Chapter 60: My Friend Has to Know

TERESA.

After leaving Vicky, we made our way back to Bellingham in complete silence. I was on the verge of despair. I could see him out of the corner of my eye, not doing anything, not even a grimace, and it was grinding inside me like a coffee grinder.

His serenity was completely inadmissible under the conditions in which he hurt me so much. I could read thoughts, but I certainly blocked myself from reading Bash’s. It already shattered my heart to pieces to listen to other impertinent excuses, which were useless.

It was clear; I had to talk to Caroline and confess everything to her, even if it would be hard for her to believe me. Anyway, I had promised her that one day I would tell her and that day had definitely come. I needed an ally next to me, and Caro was the best fit.

In a maximum of one hour, I was home, well, his home, but exactly as I expected, we did not talk about anything. If he wanted to play the victim of all this, he had to know that it was not the case. His childish behavior will not help him at all.

“You’re back ... Bash…”

But Bash didn’t say a word even to his mother, who had probably been worried. Agh, what an insensitive man!

“Don’t pay attention to him, Thea. He’s grumpy, but he’ll get over it!” I assured her gently, showing her a quick smile.

I didn’t feel like putting it on my face, but his mother really didn’t deserve this treatment of indifference.

“If you two reconciled, then that’s all that matters,” she continued hopefully, but my silence quickly shattered her. “You reconciled, didn’t you?”

“Not really ... it’s a long story…”

“Believe me, I know it completely,” Thea added, with a hint of regret. My puzzled face made her continue. “Don’t be afraid, I don’t judge and I rarely take parts, but in this case, you’re right, my dear. Bash doesn’t need to know this.”

She winked at me and then invited me for coffee in the kitchen. I really needed it, as I hadn’t had one at Vicky’s. I felt like all the problems were coming to me and because I didn’t have a solution at the moment; it was impossible for me to face them. But I strongly thought that being patient was all that mattered.

“So ... how was the meeting? Excuse me for being insistent, I should take care of my own business, please forgive me...” Thea suddenly changed her mind, regretting that she had opened the subject.

“Don’t worry, it’s not the problem. Bash is actually your business. I didn’t expect him to show up, even though Vicky had told me the night before that he would come and be prepared. However, I felt like I wasn’t ready for the rain of words coming from him and even not for the heavy silence on the way back. I honestly don’t understand Sebastian, but I’m not working too hard now to do it. Your son was far too wrong with me, taking me for granted. He didn’t realize that today I can be here but tomorrow I could not and so the void in his life will not be filled by someone too soon.” I concluded everything with a healthy mouthful of coffee to awaken my senses.

“So, there can be no reconciliation? A way to make things, right?” Thea asked a hopeful question.

But whose hope? Mine by no means. My wounds were far too recent to weld now, but I hoped that in the not-too-distant future I would bury them so deep in my soul, and if my heart could give us another chance, then so be it.

Until then, our souls got iced and no matter how much I wanted a few rays of sunshine to at least warm them, or to melt the ice in which they built themselves, it had no power unless we gave it. Unless our desire for re-encounter was so great that there was no obstacle in the way of the celestial star.

I spent the first half of the day with Thea, having coffee and then helping her in the kitchen. All this time, Sebastian was at the office. Maybe it was better. I really didn’t want to meet him. This silence between us was killing me.

At least to have spoken, to have shouted, to have done anything, only not to treat me with indifference.

But then I had to meet my friend. The cafe next to the house was not so crowded. It didn’t take long and Caroline came with a smiling face. It had been a while since our last meeting and it was so weird, with Noah and then Bash.

“Hey, Terr, God, I’m so glad to finally see you. You’re harder to see than a VIP,” she added, jubilantly rolling her eyes. “Finally, I’m glad to see you. What’s your life Terr? How do you get along with Sebastian, and especially with your future mother-in-law?”

I knew she was joking. Caroline didn’t know about my relationship with Bash yet. And yet I could not hide a grimace of astonishment. “Come on, don’t make that funny face. I was just kidding!”

