Chapter 8: Chapter 8

EIGHT

“...And why exactly should I do this?” Isaac raised an eyebrow and sank back into his seat.

Black sat straight in his seat. “Because I am asking you to do it,”

Isaac shook his head. “No. When we were younger we promised to never use my abilities for personal use.”

“You use them for your personal use every single time,” Black scoffed.

Isaac grinned at his cousin. “That’s different, you don’t know how differently Aleisa’s mind works...listening to her thoughts is another kind of entertainment.” He laughed at the end.

Black rolled his eyes before looking over to the youngest boy in the room. Caleb’s attention was on his phone but Black was sure that the younger boy was listening, he was great at multi-tasking like that. Caleb turned when he felt Black’s stare.

“Just do it for him, he looks very desperate besides it’s not like Nina will find out if you don’t tell her.” Caleb joined in and stared at his brother.

Isaac sighed and took a sip from the can of beer on the table before placing it back. He looked at his brother before turning to the man who was asking for the favour. When Black had told him that he needed a favour, Isaac did not expect it to be about a woman.

“Why are you so curious about what this girl thinks anyways? The only thing I got from whatever you told us is that she could be a possible threat.”

Caleb turned to face Black. “Yeah! This is not usual of you. Do you actually like a girl?”

Why did I think this was a good idea? Black asked himself. Deep down he knew that Caleb and Isaac would not let him be once he mentioned something about a girl. They would pry until they no longer could. But after weighing everything, he came to the conclusion that he had to ask for help from the only person he knew who could help him.

“I don’t know...it’s weird and I can’t explain it. That is why I need Isaac.” Black grumbled out, not liking how this talk was going.

They were huddled up in Caleb’s gaming room with cans of beer in the centre while Caleb was only offered soda and not alcohol. Caleb found what was going on to be amusing, he could see the look of uncertainty on Black’s face which was very foreign. The look he usually saw on Black’s face was that of boredom.

“Y’know, Isaac is kinda right. If anything this girl could be a serious threat...she has no scent, smells like rogues, knows where the rogues hung out and refuses to say anything. Sounds like a threat.” Caleb analysed. “If anything, Isaac should be reading her thoughts to get the information about the rogues and not otherwise.”

“He’s going to do that, what do you think?” Black huffed out. He opened another can of beer. He looked at the mess in the room—this was exactly why Nina never liked them in her cottage at the same time. Aleisa was going to be upset when she saw the room.

“Really?” Caleb’s eyebrows scrunched up. “It seems to me like you just want to know what your crush thinks about you.”

Isaac laughed, Black threw a glare at him before saying, “I don’t have a crush on her.”

Caleb was not convinced but he decided to ignore Black before he went back to paying more attention to his phone.

“I understand if you like this girl and I’ll do it but not because you like her but because she has important information about these rogues.” Isaac finally agreed.

“I don’t like her,” Black scowled at him.

“Whatever you say, lover boy.” Isaac rolled his eyes, taking a sip of his beer. “In the meantime, I’ll have someone check the nightclubs.” He added.

Black finally felt at peace because he got what he wanted. He relaxed back into his seat and continued drinking his beer.

(^.^)

Willow was looking at her face through the camera of her phone. The bruises on her face were harder to hide than the ones Louis had caused a few weeks before. Her right cheek was dark, turning a horrible shade of purple and another bruise on her tempo below her hairline. Unfortunately, after going a few days without having to have sex with men she did not know when it finally happened again, the man was not merciless. He hit her while forcing himself on her.

How am I supposed to come up with another accident excuse? This is terrible, I look like a victim of domestic violence.

At the rate at which she reported for work with bruises, someone would start coming up with ideas. Someone would start concluding things and seeing through her lies. Her manager being one of those people, Willow could see that the woman had not been fully convinced by her lies. When she walked into the restaurant through the back, her manager was very concerned and she even offered to call the police and get help if anyone was troubling her.

Willow had shaken her head and told her that she was very accident-prone and that she had fallen off the stairs. This was an obvious lie because her house did not even have stairs. She felt awful for making the poor woman worry and she even felt more worried because she still suspected that the woman would try to help regardless of what she said.

She turned of her phone and walked out from the toilet available to only employees. She went back into the kitchen after washing her hands and started working.

“Any new order?” She asked Millie who was at the counter.

“Yeah, table nine. ‘Liz already has the order and is preparing the food. Why don’t you go on and take it to the table?” Millie smiled before walking out of the kitchen and going to take her place at the counter.

Willow sighed before walking over to Elizabeth, one of the chefs who was just done preparing the food. She grabbed the order with a smile before walking through the door and heading for table nine. She could still feel the sting in her lower body as she walked but she kept walking and maintained the customer-friendly smile on her face.

She had tried to hide the bruises on her face but there was only so much make-up could do. She walked to the table and placed the food on the table, avoiding the customer’s eyes.

This will probably be easier if no one sees my face, can’t have customers asking questions or getting disturbed.

She was about to turn and walk away but a hand caught her wrist. She paused in her tracks and breathed out. The fact that she was being held back by a customer is not what scared her but it was the fact that she knew who it was. He had only held her skin to skin once but it had been enough for her to know his touch. It was the only touch that made her a wreck. She could not even explain what he did to her. A simple crush could not explain how she felt about him.

Oh god, not him. Why does it have to be him?

