CHAPTER 20
Claire:
Claire sat with her back against the window at the head of the bed. She forced a few yoga breaths and continued listening to Quil talk about how Ty was now a full-fledged Quiluete werewolf. Ty! She had known him since he was born and now he was going to end up looking older than she did in just a few short months. The thought was overwhelming and felt significant.
Quil hadn't told her much about the fight that had taken place or about the girls that had been killed in the process. She knew that for him it was a combination of not wanting to relive it and not wanting her to have to experience the horror he had to witness. She was familiar with the feeling and it was the reason she hadn't gone into detail about the cruel text messages and even alarming phone calls she had received while he was gone.
After the first few text messages, all from blocked numbers that all read similar things;
You are a bitch. Go to Hades you whore!
You're such a slut.
Way to sex the dean and then get HIM in trouble for it.
Yeah run and hide bitch because when I find you I'm gonna make you pay for what you did.
Or her personal favorite;
Are the services you gave to the dean all for sale because id pay for some of that ass
Claire had simply given up and given her phone to Bennett who proofread every message before deleting it. Eventually, he got so agitated doing it that she had simply turned the phone off before popping a disk from The Big Bang Theory in that she had left there at Quil's place.
"How is Ty Lahote a freaking wolf? That's just too much…" she said as she threw her hand in the air in complete shock.
Quil huffed out a laugh as he blew out a breath and laid across the bed with his head in her lap.
He closed his eyes and grabbed at her hand she had run through his hair. It took her a second to realize he was silently crying. She knew in that moment that he had to be seriously overwhelmed with everything if he was tearing up over it.
"Shit, baby." He said softly as he wiped at the moisture in his eyes. "This day. How has it been sooo shitty?"
"Shhhh. Don't talk like that." She said softly as she brought her free hand up to keep running through his hair.
He nodded his head in agreement before he froze for a second and then looked up at her.
"What did you say?" he asked surprised, "Did you just tell me not to speak like that?"
Claire just shrugged guiltily in response.
"I thought you were going to say something to make me feel better and instead you tell me not to swear!?" Quil laughed in disbelief.
Claire immediately blushed in response. She felt stupid when he phrased it like that. "I do want to make you feel better… I just don't really like cursing." She said apologetically.
Quil looked at her with his head tilted up towards her for a second and she couldn't read his expression before he grabbed at her ankle and said,
"Come here, Claire."
He started pulling on her leg, pulling her down from her sitting position so that she was lying next to him. She quickly had to grab the skirt of her dress and hold it against her as he hazardously pulled her down the bed.
As soon as she was next to him with her face lined up with his he wrapped his arms tightly around her and pulled her in so that her stomach was pressed to his chest while she was lying far enough back to still be able to see his face clearly.
"Claire." He said sternly, "You are perfect. You being you did make me feel better."
She just raised her eyebrows as she gave him a skeptical look, positive he was just trying to make her feel better.
"No really. You just made me laugh for the first time today, and after the shitty-" he quickly cleared his throat guiltily, "After the day that I've had, that in itself is a miracle."
Claire couldn't help but smile after that explanation, she simply put her hands on his chest and felt his heartbeat under her palm as she tried to think of a worthy response. Quil pulled his hand away from around her to grab her chin and tilted it up to look at him. The second she looked up she immediately felt locked into his eyes.
"I love you." He said sincerely.
His voice trembled while he said it and Claire knew that the way he was saying it was somehow a little different then he'd ever said it before. He loved who she had been for him today and who they were together and was trying desperately to communicate it to her.
Claire felt her eyes tear up in response and had to swallow to clear the emotion stuck in her throat before she could reply.
"I love you." She said back simply. She wished she had his ability to communicate more with simple phrases, but she knew that he knew she meant it and that would have to be enough.
"You're so beautiful." Quil whispered to her for the second time that day.
Claire bit her lip as she leaned into him. She was looking directly at his lips she was inches away from when he groaned and pulled away from her before she could reach them.
She looked up at him in surprise when he spoke directly to the ceiling.
"Please don't try to kiss me."
She was glad he was looking up at the ceiling because she couldn't help the look of hurt that slapped across her face.
"Why?" she asked in a concerned voice.
Quil huffed out a sigh towards the ceiling, "Because….." he started hesitantly before letting his sentence hang.
"Because?" she asked still confused. Quil had never not wanted her to kiss him before, not since the very first time she had. "Is there something wrong….. I mean between us?"
"Wha- NO!" he answered quickly as his head flipped back to look at her. "No, Claire, not at all." He said insistently as he grabbed her hand beside him and pulled it to his lips.
Claire swallowed as she watched him kiss her palm.
"Okay good. Well if you need some space for a while, I'll understand. You can tell me that, it's okay." She assured him as she mentally started preparing herself to do the literal last thing in the world she ever wanted to do.
"No, Claire, I definitely don't need space. At least not from you." He said with a small dark chuckle, "The only reason I didn't want you to kiss me is because after today all my self-control is shot. If I start to kiss you now I won't stop…. And I'm don't want to put you in that position."
Claire looked at him in surprise as she processed what he was trying to say. Part of her really wanted him to start kissing her and just see what would happen but mostly she just felt grateful he didn't need space from her because right now what she needed most was to be close to him for as long as she could be.
"Put me in what position?" she asked as she ran her hand through his hair creating a contact point between them again after he had pulled away.
"The position of having to shove me off you."
Claire raised her eyebrows and tossed her head back and forth like she was pretending to consider it.
"Ahh, that position. That sounds awful." She teased as she played with his hair.
Quil didn't respond except to close his eyes and let a dark chuckle escape.
He groaned loudly and kept his eyes closed before he said, "What are we going to do about you, Claire?"
"What do you mean?" she asked confused.
"I mean, the texts and phone calls. We need to figure out where you're going to go until this all blows over and it comes out what a scum-bag he really is."
"Go?" she asked feeling even more confused just as her phone started ringing, she looked down to see her dad's caller ID.
"Hold that thought." She muttered as she slid her finger across the screen, "Dad?"
"Hey how you holding up, baby girl?" his voice asked sounding concerned. He hadn't called her baby girl since she was probably six.
"I'm fine, Dad. It's really no big deal. It's just a few angry people venting their misplace frustration with some poorly crafted text messages. I'm positive Bennett was just over reacting because he'd rather be safe." Claire replied easily, grateful that Quil had a chance to overhear the conversation.
"Yeah, about that… did Quil show up yet or are you still hiding out with Bennett?" he replied.
"I'm with Quil now, Bennett had to go run a patrol." She replied confused that he would ask.
"Good, good." He answered vaguely, "Hey, let me talk to him, sweetheart."
"…. To Quil?" she asked confused by this uncharacteristic conversation.
"Yes, I need to speak with him."
Quil had opened his eyes to look at her since he was obviously overhearing both sides of the conversation.
"I don't know, Dad. He's had a really rough day… Can't I just-" Claire began but then cut off since Quil was already gesturing for her to hand him the phone. She reluctantly gave it to him and then sat back to listen as Quil spoke,
"Robert?... Yeah… No, I was on a run. We had some bloodsuckers cross our paths. It didn't end well and one got away….." he listened for a second to whatever her dad was saying on the other end and then suddenly sat directly up from where he had still been lying across the bed. "When?... It said?... Okay, no I agree. Was Jamie okay?"
Claire immediately leaned forward with more concerned interest. What had happened to Jamie?
"Yeah… No I can't….. I have to go back out there in about two hours….. No, not something like this….. Yeah, I know it's really shitty timing but it's just not something I can leave to Leah to handle…. No, of course not, I'd never leave her alone… I'll talk to her and we'll figure out a plan for this weekend and then we'll revaluate and figure out what she should do next week….. Okay…. Okay…... Call me if anything else happens…. Okay, bye, Robert."
He hung up the phone and tossed it to the side before blowing out another breath and leaning to the side as he wrapped his arms around Claire and pulled her into his chest.
Claire's voice shook as she asked, "What happened?"
