Werewolves of New York (8 page)

M
ichelle picked
up on the first ring. "Oh, thank God! I've been dying for you to call me back so I could apologize."

Walking off the empty elevator, Rose announced, "I just got made partner. And then I quit."

Silence…then Michelle screamed, "What??!"

Rose laughed like a happy child. Passing by the security desk, she walked over and held the phone down by her thigh for a second. "Harold, I just wanted to say goodbye. I'm going on a long vacation."

His eyes went big and he saluted her. "You have a good time, Ms. Hendricks!"

She raised the phone to ear again as she walked away laughing. Michelle was sputtering on the other end of the line, "Wait, you quit? YOU? What happened?"

"Where are you going for vacation, Ms. Hendricks?" Harold called after her.

She opened the door with her butt and grinned at him, "I have no idea! Somewhere with sand!" The sunlight was extra bright as she strolled down the steps and asked her best friend, "Can I take you up on that offer for lunch, and can you go now?"

"Hell yeah!" Michelle yelled. "I'm around the corner. Oh…” her voice lost its happiness. “I moved in with Nathaniel. God, I’m so sorry you had to find out from…”

Rose interrupted, "Stop stop stop! It’s fine. A lost phone I can forgive. I want to hear all about moving in! That’s so exciting!”
Just don’t talk to me about Eli anymore
. “Meet me at Potbelly?"

"Done and done."

F
ifteen minutes
later they were hugging at Potbelly Sandwich Shop near the carved wood sign that read, Good Vibes, Great Sandwiches above a sweet store motto that ended with,
We’re not just in your neighborhood, we’re your neighborhood sandwich shop
. The place was small, quaint and had some of the best lunch-yummies for Rose’s money. The two friends ordered quickly and claimed one of the few tables they had.

"You first!" Michelle said, drinking a strawberry smoothie.

Rose launched into the story of how she’d told them off, not missing a single detail. Being a litigator, she knew how to get her audience to feel what she wanted them to feel, but with Michelle caring about her as much as she did, it was even easier, and she got all the right squeals and shocked cries at all the right times.

At the end, Michelle took a bite of her meatball sandwich and said with concern, "But you've worked so hard for that. What are you going to do now?”

Rose sighed and picked up her ice tea, playing with the straw as she glanced out the window. "Two things happened in there. One is what I just told you, that they were giving it to me for the wrong reasons and were so full of themselves and acting like they'd bestowed something I didn't deserve upon me, I just didn't want to work hard for them anymore. And two is I realized that I really believe I should be partner." Michelle frowned and cocked her head, not getting it. Rose took a sip and explained, "I'd be an asset. I know it, and if I think that then why not start my own practice and call my own shots, like you do!"

Brown eyes went wide like she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it. "Of course. You’d be so great!”

"Yeah?" Rose smiled nervously. It felt so good to talk to Michelle again. Her thoughts flew to Eli and his warning that them being together with their best friends married, was bad news. She knew that wasn’t the whole reason, but maybe he was right? She took another long sip and set the cup down. "You think I can do it?"

"Of course you can! They say you never have a dream without also having the ability to make it come true. I think it's the best idea, Rosey. You'll be so much happier."

"I've been happy." They stared at each other until she quietly admitted, "Okay, so I haven't been joyful, but I do love my job."

"You work too hard," Michelle said.

"Coming from you, that's a hoot." She rolled her eyes and picked a pepper out of her Italian sandwich, popping it in her mouth.

"A hoot?” Michelle laughed. “You've been spending too much time with stuffy attorneys."

"Ain't that the truth? So...you've moved in. Tell me how it happened!"

Michelle threw a potato chip in her mouth, talking with it full. "Well, we'd spent the last couple weeks bouncing between places and I wasn't really thinking anything because everything happened really quickly and I think my head has been in the clouds." She waved a chip in the air, then ate it while still talking, “Then just yesterday after I–”

Rose interrupted, “Oh yeah, you had a big meeting or something?”

Michelle shook her head. “It didn’t go well. A potential new client, but she wasn’t ready to commit. Still, laying the foundation down for something maybe in the future. Anyway, I call Nathaniel and he shocks me with the news that Eli wants to give us their place. It was his idea! He's so nice. I couldn't believe it. So generous. You haven’t been there yet, but they designed their whole flat and it is incredible. They’re really talented. Nathaniel says Eli is going to completely makeover my place. I can’t wait to see what he does." Michelle didn't see Rose's eyes lose their shine as she kept going on and on about that dimple-cheeked bastard. “Did he seem happy when you dropped by? I hope he doesn’t regret it." She took a bit bite of her sandwich and chewed, waiting for an answer.

