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“No kidding” Nic agreed.
“Like you need anyone else attacking or stalking you for that
matter.”

“Someone else attacked you?”
Declan said “Did Jett do something to you? You never did fill me in
on your date.” I gave Nic a dirty look, she slapped her hand over
her mouth, I know she didn't mean it.

“No, my date with Jett was
fine, kind of, someone tried grabbing me before the movie and then
after someone tossed a rock on Jett's car when we park.... ah...
later that night.”

“I've been thinking, I have
noticed that I have been getting that 'eerie feeling' a lot since
this summer and I thought it was because I was attacked but maybe
it's because someone really has been stalking me. But stalking me
just doesn't make sense, why would anybody be interested in
me?”

“True.” Nic said. Everyone
was amused but not enough to laugh. She went on “Maybe when you
started winning all your swim races was when Cale noticed you, and
then started watching and got obsessed with you. I mean who quits
after you get really good anyways.” I just gave her a ferocious
look, not sure about which part, maybe all of it.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Declan
said really loud, loud enough to get half the wrestling team to
look over at us. I started to say “Oh, I have such bad cramps” but
before I could finish Nic covered my mouth. “Addie you got attacked
and by whom? Was it this summer? Because Topher's ramblings might
make sense then.” I was in deep thought gazing at the ground in
front of me when someone's shadow came over me.

I looked up and it was Jett.
He squatted in front of me and asked “You okay?” He had his
wrestling uniform on and I could see all his muscles. It was the
best part of my day watching him, looking at him, in his tight
little uniform.

“Ohhh, yeah.” I said “I'm
fine, we're just trying to figure some stuff out. How are you
doing?”

“Fine” he said with his
double creased sexy smile. I took a deep breath. He put his hand on
my knee, I just looked at it and he asked “Do you need a ride
home?”

“Thanks, but Declan's
driving me home today.” Declan cleared his throat and said “Well I
do have to go to run an errand, so it would be better if you could
get a ride home.” I gave him a surprised look. Jett used my knee to
stand up and said, “I'll see you after practice.”

“Now what? I have to explain
to him I don't have my period.... yeah, that should be fun.” I said
sarcastically.

“Would you please stop
saying that word?” Nic said, annoyed, and went on with “You should
explain to him why you think you got attacked on your date.” Nic
replied and Declan agreed.

“And we need to tell someone
of authority, possibly Detective Grey.” Nic replied.

Declan started his story
about Cale again as if there had been no disruption in our
c
onversati
on. “So Topher was getting more
nervous as he told me details, but he said he definitely overheard
him say 'When he first found you this summer, you were his missing
link and he thought you would have been an easy mark, but he has no
'mind control' over you at all, so he has to come up with a new
plan. Plus, he thinks you know too much.' Or something to that
affect. He was complaining that they couldn’t find his father’s
journal that made up the serum and that he has no idea where it was
lost since it’s been 85 years since his passing. And something
about your blood being the key.” No one said anything. I grabbed
the crook of my arm, so he took blood from me that just sounds
crazy.

Declan began to
continue....but I interrupted, “what, that's not enough, pfff, give
me a break.”

“Cale thinks you know who
killed Jewel and thinks you're a threat and he can't control you,
whatever that means and after the final test results, if they are
negative, he'll just have to get rid of you because you know too
much.”

I grabbed the crook of my
arm when he mentioned my blood, this all just sounds insane. “Who
the heck is Jewel? I don't know any Jewel, and we're already broken
up, so what's the big deal.”

Nic nudged me “Jewel is the
girl from the wake earlier this year. Right Declan?” “

“I must have had a brain
cramp, I remember.”

“And remember when he came
up on us in the hall when we were talking about that dream? When he
startled us? We were worried he overheard us. When he says get rid
of you...what if he means permanently? Plus, your letters went
missing after that.”

I just started laughing “You
watch way too much TV Nic...” No one said anything for a
minute.

“Oh yeah,” Declan said “He
also said he wished some guy, he told me his name but I can’t think
of it right now, would have gotten a taste of your blood straight
from the vein to see what would have happened! Weird, right? So
other people need your blood too??? Anyway, the next time Topher
said he opened his eyes he had an IV in him and they were taking
his blood, but passed back out.”