Quil hesitated for a second until she started poking him hard in the side of his stomach and he explained, "Someone threw a brick through the front window of your house."
Claire pulled back sharply to look at him. "What!? Why? Why would someone do something like that!?"
"There was a note taped to it." He confessed. "It said something along the lines of you having to pay for what you did to Counselman Witmore."
Claire's hands came up to cover her mouth and tears filled her eyes as something she had overheard him saying to her dad connected.
"And Jamie was in the front room….." she said more like a statement while asking for his confirmation.
"Yeah, he was playing Mario-Kart." Quil admitted and Claire's eyes immediately started pouring out tears, "Fortunately, the chords on the Nintendo 64 aren't very long and he was sitting right in front of the tv. Glass shattered pretty much everywhere but your dad said there's not a scratch on him."
Claire nodded her head and breathed out a sigh of relief as she felt her hands shake while pressed against her lips and the tears continued to pour at just the thought of something hurting Jamie because of her.
"He's okay, Claire." Quil assured her as he continued to rub his hands up and down her arms. "He can't read yet, remember? So, he doesn't even know what the note says."
She sniffled and sucked down a sob before it could escape. "What else did he say?"
Quil looked at her a little hesitantly before saying, "The police are already there, they asked about your whereabouts, but your dad just told them you were laying low and staying out of the public eye…. But everyone agrees that for the time being you shouldn't go home."
"What? You think people are waiting for me to come home to try and attack me!?" Claire asked in shocked disbelief.
Quil shrugged, "He's a really well liked public figure and I guess there are some pretty angry people right now….. Look, it's just a precaution, no one wants to take a chance with your safety."
"But what about the rest of my family? Aren't they in danger staying at the house?" she asked in concern.
He shook his head confidently, "Naw, your dad already said the cops are going to do a drive by every twenty minutes and anyone watching the place will quickly realize you aren't there. I'm adding your house to the route for our patrols too, so they'll have plenty of protection. The pack will be able to sniff out any lurkers in a heartbeat."
Claire nodded as she sniffled and wiped at her nose.
"So, I'm spending the night then…. And my dad was okay with that?" she asked surprised.
He made a disappointed face and pursed his lips before saying, "That was actually his idea but unfortunately you can't stay here tonight… I've got to go back out there and lead the pack… I can't just leave them hanging while that last bloodsucker's still out there."
"…. Why can't I stay here with Butch?" she asked confused.
Quil gave her an annoyed looked before saying skeptically, "You really think I'm going to leave you here alone with Butch?"
"Uh yeah…. No one knows I'm here, right? That seems pretty safe to me."
He rolled his eyes in annoyance before dismissively saying, "No, Claire, not happening."
"Quil, where am I supposed to go? The only other place I'd go is Bennett's and he's out there tonight too."
"I'm gonna send you down to La Push for the weekend." He answered like he'd already thought it through.
"To La Push?" she asked in disbelief.
"Claire." Quil immediately began desperately like he just didn't have energy to argue with her. "Baby, I just need you to do this for me, okay? Please? I HAVE to go back out there and do my job and I can't do that- I can't be focused if I don't know with a hundred percent certainty that you are absolutely safe."
Claire put her face in her hands and groaned in response to his begging before speaking into her palms, "So, what? I'm supposed to spend the weekend hiding out with your mom?"
"My mom? Hell no, you two will kill each other within the first twenty minutes and then she'll spend the rest of the time telling you everything that's wrong with me and convincing you how much you really don't want to be with me."
Claire didn't even laugh before she looked up at him and said, "Then where? Where am I supposed to stay?"
She was seriously resisting the urge to just insist on staying where she was with Butch for protection and company but could feel how desperately he really needed her to be in La Push.
"Stay with Sam and Emily." He suggested.
"Sam and Emily!? I can't stay with Sam and Emily. They have three kids in that cottage, there is no way I can ask them to squeeze me in there too."
"Jared and Kim?" He suggested amicably.
"Quil! They have FIVE kids! I can't stay there!" Claire insisted.
"Ooh yeah, they do huh?….. Oh perfect! Paul and Rachel! You can stay with them! They have a guest room AND it's perfect timing with Ty phasing, you can help keep an eye on him for me and vice versa!"
"Vice Versa? You want Ty to keep an eye on me?" she asked doubtfully while already feeling offended that he would ask a thirteen-year-old watch her every move.
"Then you'll have some current-wolf protection. It'll make me feel better." He said honestly.
Claire let out a sigh as she considered it. The truth was she'd much prefer to stay with Embry or Seth over Paul but seeing as Embry and Arabella lived in Seattle they weren't really an option and since Seth and Tara also lived there on the Makah reservation she knew Quil wouldn't seriously consider it since it was too close to the action.
"Alright." She finally agreed hesitatingly, "But you have to call and ask. There is no way I'm calling him up and saying, 'Hey, Uncle Paul, how about a slumber party at your place this weekend?'!"
Quil gave a chuckle as he pulled out his phone, "I'm on it. But, babe, do me a favor and don't call him 'Uncle Paul' I'm sure 'Paul' plain and simple is fine."
"Why?" she asked confused, "I've always called him Uncle Paul…. Just Paul seems kind of a disrespectful and Mr. Lahote is a little much for someone I've basically known my entire life."
Quil groaned before saying, "Claire, stop. You're killing me here!"
She chuckled at his dramatics, happy to see he was acting more like his normal self. "What?"
"I've known Paul for over twenty years, he's one of my ….. friends I guess and you're my girlfriend so I need you to be on friend terms with him and not making me feel hella old by acting like he's your great uncle." He explained quickly with his thumb hovering over Paul's number waiting to call him.
Claire almost snorted she started laughing so hard and Quil quickly dropped his phone to put his hands on her waist and tickle her even though she was already laughing.
"But you are hella old! I'm only three and a half years older than Tyler and you want me to be buddy-buddy with Paul? The guy is legitimately old enough to be my dad!" Claire laughed and Quil instantly groaned again.
"Don't say that! He's only three years older than I am!" Quil complained while Claire laughed harder than ever both at what he had said and because he was tickling her.
Claire shrugged as she looked at him in response.
"What do you want me to say…..?" she asked before continuing in a more assuring tone, "YOU probably aren't old enough to be my dad…."
"AND on that note!" He quickly pulled his hands off of her and stood up so that there was space between them, "I'll probably never be able to look at or touch my underage girlfriend ever again but that's cool, right? We're soulmates….. We're soulmates…." The way he said it made it clear he was speaking directly to himself.
Claire instantly jumped up and closed the distance between them. She grabbed his face in her hands and pulled at him when he resisted until he looked at her.
"Quil." She said lovingly. "It doesn't even matter, remember?"
He immediately gave her a skeptical look that said exactly how much he didn't believe her.
"No, really! I don't care if you're really seventeen like when you phased or twenty-four like you look or thirty-one. All I care about is that you're my Quil and that I get to be with you for the rest of my life. Other than that, nothing matters…. No one needs to know what the ages on our ID's say…."
Quil blew out a breath and looked towards the ceiling before looking back at her, "Okay, Claire, but I swear if you ever say I'm old enough to be your father again, I'm going to have a brain hemorrhage!"
Claire laughed at the serious look on his face before standing on her toes to bring his large six-foot five-inch frame into her as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry!"
"Yeah, well it's not your fault you were born in the wrong decade." He replied sarcastically while wrapping his arms around her waist and Claire giggled in response quickly kissing his cheek before she pulled back.
"Call Paul, I'll run home and pack my stuff."
She went to move around him, but he reached out and grabbed her arms before she could move.
"You can't, Claire. You can't go home right now, I'm taking you straight to La Push and then camping out there until it's safe for you to come back here."
Claire was already positive Quil's definition of safe was going to differ very greatly from hers.
"What? But what about all my stuff? You really think it's not safe for me to just run by my house?" she asked feeling flustered and a little scared despite knowing the likelihood of Quil's over exaggeration.
