Chapter 27

Roxanne

I couldn't believe what had just happened. Had Lucas found out about my relationship with Derek already? Why else would he be drilling me with so many questions?

I was confused. He had never been like that with me before. The Lucas I saw back there was very different from the one I knew before today. Certainly, something was wrong, I concluded. I wondered what it was. It was going to be really messy if he found out about Derek and my relationship with him. It was what I feared all along.

I hope it wasn't so. I didn't know what else to do than leave him angrily at the restaurant. I felt like he was seeing through me and the lies I had made up to tell him. As I made my way back to the dormitory, I became calmer and more collected. I realized I was the one in the wrong, and I shouldn't have acted so dismissive and unstable. But I couldn't think of what else to do. Even now, I still didn't know what else to do about the situation.

I couldn't face Lucas again until I found a solution to this. I felt really bad about everything. It felt as though the whole world was moving at me and trying to squeeze me together. There was so much to deal with at the time and it was becoming too much for me to handle. I was barely hanging on.

I must have forgotten myself as I walked into the dorm apartment.

"Hey, what's wrong? What happened?" I heard Rose ask and it brought me back to the present.

I tried to act as if nothing was going on. I even attempted to fake a smile but it didn't turn out well.

"Nothing," I said.

Rose saw through it all and persisted, "Don't say nothing. Something is obviously wrong. Talk to me, Roxanne." She urged.

Rose was so sweet, I felt like crying. I moved closer to her and hugged her closely. I sent back the tears that were brimming heavily in my eyes. I knew I needed to tell Rose something, it would not help if I started crying.

When I finally disengaged my body from hers, I began to talk, and she paid close attention as I spoke.

"You remember the man from the other day?" I asked.

"The one in the car?"

"Yes. That's the one. I got an internship offer at his company and the pay was kind of really nice." I lied. "But he fell in love with me along the line, and it was too late when I found out what was really happening."

I waited for a brief moment to observe Rose's reaction to the revelation I had just made. She didn't give out much so I continued.

"I don't like him in that way but I can't refuse him directly because I need the money to pay my tuition fees. After what happened at the studio, I had nowhere else to get the money from, so this opportunity is my only hope." I explained.

"So what happened?" Rose asked.

"Lucas asked me today about why I have been away for so long and when I told him about the internship offer, he said he wanted to visit the company. It didn't seem like he believed me."

Rose looked surprised at first, but then she picked up on why that could be a problem, so she said,

"I have an idea. Let's arrange a way for your boss and Lucas to meet casually. That way, your boss would understand that you have a boyfriend, and maybe he would leave you alone. And also, Lucas would see for himself and clear his doubts."

That would have been a considerable idea if what I told Rose was a complete truth and Derek wasn't a werewolf. If I followed through with the plan, Derek was only going to attack Lucas and kill him. I knew he couldn't stand any other man having a romantic relationship with me. He made that clear from the very beginning of the contract. And after seeing how he was able to fight off so many vampires, he would easily kill Lucas before he knew it.

"No," I replied quickly. "Let's not do that."

Rose looked confused but she seemed to come to an understanding that something else was going on that I didn't want to reveal. After she had teased and warned me against dating two guys at the same time, she finally gave me another really good idea.

She said she was going to help me set up a fake internship identity at her family's small company and I would present that to Lucas and keep him off my tracks for the time being. All through this, she made sure to warn me several times against going out with the two guys at the same time.

I was so happy. That was going to solve the issue and put my mind at rest. I thanked Rose and promised to handle the situation better from now on.

The next day was the memorial ceremony of the dead professor. It reminded me again of the vulnerabilities of humans against this war that was building up between werewolves and vampires. I still hadn't reached out to Constantine Davidson, The Ranger.

The words of Jordan Neville kept playing in my head. How could I protect others when I couldn't even protect myself from the same danger that I was trying to protect them from? It was a valid question and it tugged closely at my confidence and the nonexistent chances that humans would have if this war broke out eventually.

The attendance for the memorial service was very high. Former and current students alike came out to pay their tributes to the distinguished professor. A very large hall on campus was the venue for the event. I attended with Rose and as we walked in, we both saw several people that we knew in attendance. It was a very sad day of the school community. The professor wasn't only brilliant, but he was also known to be a good person.

As fate would have it, the nearest available seats in the hall that we were able to find happened to be just where Lucas was seated. I had sat down before I noticed that he was the one next to me.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi,"

"I'm really sorry for yesterday. I shouldn't have come at you like that." He said.

"It's okay. I understand you're just trying to be sure about what's really going on with me. I should be the one apologizing for leaving so rudely the way I did."

"No. You needn't do that." He said.

"Of course, I do. You know what? You should visit the company I was telling you about. I would arrange for that to happen."

"That's not necessary anymore. I believe you." He hesitated, but I knew he still wanted to confirm so I pushed harder until he finally agreed.

I turned to where Rose was seated next to me on the other side, and sent her a wink while mouthing a "thank you."