looking up reading to take his head off with my teeth.
"No, Charles," Jakes waves his hands in defeat, "that is not what I am saying at all!"
"Then how the hell can you compare that crazy lunatic to Pearl! Huh!"
"Erik lowers his head, knowing to stay out of this argument. "Look, man. Give me a chance to explain! Please!"
"Hurry the hell up!"
"I-I'm trying! L-look, Charles, l-look at her hair and her eyes. Do you see it?" Jake slowly lowers his hands to try to get closer to the phone to show me.
We look down at my pale white knuckles gripping around Erik's phone, "This better be f*****g good!" I growl.
"Calm down, Charles. He is trying to help you."
"I can't help it with him! He really pisses me off!"
"Remember what I said. Give Jake time to earn back trust in the pack."
"Oh, just like that, huh? Open your heart, trust the bastard!"
"That's not what I am saying."
"Go take a nap!"
"Go get a piece of ass from Pearl so that you will get in a better mood!"
"I was trying to before this s**t went down!"
Erik nudges me. He knows I am arguing with Randolph, and my mood tonight is spiraling out of control. "You okay, man?"
For a moment, I remain silent, feeling myself close to shifting. I pop my neck back and forth, then my shoulders and fold my arms. "Yea, I'm good. Show me what you were going to show me, Jake."
Jake quickly takes the phone from me without making eye contact. He looks down at the image on the screen. "Just hear me out, okay?"
"I'm listening." I snip through my teeth.
He coughs and clears his throat. "Look at her eyes, the color, and the shape."
We look closer at the woman. It is if she is staring right at me in a creepy, sadistic kind of way, but the closer I look, the more I stare into her deep brown, diamond-shaped eyes and chestnut hair that reaches down her back, I can't believe it... there is no difference.
The way her long fingers are gripping around the wooden dagger reminds of the Salaquins trying to claim her. Pearl's fist was balling up the same when she was trying to grip onto the rocks on the ground next to Raj' and Sireme. Maybe no human would have noticed, but I did.
Even the woman's jawline is the same. Long, narrow, and defined showing the power of an Alpha or now that I think of it a Hekate too.
Damn, look at her... even the way the woman tilts her head just so when she is trying to figure something out...like Pearl does when I am lying about going to Second Chance W&W.
"Damn, he's right."
"See, told you."
"f**k off!"
"So they have a few of the same looks, so what? It could be just a coincidence." I say, trying to blow it off.
"Denial. That's pretty on you."
"I'm ignoring you now!"
"And Pita?" Jake challenges bravely. "Are you going to stand there and claim that Pita is a coincidence too?"
"Well, I mean, it could be...."
"What now, Charles?" Erik asks, too. He leans back and crosses his arms.
"Come on, man! Look at her... really, really look at her... and Pita too."
I ball the picture up in the palm of my hand and punch the brick wall."Dammit," i yell out, "I will never get laid tonight!"
The bricks shatter around me, kicking dust in our face. Erik and Jake jump out of the way, giving me room to pace back and forth while I work out my inner demons."You're right, Jake! It looks just Pearl, and of course, that's f*****g Pita!"
Jake's shoulders ease a bit while Erik continues to watch me come unraveled. " We can't let this go, but we don't know how old this photo is. It could be thirty to a hundred years old for all we know."
"We need to find out more information. Why Lawson and Mike had it, who this f*****g woman is, and why Pita is in it."
I pull out a cigar and light it. "We also need to find Pearl. She took off with Pita again."
Jake and Erik give me a strange look but blow it off, "And most of all, has anyone heard from Richard? He is too quiet for my blood. I don't trust him."
"Slow down." Erik offers," I know we have a lot going on, but if we work together, we can tackle it."
"Tackle it? Do you realize we still got the pack fighting in there too? I mean, tonight has turned out to be a living hell."
"Tell me what you want to do, boss," Jake offers, "Anything at all. Say the word, and I will do it."
"Anything?" I ask while puffing on my fresh cigar.
"Anything." He nods eagerly.
"Good to know," I answer coldly and take another puff of my cigar before putting it out with my brown leather boot.
Saying no more, I walk over to Erik and nod. "Erik, before I head home, I need to straighten up the pack. I can hear them in there still acting up. I need you to find Pearl and make sure she is safe and at home. Can you do that for me?"
"You want me to go get Pearl and watch her for you?" He asks curiously.
Pearl running the streets alone without me is killing me tonight. She needs to be at home.
"I don't trust anyone else with the job."
"Consider it done." Erik takes his keys out of his jacket and walks away. He stops for a brief moment and glances over his shoulder, "Hey, Charles,"
"Yes?" I puff my cigar several times.
He looks at the cigars, then looks at me. "I know tonight has been rough, but be careful, okay?"
I realize what he means. My mood is destructive, and for the first time, I am smoking my cigars without s*x as Richard does, and I am thinking with my c**k and not my brain. f**k.
I take a breath, "Thanks, Erik. Noted."
Erik nods and walks off to find Pearl and hopefully take care of her while I unravel the picture the best I can and slide it in my pants pocket until later. Dammit, what a night.
ERIK'S POV:
"More and more, he was losing his s**t tonight, Stokes. Did you notice?" I ask, driving through town.
"Who didn't?"
"Yea but smoking and acting impulsively. What if he starts acting so much like Richard we won't be able to tell the difference between the two?"
"You are right. Charles was definitely not himself."
"This is really bad! Richard is his twin. He could easily figure it out and do something to off Charles or attempt to switch places to get to the pack or even worse... Pearl again."
"Then, we better do our best to make sure he doesn't spiral down that rabbit hole."
"Where are we going to look at first?"
"I am going back to the park. Pearl always ends up there. It is her Haven." I put my phone on the charger and stepped on the gas.
"How do you figure that? They attacked her there. Why would she think of it as her Haven?"
"I don't know," I shrugged my shoulders, "but she has been going there even after the three of them mated."
"True." Stokes pauses for a moment. "Hmmm, are you going to tell anyone you already been checking on her?"
"No. That would make things worse for Charles. I just wanted to make sure she's safe."
"I know, Erik. Losing one special woman was bad enough."
"Yes. It was." We both drive in silence for a while before Stokes eventually starts talking again.
"How are we going to get Pearl to come with us? Be cavemen and throw her over your shoulder."
"I'm not Charles," I answer dryly.
"Of course, you're not."
A tiny smile twitches on the side of my lips for the first time since I lost my mate.
"Is that a smile I detect?" Stokes teases.
"No, it's not." I wipe the corner of my mouth, trying to hide it.
"You smiled over imaging the whole caveman scene with Pearl, didn't you! Damn! You beast, you!"
"Shut up! Pearl would never see me that way. She's mated to two Alphas."
"We weren't talking about Pearl, were we?"
- Writer