"Really. If someone is watching the house than they're just waiting for you to go through the door. You can pack up anything you want here. It's just for the weekend… probably…"
Claire groaned as her eyes filled with tears she refused to shed. She hated that she let this situation make her feel scared, but it was a frightening thought to be kept away from your own home because people potentially wanted to hurt you. She wanted to be brave and tough and face it head on to show she wouldn't let it get to her. The only reason she was even going along with any of this was because she knew how important it was to Quil. He was under so much stress and emotional exhaustion that if he had to worry anymore about her than he already was he would probably snap.
She quickly grabbed the duffel bag from Quil that he had easily reached under the bed to grab. She went to his dresser first and pulled out a few t-shirts and two pairs of boxer-briefs then shoved them all in the bag not bothering to lay anything out or make sure it stayed folded. She quickly went in the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush she kept there and then opened the medicine cabinet to see what of hers she could find there. The only thing that would be remotely helpful was an old shriveled up bar of face soap.
"This is it. All I got." Claire said as she held up the bar of soap and toothbrush.
"Just a sec, hon." Quil said easily without looking at her. He had his phone to his ear and she could hear it ringing on the other end before he stepped out on the stairwell, so he wouldn't bother her with his call.
He was only gone a few moments before coming back in while tucking his phone back in his pocket.
"Done. You officially have a place to stay for at least the weekend and then indefinitely after that as needed."
"For the weekend." Claire clarified firmly.
"Let's just start with that and see where it goes… Now what's the problem?" he asked as he gestured to the duffle bag she had left on the bed.
"This is all I can find." She replied as she swept her hand over the measly contents of the bag that consisted of a few t-shirts, a couple pairs of his boxer-briefs and her toothbrush and face soap. "I don't even have a single pair of pants…. Forget about makeup, shampoo, my own underwear or any of the other million things I use on a daily basis…. I don't even have my phone charger."
Quil pulled her close and kissed her temple at her hairline. "We got this, Claire." He replied unconcerned.
He let go of her as he moved to his dresser and pulled out a few more shirts and pairs of boxers along with a pair of dark jeans.
"What's that for?" she asked confused.
"Until you come back I'm staying there too …. so is Butch actually." He replied as he went into the bathroom and came back out with his toothbrush, toothpaste, and shampoo and body wash.
"Wait. Does Paul know that I come with such an entourage?" Claire asked concerned.
"Just solved your shampoo problem." he said easily as he dumped all his toiletries into the duffle.
Great, so now I can smell like a man while going braless and wearing nothing but Quil's t-shirt and boxers by day three! She felt depressed just thinking about it.
"And yes, Paul knows about your entourage. They have two bit pulls, remember? So, he's fine with Butch coming and he said I could stay in the guest room with you as long as I swore to no funny-business under his roof. That was literally the phrase he used." Quil continued.
"Yeah, but how could you possibly resist me while I'm wearing this with no makeup or hair products or deodorant," Claire replied sarcastically as she held up one of the t-shirts and boxer-briefs he had just put in the bag. Quil snapped his fingers and muttered "Deodorant!" as he went back into the bathroom to grab his.
"You can just use mine too." He replied easily.
"Great. Then I'm definitely gonna end up smelling like a man." She remarked.
"No." Quil said while shaking his head, "You're going to smell like your man… not just A man."
"I guess that's true." Claire allowed as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to his chest so that she had to look up to see him.
"And honestly the picture your painting for me is sounding really sexy…. Do you think we could repeat this little weekend away sometime but with just a whole lot less Paul around?"
"Hmm… me au natural with zero wardrobe options that didn't come from you… that does it for you huh?" she responded while using her hand to refer to her face and hair.
Quil smiled before he nodded and then slowly bent towards the side of her head until his mouth was less than an inch from her ear and she could feel his slightly accelerated breathing hot against her neck.
"You, Claire. That's what does it for me, plain and simple. I thought we already established that?" he whispered raspily in her ear.
Claire felt the chills run down her spine in response before he even closed the distance to her and then grazed her earlobe with his teeth. She gave a little shiver before letting out a slightly throaty chuckle and saying,
"Did you just call me 'plain and simple'?"
She felt Quil freeze around her for a second before he pulled back to look at her, "What!? That's not what I said at all!" he responded in disbelieve.
Claire laughed again at his reaction before saying, "Well that's what I heard… Come on, Casa Nova, you ready to go?"
Quil looked at her in completely shocked disbelieve before reaching around to his nightstand and yanking his phone charger out of the wall and dropping it on top of the duffel bag before zipping the whole thing up and grabbing it in one hand.
"Come on, Butch." He commanded as he walked to the door and held it open for the dog and Claire to walk through. He shook his head as she walked past him before muttering.
"Those were some of my best moves! Did that really not work for you!?"
Claire laughed as she reached down to grab her backpack by the door and follow Butch out.
"Oh, Baby, they were working, alright. A little too well if you ask me…" she replied and looked behind her in time to see a self-satisfying smirk on Quil's face.
"Oh, really?" he said in a very interested tone of voice as he followed Claire out the garage and into his car with Butch waiting to get in the back seat.
The weekend past surprisingly quickly for Claire, spent entirely in La Push with the Lahotes. She didn't get to see any of her family, but Bennett stopped by first thing on Saturday morning and brought Claire her laptop so that she could do homework or simply entertain herself watching movies online. She spent the vast majority of her time at the Lahote's working on catching up on all the schoolwork she had missed or playing video games with Ty while Mia (his eight-year-old sister) insisted on braiding and then rebraiding Claire's hair.
Even though she was sharing a room with Quil, he was gone every one of the three nights she stayed. He was running point on the widened patrol searching for even the faintest whiff of the murdering vampire that had escaped them days before, all while taking extra shifts so that he could train Tyler as well. Any time Quil was at the Lahote's house he was hidden away in the guest room with drapes pulled closed and catching as many measly hours of sleep he could manage between shifts.
Claire already felt bad for Bennett after speaking with him on Saturday morning. While he had initially been excited about Tyler joining the pack, which meant he was now no longer the lowest man on the wolf totem pole, Quil had informed him that he would be participating in all of Ty's training sessions since he himself had only been a wolf for a couple of months and wasn't finished training. So, now instead of having a slightly elevated position in the pack he was following the same training regimen as a thirteen-year-old wolf that was already bigger than he was.
The only thing that didn't go smoothly over the weekend was the heated (yet almost completely silent) argument Claire had with Quil in the guest bedroom on Sunday night when she was preparing to go back to school on Monday. Since she had stopped receiving threatening calls and text messages she deemed it more than safe enough to go back especially with Bennett there beside her. Quil wasn't happy about the prospect but didn't have much leg to stand on, so quickly gave in on the basis that she text him regular updates and stay close to Bennett's side.
Monday went surprisingly smoothly; Claire's notoriety had only increased but now it had a tone of either respect or slight fear depending on who was gawking at her as she walked past. She didn't get anyone asking her to prom though and that was a relieve in itself. In fact, she went the whole day without a single person calling her a slut and the most notable thing was that Bennett fell asleep in first period, lunch, and sixth period and Claire had to wake him up each time.
Claire was in her room alone working on homework Monday evening when her phone gave a notification ping and she looked down to see the article from a local media outlet listing the names of at least five girls who were charging the dean with sexual misconduct and harassment. #metoo was already trending locally in their small town all within regards to Craig Witmore. Claire knew three of the five girls personally and one of those three had been on the varsity cheer squad the year before when Claire had been on the freshman squad.
She didn't know how to feel about the article but immediately began shaking. She couldn't believe this had been happening to all of these girls in their small town, but it just drove home to her how close she had come to becoming the dean's next victim.
That night Quil snuck in her window to find her crying in bed. When he asked her what was wrong, she did the best she could to explain about the dean and how he really had been coming onto her. She could no longer hold on to the naïve (yet slightly hopeful) idea that somehow, someway, she had just been mistaken, that she really had never been in any danger. It was real. It had happened. And it could have been so much worse, just like it had been for all those other poor girls. He held onto her as he rubbed her back and kissed her hair.
