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.

a temper?” She demanded with

snickered. “Oh yeah, I can clearly see

small anger issue,” she said, reaching for the popcorn. “I’m just worried. Stanton got

I’m sure he will be fine,” silence filled the room when the news came on. Charlotte had been browsing the 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, stop skimming. I want

The station flashed a file photo of the victim they had gotten from the family. Aurora recognized the victim immediately. It was the man from the restaurant last night. His name was Rupert Dickson,

the guy,” Aurora confirmed. “This is bad, isn’t

bad,” Charlotte confirmed.

is going to want his son’s death investigated,” Aster said. “Were there a lot of

“The

very first suspect, then you,”

was an animal attack,” Aurora

are still going

dead Senator’s son was killed by wild animals and found floating in a river. That’s going to

“So.”

draw

understood that would be a

out her cellphone.

***

at her earlier that day, he had been so angry about the way things 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 Aurora would be

and yellow roses lying on the passenger seat of his SUV. He picked the bouquet up and got out of the

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

this was his life or that she was his girl. He never wanted to lose

his throat to alert her to his presence. Aurora placed her pan down on a burner that was not on before she turned around and looked at him with relief. It was a look he had not expected. She

right. He had been ignoring her calls because he hadn’t known what to say to her.

mean I’m

grin. “How do you know

“Google,” he snickered.

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

think,” Stanton said as he took a seat at the small kitchen

in brown butter and sage,” Aurora said as she plated the food that had been cooling in the pan. She brought both to the table, placing a bowl in front of him.

said, taking up his fork. He was dying to

seat next to him. “Have you heard from

that to be an odd question. Gordon had called a few times that day, but Stanton had 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, but the look on her

“The man you killed….”

him. It’s over. Let us leave it in the

“It’s not over.”

the issue die

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