Chapter 14: Chapter 14

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"That bad, huh?" Jenson got up from the bed and shook his head in dismay, feeling like absolute crap after glancing at the naked woman under the covers.

She looked as if she'd rather undergo a tooth extraction procedure than spend another waking moment with him.  Now she was ignoring him and checking emails.

Perfect.  Great way to start off the day.

He put on his sweatpants and let out a lengthy sigh, eager to show her his disappointment.  Jenson glanced at his fiancée one more time while ignoring the torn pieces of clothing strewn all over the bedroom carpet.

The huge carpet was a Persian rug,  an engagement gift from his future in-laws:  the van den Hovens.  They came from a noble lineage with mostly purebloods in their family tree.

That included Charmaine.

He'd always thought she was beautiful and deserved the best in life, the best career opportunities, the best husband, and a great, beautiful family to keep her happy and grounded.

But now he was definitely doubting whether or not he could give her those things, and whether he deserved to be with a woman like her.

The insecurities had been piling up.  Their first anniversary since being "official" was the first time he realized her family didn't really think he was the best man or husband material enough for their daughter.

Although he knew he should just stick it out to ultimately prove his love for her, Charmaine's behavior lately just made him feel even worse...about where their relationship was headed and about himself, especially.

Their relationship had never been perfect or ideal from the get-go, but, after more than a week of not seeing each other and zero communication,  Jenson actually thought some part of her genuinely missed him and his company.

"What d'you want me to say?" Charmaine muttered in a droning tone, her eyes still glued to her phone screen.  Her pale, dainty and manicured fingers kept typing something on her phone.

The faint but incessant clicking noises of her fingers tapping on the keypad was starting to grind his gears.

Although she once told him her parents' opinion of him and their relationship didn't matter, he couldn't help but doubt that statement every now and then.  Especially now that she seemed to care about nothing but work, her clients, her corporate job, her growing career and so on.

Jenson stood by the bathroom door, bare-chested and doing his best to keep his cool.  Admittedly, it somewhat reassured him that she seemed to enjoyed their rough, animalistic sex after months of no intimacy, but how she acted at the moment didn't really say she was satisfied by their encounter.

Their recent betrothment of course guaranteed that she was his mate and vice versa.  However, their ongoing relationship blues just reminded him of his shortcomings and the fact that he only had second-rate werewolf blood in him.

Her family still didn't fully approve of him;  he really didn't need to hear them say it to his face.  Their formal and rather cold treatment towards him during that expensive engagement party in Rome was enough proof.  He didn't even get a quick hug from her parents.

"You're being petty again," Charmaine sighed after dropping her phone on the fluffy covers.  She glanced at him with a frown that made her pinkish lips pout, and her bored, quite antagonistic tone told him she would rather take a nap than hang out with him today.

"What'd you expect, Charm?" Jenson scoffed and crossed his arms below his chest.  "You didn't even call me back.  Didn't even tell me you'll be away for more than a week."

"That's rich, coming from you." She rolled her eyes at his sentiment.  "You're gone half a year for that stupid show but I can't even be away for one week?"  She got out of bed and grabbed her expensive lingerie that was hanging from the top of their bedside lamp.

They weren't eternally cursed shapeshifters who transformed into giant wolfmen/women during intercourse, and every full moon.  Gone were the days of such extraordinary, superhuman abilities. Constant crossbreeding over the past centuries had significantly watered down the gene pool of the first-ever generations of the purebloods.

Hence the "almost too human" genetic flaws of the werewolf bloodlines of today,  such as theirs.  For adults their age, fertility was also one issue. The others sort of won the genetics lottery because they didn't rely on wolfsbane medication throughout their lifetimes,  but he reckoned he and Charm lived pretty normal lives, too.

Same day-to-day problems, same goals, same fears...

Except he had above average problems to deal with for being Magnus' Beta, and for having a boss that was blood-related to a wealthy crime lord.

Charmaine particularly hated that aspect of his life, but she seemed to be tolerating it better now.  Taught and raised by noble purebloods, Charm relied on wolfsbane potions to keep their issues under control.  Like him. Therefore, no dangerous, cannibalistic propensities or any other unnecessary violence whenever they got intimate.

Some believed they were quite the superior race, like pureblood vamps and the rare hybrids like Magnus.  But they weren't above human law, so to speak.  They still lived life rather normally.  They enjoyed themselves and worldly pleasures just as normal people did.

Enjoyment seemed absent in her demeanor today, though.

He even doubted whether she really wanted to be back home again.  Jenson scoffed and couldn't help but get irritated by the thought.  He shouldn't prolong the argument, though.

He missed her company and he knew he was also at fault.  "Sorry. We're just...real busy this year. Promotions, contract deals and all that."

"You think I don't know that?" Charmaine glared at him for a second, then stepped in front of the dresser mirror to brush her lush, wavy dark hair that reached her lower back.  She was tall and slim.  A supermodel's figure.

Any type of clothing looked good on her but she mostly wore long coats, dark blazers and long, pricey dresses whenever she wasn't home.  Which was a lot of the time.  She loved her work.  A certified "career first" kind of woman.

Sometimes, it made him want to regret moving in with her, only because it left him struggling with disappointments due to unmet expectations.  It bothered him more often than not.

"Can we drop the attitude? Please? I don't wanna argue with you all day."

"You think I do?" Charmaine turned to glance at him with a narrowed gaze, and then flipped her long hair across her slender shoulders.  "I don't have time for drama, either."

Drama? She thought he was just being overdramatic?  He held his breath and almost swore.  He wanted to clench his fists now.

"What was Magnus doing here?"

Jenson squinted at her as she approached him with her slim arms folded and covering her upper abdomen.

Shit.  Did she hear about Darren's latest crime? About his poor, young victim?