"Claire, I'd never let anyone hurt you." He whispered, and her tears seemed to miraculously dry in an instant. She believed him, of course she did and she could never feel too scared while Quil was holding her, somehow always knowing the exact right thing to say to make her feel better. He fell asleep seconds later.
By the end of the week most of the facts about the case against the dean came forward. Every year for the past ten to fifteen years (the timeline was still unclear) he had targeted one female student, usually a senior about to graduate, and would find bogus reasons to summon her to the dean's office where he would blackmail her with RPC's, detentions, suspensions, and even refusing to let her graduate until she agreed to do sexual favors for him. This school year, he had chosen a senior girl who like Claire had been resistant to him, she had threatened to report him if he didn't leave her alone the day before Claire had been called into his office for her outfit when her bra was seen through her shirt. Apparently, he decided to switch mid-year and change targets to Claire who had unwittingly blown the whistle on the whole thing. Claire walked past the other girl almost every day in the hall at school. It was pretty awkward, but they would always make eye contact and give each other a small smile since they were both potential victims of the same disturbing man.
Claire's real fear was that there was already talk about Craig Witmore's legal defense. Apparently, some members of the city council had managed to bank roll an incredible legal team from Seattle that was already preparing a case for his trial which wouldn't begin for another year. The crux of his defense was that every single girl he had had sex with was over the age of consent. He would never work in a school system again, (or public office for that matter) but he would very possibly be able to avoid any jail time at all and that just didn't sit right with Claire.
Somehow, after the lid blew open on the whole thing, Claire was suddenly back to being one of the most popular people at school….. She hated it worse than being treated like the school pariah. Now she knew that not a single person that was suddenly so eager to be her friend cared about her as a person at all. She was constantly plagued with people asking her for gory details of what happened between her and the dean or else inviting her to parties so that she could be the main attraction in their freak show. The-girl-who-was-almost-molested-by-the-dean-but-walked-out-of-school-instead seemed to have become her entire identity overnight. She kept Bennett closer to her than ever before much to Macy's dismay. He was the only person she trusted, and he was the only thing standing between her and the posers trying to milk Claire for her fifteen minutes of fame and hoping it would rub off on them.
By the weekend, every single member of the pack started to look like an extra on the set of The Walking Dead. Deep circles of exhaustion could be seen on all their face's and even Collin seemed to be too exhausted to make any sort of sarcastic comment when asked how he was doing. They were running patrols 24/7 and Quil was running doubles, refusing to miss his shifts in the rotation but still running extra shifts to train Tyler along with Bennett (who was also running doubles since Quil had put him in the rotation for patrols as well).
Twice during the week Quil simply hadn't shown up for family dinner with Claire's family when he was supposed to. She finally showed up at his apartment to check on him, both times to find him face down in his pillow completely sound asleep. She never had the heart to wake him up, but she was starting to miss him desperately. She was lucky if she got to see him for more than ten or twenty minutes a day. He kept insisting that she text him regular updates during her school day but since he was more often than not on patrol while she was in school, he wouldn't even see them until after he phased back.
Claire was starting to worry that the real reason he was pushing the pack (and himself) so hard was out of guilt for the girl's he couldn't save. She knew more likely than not, the vampire that had escaped was long gone and would never make the mistake of coming back again but Quil couldn't seem to let it go, seeming to feel the need for constant vigilance so they could catch the bloodsucker if he ever came back or at least protect as many innocent people from sharing the same fate of those poor girls.
She was worried about him. She didn't get the chance to spend the night with him often since he was so tired and busy that he almost never snuck in anymore, but the nights he did stay it was obvious he was having nightmares about that day. He would mumble the name Ali, over and over again while his muscles flexed and spasmed in his sleep.
It all came to a head one night when he gave Claire a bruise after his arm shot out in his sleep and smacked forcefully against her lower back with his supernatural strength. She woke up with a painful gasp at the same time he sat straight up. He seemed disoriented and confused at first until he looked down to see Claire with tears in her eyes as she tried to swallow down the whimper of pain from what had to be a deep tissue bruise.
"What happened?" he asked immediately.
"You hit me." She whispered and was horrified when the tears started spilling out.
"What?" he asked sounding distraught and almost panicked.
Claire shook her head slightly with her eyes screwed shut trying desperately to control the pain without letting him see how much he had hurt her.
"Oh shit, Claire! I hit you!" he said in a completely horrified voice.
"It's okay." She breathed out on a deep sigh, finally opening her eyes to look at him. She was sure the worst of the pain was over.
"Oh, baby girl!" Quil said sounding devastated as he scooped his arm under her and pulled her into his chest. "I can't believe I did that." he said in disbelieve.
She shrugged as she wiped her cheeks and forced the rest of her tears back down.
"Where?" he asked softly while looking her over carefully in his lap.
Claire just sighed and shook her head, knowing it didn't matter.
"Where did I hit you, Claire? Let me look." He said sternly, and she knew he wasn't going to let it go.
She blew out a large breath before she lifted the back of her oversized tank and then the cami underneath that she had been sleeping in.
"Claire, I'm so sorry! I can't believe I did that! I won't sleep in here with you anymore, okay?" he apologized as he looked at what was apparently the bruise already forming on her skin that he could see even in the dark.
"What!? No! That's the opposite of what I want! Don't do that!" she said immediately angry with herself for showing him the bruise.
"Well it's not what I want either but what else can I do!? I can't take the chance and hurt you again!" he said desperately.
Claire reached up and grabbed both sides of his face in her hands,
"Quil, you have got to let this go."
"Let what go?" he asked confused as he started to softly rub circles on the bruise on her back until Claire winced and he pulled away.
"Ali."
"What?" he asked sounding even more desperate than he had a second ago.
"You have to let her go, Quil. Her death wasn't your fault."
Claire immediately sensed his desperate attempt to keep from shutting her out while clearly not wanting to talk about it as he inspected her bruise. She could almost feel his instinct to makeup an excuse for accidentally hitting her and then take off to spend the night at his place. He took a breath before looking back at her.
"What am I supposed to do about it, Claire? It was my responsibility to keep what happened to her from happening and I failed… How am I ever supposed to let that go?" he asked her so desperately and sincerely and Claire felt her heart physically hurt in response to his pain.
She was already crying more tears in response.
"Can we just start by you telling me what happened?" she asked softly knowing he would be reluctant to share this with her. "You haven't talked about it at all, Quil, and it's been two weeks. It's just going to get worse if you keep it all bottled up inside."
He wouldn't look at her even with her hands on his face and she was bracing herself for the rejection of him inevitably pushing her away and shutting down again but instead he just took a sharp breath and then suddenly began,
"It was early that morning. I phased after Paul called me and told me Ty had phased. I had just picked him up when I caught their trail. It hit me really hard and fast… It was definitely strong and fresh, so I don't know why I didn't pick up the scent of those girls…. of Ali…. I should have… Every time I look back I always see that as my first mistake…."
He continued on to tell her the entire story and Claire cried the entire time. Both for the girls who had died and for Quil and his pain. By the time he finished he was crying as well.
"Claire, I'm sorry I've been so out of it and overbearing lately, making you text me all those updates all the time, but I'm just terrified I'm going to be too late again next time and that somehow, someway, instead of it being Ali whose neck gets snapped in front of me… it's you."
"That's never going to happen, alright? I won't ever let it, okay?" she answered immediately.
"You promise?" he asked a little desperately and in a way that reminded Claire of Jamie.
"I promise, Quil. I'm not going anywhere. I'm with you now and always, okay?"
Quil nodded his head as he sniffed in a masculine sort of way as though he'd never been crying and then gave her a very relieved smile.
Quil:
That night he finally told Claire everything seemed to be the turning point for Quil. After finally being able to process what had happened the day Allison Proseke died and realizing that it wasn't a precursor for Claire's fate, he was finally able to move forward. He cut back the pack's patrols so that the circular route was smaller, and each wolf didn't have to run more than three times a week. He also cut Bennett out of Ty's training regimen (much to Bennett's relief) and started taking Ty on patrols with him so he could kill two birds with one stone.