Rose looked out the window, her voice casual and light. "Yeah, he seemed to like it. I don't think he'll ask you to move back. I have no doubt he’ll redecorate."

Michelle frowned a little. "Why? What's wrong with my place?"

"It's a woman's home, and he is definitely not a woman."

Michelle wiped some tomato sauce from her lip, smiling to herself. "No he’s sure not. Those four aren't even men." Her eyes flickered and blinked to the table. "We know men, right? They're more than that.”

Rose wanted to tell her about what she’d seen but Michelle was covering something up and that wasn’t like her. Rose scanned her closely; she’d been trained to spot a liar and she was looking at one now. “Is that all, Chelle?” she asked, carefully.

Michelle smiled. "What else would there be? I’m just saying it’s no wonder the guys are all friends, they’re all so…dynamic." Grabbing her smoothie, she changed the subject, "I wish I'd been there when you quit. I bet you were amazing."

A warm feeling spread from her heart at the memory, and since she knew she wasn’t getting an answer from her friend right now, she leaned over the table and said with feeling, "Thank you for sharing this with me."

Michelle reached over and held her hand. "Of course! I’m sorry I wasn't there…when you won the case."

Rose gave her fingers a squeeze and let her go. "But you're here now, and that's all that matters. I'm just glad we tell each other everything," she added, eating her sandwich and watching Michelle's face closely.

"Everything. Yeah. It's a good feeling."

Rose nodded, her curiosity spinning her psyche to pieces. "It sure is."

“You know what I think? I think Eli likes you."

Rose almost spit Capicola and Mozzarella all over the table. "Did he say something?"

Michelle smiled at the spit-take. "Not to me. But when he gave me my phone back last night, he was talking very fast about how he knew you were mad at me. I've never seen him that nervous. And yeah, I haven't known him long, but..." she stopped to pick her words carefully. "those guys aren’t nervous types. I think you get him a little excited."

Rose wanted to punch herself for her reaction to the news. Instead of being indifferent, she'd nearly leapt out of her skin with hope. But then just as quickly as she'd felt it, it was gone.
Of course he was nervous. He didn’t want you to hate him for throwing me out. And for lying to me. Like you’re doing, too. What the hell was going on?

"I think you're wrong, Chelle. But thanks." She pushed her half-eaten sandwich away. "I'm not hungry anymore and normally, all of this would be gone. I guess I'm too freaked out about my job,” she lied.

Michelle leaned forward with a grin. "You want to go get a drink?"

Rose pulled out her phone and saw it wasn’t even noon yet. Stuffing it back in her bag she laughed, “Fuck it. Let’s do it. You know what I really want to do?”

“No, what?”

“I want to go on a long vacation! That’s what I really want.”

“Then do it. You’ve got some savings right?”

Rose thought of all the money she’d horded away since most of her school tuition had been paid by the insurance money her mother had gotten when her father was hit by the drunk driver. She’d saved it for Rose’s school wanting something good to come out of something unbelievably terrible. It made Rose work all the harder, and the only reason she didn’t graduate at the top of her class was she had a mouth on her and talked back to her professors too often. That attitude paid off when she was actually practicing, though, and with the money she earned since she had no student loans; she kept her costs down and grew a good chunk of change in the bank. “Yeah, but I have no income right now.”

“You’ll get clients soon.”

“How?” she laughed, overwhelmed at the thought.

“Word of mouth, for one. And you’ll need to set up an online presence.”

Rose balled up her napkin and squeezed it for stress-release. “Right. Okay. You’ll help me?”

Michelle lit up. “Are you kidding? It’ll give me a chance to pay you back for that case you won for me.”

Excitement spread throughout Rose’s mind and she covered her mouth with her hands. “I can’t believe I quit!”

Michelle laughed and rose up from her chair. “Vacation, day one.”

S
tanding
outside Diana’s apartment building later that night, Eli’s knuckles itched for the beating he was going to give Louis. He needed to release this fire he couldn’t shake. Even on his walk over here, Eli thought he smelled Rose’s scent on the wind and flipped around in frantic circles searching to find her. It was getting ridiculous. He’d had an early dinner with Darik just to get out of Michelle’s house because he couldn’t keep his hands off those torn panties.

Darik had asked him about five times, “What’s wrong with you?” before he finally answered, “Just a woman. It’s nothing.”

Looking doubtful, Darik dropped it, happy to talk about a movie he’d just found on Netflix called City Island, one of the coolest films he’d seen in a long time. “Totally unpredictable!” Eli kept him on his favorite conversation course by asking questions about the film. For a little while that helped keep his and his packmate’s mind off what he personally was going through, which was hell. Absolute fucking hell.

