The Poisoned Bond

An Unexpected Visitor

"You think you can get away with that?" Joyce’s voice was a snarl in the darkness. She grabbed my hair and dragged me across the floor to a chair in the living room. The light flipped on, and I squinted, trying to make out her form.

Her eyes were cold and enraged as she leaned over me. "You owe Natalie an apology," she barked.

"Like hell I do," I spat out, crossing my arms over my chest, and glaring up at her. I wouldn't be apologizing. Not today. We buried my uncle today. He had been like a second chance father after my own had died years ago. Not today.

Natalie blundered across the room; her cheeks flushed with rage. "What the f**k did you just say? You...you little bitch."

I turned to look at her over my shoulder, my voice steady. "Did I stutter? I said NO."

Joyce let out a huff of disbelief. "How dare you talk back to me!"

"I dare," I told her. I held one hand to my mouth in mock horror that I had said something so crazy. "Leave now. Before I report you to the guard for trespassing."

They both stared at me, stunned. They weren't used to me standing up for myself. I had always been the one to apologize to smooth things over, to keep the peace. Not today.

Natalie was the first to regain her composure. "You're just like your mother," she spat. "Always thinking you're better than us."

I pushed myself up into a sitting position, ignoring the pain in my scalp. "You never even knew my mother."

Joyce's eyes narrowed. "But I did, and she was an unfit mother and an unfit Luna. You're going to regret this behavior, Jessica."

I pulled myself off the floor and sat on the arm of my couch. My head still hurt, and I didn’t want to stand up too fast -but I did not want to be on the floor.

Joyce raised a hand to slap me. I reached up and grabbed her arm as I pushed myself to my feet. I squeezed the arm until she winced. “The next time you lay a hand on me will be the last time you have hands.” I said to her just above a whisper.

Joyce opened her mouth to say something but there was a sharp knock on my door, and we all froze. No one moved to answer, the knocking continued; getting more insistent. "This isn’t over, bitch." Joyce said before stomping over and yanking the door open to see who it was.

It was Chase. He looked pissed. "Get out." He said in a low voice – but it was radiating with his alpha power causing Joyce and Natalie to whimper and cower as they fled.

He shut the door behind them and came to kneel in front of me where I had taken a seat on my couch. "This is going to bruise." He said as he gently touched my face. "Do you have any ice?"

I pointed behind him at the doorway and said "Kitchen. There is some in the kitchen.”

He jumped up and popped into my kitchen. I could hear him rummaging around opening drawers and the freezer before coming back with an ice pack he had made with one of my hand towels.

"I should have insisted on walking your home." He said as he gently placed the ice on my cheek and brushed my loose hair out of my face. I reached up to take the ice pack, but he gently batted my hand away.

"Not that I am ungrateful for the save – but why are you here?" I asked him.

"I ran into Pepper when I went back inside, and she mentioned that she had seen those two idiots head out earlier and I just got uneasy, so I ran up here to check on you. I could hear the arguing from outside." He said.

"Well....thank you...for saving me...again." I said.

“Anytime.” Chase gave a slight bounce beside me, "Yes – this will do, I think I should crash on your couch tonight. In case they come back," he said. "Is that OK?"

"Um...yeah. That would be fine." I fidgeted for a moment before standing to head towards my bedroom. "I will get some blankets." I pulled sheets, a quilt out of my closet, and a pillow from my bed before heading back to the living room.

"I don't know that they will come back. But I did not think them dumb enough to come back out here ever again...and they did." I said as I set my bundle on the table so I could take the sheet out to tuck it around the cushions on the couch. It stops the cushions from shifting too much when someone is sleeping on them. "If you open up the bottom drawer on the Credenza there are some sweats and t-shirts...so you don't have to sleep in your slacks and button down. They are Simons - I know he won’t mind." I stood back up and pointed across the room where my television was.

“Thanks." Chase said and poked around int he drawer. "When did they come out here before?" He asked me.

I shook the quilt out and spread it out over the couch. "Last summer when I was with my grandma. Natalie had a party out here with her friends and trashed my stuff." I picked up the pillow and sat in the middle of the couch holding it. "Uncle Henry demoted them to Omega for 6 months and forced them to do all the housework at the pack house in front of everyone; he even made Joyce get a job to pay to fix everything out here. It took Natalie the entire summer and several expensive gifts to get her friends back. Superficial bitches." I looked up at Chase and realized he had changed behind me while I was messing with the blanket. He looked good in grey sweats.

"Is that the quilt we made at camp with Simon?" he asked me as he walked over to sit next to me.

I looked down at the fabric and realized he was right. "Yeah. It is. It’s one of my favorite blankets." I told him.

Chase wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze while resting his chin on the top of my head. “I see your plan here...you are planning to bleed me dry as punishment for making such an ugly blanket." he told me while chuckling.

"Oh! No. It’s not full of pins anymore. Simon and I got them out a few summers ago. Uncle Henry got us this big magnet thing to roll over the blanket on the porch; it pulled the fabric up when it rolled over a pin, and we pulled them all out. It was actually really cool. " I said.

He looked a little skeptical. We had put so many pins in it because we wanted it to be perfectly straight, it was not, and we found out the hard way later that we had not gotten them all out.

"I could go get a different blanket if this one makes you too nervous." I said.

I started to stand but Chases grip on my shoulders tightened to keep me seated. "So, you admit that it is ugly." he said.

"No – it's...it's got character." I stammered out.

"Sure, it does." Chase said.

I looked down at the blanket again and laughed. It is brown and off-white. The patterns on the squares we used resemble one of those old couches you find in your grandma’s house. It is kind of ugly. But we made it together after Simon and Chase got poison ivy and the counselor quarantined all three of us to stop the spread. We also cut out letters in fabric to spell out Crystal Lake Cabin 14. Simon had insisted on making a Jason mask out of fabric squares because he found it hilarious that out camp was named after the camp in the movie. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Chase. Boys are so dumb.

Chase leaned in and kissed me as I turned back to look at him. I froze for a moment and then kissed him back. He pulled back and apologized.

"It's OK." I said. I fidgeted a little. I yawned so hard I heard my jaw pop in my ear.

"You should get some sleep." Chase said.

I kissed his cheek and handed him the pillow before heading over to my room. I closed the door quietly but firmly behind me. I practically fell into bed, and I was out almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.