By the time the end of May rolled around a new pattern of life seemed to have fallen into place. The pack was running smoothly, and Ty was fitting in like he was born to be a wolf (probably because he had been), Claire and Bennett seemed to have managed to catch back up on all of their school work they'd both managed to fall behind on. Macy seemed to get more bitter the longer her breakup with Bennett lasted, which did nothing to convince Bennett to go back to her even though he still called her twice a week, emailed her every day and saw her at school, it was the least amount of contact he could maintain with her and not feel like he was going completely senile.
Quil had adjusted easily to his schedule of patrol's and trainings since it was now significantly less that the amount he was doing in the weeks following the stupid leech fight, even if it was more than he'd had to do in years. He had taken on another renovation project since the first one had proven to be so lucrative. It would take probably three to six months for him to complete this time around but would pay twice what he had made off the first one, plus he was still running his regular business of oil changes and replacing batteries and spark plugs.
He was currently blasting AC/DC in the garage and was elbow deep in replacing the transmission of an old Trans Am, rolling his eyes at the guy who was determined to keep it running instead of moving into this century when his phone started to ring. His hands were more than a little busy, but he glanced over at it on his workbench to see a number he didn't recognize. He looked quickly between his greasy hands wrapped around machine and the phone ten feet away.
He ignored it as he went back to trying to support a ridiculous amount of weight with just his forearm while working one handed when the same number started calling for a second time. Blowing out a breath, he expertly extracted his hands while praying it wasn't the IRS calling. He could not handle dealing with an audit right now. He turned down the music and wiped his hands on a rag which did little to improve their blackened state before swiping to answer the call.
"This is Quil." He answered.
He still felt distinctly like his grandfather every time he answered the phone like that, but it sounded professional and made him smile so he always did.
"Quil? Can you come get me?" Claire's voice said just above a whisper like she didn't want someone to overhear her conversation.
Quil immediately looked at the clock on the wall to see that it was only 10:35 on a Wednesday morning. Forcing himself not to panic before she had a chance to explain he answered quickly,
"Yeah, of course. Where are you?"
"I'm at school. Everything is …. alright." she said hesitantly like maybe everything wasn't alright. "But I need you to come get me." She was still speaking quietly as if there was someone next to her who could hear her conversation.
"Okay." Quil answered confused. "Are you okay? Is something wrong with your car?"
He knew for sure that she had driven herself to school that morning since he had spent the night in her room with her the night before. He couldn't think of a reason why she'd need him to pick her up when she was supposed to be in class.
She huffed out a small sigh from across the line and then said, "No. Nothing's wrong with me or my car… I got suspended." She admitted and Quil felt his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "I'll explain everything when you get here but I need someone over twenty-one to come sign me out and my parents listed you as my temporary guardian so you could be approved to do it."
Quil was momentarily speechless as he let everything she said sink in. For some reason he couldn't move past how creepy temporary guardianship over his girlfriend made him feel.
"Quil?" she asked quietly since he hadn't responded to anything she had said.
"You got suspended?" he asked still confused.
"Yes, and they won't let me just leave in my own car. They keep saying that an adult needs to take responsibility for me." She said sounding annoyed and Quil could practically hear her eyes rolling.
"Alright." He agreed quickly, "I'll be right there."
"Thank you!" she said sounding relieved. "I'm in the front office but please hurry, the receptionist is giving me serious side eye!"
"Okay, I'm coming right now." He assured her as he rubbed his hands a little more thoroughly with the rag he'd tossed on his workbench and grabbed his keys he was glad he'd left on the bench.
She said goodbye and hung up as he closed the garage door and then headed out the side door. He was just locking it when the guy with a mullet pulled up in a Queen Victoria with the window rolled down.
"Dude, It's still not ready yet." Quil said annoyed since he'd been by less than an hour earlier to check on his Trans Am.
"Then where are you going!?" he asked concerned that Quil would apparently abandon his baby.
"Something came up. I need to go pick up my girlfriend. Look I'll call you tonight when it's finished." He answered as he opened the door to the Camaro and slid in.
He just heard the guys reply of 'She better be perfect!' as he started his car. He had been about to yell back that she is when he realized he was talking about the almost forty-year-old Trans Am and not Claire.
Quil pulled up to the front of the school less than three minutes later and found a spot in the facility parking lot. He didn't think he had ever seen this part of the school before since he always picked Claire up from the student lot in the back and had never had a reason to come through the front. He walked into the front office to find a nervous and twitchy Claire sitting against the wall across from him with her bag at her feet.
"Hey, Nino. You alright?" he asked when she didn't look up when he walked in.
A look of relief washed over her face as she stood up and waited for him to walk the short distance to her. She didn't reply so he did a quick visual inspection of her from head to foot but didn't find any noticeable damage. He put his hands on her waist and felt her ribs gently to make sure he wasn't missing any sort of internal injury as he started looking at the side of her head for any bumps or bruises under her hair. His whole inspection took less than twenty seconds and he was relieved with the lack of damage he found.
"I'm fine, Quil." She whispered to him reassuringly and he felt his eyebrows pull together in questioning confusion just as a shrill, disbelieving voice from behind the desk less than five feet away said,
"Quil Ateara!?"
He looked up at the sound of his name and felt his heart drop to somewhere in the bottom of his stomach. Oh shit. was his immediate thought at the recognition of the face behind the desk, why oh why, did it have to be her!?"
"Bianca Sanchez?" he replied in a politely surprised tone and not the one of complete horror he would have preferred.
He quickly realized his hands were still on Claire's ribcage and immediately pulled them off her and stuck them in the pockets of his work pants as he took a very small step to the side so that he could face the desk while subtly putting space between himself and Claire.
"Wow, look at you! You look GOOD!" Gina said in astonishment. "Wow. I mean how long has it been since I've seen you!?"
Quil cleared his throat uncomfortably while looking anywhere but back at Claire for her reaction as he replied, "Thanks, you look good too. I don't know, since high school I guess."
He could feel Claire's burning curiosity next to him as he was wishing literally anyone else in the world had been the one behind the desk.
"Yeah, I forgot how sexy that tattoo of yours is! You haven't changed at all in the last fifteen years have you!?"
"Well the tattoo definitely hasn't changed." He replied before quickly trying to change the subject while still not looking at Claire beside him who he could feel staring straight at the side of his face. "So, um do I need to sign something or how do I get her released from here?"
"Oh right! You're here for Claire?" she asked quickly and with some obvious confusion.
"Yup." He replied simply as Claire stepped up next to him in front of the desk.
He chanced a look down at her as Bianca started sorting through paperwork on the desk. Claire turned to look back at him and gave him a look of skeptical disbelief that told him there was no way he would be able to get away without a Bianca Sanchez explanation.
Bianca passed a couple papers across the desk toward him along with a pen.
"I'll need to make a copy of your ID and you'll need to sign these."
Quil quickly dug his driver's license out of his wallet and passed it over as he looked down at the papers in front of him.
"So, how have you been!? I ran into your mom a few weeks ago, she said you've been good."
It wasn't until Claire pushed an elbow into his ribs that Quil registered Bianca's question since he had been completely focused on scanning through the papers in front of him.
"What? Oh yeah, I've been good..." He replied to Bianca and then immediately turned to Claire before giving Bianca a chance to respond, "This says you got into a physical altercation…."
Claire bit her lip as she looked away from him and started blushing.
"She mentioned you're still single….. You know my divorce just finalized last week, it seems like some pretty fortuitous timing you coming in here today."
Quil hadn't been listening but still appraising Claire's reaction so he noticed when her head immediately snapped up to look at Bianca with a frustrated, angry look on her already red face.
"What? Who?" Quil asked trying to catch back up with the conversation while half of his mind was still trying to figure out what had happened that got Claire suspended.
"Me. Isn't that why you came in here? I told your mom when I saw her when my divorce would be finalized." Bianca replied and Quil's head spun from all of the confusing information coming at him from multiple sources including the papers he was still trying to read through.