She remained in her place before turning around to face the table once again. Just as she knew it, Black was seated on one of the chairs and he had a hold on her wrist. She breathed out, trying to not swoon over how he looked. He had a black leather jacket over a white shirt and his hair was combed to the back, emphasizing his green eyes.

Willow was about to speak when another person spoke first. “Is it possible to also get popcorn?”

She turned her head to face another man seated at the table. He had dark brown hair that almost neared the jet-black colour of Black’s hair. She looked at the man a little bit longer than she would most customers. Willow noticed his ocean-blue eyes with a bit of green. She turned to look at Black before turning to the new man once again...they looked alike.

Another werewolf.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek more nervously. This new handsome man was also a werewolf and other than that, there was something else about him...he was not just any normal werewolf, Willow could sense that and it made her very nervous. She could only guess that he has some relation with Black because they looked alike.

“He’s my cousin actually,” Isaac told her with a smile. Willow gave him a confused look making him clear his throat. “Um...we’re cousins. I could see the confused look on your face. We look alike don’t we?” Isaac smiled nervously.

Willow nodded before turning to look at Black and the hold he still had on her wrist. He let go once he also noticed that he was still holding her wrist. Black cleared his throat as well before turning to look at the windows. He looked back at her once again after collecting his thoughts.

He looked at her face and frowned when he saw the bruises on her face. Anger, he was getting angry the more he stared at her face and that anger was for the one who dared to touch her and leave bruises on her skin. Previously, she had marks the first time he had talked to her and now again.

“Who did that to you?” Willow was smart enough to sense the anger in Black’s voice and the way his jaw was clenched proved that.

Is he angry because of the bruises on my face?

Isaac could see Black getting angry as he stared at Willow’s face and it was making the gears in his head turn faster. Never had he seen Black acting protectively about a woman who was not related to him in some way. This was odd and unexplainable. He looked over at Willow once again, the bruises on her face were very concerning and he could tell that they were caused by someone. The smell of rogues on her was also there. This was definitely the girl that his cousin was smitten about.

It was evident why Black liked her, she had an innocent look despite her involvement with rogues.

“Willow, who did that to you?” Black repeated himself, trying his best to control his anger.

“I-It’s none of your business, w-why do you care?” She stuttered out.

Black was on the verge of growling but Isaac was quick to cut in before his cousin could do anything reckless. “Black,”

Black looked over at Isaac, and he got the message just by looking into his eyes. He took in a deep breath and tried to relax.

“Forgive him, um...Willow right?” Isaac feigned being oblivious about her name.

Willow turned to him and nodded. He looked friendly with his boyish smile and she almost let her guard down—keyword, almost. Isaac could sense her uneasiness and he could also hear every thought of hers.

“My name is Isaac.” He introduced himself. “Can we have a word with you outside?” He asked and looked around at the not-so-private restaurant.

Willow shook her head. “You people should leave me alone, I already told Black everything I know.” She said and turned to face Black.

Black was listening to every word she said and when she said his name, his day just turned better. Isaac looked at him with an ‘Are you serious?’ look. Black ignored him and continued looking at Willow.

“I understand that and I know how unbearable Black can be...” Isaac started and paused when Black turned to glare at him. “This isn’t going to take long and I just want to ask a few questions. If you wish I can tell Black to leave us alone?” Isaac proposed. Black was even more furious when Isaac said that. In no way was he going to leave her alone, not when she had bruises on her face.

Willow thought about it for a few seconds before shaking her head. “That would not be necessary.”

Having Black around her kind of made her feel safer. He had never done anything to come off as a threat and she would feel safer if he was around as she talked to this handsome man. Something was different about Isaac and she could sense it. In spite of how every red light was going off in her mind, she walked out of the restaurant with them.

“All the times you’ve come here, you never eat the food that you order,” Willow said once they were standing at the corner of the restaurant. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her uniform and gave both men a tight smile. “What is this about now? I already told you what I know.”

“I want you to be calm and to trust that I am not a threat and neither is Black—”

“She knows that.” Black cut-in.

Isaac rolled his eyes. “Okay Willow, how are you connected to the rogues hanging around here?”

Willow huffed in annoyance. She had heard enough about all this rogue business. Being involved in all this twilight shit was not what she had expected her life to turn out as. If only she had never met Louis then she would not have fallen for him only for him to ruin her life. She cursed the day she walked into that nightclub thinking she was only going to get wasted for a day–she ended up wasting her entire life.

“Until him—” Willow pointed at Black before continuing, “I didn’t even know that they are called rogues, I thought if they are a werewolf then they are a werewolf...no titles attached. I don’t have the answers that you’re looking for.”

“Okay, but you must have the answer to this question...who hit you?” Isaac asked instead. He had already gotten enough from her. She liked Black just as much as he liked her and the name Louis...that was enough. Now he needed to know who harmed her because even if he did not care for her, Black seemed to care.

Why are they so persistent in knowing who did this?

She almost felt like telling them because they were so persistent and the look of worry on Black’s face made her feel safe. But she could not. If she even uttered a word to a stranger everything was on the line for her. She would lose Charlotte and Levi and probably end up dead.

She mentally shook her head before taking in a shaky breath. She opened her eyes to stare back into Isaac’s eyes. “I’m sorry but that is none of your business. Next time please just order food, eat it and leave.” She said before walking away. She walked back into the restaurant and went straight to the back before entering the toilet.

Isaac and Black remained outside. Isaac faced Black with a smirk, he was very amused.

“Oh, she definitely likes you.”