Deep Wolves (3 page)

“Yeah…”

Everybody had assumed Summer had just left. I witnessed what Vaughn’s clan had done to her. Her body was so dismembered that it was completely unrecognizable. I had to hold back the bad memories I had of that moment and the thought that I would never see her again.

“What’s the matter?” May said as she tried to console me. “You’re not thinking about Summer still, are you? She’s fine. She’s in some better place now. Probably found some rich guy and ran off with him.”

“Yeah, if you say so,” I sighed.

I took the last order of drinks and put it onto my tray. Getting back to work would help me get my mind off of the memories that Alex was beginning to stir.

As the night wore on, the bar patrons continued to drink like they had just gotten in here. I didn’t complain because more people meant more tips. And the reward of seeing Vaughn after a night of hard work made it that much sweeter. There was a time when I would complain about having to spend my nights here but now I worked with a smile across my face the entire time.

Alex proved to be as efficient a waitress as the most seasoned veteran. She made her way through the crowds and flirted with all of the men. It was clear that she was the most popular girl of the night. I laughed at May’s obvious frustration of not being the highest-tipped waitress. But even though I was having a good time, I couldn’t help but think about my old coworkers.

Summer wasn’t the only one. Sasha returned to The Agency, which was her real job. I never got the chance to properly thank her for saving my life but at the same time, I knew that if I ever ran across her again she would have bad news for me. The only wolf I was concerned with was Vaughn and if her business brought her back to this town, it meant that something had gone wrong.

But despite my wandering thoughts, it was business as usual at the bar. The night wore on and I counted the hours until I would get to see my boyfriend again. Some of the patrons finally started to leave. With Alex waiting on most of the tables, I finally had a moment to take a break. I took a seat at the bar and sighed a deep breath. My black shirt smelled of alcohol that had been spilled upon it. I wiped some of the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand and leaned up against the counter of the bar. I turned to the television that was hanging in the corner and watched as a news report came on.

“…New York City police are investigating an apparent mass murder deep within the heart of the city. Earlier this morning, police responded to a report of bodies being discovered by a man walking his dog next to an abandoned building off of 14th and Broadway. The police described the scene as brutal and violent with body parts spread throughout the entire building. They have yet to determine how many people were killed. Detectives are still determining the motives for the killings as the dismembering of the bodies seems to have been done with no rhyme or reason. Police have no leads and are currently seeking any possible witnesses to the crime. Investigations are ongoing…”

I watched the news report and felt a shudder run through my spine. There was a terrible feeling burning inside of me. Something that I couldn’t shake. It was spinning around in my stomach and almost made me sick. The report reminded me of everything that happened all those months ago. It felt like it happened just yesterday. I was trying to shake my mind of what happened to Summer and the news report wasn’t doing anything to help.

“Hey!”

I nearly jumped out of my seat as Zoe slapped me across the back. I turned and looked at her then breathed a sigh of relief. The spunky blonde’s demeanor was usually something that made me laugh and she must have noticed that I didn’t greet her as I normally did.

“What’s going on, Ariel? You okay?”

“I-I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”

“N-no,” I sighed. “I… I’m just tired, that’s all. It’s been a long night and I think I need to get some sleep.”

“If you say so.”

Zoe shrugged her shoulders and hopped off of the seat to attend to some customers. May took her spot and leaned in close to me.

“All right,” she said. “You can tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“You can tell me what’s wrong. I know you can’t tell Zoe everything but you know you can trust me.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” I sighed.

“Oh, come on, Ariel. You have to do better than that.”

She stared at me and it was clear that I couldn’t get away from her without giving her some response. Summer’s death was always on the tip of my tongue. It tore me up inside to know that everybody had forgotten about her and assumed she had moved on. I knew the truth and it was a secret that I was having more and more trouble keeping.

“Fine,” I said. “It was the news. Something I saw.”

“What about it?”

“They were talking about New York. There were some murders there. Really bad ones. They were a lot like the ones that took place here.”

“Yeah. So?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve just got a bad feeling about it.”

“Of course you have a bad feeling about it. Why would anybody feel good about a bunch of people being killed?”

“No, May. It’s more than that. It’s… I think the same thing that was happening here is happening there, too.”

“But the murders stopped happening here months ago. Do you think the murderer moved to New York?”

“No but—”

“Ariel, listen,” she said as she grabbed my shoulders. “You worry too much. There hasn’t been a murder in this city for months. New York is miles away from here. Why are you letting yourself get worked up over this?”

“I-I don’t know. I just have a bad feeling.”

She rubbed my shoulders in an attempt to console me. May’s voice of reason wasn’t enough to get me to stop thinking about what was happening, even though it was all the way in New York. Maybe it was just bringing back bad memories. But knowing that my friend was here to support me provided me the comfort that I desperately needed at the moment.

“I don’t know why Frank always has the news on,” she said to me. “All it does is make people depressed.”

“Depressed people drink more.”

I half-smirked at her and May started to laugh.

“Good,” she said. “I’m glad you haven’t lost your sense of humor, Ariel.”

“I’ll be fine, May… Thanks.”

She smiled at me and I felt just a little bit more relieved. It didn’t shake the feeling I had completely but it was enough to ease my stomach up just a bit. We watched the news together and enjoyed the happier stories that were being reported.

It started to get late. The bartender announced last call and everybody started to drunkenly make their way out. The band stopped playing and packed their instruments away. Alex dealt with the last of the customers that were enamored with her. Zoe and May sat at the bar and counted tips with one another. I started to wipe down the tables and bring the empty glasses to the back to be washed.

I heard the bar door open and the cold night air rush inside. The door closed shut. A strange feeling washed over me as I listened to the sound of the slow footsteps. I turned my head up and looked at the man that had just entered the bar.

