Rejected, Rebirth, and Revenge

Chapter Seven: Instant Aversion

“Alexia,” Dixon said, putting a hand up, “relax. This is Scarlett, our new associate.”

The word ‘associate’ sounded official, so that made me happy. He was going to try to get me there as a student, which was all I wanted. All I needed was the opportunity to get back in that pack.

Alexia glared at me through narrowed eyes. Her lip was curled in a smile. I’d never experienced that kind of hostility before.

On second thought, I’d better take that back.

“She’ll be working with us,” he explained. “She’ll get us what we want.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but decided against it at the last minute. She walked over to his side and he immediately scooted over for her to sit next to him, right on the edge of the seat. Her eyes were on me and I had the feeling that she was trying to intimidate me, but it genuinely didn’t work.

I didn’t feel intimidated by her.

“How does she help?” she asked.

“We’ll talk about it later,” he said, sighing.

“I want to hear about it now.”

He shot her a look, but didn’t answer her. A glance at my right showed me that some of his companions were red-faced from trying not to laugh. I wondered if this was a usual thing, because it seemed to me like it was.

Her eyes were back on me again. She asked, “Where did you even find her?”

Nobody answered her. Since she wasn’t talking to me, I didn’t answer her either. The woman named Sandy stopped by and carried all our dirty plates back to the kitchen. I missed having the glass of Coke because I wanted to do something with my hands to keep myself busy. This was starting to get incredibly awkward.

Alexia never stopped staring at me.

“Well,” someone to my right said. “It’s been a good seating, boys, but I have things to do. Malcolm, coming?”

“Oh, yeah,” the man named Malcolm said. He was sporting a buzz cut and he had an eyebrow ring.

To me, the man said, “Scoot over, sweetheart. I wanna get out of here.”

I stood up to allow them to slide out of the booth. Honestly, I was contemplating following them because I didn’t know what I was doing here either. Maybe I could go back to my room and sleep for a few more hours. That would make me feel more refreshed.

I started following them, but Dixon said, “Not you, fox.”

I cringed internally, but sat down. It was just the three of us now, and Alexia seemed to be more furious now that the others were gone. Or maybe it was because I stayed. I had no clue.

“Fox here is going to infiltrate Dawn for us,” he told her, pointing at me with his thumb. “I don’t know if it’ll work out yet, because I need to find a good connection, but until then, she’s stuck with us.”

Alexia’s eyes were on me again. “And why should she be the one to do it?”

“Because she seems to know a lot about the pack,” he explained. “It’s a long damn story, alright? We found her wandering in the woods. She has the same goal we do, which is revenge.”

She didn’t seem convinced by his explanation, and it was then that I started wondering what their relationship was. She seemed quite possessive of him, so I doubted that they were related to each other.

My guess was that she was his girlfriend.

“And why the nickname?” she asked. “What makes her so foxy?”

Dixon seemed exhausted when he met her gaze. Now I understood why those guys wanted to laugh. It was quite comical, watching them go back and forth with their sharp retorts.

“Not now, Alexia.”

“What happened to Al?”

“Fox,” he said to me abruptly, “you can go now. I’ll talk to you later.”

I stood up quickly, not needing to be told twice, and walked out of the diner, ignoring most of the stares I was getting. His companions happened to be standing outside, passing a cigarette between them, and they fixed their eyes on me as soon as I stepped outside.

“Are they done?” Malcolm asked.

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

They laughed as I started to walk away from them and toward the motel. I had many questions now that I was here, and one of them was how on earth they maintained this place when they were rogues. There were a lot of people here—what did that mean? Did they work together to make this place what it was?

I would have to ask Dixon this at some point.

I returned to my room and as soon as I did, I saw that it was occupied by the woman with her two sons. She looked younger than I initially assumed—around her mid-twenties. She smiled when she saw me.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m Bethany.”

“Scarlett,” I said, impressed that I could remember my new name so quickly. Vivian was always in the back of my mind, wanting to slip out.

“These are my sons, Michael and Justin,” she said, gesturing at them. They were both staring at the floor and seemed to be shy. “We’re crashing here for a few days, just until I can find a place to stay.”

I sat on my bed. “How’d you stumble on this place?”

“Oh, we were on the move and saw the flashing lights. I wanted to pay for a room but was told that for rogues like us, it was free of charge. We didn’t have to pay for anything.”

“That’s…nice.”

“Yeah,” she nodded in agreement. “This seems to be the biggest community of rogues I’ve ever come across. And the nicest, despite how they look.”

“Why are you on the run?” I asked. I realized at the very next second that it was an intrusive question to ask and immediately apologized for it. “Sorry, it’s none of my business. I don’t know why I asked.”

“Oh, it’s fine. We left our pack. My mate…he wasn’t the nicest man.”

“I see,” I said, sorry that I’d asked. “And you’re constantly on the move?”

She nodded. “I’m just trying to find the right place to settle down. I can’t stay here forever. They’re nice and all, but I don’t really want to raise my kids around so many strangers. There’s always a new face here. They come and go, apparently, but it’s still too unstable.”

“I get it,” I said, realizing that my life would be the same for the foreseeable future. I’d have to stay here and deal with all their rules, and I wouldn’t have the stability of being part of a real pack and figuring things out.

I gulped. Perhaps I never would.

“And you? What brings you here?”

I told her the story I told Dixon. I kept everything simple—details could be forgotten and the last thing I needed was to be seen as a liar. They had to trust me in order to help me infiltrate the Dawn pack. Lies would only ruin my reputation, and they’d abandon me quickly.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “Must be awful, to witness such a thing.”

I nodded, suddenly remembering my mother. I had the urge to cry. I hadn’t allowed myself to think about her, but imagining her sitting on our small dining table with a cup of tea in front of her, wondering where I was, broke me. I looked away and our conversation came to an end.

My life back home was simple, but I had everything I needed. I had a few schoolmates whom I could consider friends, and my mother was super supportive. My life was okay—ordinary and unremarkable, but safe. I missed that. I realized that it would be the complete opposite now, and that I was in for a ride.

This revenge plan came with a twist, but it was either this or I’d die and never get the chance to make things right.

This was better than the alternative.

I managed to sleep despite my troubled thoughts and when I woke up, it was to an empty bedroom again. Bethany was careful not to make much noise, which I genuinely appreciated and found incredible. Or maybe I was dead tired and never heard a thing.

That was also a possibility.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I was feeling a little hungry, so I stood up, wondering if the diner was still open and would serve dinner. I felt bad for eating when I wasn’t contributing, as I didn’t know how the system here worked, but soon, I’d try to figure out how to help around. To minimize my guilt.

I opened the door and as I stepped out, saw someone standing right next to it, smoking a cigarette.

I yelped before I realized that it was Dixon.