He stared up at the building, muttering, “And all because Michelle forgot her phone. I could just…” A text bit off the rest of his sentence and he pulled out his own phone. “Speak of the devil.”

The text read: Hey Eli! It’s Michelle. Listen, I wanted to give you Rose’s number. Just in case.

He stared at the smiley face she’d diabolically left after Rose’s digits. It was laughing at him. He read the numbers over and over until he began to say them aloud, “212-585…”

Footsteps approached.

Peering out from where he stood in the shadows, Eli spotted an older gentleman in an Irish cap and jacket, brown pants, boots and wearing glasses so thick his wrinkles looked like mountain formations and his eyes looked like a bug’s. He walked up the three steps to the small apartment building’s stairs.
Blind as a bat. Perfect.

“Oh, good! I locked myself out,” Eli said, running up to join him.

Startled, the man turned, but with his years the movement wasn’t quick. He blinked at Eli’s smile and relaxed. “Oh, how are you tonight young man?”

“I’m great. Good to see you again. When do you think it’s going to snow?” Eli held the door and watched the old man go in.

“Well, I don’t know, but I sure am enjoying this weather. Let’s not rush it, okay?” He ambled to the apartment on the left before the stairs began, playing with his keys. “You have a good night.”

Eli kept his smile friendly and tipped an invisible hat. “You too!” He headed up the stairs like he lived there.

“You’re on the third floor, right? Do you have bed bugs?”

Eli whipped around, halfway up the worn steps. “I am, and no sir, I don’t. Do you?”

The old man shook his head, sneering. “Foul things. Of course I don’t! But I heard a rumor they were getting around.”

Chuckling, Eli assured him, “I promise to tell you if I get them. But I will be very careful not to.”

The old man said, “Errr,” and closed his door. The lock turned.

Eli slowed down, climbing carefully up to level three, his wolf at the ready, ears cocked.

Outside Diana’s apartment, he stood very still. Dontae had recommended a few days wait, but he couldn’t do that. He needed to keep from sniffing around every apartment building in the Financial District looking for Rose. But now that he had her number in that text, the itch to call her pulled at him like a heroin addiction. He channeled all the obsessive energy to Diana’s paint-chipped door. He heard voices, but of two women. Diana had a friend over, and there were only two heartbeats so Louis wasn’t inside.

Eli considered waiting. It would give him something healthy to focus on, and hopefully for the whole night. There were only two apartments on each floor, six total. He walked to the other door on this level and heard a T.V. set playing inside, one heartbeat, its owner snoring.

Eli sat down on the torn carpet and waited. He stayed there a long time staring into nothing, blissfully grateful his brain was quiet. It was like a meditation retreat compared to how his day had been.

A crash from Diana’s apartment startled him, then a woman shouted, “What’s this! You’ve been looking up shelters? What are you looking up shelters for?” A loud crack sounded that Eli knew from experience was a slap with some power behind it.

He jumped off the floor, staring at the door, mystified.

Diana’s voice came muffled through the door, “I was looking them up for a friend!”

“You’re going to leave me?!!” Another violent crack, this time much louder.

“Stop, please, Louise, stop it.”
Oh, shit! Louise!
He gaped at the closed door, stunned. He couldn’t beat up a woman no matter how much of an abusive bitch she might be. Then he heard the horrible, distinctive sound of Diana crawling backwards on a hardwood floor to get away. He closed his eyes in agony. “I don’t want to leave you! I love you, Louise. Please!”

“If you loved me, you wouldn’t be scaring me like this now would you? Huh?” Diana cried out as a dull noise that sounded like a kick reached Eli. “WOULD YOU?”

Eli tore the door off the hinges, his rage unleashed. Diana cowered from her lover on the floor under their desk and Louise, a blonde woman who looked like she’d be comfortable on the front of a Harley, turned with surprise.

Eli growled, “Back away from her, Louise. Get the fuck away. NOW.”

Diana’s eyes went wide with recognition, but Louise recovered from her shock quickly and snarled at him. “Who the fuck are you?” She looked at Diana. “Who’s your knight in shining armor? Have you been cheating on me, with a MAN?”

“NO! No, I haven’t cheated on you!” Diana pleaded. She looked at him. “Tell her! Tell her we don’t know each other.”

Eli moved so fast that both women flinched. He grabbed Louise and turned her upside down, lifting her off the ground as though she weighed as much as the empty envelope lying on the desk behind her. Her hair and arms hung down, not touching the floor.

