CHAPTER 3
1499 Words
Seeing her again came as a shock to him. And even more so to her.
This was why she never visited any clubs within her small town. The risk of being found was too much but it seemed her luck had run out.
She knew he had seen her, she was sure of it but still, she ducked her head anyway and hurried away from her stand.
She bumped into Isabel as she was hurrying to the employee break room
‘Woah, girl, hurry much?’ Isabel asked smiling at her
Danika kept looking over her shoulders trying to calm her breathing down.
It wouldn't do her any good if she had a panic attack now.
In all her time partying and hooking up with random guys, she had never met anyone of them again
Isabel noticed her weird behavior and looked over Danika's shoulder
‘What is it, Dani?’ she asked taking a hold of Danika’s shoulder and lightly shaking her
‘Is it Trevor? Giving you a hard time again?’ she asked
Danika mumbled something under her breath. It was like she had lost the ability to form words.
‘That guy needs to learn boundaries. When a lady says no, she means no. I think I might need to slam some manners into that tiny, ridiculous brain of his’ Isabel fumed, her hands balling into fists
‘No, no, it's not Trevor’ Danika answered finally able to draw enough air into her lungs
‘Then who is it? Who has you running with your tail between your legs like this?’
‘The guy from the bar’ Danika whispered as if she was afraid that saying it loudly would attract him
Her head kept whipping around to see if she would catch a glimpse of him
‘What guy from the bar?’ Isabel asked, looking around too. Confusion written all over her face
Danika dragged her back into the employee break room. They were both going to get in trouble for this but right now, she couldn't care less
‘The guy from the bar’ she said again ‘You know, the club, last night'
‘Oh, snap’
‘Right, snap. This has never happened before’
‘First of all, Dani, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath and, uh, tell me, what did he say to you?’
‘I didn't hang around long enough for him to say anything to me. I left as fast as I could'
‘Okay. That wasn't ideal, and you can't stay here till he leaves, you know?…..’
‘I know…’ Danika groaned. She held her head with both hands and leaned on the wall, all thoughts of Trevor completely forgotten
‘Come on, Dani, it's not like it's the end of the world. You hooked up with him, so what?’
‘Stupid, stupid, stupid me’ Danika muttered over and over again
‘Okay, uh, here's what you going to do’ Isabel said taking Danika off the wall
‘You are going to go out there, put on your brave face and face him. Head on’
‘What? I don't even have a brave face’
‘Pull yourself together, girl. You've got this. Pretend you don't even remember him’
‘I’m pretty sure he remembers me’ she was sure she had seen recognition flash in his eyes.
Those eyes she had spent all night looking into. There was no way either one of them could forget the other so quickly
‘Then, play it cool. It shouldn't be that hard’
Isabel shook her hands out and turned to the door
‘Just play it cool' she said again walking out
Danika groaned again then shook her hands out like Isabel had done.
Play it cool.
Play it cool. she repeated the mantra. She could play it cool. She hoped.
She casually strolled back to her cashier stand, her eyes frantically searching for a mass of black hair.
He was tall enough to be easily spotted among the low shelves of the store.
He still looked like he did the night before.
With only a black tee hugging his sculpted torso and the faded jeans hanging low on his waist, he still looked like a Greek god.
His dark hair was tousled as if he had just rolled out of bed and she had this insane desire to run her hands through it again .
On the inside she was sweating profusely and her heart was beating wildly but on the outside, she just managed to maintain her composure.
There was no one in front of her yet but she could see other people mulling about the store.
Her head immediately perked up the minute she heard his voice. He was talking to Sara, her colleague two stands away from her.
He sounded annoyed meanwhile she was looking at him with dreamy eyes
‘What do you mean it isn't working?’
‘Your card is declined, sir’ she purred ‘do you by chance have another one?’
He ran a hand through his hair, her eyes following the movement and sighed, then he handed her another card.
She took it, intentionally grazing her fingers against his while looking at him seductively and scanned it
Transaction declined the machine read spitting out a sheet of paper.
He frowned
She pouted
‘Uh, you could try….. uh one of the other cashiers?’ Sara said, her smile disappearing a bit.
She sounded like she didn't want him to leave yet
‘It could be a technical problem’ she said again still pouting and handed him back his card.
He took it and turned away, looked up and directly at Danika making eye contact.
She saw his eyes flash but she couldn't tell if it was annoyance or something else and before she could try to decipher it, he was standing right in front of her.
Danika yelped and stumbled back a little
‘Pardon me’ she mumbled under her breath
He slowly put the things in his shopping basket on her counter
Her hands were shaking and she had to ball them into fists to stop them from trembling further
Play it cool
Play it cool
The mantra kept ringing in her head
He watched her closely as she scanned and packed the items.
She didn't look up at him. Instead pretending to focus on what she was doing
When he walked out, bag in hand, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
Well played she told herself.
Well played.
Damien was floored.
What are the chances? He thought.
His hand gripped the steering wheel tighter until his knuckles turned white. His wolf, Onyx, was prowling in his head clearly restless.
Now, he was more than sure Dannie was anything but human. Her scent had hit him like a brick wall immediately he entered the grocery store and he was completely caught off guard by the sheer power she exuded.
She still had that blonde hair wrapped up in a low bun and those brilliant blue eyes he'd gotten lost in.
How was she this close and under his nose all this time and he didn't notice.
A part of him wanted to go straight to her and demand an explanation but his more rational part held him back from doing so.
But then, she went ahead to do the most cowardly thing ever. She ran
Damien sighed again. As much as he wanted to uncover what she was, and decide whether she was a threat to his pack and the town, he was annoyed that she was practically a weakling.
She couldn't even look him in the eye. It was downright pathetic
She had looked so confident the night before but now, she just looked like a cold mouse. She didn't look like someone who could cause trouble but he knew more than most that looks could be deceiving.
He needed to make sure she wasn't going to be any kind of trouble. He already had enough of that.
Damien parked his car in the driveway and walked to his door. He slid in his key and jiggled the door knob shouldering the door to walk in.
The house was empty as usual and it annoyed him even more. He knew he'd never admit it to anyone but he missed staying in the pack house.
He missed being among his kin and most of all, he missed his parents.
He dropped the bag containing a six-pack of beer and gallon of milk he bought on the kitchen counter. His body was restless and so was his wolf.
He needed to go for a run
He walked out the back door where he shed his skin and shifted into a big black wolf.
The sounds of cracking bones filling the space.
His eyes shone gold as he pawed the grass with his massive paw a few times just out of habit before dashing into the woods that bordered his property.
- Writer