He snapped his head up to look at Bianca for the first time and noticed the way she was leaning forward across the desk while leaving her hands on the edge of it under her stomach so that her arms were squishing and shoving her cleavage out of the blouse (that seemed to have magically unbuttoned two upper buttons in the past two minutes) and directly toward Quil who had once upon a time been only too familiar with all of that cleavage she was working hard to pretend to not casually display for his benefit.
Quil could feel Claire's discomfort but couldn't quite get a read on her exact feelings when she turned around so that she wasn't facing them and then walked the few feet away to pick her bag up off the floor where she had left it.
"Wait. My MOM told you that I was single?" he asked in confused disbelieve while looking directly into Bianca's eyes, which for some reason seemed to annoy her.
"Yes, three weeks ago. I ran into her when I took my kids down to La Push. She said that I should give you a call when the divorce finalized." Bianca answered as she stood back, momentarily hiding away her cleavage until she crossed her arms underneath it and shoved it all back up and out of her shirt. Quil could even see the side cup of her black lace bra.
He scoffed loudly and thought, Dammit, Mother! He looked back down and immediately signed the paper stating he understood the incident that Claire had gotten suspended for, even though he didn't since he wasn't about to stay long enough to finish reading through it, and then pushed it aside to sign the paper underneath that released Claire into his custody.
"So, are you saying you aren't single then?" Bianca asked in obviously irritated confusion as she handed him his ID back that she had taken out of the industrial copy machine.
"No, Bianca. I'm in a very committed relationship and my mother knows it, so I'm sorry you were misinformed. It was good running into you. Give my best to Jon and the kids." He answered officially as he took his ID and turned away, hoping that would end the conversation.
He took Claire's bag out of her hand and was surprised by how heavy it was as he wrapped an arm around the back of her and quickly ushered her out the front glass doors. He heard Bianca muttering under her breath as he walked out the doors.
"Why would I give Jon anything? I just told you we're divorced!"
Quil and Claire walked in silence toward the parking lot for a second before they both turned to each other and spoke at the same time.
"What was that!?" Claire asked while he said, "So, what happened?"
He gave a tentative smile when Claire giggled in response.
"Uh… any chance you'd be willing to just forget all of that and pretend you never found out I ever knew Bianca Sanchez?"
She looked at him with completely skeptical disbelieve as her only response.
"Of course not." He sighed to himself. "Look, I'll explain all about Bianca later I promise, but first I need to know what happened. Why did you get suspended?"
Claire sighed as they reached his car and leaned against the closed door.
"It was sort of just a big misunderstanding…." She hemmed.
"I figured when it said, 'physical altercation' that you had finally snapped and beat the shit out of Macy but then it listed some random kid's name and I have no idea who he is."
Claire smiled briefly at the mention of Macy but then nodded her head quickly and said, "Charlie, yeah…."
"So, what happened with this Charlie?" he asked as he reached around her and opened her door for her, pulling her towards him when he pulled the door she was leaning against.
Claire sighed again as she looked up at him and then bit her lip with an undecided look on her face.
"What?"
"Okay, just don't freak out alright?" she told him bracingly.
"Why would I freak out?" he asked in surprise even while his heart rate accelerated.
"Because…. Charlie has been asking me out… Well to prom. Charlie has been asking me to prom." She answered while watching him to gage his reaction.
"Okay… Did you tell him you have a boyfriend?" Quil asked confused.
"No…. I just told him it wasn't going to happen, but he didn't want to take no for an answer." She replied.
"Wait, hold up. Why wouldn't you tell him you had a boyfriend?"
So far, he wasn't freaking out like Claire had seemed to predict but he was definitely starting to feel irritated at the realization that she wasn't telling boys who were asking her out that she was off the market. The feeling only increased when she gave him a skeptical look like it was a ridiculous question.
"What, Claire? Why haven't you told him you have a boyfriend?" he asked letting some of his frustration color his tone.
Claire gave a small scoff and retorted, "Why didn't you tell Bianca Sanchez I was your girlfriend?"
Quil could see her frustration at the situation slip through her carefully controlled composure for the first time since she had looked at Bianca in shock when she had first mentioned him being single.
Quil turned away so that he was facing to the side instead of looking directly at her as he ran a hand through his hair, he knew he would have to talk to her about Bianca eventually, but he really didn't want to right now. He blew out a breath before simply saying,
"Okay… So, what happened when he wouldn't take no for an answer? Why did you get suspended?"
He heard Claire's sigh of frustration before she answered,
"I tried to just walk away without responding but …. I dunno, I can't figure Charlie out… He's different from the other's somehow… I think he was legitimately offended that I just ignored him and well… He reached out and grabbed my wrist when I walked past him…. Now I think he was just trying to stop me from walking away without saying anything, but I didn't think, I just reacted…." She explained quickly like she was thinking through it for the first time while looking off at some spot on the pavement a few feet to the side.
"So, what did you do?" Quil asked curiously.
Claire shrugged as she looked up at him and said, "So, I did that self-defense move Seth and Embry taught me." She demonstrated the motion of holding her hand out palm forward with her fingers curled in as she thrust her arm upwards leading with the heel of her hand. "Like I said, I didn't even stop to think about it. He just grabbed my arm and kind of whipped me around to face him and I just hmmmm-" she gave a little groan as she thrusted her arm up again. "- and then I think I broke his nose…. I felt something snap and there was blood everywhere!" Quil could hear the guilt in her voice as she hurriedly explained. "I'm just not used to regular human boys… I think I used too much force. I mean obviously I shouldn't have hit him at all, but I definitely didn't mean to break anything… He was just so soft and fragile compared to you and Bennett and all the other guys..."
She stopped her guilty ramblings and looked up at him when he chuckled. Quil responded by quickly grabbing both sides of her face and then swiftly kissing her.
"Get in."
Claire just nodded as she looked at him in confusion and then quickly struggled in his hands as she looked from side to side, trying to see if anyone had seen them in the deserted parking lot. She backed away and slid into the car before Quil handed her her bag and then the keys that were in his front pocket.
"What are you doing?" she asked in confusion as she took his keys from him.
"Just wait right here." He said easily as he backed away with a hand on the roof of the car and one on the open door.
"Wait. What are you doing, Quil? Where are you going?" she immediately asked nervously.
Quil bent down into the car and quickly kissed her again while leaving his hands behind him on the outside of the car.
"I'll be right back." he assured her casually with a wink.
"Quil!" Claire said sounding like she was moments away from having a panic attack.
"Claire, just trust me. Everything is going to be fine." He told her confidently and saw the indecisions and nervousness written all across her face. "Seriously, you can trust me, Claire. You know that." He said in a more serious tone and was relieved when she nodded her agreement in response.
"Good. Wait here, you've gotten into enough trouble for one day." He replied, and she just sighed in response as she reached across the console and pressed the ignition to start the car. The engine wouldn't start without her foot on the brake, but the power came on, turning on the console and the radio.
"I'll be right back." he assured her before he leaned in one more time and softly kissed her cheek.
He pulled out of the car and shut her door in front of him before turning and quickly jogging the length of the parking lot until he was pulling open the glass front door and walking into the front office again.
He could see Bianca gapping at him out of his peripheral vision and barely acknowledged her with a, "Hey, Bianca." as he walked directly past her desk and then opened the door to the nurse's office without permission. He let the door shut behind him before Bianca even had a chance to respond and saw a mint green curtain slightly drawn forward with a lanky boy laying in a half-seated position on the cot behind it.
Quil only had to take a step forward into the otherwise empty room to get a clear view of the dark, curly-haired kid who was holding an ice pack to his nose.
"Hey, Charlie, right?" he asked in a friendly tone.
"Yeah… Um who are you?" Charlie replied with a slightly nasal tone since the ice pack was pressed so tightly against his nose.
"I'm here to set your nose." Quil said officially.
Charlie tilted his head and gave him a confused look while he let his hand holding his ice pack drop to his lap revealing the deep red and purple bruising across his nose and under his eyes that were a tale-tell sign of a broken nose. He had two pieces of blood-soaked gauze sticking out of his nostrils.
"I thought the nurse was trying to get a hold of my mom to take me to get x-rays?"