He stood out from any man I’d ever seen before. His hair was white like an old man’s but he had the youth of someone who had barely gotten out of high school. His dark suit was perfectly tailored to his slim but firm physique. Everything about him was refined and elegant. From his tie to the pleats in his pants, he looked as if he had spent hours making everything straight.

He took a seat at the bar and the calm expression remained on his face.

“Last call, fella,” Frank said to him. “If you were planning on getting drunk, you should’ve come earlier, my friend.”

“That’s all right, sir,” the man said in a curt voice. “A glass of prune juice.”

“Prune juice? We don’t have any prune—”

“
Any
juice will do.”

The man sat there stiff as a board as Frank poured him his drink. May and Zoe had stopped counting their tips and were now staring at the man. Before Zoe could do anything, May jumped up out of her seat and leaned up to the bar next to him.

“Hey there,” she said to him in her seductive voice. “I haven’t seen you around here.”

The man remained silent, not taking his eyes off of the bar in front of him while he took a sip of his drink.

“I said hey,” May repeated. “Why are you sitting at the bar all by yourself? You have a bad day.”

The man slowly turned his head to May and looked her up and down. She leaned away from the bar and placed her hands on her hips to show off what she had to offer. The man then sighed and turned his attention back to his drink. May looked at me furiously before taking a seat back next to Zoe. I would have laughed at the reaction she had gotten just like Zoe was at this exact moment but something about the man bothered me.

Just as quickly as he appeared, the man got up from the bar and placed a small stack of bills underneath his half-finished drink. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. He wasn’t from around here. That was obvious. He had business.

He made his way to the exit of the bar. Just before he left, he stopped at the door. He turned around and suddenly he was staring at me. I looked back at him, swallowing nervously at what he was possibly thinking. He was far away but I could still see something on his face. It was the tiniest little smirk developing at the corner of his mouth. But just as quickly as it was there, it was gone. He turned back around and exited the bar. The door closed shut. I couldn’t shake the feeling he had left me with.

“What do you think his problem was?”

I jerked my head to the side and May was suddenly standing next to me.

“I-I don’t know… May, have you ever seen that man before?”

“No. Why?”

“…Just wondering.”

I was trying understand the strange feeling I had. The man’s presence made me feel uneasy and the look on his face only added to it. I looked down at the table I was trying to clean and forgot what I was doing.

“Don’t you have a boyfriend, Ariel?” May asked me suddenly. “Don’t you think it’s wrong for you to be enamored with some guy who walks into this bar just because his suit fits him so well?”

“Don’t
you
have a boyfriend?” I replied back to her.

She started to laugh and returned to the bar to finish counting her tips with Zoe. I shook my head and finished wiping down the table in front of me. Whoever that man was, I couldn’t let it distract me any longer. Regardless of what I felt, the bar was closing soon and I would soon be with the one man who made me feel completely safe.

Chapter 4

I stepped out of the bar and stretched my arms out after another successful night at work. As I extended my hands to the sky, I felt a smile come across my face along with the relief that comes with getting a moment to myself. But I didn’t want this moment alone to last too long, since I knew that Vaughn was out there waiting for me.

May took the spot next to me with her drunken boyfriend Chris draped over her shoulder.

“Are you going home alone tonight?” she asked me.

“No. He’ll be here.”

“Usually he’s already waiting outside.”

“I know. He’s just a little late, that’s all.”

Whenever Vaughn said that he would meet me after work, he was never late. Tonight, for some reason, he wasn’t here. After seeing the mysterious man in the bar and watching everything that happened in the news, Vaughn’s odd absence was adding another layer of anxiety that I didn’t want.

“I’ll wait here with you,” May said to me.

“No, I’ll be fine. I’m sure he’s heading out here right now.”

Right on cue, Vaughn came running down the sidewalk before running into us.

“I’m sorry,” he panted. “I was held up doing something and lost track of time.”

“It’s okay,” I smiled. “I just got off.”

“Were you waiting long?”

“She was waiting for a really long time,” May chimed in.

“Ignore her,” I said, rolling my eyes as she smirked at Vaughn.

“That’s not like you, Vaughn,” she said. “You’re usually so punctual.”

“I know, May. But I was doing something, something for Ariel, and it couldn’t be helped. Forgive me, Ariel.”

“Vaughn, you don’t have to explain anything to me,” I told him. “
May
…”

May was having her fun with Vaughn because she knew he took most things seriously. She always said that there was something about him that she couldn’t explain. She said that he was too perfect. And she was right. But she didn’t know the complete picture.

“So, I’m sure you two have some wonderful evening planned tonight?” May asked.

“We do,” Vaughn said. “I stopped by the pharmacy to pick-up some condoms since we ran out.”

May jerked her head at me and the grin formed on her face. Even Chris managed to perk his head up from the comment despite his current drunken state.

“Well, I suppose—”

“Yes, I believe we should be on our way now,” I interrupted May as I pushed Vaughn toward my apartment to hide my blushing face. “May, I’ll see you tomorrow. Vaughn, let’s go.”

I walked with Vaughn down the sidewalk and I could still feel May staring at me with that stupid grin on her face. I wrapped my arms around Vaughn’s arm and leaned close to him.

“Did I say something wrong?” he asked me.

“No. No, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just… Normally, people aren’t so blunt about things like that.”

“But it’s no secret that we are lovers, is it not?”

“Yeah, they know.”

“Then I don’t understand.”

I sighed and stopped walking. Vaughn looked down at me with genuine confusion on his face. Despite his charming facade and masculine nature, there was still a childlike innocence about him. He wasn’t completely a man. There was still a part of him that was trying to be human.

“What we have,” I explained. “It’s between us. It doesn’t have to be a secret but the love we make… nobody is watching. It’s ours.”

“I… I understand. It’s just my instincts…”