Chapter 144

Joseph’s POV

“You let a bitch take your find,” one of his friends laughed. “Man, you got weak.”

“She had backup,” the guy muttered, sounding annoyed and a little drunk himself, but not completely intoxicated like Tessa was.

I gritted my teeth, hiding against the shadows that formed around the alley they were hiding inside.

“If she was as hot as you say, I wouldn’t have let anything take that away from me,” his friends said. “Next time, give me a call and I’ll be your backup.”

The two laughed, which pissed me off even more. I wasn’t going to let them continue talking about Tessa like this. I made myself known to them, and they both turned to face me with large, startled eyes.

“Hey, man. We were having a private conversation,” the one with the longer hair and yellow teeth said. I recognized his voice as the one talking about “his find.”

“Yeah, were you eavesdropping or something?” His friend asked.

They were both tall and skinny, yet they had muscles as well. I’m sure the two of them combined could put up a fight. But they were only humans, so I wasn’t really worried about them.

“Get the hell out of here,” the guy said through his teeth, but his voice trembled slightly, so I knew he was getting nervous as I approached them.

“Looks like he wants to fight,” his friend his, a grin appearing on his lips as he also neared me. “Let’s show him who owns these streets.”

The other guy cracked his knuckles and followed his friend's lead by approaching.

Bold move, I thought to myself.

His friend swung a punch in my direction, which I was able to dodge easily. Even if he had managed to hit me, it wouldn’t have hurt anyway. I almost let him do it to make a show out of it. But I just wanted these assholes to pay for what they were saying and for what that jerk had done.

They both started to run toward me when the first attempt to punch me failed. As they neared me, I grabbed the guy’s friend by the throat and lifted him off the ground, making the other guy freeze in his tracks and stare up at his friend with large eyes.

I threw the guy across the alley and heard him thudding against the dark corner of the wall. The other guy’s body began to tremble as I glared at him.

I grabbed him by the throat as well and lifted him only slightly off the ground. As he choked and struggled against me, I heard him begging for me to release him. The more he begged, the angrier I grew.

“If you ever touch Tessa or any other woman like that again, I will find you, and I will kill you,” I seethed.

He nodded shakily, unable to speak as I gripped his throat. As I watched the life draining from his pathetic face, I knew I needed to stop before I killed him.

I tossed him against the wall, watching as his head smashed against the old brick. He was knocked out, but I knew he was still alive.

“Charles?” I heard his friend from the dark corner of the alley murmur as he came through. “Are you still there?”

I didn’t bother speaking, I turned and left before his friend saw me.

…..

Tessa’s POV

I felt like I was hit by a truck. Everything hurt. I felt disgusted. I made a silent vow to myself that I would never drink again.

When I woke the next morning, I was lying on the couch and the sunlight that beamed through the window was almost too much. I groaned miserably, trying not to fall off the couch as I turned my body away from the bright sunlight.

What even happened last night?

I remembered Ruby ordering me a bunch of tequila shots and then I remembered a strange man putting his hands all over my body and carrying me outside. I grimaced at the memory; he smelled of rancid alcohol and the way his hands felt on me was anything but pleasurable.

My stomach felt uneasy, and I remembered throwing up a couple of times last night. I tried to remember where I was when I threw up though. I definitely threw up in Ruby’s toilet, but there was somewhere else that I threw up as well and I couldn’t for the life of me remember where it was.

But I know it wasn’t a good place.

As I thought hard about it, my temple continued to throb angrily.

This hangover was going to be the death of me.

Then his face came into my mind, Josephs.

I furrowed my brows together; did I see him last night?

I remembered his face so vividly, and his voice asking if I was okay and what had happened to me. I remembered Ruby protectively telling him to leave me alone and that she could handle it. I was grateful to her for that.

Then, my entire body went still as the memory of me puking on his shoes surfaced in my mind.

“Oh, God… “ I said out loud.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Ruby said from her small kitchen. “I was just making you some tea. Figured you’d need it this morning.”

“I threw up on his shoes…” I murmured without even looking at her. “I threw up…. On…. His shoes….”

“Yeah, it was pretty messy,” she said, and I could tell from her voice that she was stifling a laugh. “But I mean, he did deserve it.”

I lifted my head as she came toward me with a mug of tea.

“Why was he there?” I asked.

She frowned as she helped me sit up; my entire body was screaming at me to stop.

“He wasn’t at the club. He was driving by on his way home and saw us outside,” she explained. “I told him what happened.”

“You told him about the club?” I asked, feeling my heart falling into my stomach. “Was he mad?”

“Does it matter?” She asked, raising her brows. “You aren’t his concern anymore, Tessa. It doesn’t matter what he said or what he thinks.”

“I know…” I said slowly, staring down at my hands.

She placed the mug of tea in them, and I watched as the steam came toward my face. It was lavender tea, it smelled nice, and I knew it’d make my stomach feel better too.

“I told him if he really wanted to help, he’d find that jerk that tried to take advantage of you,” she said simply, shrugging as she finished that sentence.

I snapped her a look.

“You told him what?!” I gasped. “Ruby!!”

“What?” She said, narrowing her eyes at me. “It’s not like he’s going to do anything. He doesn’t seem like a fighter to me and plus that guy was long gone. There’s no way he’d find him.”

I wanted to scream at her that he was a vampire retriever; his job was to find vampires. He could certainly find simple humans. But I couldn’t tell her that; she couldn’t know the truth about Joseph. Not again, not after they had already wiped her memories of the existence of vampires.

My heart hurt though at the thought that Joseph had gone after that guy. What if Joseph found him and killed him?

I was suddenly very dizzy.

“Drink your tea, you’ll feel better,” Ruby said, motioning for the cup in my hands.

I sipped the tea slowly and immediately my stomach began to settle, my headache began to ease, and my body began to relax.

“Better?” She asked, eyeing me carefully.

I nodded.

“Yes, thank you,” I breathed, taking another sip of the tea.

“Good, because we have about 30 minutes to get to school,” she said standing to her feet.

A knot formed in my stomach as I stood to my feet as well.

“What?” I gasped. “What time is it? Class doesn’t start until noon.”

“Yeah, it’s 11:30,” she answered. “You slept awhile.”

“Oh, God,” I said, putting the mug of tea on her coffee table. “I need clothes. I need to get dressed.”

“Don’t worry; I have clothes you can wear,” she said as she went toward her bedroom.

Today was Tuesday, so I didn’t have a class with Joseph, but I knew he would most likely still be at the school getting work done in his office. I was bound to run into him, and I was seriously dreading it.

Ruby returned with some clothes, and I thanked her as before rushing into the bathroom to take a quick shower and put on the clothes she gave me. It was a cute skirt and a blouse; the clothes screamed “Ruby.”

Once I was dressed, we wasted no time getting to school.

My headache returned to me midway through the day and I was also feeling a bit sick in the stomach. But I was thankful that I didn’t run into Joseph; at least not yet. I still had about an hour before I was able to leave and go home.

As I walked through the crowded hallway and toward my next class, I heard my name from one of the classroom doors.

“Tessa, hello,” Miss Emily said, giving me a kind smile.

I paused.

“Um… hi,” I said, trying to sound casual.

“Can I speak with you in here for a moment?”