At the word, ‘my love’ every anger and resentment she had against him dissolved. Oh! He loved her! Oh! He did! He did love her! He just didn’t know how to bring himself to tell yet! A happiness that knew no bounds was surging through her now and she felt herself feeling suddenly weak for him. He must have sensed the resolve in her, because he pulled her into his arms, his hands burning her cool flesh. She shivered and held on tightly to him. They stood like that for sometime, then he pulled her into the room and kicked the door with his feet. He led her to the bed. They both sat down.
“I have a lot of things to tell you, Selena. But like I said, it will be a gradual process,” he said evenly. “ Notwithstanding, anything you want to know, just ask. The ones I can answer, I will tell you. The ones I can’t, I won’t. Please Selena, don’t let’s make things difficult between us. You are a tough girl, I respect that. I’m a tough guy, too. So for things to work between us, we gotta always meet halfway.”he finished.
Selena stared at him for a long moment, mollified by his words, she smiled at him.
“Okay baby, I’m ready to make things work between us. This love thing is a whole new experience for me too. I’ve never felt like this for anyone. Never! Oh, I had boyfriends, crushes when I was in high school. But nothing like this. You are my first true love and for that reason, I’m ready to make things work out well between us.”
Victor inclined his head.
“Okay, I like that. Now what do you wanna know?”
She cleared her throat.
“Let me start with this. What did you see in the papers that made you angry? Was it Caesar?”
A frown creased his face “I can’t really go into that, Selena. For now.” his eyes were looking at her in a way that says please try to reason with me.
Selena's face fell. She was silent for a moment. Then she heaved heavily.
“Alright. We’ll talk about that later. Now, what’s up with you and Marianna?”
His face brightened.
“I ended things with her this morning. Both of us are done for good,” He said casually.
She stared at him her face, shocked.
“Why did you do that?” She asked, wondering what had happened between them.
Victor eased his heavy shoulders.
“I got tired of everything I had with her, that’s all. She wanted more than I could offer. I couldn’t stand it anymore. We had quite a big blow out. She left here in a fitful mood.” he said evenly.
Selena was quiet. But her mind was busy with thoughts. She had known all along that Marianna and Victor were both seeing each other. They were lovers. But she didn’t want to interfere. She was certain Victor had known Marianna even before she had ever thought of seeing him. So she had been biding her time, knowing sooner or later, she had Victor would talk about it. She just never expected it to be sooner. He was saying something now and she turned her mind away from her thoughts.
“What did you say?”
“I was asking if you actually saw her on your way here?”
“Yeah, I saw her. She was driving like a mad woman.”
Victor chuckled.
“Mad woman huh? That’s not surprising,”
“What did you say to her?”’
“Nothing! I only told her I can’t see each other again.”
Selena stared at him still wondering what could have made him to suddenly cut things off with Marianna. Then a thought came to her mind. A frightful one.
“Baby, how did you get this place?” She asked “Marianna hooked me up with this place. It’s a family property so she says.”
Selena’s face became white as chalk “But baby, don’t you see this is dangerous? Marianna is Caesar’s sister. What if she tells her brother about you? What if she tells her brother about this place?” She wailed.
“I’ve thought about everything you said, but I don’t care anymore.” He replied to her.
Selena was really worried now.
“Victor please, don’t be stubborn. Think about this. You’ve hurt Marianna’s feelings. And she will never forgive you for that. That face I saw this morning inside the car was a face of pain and grief. Marianna’s wicked. She might be all mushy and sweet. But she’s bad. Really bad. She’s definitely going to tell Caesar about what happened. I’m certain of it,” she grabbed his hands and held it tightly. “Don’t you see my love, you are not safe here anymore.”
Victor smiled at her and it infuriated her to see him this way when she was worried sick about his safety.
“Marianna can go ahead and tell her brother anything. I don’t give a damn,” he gritted out. “Do you think I give a fuck about that lousy hot shot?” He snorted. “Caesar sees himself as a kind of god in that town. Someone needs to put him in his place for good”
Still Selena was not appeased by everything he said.
“Victor, please don’t be stubborn. It’s not safe here anymore. As I’m talking right now, Caesar might be on his way here with the sheriff or anyone. You are staying inside his property. He can do anything to you. Don’t you see?” She fiercely.
“You keep talking about my safety. Do you even know why I ended things with Marianna?” He questioned.
Selena shook her head.
“Why?”
Victor raised his hands impatiently.
“It’s because of you!” He said solemnly.
“Me?” She asked rather stupidly.
“Hell yes! The thought of being with another woman while we are together irritates me. It disgusts me. I don’t want any other woman, Violet. It’s you I want. I’m crazy about you.”
Listening to him, hearing him talk made her weak and the inside of her jittery. His hands which she had been holding felt so warm and moist now, and she wanted hands all over. caressing her. touching her. loving her. But yet, her worry for him prevailed over anything she was feeling at that moment.
“But Baby……….” She began but he injected it in, cutting her off.
“Forget it!” He said coldly. “If she’s gonna rat on me, then let her do it. If Caesar wants to start up shit, he should start! I’m right here. I ain’t going anywhere. My position is stiff,” and sudden he jerked her body to his, his arms around her. “You crazy woman, I told you I’m crazy about you and all you could think of is my life and me.”
“I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you,” she said breathlessly. “I can’t lose you, Victor,”
“You won’t lose me, Violet,” he said, touching his mouth against hers. Then he pulled away from her. He peered into her face. “Everything’s gonna be fine. Everything is gonna be alright. You don’t have to worry,” His voice was gentle and soothing. “See, as long as we are both together and we love each other, we’ll be alright.” There, he had used that word love again, she thought to herself and smiled inwardly. She was now convinced more than ever that he loved her. There was no doubt about it. He just didn’t know how to say it because he was not used to that kind of thing. “Come here, Violet.” and he pulled her into his arms.
Selena held him close, her body absolving his strength, his warmth, relishing the masculine feel of him. He had said everything will be fine. Well, for both their sakes, she hoped he was right.
Just then, Victor’s cell phone rang. He pulled away from her, cursing under his breath. He wondered who it was. He didn’t have many friends. He was a loner. He fell into his pockets, and took out his phone. He stared at the screen.. It was Dvorak Zimmerman. The scowl on his face disappeared. Smiling, he slid his finger on the screen. Selena watched him, puzzled.
“Hello man, What’s good?” He beamed. The other man at the end of the receiver began to talk fast. Victor’s face twisted with a deepened frown. He gripped the phone tightly, his eyes stony. After a while, he heard the click sound and took the phone from his ear. He turned to look at Selena. His eyes were filled with disgust and displeasure.
“That was Dvorak Zimmerman. Something terrible happened.” he grunted.
“What is it, Victor? What happened?” she inquired, curiosity written all over her face.
Victor swallowed hard.
“His family……..all killed. Wife and two kids all killed.” he muttered and swore under his breath.
“How could that be? Was it an accident?” She wailed.
Victor shook his head and he was silent for a long moment. Then he looked at her.
“Werewolf! A werewolf killed them,” he finally said.
Selena’s face lost its color.