"How did you know he came by?"

"Why was he here?" Charmaine asked again, her soft voice now muted and laced with unhealthy suspicions. She never liked Magnus as far as he recalled. She often said Magnus was "arrogant, conceited, thinks he's better than everyone else".

It wasn't all true, but Jenson couldn't really convince her to believe the opposite of her sentiments.  Or perhaps she only kind of hated Magnus because they all knew Magnus was a dangerous, powerful, filthy rich and influential hybrid.  Possibly the wealthiest among Ilya's children.  Wealthiest and most untouchable.

"You think I'm stupid?"

"No." Jenson pulled a face.

Why did she seem to want to pick a bigger fight?  Was she getting a real kick out of it?  The heck...

It was starting to exhaust his composure and what's left of his patience.  But he had to keep calm.  Out of respect.

"I could smell his scent in the living room." Charmaine squinted at him when he didn't say anything or try to explain.  "Oh, so we're keeping secrets again."

"No."

"Alright, then."

"Charmaine, can we not..." Jenson sighed before looking away.  "He just asked me to find something," was his white lie.  Terrible choice of a white lie, but, at least she didn't have mind-reading skills.  That was his uncle's forte lately.

"Ask? He never asks. He just tells you what to do." She faked a soft laugh and walked past him to get to the bathroom sink.  Charmaine started washing her hands and face, her movements quite rushed but still meticulous.

Well, she dealt with other people's money every day.  Of course being meticulous was a huge part of her personality and daily routine.  She was rather proud of it, too.

He was glad and proud of her for excelling and being successful in her chosen career.  Who wouldn't be?  He just wished she loved him as much as she loved her job.

"Are we gonna argue about him now?" he murmured as he stood beside her, his hip pressing against the tiled sink.

"I don't want him in our house. I told you that already." She soaped her face and kept avoiding his gaze.

"Okay. Sorry," he mumbled.  "I forgot."

"What does he want now?"

"He just asked me to find someone," he replied after some seconds of hesitation.  He just didn't want to mention anything about Darren's latest screwup to avoid overcomplicating things.

"Who?"

"His sister." Jenson made a face.  "I mean, half-sister."

"He's got a sister?" Charmaine scrunched her dark brows and paused washing her face. "Since when?"

"I dunno. I'm still tryin' to find her. She's studying medicine, he said." Jenson scratched his brow.  "Ilya told him to find her soon. Said she's a dhampirica."

"Are you serious?" She chuckled. It sounded humorless. "Such a weird family," Charmaine muttered with a crooked grin.

He ignored her mild insult and stood still while leaning against the cold sink.  He watched her wash her smooth, shapely jaw and waited for her to finish.  He wanted to hug her, show her his affection, and maybe even kiss her.  But he just wasn't sure if she was in the mood.

A moment of rather awkward silence passed while Charmaine wiped her face with a white towel.  Then she stood in front of him with a slight pout.  "They offered me a promotion."

"What?" Jenson wanted to scowl but he kept up a straight face instead.  Her getting a promotion would mean she might have to move to their Beijing headquarters.  He would rather move back to Italy than move to China.  "Where?"

"HQ. Of course." Charmaine put her arms around his waist and feigned a smile now.  It didn't quite reach her eyes, her long-lashed and vibrant blue eyes.  "What d'you think?"

"No." He touched her cheek and palmed the side of her pretty face. "I don't want you to leave California." Was she kidding?  They already paid for this house and lot. Why would she want to leave this all behind just for a promotion?  Didn't she earn six figures a year already?

"It's just for a year. Two at most," she replied with another forced smile that bared half of her white teeth.  "If I won't like it there at all, I'll quit in a couple months."

Instead of responding to her poor attempt to compromise, Jenson glanced away and stopped touching her cold face.  He held back a noisy sigh despite the urge to blatantly oppose her wish to move to Beijing for her work.

"It's not like...we're gonna get married this year. Right?"

He eyed her, minding her highly dubious tone.  Was she seriously implying he also didn't want to get married this soon?  Actually, after their engagement, he planned to tie the knot with her as early as this year.  But now it seemed the wedding wasn't happening anytime soon.

Perhaps she even wanted to call off the whole thing now.  Because of her career.  Her beloved job.  It was always about her damned job lately.

"Fine. No more shop talk today." She hugged him for a moment, her voice taking on a more cheerful tone.  "Let's just go to the beach."

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"Why aren't you pickin' up? I called ten times."

"Don't even start." Jenson ignored his co-star's frown and resumed studying his lines.

With how Darren was acting lately—ignoring his advice and keeping secrets from him again—calling Darren his 'friend' would be a stretch.

So yeah. They'd keep it just professional and not so friendly this time. That ought to teach the guy a lesson or two.

"You're upset 'cause I called Evie?"

Oh great. Now the idiot wanted to ruin his morning with a pointless argument, when they should be busy preparing for the hours of work they got on schedule this week. Jenson restrained a sigh as he pretended to read through the rest of his lines.

The director and UM would be expecting them to be early on set this week.

Yet instead of reading the script and rehearsing his lines, Darren was wasting his time with an issue they should've talked over days ago.

"She's the only family I got, Joss. The only one who gives a shit about me."

"Don't use that card." Jenson pulled a face. "I specifically told you not to tell anyone. Over and over. But of course you didn't listen to me."

"Who else was I supposed to talk to? A shrink?" Darren furrowed his thick brows and scoffed out loud. "Are you insane or just that insensitive?"

Insensitive? So he was the one behaving like a complete jerk now. Wow.

This kid really ought to have someone shove him back in his place.

"Wanna do something useful today?" Jenson flipped to another page.

Darren kept pacing in front of him. "What?"

"Go sit somewhere and get to work. I don't have time for this shit."

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