"Naw." Quil answered confidently as he sat down by him on the stool next to the plastic cot so that he was facing him and could clearly see his face. "That's clearly broken, I've set hundreds of them before."
It was easy to convey his truthful tone since he wasn't lying. In the five or so years he had been in charge of the pack he had literally set hundreds of broken noses; the trick was to set it before it healed so you didn't have to rebreak it to set it properly, but he had done a few of those too. Just last week he had reset Collin's nose after Leah had punched him when he had catcalled at a car of girls driving past.
Before Charlie had a chance to dispute him Quil put both of his hands on his face and said authoritatively, "Just take a deep breath in."
Charlie complied while looking at the random stranger in front of him nervously. Quil placed both of his thumbs on either side of Charlie's swollen nose and commanded, "Okay, breath out."
He efficiently shifted his thumbs as Charlie exhaled so that his nose almost clicked as it went back to its proper position. Quil made sure to hold it steady with his left thumb as he reached over and grabbed the medical tape sitting on top of the lock box next to the bed with his right hand. He used his teeth to rip off one thin strip at time and then placed two strategically against the bridge of his nose to hold it in place. He pulled his hands away again as Charlie looked at him in surprise and said, "Thanks, man… That actually feels better."
"See, it doesn't even hurt that bad." Quil assured him. "Don't mess with it." He warned as Charlie reached to touch it and then pulled his hand away again.
"Sorry. So, who are you again?" Charlie replied quickly in obvious confusion.
"Quil. Quil Ateara." He answered as he held his hand out between them and Charlie reached to shake it. "Fixer of many a broken noses and boyfriend of Claire Young."
Charlie's face lost all color and his eyes opened dramatically large while he immediately tried to pull his hand out of Quil's grasp but Quil held onto him firmly as Charlie stuttered,
"Y-your Claire's boyfriend?"
"Yeah I am. And I don't really appreciate other guys that try to ask her out, you know what I mean?" he answered in his still completely calm tone of voice.
"I-I didn't know, man. She never said anything about having a boyfriend! If anything, I thought she was back together with Callahan." Charlie instantly defended while trying again to fruitlessly pull his hand out of Quil's grasp.
"Sure, sure. I could see that." He replied easily. "But here's the thing, when a girl says no, it's your job to assume she means it until she says otherwise…" Quil adjusted his grip on Charlie's hand so that his pointer finger was now squeezed between the muscles in his palm below his thumb and forefinger.
"Now see," Quil continued in a quiet whisper as he leaned slightly forward so that Charlie could still hear him. "I think you got off easy with just Claire hitting you, because if it ever happens that you lay a hand on Claire, or any other girl for that matter, again, well…." Quil squeezed the muscles in his hand around Charlie's fingers and gave the slightest twist until he felt the small click he had been waiting for.
"I won't stop at a broken nose… got it?" he finished as Charlie gave a gasp of pain. Quil kept a hold on his hand in his that he could already feel swelling while he continued to stare Charlie down until he nodded emphatically and said,
"I got it!"
Quil let his hand go as he reached over and grabbed Charlie's left hand with the ice pack in it, he pulled it over until he placed it on top of his right hand and pressed it, so the ice pack was over it.
"Good. Then we're all good here, Charlie." He replied in his same official, friendly tone of voice as he stood up from the cot. "Alternate the ice between your hand and face every few minutes until the nurse can get you a second one." He walked casually towards the door while continuing to give Charlie instructions, "You don't need an x-ray for your face, I set your nose just fine. Claire did a good job, it was a very clean break. Have the doctor x-ray your hand. That finger is broken and will need to be wrapped and splinted. It'll heal in about three to four weeks. Nice to meet your, Charlie."
Quil looked back at him over his shoulder as he reached to open the door, but Charlie's only reply was to continue to watch him in shocked fear. Quil just shook his head as he pushed the door open and casually walked out.
"Hey, Bianca." He said as he approached her desk again.
"Is Claire Young the girl you're in a 'very committed relationship' with?" she asked in obvious distaste while looking past him out the window in front of her that he now realized had a clear view directly to where his Camaro was parked.
"Yup. She is." He answered immediately.
Apparently, she had been expecting him to deny it because she turned her head so sharply to look at him he would be surprised if it didn't give her whiplash.
"You can't go out with me because you're dating a high school student?" she said in completely disgusted disbelieve.
"Well when you say it like that it doesn't sound so great, but yeah that's basically the gist of it." He answered unfazed. He didn't see any point in denying it especially since he now wanted as many people at this school as possible to know that he was Claire Young's boyfriend.
"Ugh." She scoffed in obvious disgust. "You're seriously dating a minor?"
"Seriously." He answered still confidently, "Hey listen, I need a favor. Can you tell me what class Bennett Callahan is in?"
He expected her to tell him to go to hell but figured it couldn't hurt to ask. He must have wounded her pride more than he had thought by preferring to date a woman half their age instead of her and wanted to get rid of him asap because she gave him a dirty look like he was the most offensive thing she had ever seen before immediately looking at her computer and typing Bennett's name in a search bar.
"He's in English right now with Mr. O'Brian. Room one twelve."
"Thanks, Bianca. You're the best." He said easily as he patted the top of her desk and backed away to the door that led out to the hall of classrooms behind him.
It took Quil less than two minutes to find room 112 and look in the open doorway to the class being taught inside. Bennett was sitting smack in the middle of the class looking bored as he tapped his pencil absentmindedly against his desk.
"Pst." Quil said way too quietly for anyone with normal hearing to ever notice but Bennett's head swiveled immediately to look at him.
Quil jerked his head to the side in response, indicating that Bennett join him in the hall and Bennett didn't even hesitate before he grabbed his unopened backpack and stood up. He was halfway to the door before the teacher (Mr. O'Brian apparently) stopped him.
"Is there a problem, Mr. Callahan?" he asked from the front of the room, pausing his lecture on some depressing Shakespeare play to call attention to him.
"Um…." Bennett replied hesitantly while he looked back at Quil still standing in the doorway.
"Sorry for the interruption. I just need to speak to Bennett for a moment. He'll be right back." Quil stepped forward to say.
"How'd you get in here?" the teacher asked suspiciously.
"I came through the front office. The receptionist told me what classroom he was in." Quil said honestly.
"And who are you exactly?" he asked still sounding unconvinced.
"Um…. his older brother." Quil replied.
The room of students immediately broke out in whispers. Mr. O'Brian quickly looked from Quil to Bennett who nodded his head in confirmation of the statement and then back again, clearly noting the similarities between the two giant sized men.
"Alright, but if you aren't back in five-minutes, Mr. Callahan, I'm calling the front office to report you truant." He said over top of the whispered conversations.
"You got it." Bennett replied a little sarcastically as he faced towards Quil and walked out the door in front of him.
Quil grabbed the door and gave it tug so that it shut behind him. The second it was closed he grabbed Bennett's upper arm and dragged him a few feet down the hall until they weren't in view of any of the windows on the classroom doors around them.
"What the hell is going on with Claire?" he asked immediately as he dropped Bennett's arm.
"Um…. What do you mean?" Bennett asked evasively as he looked off to the side instead of making eye-contact.
Something Claire had said when she had explained about breaking Charlie's nose had stuck out to Quil and he was determined to get the non-sugar-coated-Claire-edited truth. She had said something about Charlie being different than the 'others' and Quil wanted to know exactly what 'others' meant.
"Well, I just got called down here to pick Claire up because she got suspended for breaking the nose of a kid that apparently has repeatedly asked her to prom. So what the hell is going on, Bennett?"
Bennett huffed out a sigh before looking directly at Quil and then answering in one certain breath,
"The football team has a bet about who can take Claire to the prom. There's a lot of money involved, and the ultimate goal is to take her virginity on prom night and win the big pool."
"What." Quil said in such a dangerous voice it clearly wasn't a question.