“Please take a seat. I’ve already ordered two cappuccinos.”

I had an enthusiasm mixed with some concern. It thrilled me to see her, but I didn’t know how she would react as soon as she found out the whole truth.

It was a pretty complicated situation and if Caroline wasn’t open-minded with difficulty or almost impossible, she would understand me and understand my choices.

“Teresa, did something happen? I see you worried and ... weak, I might say. Did you cry, my dear?”

Caroline’s observation made me avert my eyes, but it was more than obvious. I had been living a nightmare.

“Caro, what I’m going to tell you now will shake your beliefs and make you wonder if you’re really hearing it well. What I’m asking, I’m actually begging you, is not to judge me and give me time.”

Her face had already changed. Jovial as it was when she arrived, it became tense and questioning.

“I’m already worried about you, Teresa. Whatever it is, please tell me. We have been friends for so long and I will understand you,” she promised me with a raised hand.

It was now or never. I could not take steps back. Caroline needed to know what kind of world I was in and what the risks were involved if she stayed around me.

“Remember when I told you I was moving into Sebastian Gallagher’s house? Work related?” I started hesitantly, but with courage and conviction that I was doing the right thing.

“Yes, I remember. And I also remember the twinkle in your eyes and that’s how I realized it wasn’t a strictly professional relationship. Correct me if I’m wrong, Teresa!”

“You are not wrong at all. I have been in a relationship with Sebastian for some time now, but the day I moved into his place, it was nothing between us. Just a big, icy wall that neither he nor I could cross. Because of him, I lost my job. I fell into the river in the park and my water trauma returned. Because he took me to his house, I was late for the wedding of the mayor’s son and therefore I got fired. It was the failure of my life. I couldn’t afford to pay the rent for the apartment anymore, so Bash made me an offer that at first, I found bold but also useful because in the not-too-distant future, I would definitely have been evicted from the apartment.”

“Wow, I can imagine how you felt. And your trauma ... God ... but this man really helped you. He took you to his house and gave you a job.”

It amazed Caro at Bash’s false hospitality. I had not yet reached the best part. And she was definitely seeing him as a hero. Certainly, she would not like the outcome. “I still don’t understand what’s wrong with what you’ve told me so far.”

“The bad part was just beginning. I fell in love with Bash. His kindness, the irresistible man who makes me vibrate with him and under him. “

Adding that almost in a whisper that only she could hear me. The heat in my cheeks definitely gave me away.

“Teresa!!! And what’s wrong with falling in love or ... well, you understand me? The redness on your cheeks is more than obvious. "

“The fake ness he treated things with, Caroline!” I said briefly, but I hoped convincingly.

“You’ve already lost me. I don’t understand you anymore. "

“Sebastian Gallagher runs a genetics company called GenetiX, which has a hidden part besides drugs and treatments that could treat or prevent serious diseases. He wants to perfect a serum whose ingredients could speed up the healing process of serious wounds caused in ... werewolves!” I whispered as I approached, not to speak too loudly.

However, my confession aroused the laughter of my friend.

“Werewolves? Seriously? Where do we live, my dear, in fairy tales? There are no such creatures. And let’s just say it’s true, what ingredients does he need? A hair from a witch? Or a dragon’s tooth? Please, Teresa, you will have to be more convincing than that,” she concluded again with a brief smile, leaning back in her chair.

Okay, she was probably in denial. I can understand that.

“Caroline, the nets of this business are far too dubious for people like me or you to understand. And to answer your question, they need the blood of another werewolf, pure iron and the key ingredient that can’t be missing, the blood of a direct descendant of an original vampire. “

That was the sign when Caroline started laughing frantically. A few heads turned to our table. “Carr, seriously, please be more discreet!”

“Ok, my bad. The blood of a vampire descendant, you say? And I guess they found him, right?” she added with another round of laughing.

“Then you know that, yes, he found one. That direct descendant is ME!!!”