Oh...oh...oh....I was
starting to put all the pieces together in my head. “Holy crap…
nooooo, it can't be all that serious, can it? Was his name…” I
swallowed back the nausea in my throat…“was his name Logan?” I
asked sluggishly, I was finally getting it.

Declan nodded “Yeah, maybe,
is he the guy who...” and he stopped. “This is very serious. Cale
is delusional and needs help. We have to go to the police.” Declan
exclaimed. His hands were shaking and he had such a serious look on
his face.

I looked at Nic “What do you
think?”

“I think we need to write
down a time line listing all the facts we know - compile everything
into a file and then give it to someone, most likely Detective
Grey. Maybe we can write down all the dates they need to check
Cale's whereabouts.” I just shook my head, everything seems so
surreal.

“So I'm a psycho magnet
huh....the questions is, is Jett a maniac that I should stay away
from too?”

“He's not, he's a solid guy,
plus I've known him since pre-school and we became best friends in
seventh grade, really, he's a good guy.” Declan stuck up for
him.

At the end of practice
coach's closing line was “I hope I don't have to remind you that
what happens at practice stays at practice.” He glanced over at me,
and then rest of the team glanced my way, wonderful, they all know
what he was talking about. I was exhausted and not at all ready for
my ride home with Jett.

Nic and I stood in the
lobby, I was actually pacing. “This is weird, should I tell Jett
that I think it was Cale Friday night? Maybe we should think about
it over night before we say anything to anyone.”

“Sometimes sleeping on it
sheds a whole new light on things; at least that's what my mom
says.” Nic rattled off.

“Yeah, maybe I’ll wait one
night.” I agreed with her, my head hung low. “Our date didn't go
that well, if you look at it as a whole. We got attacked by someone
twice, dinner was good, the movie was good, the kissing was
amazing.” I just shook my head, biting my thumb nail, looking at
the ground.

I turned around to face Nic
and said “Oh my God!” loud and aggravated. Jett was behind her, of
course, I could never seem to do anything right around Jett. He
looked at me, “Did I take too long?”

“Of course not, I'm just
glad this day is almost over – it was a rough one.” I looked at Nic
and shrugged a little.

“Do you have your stuff? We
should get going. Storm is coming out any second.” I grabbed my bag
and coat.

“Ugh, I'm ready.” He walked
past me and I was still looking at Nic and I mouthed “Storm” and
shrugged my shoulders walking backward. Then I gave her a goofy
face and put my hand up to my ear mimicking a phone and mouthed
'Call me later.' She nodded.

As I went to turn around,
Jett stopped abruptly and I bumped right into him. “Oops, sorry I
was trying to get a better look.”

“A better look at what?” He
asked, “oh nothing.” He laughed “You really are something aren't
you?” I turned around and gave Nic two thumbs up, then quickly
followed Jett to the car. He opened the trunk to put his stuff in.
“Who else is coming besides Storm?” I may have said it with a
little inflection in my voice. He had one hand on top of the trunk
looking toward the school, he slid his other into mine. Storm was
on his way and he looked grumpy as usual.

“What, you and Storm don't
get along?” Jett asked.

“No, we get along fine,
depending on his mood, of course.”

He chuckled “Right, no
kidding, you can sit up front.” He said to me as Storm was throwing
his stuff in the trunk and I got another dirty look from him so I
stuck my tongue out at him. “We have to drop Storm off at his
friend's house, it's on the way to yours.

No one said much when Storm
was in the car. But as soon as he got out, I felt like I could
finally breathe. Until Jett asked “So are you okay, I heard you
passed out in wrestling right before I got there. You don't have to
be embarrassed either, I have lots of cousins and they stay at our
house all the time, so I know about girl troubles.” I sat there and
thought for a minute, if I tell him I was faking 'the girl thing'
would it sound bad? Probably, but decided to just tell him the
absolute truth “I don't get embarrassed about too much, no I didn't
pass out from my period but I hear girls have before; I knew saying
that would get everyone out of our hair.” I took a deep breath.
“Declan had just told me some weird and very disturbing news and I
think I just forgot to breath. I had an off day, didn't eat much
lunch. You know… got bad news… didn't breathe… I passed out.” I
explained nonchalantly.