His voice was an animalistic growl that gave both women goosebumps. “You are leaving. Tonight. And you’re never coming back. Do you understand?” He could feel Louise get clammy, could smell her fear. “Do. You. Under. Stand.”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

He shook her around and tossed her onto the floor like he was throwing away trash. “Get your things. Go.” He stood between Diana who was sobbing, and Louise who was not.

“I’m sorry, Louise!” she whispered.

Eli hated when he heard victims defending or apologizing to their abusers. But that was how it worked. There is no abuser if there is no victim. One cannot exist without the other.

Louise shot Diana a hateful look and he knew this wasn’t the last of it. He could make her leave, but she’d be back. It made his soul hurt and he gritted his teeth to growl, “That’s enough.”

Louise picked up some clothes and a jacket, ignoring him and moving slow.

She turned and faced him, cocking her chin with defiance. Unleashing his restraint, he used all of his supernatural speed, appearing inches in front of her terrified face with his eyes in full shift-glow. He growled at her, his chest rumbling so thoroughly it vibrated hers, too. Urine rushed down her leg and she ran out, clamoring down the stairs.

As soon as he gathered himself and knew his eyes were back to their normal human-like color, he turned and dipped to his knees to be at her level. “Diana, are you okay?”

Holding one of the desk legs, she had tears streaming down her old bruises, and her cheek was red from the slap. “I’m fine.”

“I heard her kick you. Is anything broken?” He couldn’t smell blood, but only she would know if something was internally damaged, like a rib.

She sniffled and shook her head. “No.”

“You want to come out?”

Climbing out and using the desk to steady herself, she was scared for so many reasons. He hated that he was probably one of them. But maybe witnessing the little bit of supernatural power would be enough to shock her into doing something different. It was all he could hope for knowing that Louise would be back once she’d cleaned her pants. And she’d be furious.

“You have some place you can go?”

She thought about it. “I have a friend from work.”

That day he’d copied the list of shelters out from his phone by hand, and he handed it to her now. “These are those places we talked about. They don’t judge. They only help.” He walked the paper to her. “I’m sorry I scared you. You can trust me. I know you might not believe that right now.”

“No, I do,” she whispered, taking the list. “Thank you.”

He sighed, looking at the red mark on her tear-drenched cheek. “I know you love her, I can see it. But this isn’t what love has to be like. There are no ‘shoulds.’ I’m not saying you
should
, understand?” She nodded. “I’m saying it’s a choice. You are making a choice. She is making a choice. And you can make another one if you want to badly enough.”

“Okay,” she nodded.

He felt deflated and impotent to help. He couldn’t force her to choose a better life. Then he remembered Rose’s number. “Listen, Diana, give me that paper a sec.?” She handed it to him. “You got a pen?” She nodded and reached for one on the desk. “Thanks.” He used his leg to write the already memorized number on. “This is a female lawyer. She’ll help you if you decide to prosecute. You can trust her, too.” He handed the paper back. “Just…hold onto it, okay?”

“I can’t afford a lawyer!” she said, her eyes hopeless.

He threw up his hands in a prayer position. “I’ll pay for it. You call that number?” He pointed at the paper in her hand. “I will cover the cost. I have the money. I want to.”

She stared at him. “Why are you doing this?”

He gave her a big smile. “It makes me feel good. But only if you use that number, you understand? I won’t feel good if you don’t.”

She nodded, but regardless of his trying to coax one out of her, she couldn’t return the smile. He waited until she got her things together and called her friend. It was in the neighborhood and he insisted on walking her there, happy when she was relieved.

She put on her coat and grabbed her black suitcase. Glancing at the broken door, she walked out with him behind her. “Let me get that.” He picked up the suitcase and she studied his ability to lift such a heavy thing without signs of strain.

They walked the chilly streets into the night together, Eli keeping an ear out for Louise to ensure she wasn’t following them. He kept Diana’s mind occupied with light and friendly conversation about his run through the park that day, how he’d gotten a hot dog, and then another one. He even shared with her that he’d recently moved, too, and was enjoying the change. Diana listened, but she was still in shock about what was happening.

When they arrived at her co-workers brownstone apartment, she was waiting on the steps in her pajamas. With kind eyes and a warm hug, she greeted her friend and thanked Eli with a silent smile, guiding Diana upstairs. Before they went into the building, Diana waved to him. He waved back and waited until they were both safely inside.

For two hours he remained there, keeping watch in case Louise showed up. She might know about this place, might have come here for a dinner one night, he couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t up to him after all. He could only do so much. But for tonight at least, he could make sure Diana was protected.

After one in the morning when the lights were long out upstairs, he headed home, feeling he’d done the best he could do, knowing it wasn’t enough.