Chapter Four.
Jhelani’s POV
On my way home, I stopped by an old store that was almost closing.
Good thing I came by in time because I needed new bulbs for the house. The old ones were twitching already, giving the apartment an eerie feeling I didn't like.
Once I was done, I exchanged some notes with the old lady then hopped on my bike with the bulbs packed in a leather bag.
All the while, my mind kept zoning back, replaying everything that had happened in the club.
Kian. Jace. Damon.
They all looked older, hotter, and dangerously tempting with their different personalities.
I couldn't deny that I found them looking attractive, but the contempt in my heart was still there, bleeding because there's no way on earth I would forget everything they made me pass through.
They made sure to make my teenage years hell that I most times saw them as the devil's reincarnated.
I shook my head, trying to take them off my mind. I had better things to think of.
Once I pulled onto the pavement before my porch, I turned the keys then got off my bike.
I had the leather in hand before making my way up the stairs, and settled in.
The house was too damn quiet by the time I got in.
Even with every lightbulb replaced and glowing, the silence pressed down on me, heavy and suffocating.
I recalled every memory, reminiscing on the good days when this empty house felt like home.
It was once filled with this heartwarming and cheerful laughter's of a little girl, running around the house, and hiding underneath the dinning table, cupboard, or behind the curtains while her mother tried to figure out where she was.
And that little girl...she was me.
"Jhelani? Where are you?" My mother's sweet voice got closer and I tried to hold it in, trying stop the giggles from escaping but a few got out.
"Oh my goodness. Where could my cutie pie be hiding? She's gotten so good at hiding that now I can't even seek her," she complained, making me laugh behind the curtains while clamping my little hands over my mouth. Excitement bubbling in my tummy.
Mother hardly had time for games except a few days when she was off from work so I tried to make the best of it, enjoying every second because despite the few days off work, she always tried to find another source of income to cover up the bills, loans, and make life a little bit less overwhelming for her little girl.
She became a working single mother after my dad died on my one year birthday.
The reason? No one ever told me. It was a mystery.
Plus, the economy in town wasn't so favorable. It was hard to survive if you didn't have good connections.
Despite all the struggles she passed through, my mom always made sure to have a good time with me, and asked a few questions about school, my friends, and other stuffs.
Suddenly I felt a tight grip on my little body and all hell let loose as I laughed harder. My mom had caught me, tickling my under arm so hard I nearly choked.
"Found you!" She carried me out of the curtain in her arms, while I trashed my legs playfully in the air, wriggling in her arms.
"Not fair, mom! You always find me, but It's so hard to find you," I pouted my lips in protest.
"Try harder next time, Love. Now it's time to for dinner. There's school tomorrow," she said while placing me carefully on the counter in the kitchen, and I frowned.
"What's the long face for?" She asked, wearing a beautiful smile.
Her shiny dark hair was tied up in a bun, and she had this pair of dark fox eyes that suit her so perfectly.
They said I looked like a doppelganger of my mom, but with my father's green eyes instead.
"I don't like school. There are so many bullies there, and they call me ugly a lot of times. Mom, do I look ridiculous?" I asked innocently, trying to gauge every look and emotion on my mom's face.
She smiled gently, "Do your mom look ridiculous?" She asked and I shook my head.
"Then don't listen to them, Cutie pie. They are jealous of my little girl because she looks exactly like her mom. You are beautiful, Jhelani. Very beautiful, and I promise you one day, they will all bow to worship your beauty." She whispered to me like she was trying to imprint it into my memory, to keep reminding me about how beautiful I was.
She reminded me everyday until I lost her four years ago.
I was moved out of Town to the big city with my Step-dad whom she had married about nine years later after my dad's passing.
But now, I was back here to find out why I keep having those hunting dreams, fragments of images, and flashes of this Town in my head.
I've tried going to therapy, taking drugs with all that modern bullshit, but none of it worked. Instead, it felt like it was getting—worse. Day by day.
I needed to put an end to it one way or the other. That's why I came here.
Biting on my bottom lips hard, I felt my wrist throb from where Damon’s iron grip had been earlier, the faint mark a reminder.
I sprawled onto the couch, tossing the leather bag onto the floor.
My eyelids were heavy, my brain buzzing with fragments of wolves, glowing eyes, claws, blood, and Damon’s warning still echoing in my head.
I must’ve drifted, because the sudden knock at the door made me jump.
Three taps. It was slow, and steady.
I grabbed the nearest thing in reach...One of the replacement bulbs and tiptoed closer.
No one in the apartment below was aware that I was back home. So who could possibly be at the door?
“Who is it?”
Silence, then that familiar lazy voice.
“Relax, Fox Eyes. It’s just me.”
Jace?
I recalled him calling me by that name earlier, and he was the only one who spoke like he was tired of life—fed up of living. Yet he makes the life of everyone around him miserable.
I swung the door open, bulb still in hand. “Are you insane showing up at my place at—” I checked the clock on the wall “—two in the morning? What the hell do you want?”
He leaned against the doorframe like he owned it, leather jacket unzipped, hair a delicious mess that screamed trouble.
His smirk was the same one he’d worn in high school, the one that used to crawl under my skin until I wanted to strangle him.
“Can’t a guy come by to check on his favorite redhead?” he said smoothly, eyes flicking down to my tank top and shorts that I had changed into earlier before moving back up.
I crossed my arms. “My eyes are up here, Jace. And try that line on someone desperate. I was never your favorite. So tell me, what do you really want?”
His smirk widened, devilish. “Maybe I wanted to see if you’d let me in. Or throw something at me. Honestly, I couldn’t decide which I’d enjoy more. I am so bored.”
“Keep talking and I’ll choose the second option.” I brandished the bulb like a weapon.
He chuckled, dark, “That will be very nice. You like being violent with me.”
I narrowed my eyes. “No. I always liked the idea of breaking your nose.”
“Aw.” He pushed off the frame, stepping a little closer. “But then you wouldn’t get to stare at this handsome face every time I annoy you.”
I groaned. “Newsflash, Jace. Your face isn’t handsome. It’s punchable.”
That earned me another laugh, and he tilted his head, watching me in that infuriating way that made me feel like I was under a microscope, or rather, under the watching gaze of a predator watching it's very meal for dinner.
“You’ve changed, Fox Eyes,” he said, voice softer now, though his grin never left. “Used to be someone I could make cry in thirty seconds flat. Now you look like you’re ready to burn the world down just to spite me.”
I clenched my jaw. “Don’t test me.”
He smirked again, but something flickered in his eyes. Something raw before he buried it back under his cocky grin.
“Goodnight, Fox Eyes,” he murmured, backing away slowly, like he’d gotten exactly what he came for. “Try not to dream of me too
hard.”
"Shut the fuck up, butthole." I slammed the door shut so fast the walls rattled.
My heart wouldn’t stop racing.
Damn him.