“So you don't want to tell
me the bad news then.” Jett replied.

“Ah... no, I don't like
complaining about stuff, but once I resolve it in my head I could
probably talk about it.” I thought about it....and said “You know
teenage stuff can be so dramatic and trivial.” He chuckled a little
again and I said “Okay, tell me about your day, it had to be better
than mine.”

He started telling me about
some of his classes and then asked me if I was going to college and
banter like that. It was nice to have no major turn of events to
talk about, not my silly dreams, stalkers or anything dramatic,
just pleasant straight talk. I wondered if he appreciated it as
much as I did.

When we got to my house he
pulled to the bottom of my driveway, our garage door was open. It
was dark outside but there our outside lights were on casting light
and dark shadows into his car. I wasn't sure what to do next, but I
looked at him with my hand on the door handle and said, “Thanks for
the ride,” and gave him hopefully a nice smile.

“I should get your bag out
of the trunk.” He said and we both got out.

He had trouble with the lock
but jiggled it around a bit and then got it open. “You almost
didn't have to do homework tonight.” He smiled his sexy little
smile and flashed his bright whites.

“Almost” I replied “Do you
wanna come in for a drink?” I said and started to
shiver.

I wanted to say something
important, and I was thinking about telling him about Cale just to
keep him here talking with me, but then decided against it at the
last minute. I wondered if I should ask him out on a date. He
closed the trunk after retrieving my bag and leaned on it. I was
shivering a little more. He looked in my eyes and gave me his
crooked little smile, “Are you cold?” He asked putting his hand out
to grab mine.

He pulled me close to him,
between his legs. “I'm always cold.”

“Always?”

“Always” I told him. He
nudged me closer by putting his hands on my waist, and his lips met
mine, a gentle kiss. I stopped shivering.

The wind was whipping around
the corner; I turned my head away from him so my hair would blow
away from our faces. He slid my bag off of my shoulder and led me
into the garage, setting my bag down by the door.

He pulled me into him; since
his coat was open I dug my hands under it and around him. I buried
my face in his shoulder and breathed him in. He smelled so good and
he was so warm. I wasn't worried about anything anymore, I just
couldn't seem to care right now.

I left my head tucked against his shoulder
wishing he didn't have to go. I thought of nothing to say, I just
felt safe and warm. I didn't want to move....
and
then,
finally, I lifted my head and his lips came down on
mine with the softest touch, I felt very connected to him. He took
my breath away; then he kissed me more urgently, as if it was our
last.

A slow, burning fire coursed
through me, and I knew I wanted to be with him. I wondered if he
felt the same way. His muscular arms encircled me, securing me to
him, just as I've dreamt of so many times. He released me and said
good night. I just stood there in the dim light from my garage and
watched him pull away. My chest felt heavy and sad and I knew he
wasn't going to call.

I was running and running through foliage and
trees with my wolf. In the ravine behind my house, I knew exactly
where I was going. He was chasing me. I looked back he was gaining
on me, I turned right and ran as fast I could. I looked again and
saw nothing. I high tailed it up our dirty slide. As I was running
up, I flashed back to the pool with the freezing water and the
creepy guy looking at me, next I was in the lobby and the guy on
the shiny payphone turned to look at me, at the Monaham's after my
attack I stood up and saw the stranger in the front yard, all the
eyes were the same and glowing at me, just like my wolf’s eyes did.
I reached the top of the dirty slide and after I cleared the brush
Cale was standing in my yard. He was smiling at me with his arms
crossed and sunglasses on; some guy was lurking behind him in the
distance. I yelled “Hey” at him. Cale took off his glasses, glanced
back at the guy behind him, he didn’t seem too concerned with the
ominous figure and then back at me, his eyes were glowing. I woke
up it was 3:17a.m.