"Look, man, I wanted to tell you months ago, but Claire asked me as a friend not to tell you about it. She figured you would freak out and that it would die down once everyone figured out there was no way in hell she was going to accept anyone…. It did die for a while after the dean was arrested but the last few weeks, once people started looking for actual dates for prom, she started getting a lot of attention again. I've kept everyone at bay, but this was how she wanted to handle it…." Bennett explained with a voice of disapproval. Quil was suddenly glad his hand wasn't still on Bennett's arm because he suddenly wanted to snap something. "I feel like I owe her this since it's basically Macy's fault the whole thing started." Quil looked up at him in surprise so Bennett explained. "She basically told the entire football team the details I'd told her about getting to second base with Claire and that started the whole bet about trying to take Claire's virginity on prom night."
Quil was almost seeing red and could hear his heart pounding in his ears. His blood pressure was so high he figured he was probably at risk for having a stroke. He suddenly saw the memory of Claire confiding in him about Macy how told some of the guys from the football team what had happened between her and Bennett after the Midvale game. Why didn't she tell me this!?
"That's why you broke up with her?" Quil asked him in a surprisingly calm tone.
"Yeah, man. That's why I broke up with her." Bennett assured him.
"That was months ago." Quil said in disbelieve.
"I know." Bennett replied sounding ashamed.
"And you never thought you should tell me anyways!?" Quil hissed in frustration.
"Look," Bennett started, looking back at him and sounding frustrated, "I get that you're my alpha and we're all brothers and whatever but Claire's my best friend. She asked me for this and even though I didn't agree, I would never let anything happen to her and it's not my job to get in the middle of your relationship!"
Quil huffed and tensed to punch the lockers next to him, only barely refraining since he knew he'd dent it so badly it would probably crack.
"Fine. Just get back to class. I'll figure out what I want to do with you when I can see straight again." Quil huffed. "Where the hell is this football team I'm about to deal with?"
"Football season ended like six months ago, remember? But a bunch of the guys from the team are in P.E. and Coach Dooger is the P.E. teacher." Bennett said as he started leading the way down the hall.
"Where the hell do you think you're going? Get back to class." Quil snapped probably too loudly.
"I'm coming with you." Bennett replied undeterred.
"I don't need your backup, Bennett. Get your ass back to class."
"No. But you might need me to restrain you. Besides I want to be there when you put an end to this and put those assholes in their place." He answered easily.
Quil just shook his head to himself but continued to follow behind Bennett without any more protest. He couldn't argue with his logic and figured he was better off with Bennett there to hold him back if he needed him too.
"Whose nose did she break?" Bennett asked curiously.
"Uh…. Charlie something… I just met him." Quil finished significantly.
Bennett looked over at him in surprise but not disapproval.
"Really? Hmm there are about six guys ahead of him on my list of douches I'd like to see get their face broken for how they've treated her."
"Well let's go see if we can remedy that." Quil said darkly and Bennett gave a nod of approval as they reached the men's locker room.
Quil wasn't familiar with the school's layout since he had obviously gone to the high school in La Push, but he immediately had some flashbacks to his own adolescents as he walked into the distinctly smelling locker room. The period must have been almost over since the room was full of teenaged boys in various stages of undress changing out of sweaty P.E. clothes.
The room was loud with so many conversations all echoing over top of each other and lockers slamming, so no one really looked up when they walked through the door. It instantly went quiet though once Quil called loudly enough for everyone to hear over the noise,
"Who here is on the football team!?"
"Who the hell are you?" a middle-aged man in red gym shorts with a whistle around his neck called angrily from the door of an office across the locker room.
"I'm Claire Young's boyfriend and I want to know who the hell is on the football team." Quil said significantly and his barely controlled temper only flared all the stronger when the coach's reaction was immediately panicked recognition.
The room went eerily quiet when the man didn't respond and Quil's hands were shaking when he said,
"Really? No one here is on the football team?"
There was no response except for the obviously nervous silence. Quil noticed a large kid next to the Coach look quickly into his office and then look away again once he realized what he was doing. Quil followed his gaze to see a large glass jar on the shelf in the office that was completely stuffed full of cash.
He had to open and close his hands several times to stop the tremors of anger now rocking his body, threatening to release the infuriated wolf inside of him. He felt more than saw Bennett sidle up next to him like he was backing him up when really, he knew it was a reminder that he was there to hold him back if he couldn't control himself.
Quil took a deep steadying breath before he walked across the room until he was directly in front of the P.E. coach. The man straightened up to his full height about five inches below Quil.
"You're a pathetic, failure of a man." Quil said surprisingly calmly. He saw a flash of something in the man's eye as he easily reached around the man and grabbed the jar of cash.
"Look, it built team camaraderie and-" the coach started to defend but was cut off.
Something snapped inside of Quil at the sound of the man's voice making justifications and before he could even finish speaking Quil had decked him across the face.
The room was completely silent as if every single boy was holding his breath. Quil wasn't shaking anymore and could barely feel any pain in his hand to indicate that he had hit him, but the coach was on the floor in front of him with his hand to his face and groans of pain coming from his mouth, Quil would be surprised if his jaw wasn't broken. Bennett was there instantly with a restraining hand on Quil's arm.
"Naw, it's good." Quil said confidently to assure him he was still in control. "This is over now…. Right? This is over?" he finished loudly enough that he was addressing the entire stunned room.
The coach didn't reply but any of the students that were brave enough to look at him instead of the floor, were quickly nodding in agreement. Quil just shook his head in disgust and turned his back on the man on the floor in his office and walked out of the locker room without bothering to look at anyone else.
Bennett quickly followed out behind him and then clapped a hand to the back of his shoulder the second the door to the locker room closed behind them.
"That was awesome! You have no idea how many times I've dreamed about someone -usually me- punching Coach Dooger in the face!" Bennett said excitedly.
"Get to class, Bennett." Quil warned in a dangerous tone as he continued to walk down the hall with the jar in his hand.
"You okay, man?" Bennett asked, clearly surprised at the amount of anger Quil was obviously still experiencing.
Quil stopped to turn on Bennett. "Look, my issue isn't with you but I'm hella pissed right now and clearly have some issues in my relationship I didn't know about that I need to go address. So, NO, I'm not okay."
Bennett immediately raised his arms in surrender and gave Quil a sympathetic look as he backed away and said placatingly,
"Alright, I get it. Tell Claire to call me if she needs anything and I guess I'll see you later."
Quil just nodded his head appreciatively as he pressed his lips tightly together to keep himself from snapping at Bennett just as a release from his frustration. Punching the coach hadn't been nearly enough to make him feel better.
He watched Bennett walk all the way back to his class and slip in the door before he blew out the breath he had been holding and followed him down the hall. He walked right past the classroom Bennett had gone in and then past the door to the front office until he walked out the doors that led to the front parking lot.
He could see Claire sitting in the front seat, drumming her fingers nervously against her upper arms as she hugged herself tightly before he even got close to the car. The sight of her managed to cool off some of his blazing anger but it wasn't close to enough to extinguish it.
She didn't look up until he opened the unlocked door to the driver's side and slid in. He handed her the jar in his hand and simply said,
"Here. Take this."
"What is this?" she asked in confusion as she stared at the jar obviously filled with mostly twenties and fifties.
"That's your virginity pool." Quil said with an edge to his voice.
Claire's eyes went huge as she kept her stare on the jar. She blinked once and when she opened her eyes again they were full of tears. She cleared her throat softly before she turned to look at him
"I'm sorry. I should have told you…" Her voice cracked even though she whispered it.
"Yeah, you should have." Quil answered in a voice that sounded disappointed even to his own ears as he turned away from her and started the car since he couldn't look at her anymore. He didn't say anything as he put the car in drive and pulled out while Claire choked on what sounded like a sob.
*Author's Note*
Whew... Alright, that was a major chapter with a TON of content to it... like a lot happens. What did you think of Quil's reaction to finding about the prom/virginity bet? You guys I thrive off of your responses and without feedback I sometimes have trouble finding enough motivation to get the next chapter out... (not to whine or anything... ) so please consider sharing your reaction if your hoping for a chapter sooner rather than later because I promise it makes a huge difference so leave a review! Alright, that's it, you guys are great!
xoxo
Jess