Beautiful Creatures Series

Chapter 16: 14

It was almost 6:00 AM when Stanton came into the house quietly, trying not to wake her, but Aurora had been up all night wondering where he had been. “Where have you been?” She demanded as he closed the door. “Why are you, Hummingbird?”

“Why am I up?” She was stunned by the question and the state in which he was in. “Why are you covered in blood?”

“Don’t worry. It’s not mine,” he said, making his way to the washroom, where he peeled off his bloody clothes.

“Not yours? How’s blood, is it?” He didn’t answer as he threw his clothes on the floor and started the shower. Aurora watched him get in and stand under the water, letting it wash the blood away. “God damn it, don’t ignore me. Whose blood is it?” Stanton just shot her a look, and she knew exactly who’s blood it was. “You went back for him, didn’t you?”

“He deserved what he got,” he told her, taking the body wash from the edge of the tub.

“You killed him?”

Stanton washed the blood off his face and then turned to face her. “Not the first time and probably won’t be the last.”

“It’s murder.”

Stanton turned off the shower and grabbed a towel as he got out. “Don’t give me that self-righteous tone. You have killed people too.”

“To protect myself.”

“Bullshit!” He yelled at her making her jump. “You’ve killed people because you lost your temper,” he pointed at his face. “Look… look what that fucker did to me. I can never get my eye back and why because he was afraid that I would give his punk ass a beat down for insulting my girl. I did a public service killing him, one less asshole in the world,” he snarled as he found some clean clothes and got dressed. Aurora watched as he pulled his boots on. It looked like he was leaving again.

“Where are you going now?”

“Work,” he snapped. “The bills don’t pay themselves,” he opened the door and stormed out, slamming the door behind him so hard a picture fell off the wall, and the frame shattered upon impact with the floor.

Oh… that man.

***

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Aurora,” Aster said as she brought a big bowl of popcorn to the coffee table. Aster had the day off. She had left her assistant in command of her bakery in Aspen, claiming that every once and a while, even the boss needed a day off. So, she had invited Aurora over to rent a movie with the girls. “I’m sure they were careful. It’s not the first body the pack has disposed of.”

“Am I the only person who thinks what they did was wrong?” Aurora asked.

“You said yourself you wanted to kill the guy,” Aster pointed out as she sat down on the couch.

“I might have wanted to, but I didn’t.”

“You’re saying you have never killed anyone?” Charlotte asked from her place on the floor where she was sitting cross-legged and picking at the popcorn.

“I have but only in self-defence,” both women stared at her with the same expression, the one saying they weren’t buying her answer. “Ok, maybe 50% self-defence – 50% anger,” both women laughed. “What?”

“Yeah, we have heard that you have a bit of a temper,” Charlotte giggled.

had a

I can clearly see that’s not true.”

despite herself. “Ok, maybe I might have a very small anger issue,” she said, reaching for

rentals, but in the background, they could still hear what was playing on the TV. The anchorman was talking about a body found in the river earlier that day. “Charlotte,

family. Aurora recognized the victim immediately. It was the man from the restaurant last night. His name was Rupert Dickson, and he was a son of a Colorado State Senator.

the guy,” Aurora confirmed. “This is

is really bad,”

going to want his son’s death investigated,” Aster said.

“The place

going to be the very first suspect, then

was an animal attack,” Aurora

still going investigate,” Aster

problem. A dead Senator’s son was killed by wild animals and found floating in a river. That’s going to make national news,” Charlotte

“So.”

draw hunters,”

understood that would be a

taking out her cellphone. “I have

***

were playing out, but it wasn’t Aurora’s fault. That girl was a frustratingly gorgeous magnet for assholes. He couldn’t blame her for the way others treated her. Life with

roses lying on the passenger seat of his SUV. He picked the bouquet up and got out of the vehicle. Taking a deep breath, Stanton closed the SUV door and

was dressed in nothing but a pair of pink lace boy shorts and his favourite football jersey with the right side slipping off her shoulder and her hair swept up in one of those sloppy buns. In one hand, she had a frying pan and, in

or that she was his girl. He never wanted to lose this, but he didn’t know if

was a look he had not expected. She

Hell have you been? I have been calling you all day, and you have been ignoring me,” Aurora snarled. She was right. He had been ignoring her calls because he hadn’t known what to say to her. Still speechless, he offered

and yellows mean

shot him a playful grin. “How do you know

“Google,” he snickered.

cared enough to look it up,” she said, returning to

sorry I ignored your calls. I didn’t mean to make you worry. I just didn’t know what to say. I needed some time to think,” Stanton said as

pan-fried in brown butter and sage,” Aurora said as she plated the food that had been cooling in the pan. She brought both

you spoil me,” he said, taking up his fork.

to him. “Have

not answered because he hadn’t felt like talking to anyone. He had every intention of calling his pack leader back later in the evening. “I think he called once or twice, but I didn’t answer,” Stanton was getting a bad feeling. “Is there something going on that I should know about?” Aurora was silent,

“The man you killed….”

over. Let

“It’s not over.”

Just let the issue die with him.”

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