Chapter 17

Cyn’s POV


The next day at school, there was no Alex or Josh, again.
“Even if he was here, I’ve got you, babe.” Tucker told me during lunch.
“I just don’t know how I’m supposed to finish off the school year with him here.” I told him.
Helena shoved a mouthful of spaghetti and tried to talk, “mmfhhmm mmfhhh mmmfff.”
“Excuse me?” I laughed.
She chewed and swallowed before trying again. “I’ll kick his bitch ass for you, no worries babe.” She winked at me dramatically before shoveling more food into her mouth. I smiled at the two of them, immensely thankful.
“Hey bro, can I sit here?” One of Tucker’s friends, Matty, asked while scratching the back of his neck.
“Yeah, sit on down.” Tucker answered, sending a wink my way.
“Hi, I’m Matt.” He introduced himself to Helena.
“I know who you are, I’m assuming you know who I am, I’m awesome after all.” She smiled at him. “Good to officially meet you awesome.” He said. Helena’s eyes got big before she let out a big laugh.
“You’re hilarious dude.” She said.
“Thanks.” He smiled. Tucker and I looked at each other. Does Matty like Helena?
Tucker pressed a quick kiss to my cheek before looking into my eyes, “you’re so beautiful, Cyn” he whispered, making me blush.
All of a sudden, there was a hush in the cafeteria followed by excited whispers. I looked up to the entrance and saw a police officer and the principal.
“Tucker Wilson?” The officer asked as he approached.
“Yes, sir.” Tucker answered. My stomach dropped.
“I need you to come with me son.” He said.
“No!” I cried out.
“Ma’am, I need you to calm down.” The officer told me.
Tucker put a hand on my arm and gave me a kiss and a small smile, “I’ll be fine, I love you, Cyn.”
He handed me his keys to his car and grandma’s house, stood up and followed the officer out while tears streamed down my face.
“The son of a bitch did it.” Helena growled. I nodded, knowing who she was talking about.
“I’ll kick his ass!” Matty said through gritted teeth.
“Don’t, that’s what got him in this situation in the first place.” I whispered. Helena reached across the table and patted my arm. “We’ll get this figured out, I promise.” I looked up at her face, full of concern, and hoped she was right.
I couldn’t bring myself to try to care about school the rest of the day so I decided to skip afternoon classes. I grabbed Tucker’s keys and took his car to his grandmother’s house.
“Grandma!” I cried as soon as I got out of the car and saw her on the front porch.
She smiled grimly, I had a feeling she already knew what happened.
“They took Tucker during school!” I cried to her.
“I know, they came here first, unfortunately they had a warrant for his arrest, they’re going to try him for aggravated assault, the story was that he attacked that boy with a knife, which is bullshit.” She growled.
“Grandma! I can’t believe you just cussed!” I said shocked.
“I’m going to do a whole lot more when I get ahold of that alpha. Playing witness? What is he getting at? He’s just always had a grudge against our family ever since my daughter chose her mate over him.”
I gasped in shock, I had no idea.
“That’s right dear, when they were younger, the alpha and my late daughter dated in high school but when she turned 18 and found her mate, she left him.” She recounted to me.
“What can we do about Tucker?” I asked her, feeling helpless.
“We have to try and hire an attorney for him, unfortunately, my family doesn’t have money like it used to so I’m afraid that one I can hire may not be good enough for him.”
“We have to try.” I told her, “I’ll pitch in the savings I have.”
“No sweet girl, you don’t spend your money, I’ll take care of it.” She patted me on the top of the head before leading me inside.
I washed up before dinner and helped her with the dishes after we finished eating.
Unable to bear thinking anymore, I forced myself to fall asleep early to escape the rest of the day.

I woke up around 5am the next morning with an immense headache. I hobbled off the bed and into the bathroom to dig around for some aleve. I looked at myself in the mirror, noting how awful I looked but not really caring. I sighed and rubbed a hand down my face.
I went and laid face down on the bed until the last possible moment when I had to finally get ready for school.
I pulled into the school parking lot shortly and hopped out of the car.
“Why are you driving Tucker’s car?” I hear a voice behind me. I looked to see Josh. “Where have you been?” I asked.
“Family vacation. Now why are you driving Tucker’s car?” He asked again.
“He’s letting me use it while he’s…gone.” I told him.
His eyes opened wide, “what happened?” I debated whether to tell him the situation but that would’ve involved telling him what happened to me and I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I shook my head and walked off to first period.
“Hey wait up!” He called out before catching up to me.
“Sorry, I just can’t tell you, it’s personal.” I told him.
“That’s alright, I’m just glad you’re talking to me again.” He winced. I was so caught up in everything that’s happened, I forgot we weren’t speaking.
“It’s not important anymore.” I told him.
“Ouch, you wound me, Cyn.” He grabbed his chest dramatically.
“You’ll get over it,” I gave him a small smile, somewhat soothed by his presence. It was kind of nice to talk to someone who didn’t know what I’ve been through recently, who treated me normally.
“Nice to see you get over Tucker so quickly you cheating bitch.” I hear a nasally voice say from behind me. Before I could say anything Josh whirled on Mary and told her off, “not everyone is fucking like you, some people are actually friends.”
I smiled, kind of glad that he’s back. We may not have worked out as lovers but I think we could be good friends. Mary sputtered like a fish out of water, unable to say anything back. Josh and I laughed at her face and then walked together to first period.
“Thanks for that,” I told him when we reached the classroom.
“No problem. Also, Cyn? Can we meet up for our project? I’d prefer not to fail.” He asked.
“Yes, sounds good. Let me know when.” I told him.
“How about today after school?”
“Okay.” I figured I could use the distraction.
The rest of school went uneventfully, Helena threw a few daggers at Josh but stopped when I told her I wanted to at least be friends with him. When we got out of school, first thing I did was call up to the police station to see when I could see Tucker but visiting hours were done for the day, I would have to go during school the next day or go on the weekend. I decided I’d skip a few classes tomorrow to go see him. They wouldn’t arrest me for skipping school, right?
I made the trip to Josh’s house and pulled into the driveway.
“Cynthia!” I heard his mother Joselyn call out as soon as I walked in.
“Nice to see you, ma’am! Did you have a good family vacation?” I asked her.
“Oh it was lovely! We went to Italy to visit some family. I tried to get Josh to invite you but he said you wouldn’t want to go. I bet he didn’t even ask because who would turn down Italy?” She laughed. It was so infectious I couldn’t help but laugh with her, “no he didn’t. You should definitely give him a hard time about it.”
She winked at me, “you better believe I will.”
I felt someone ruffled my hair, “Garrett!” I growled out at his familiar scent.
“So good to see you, Cyn. Have you come to your senses and ditched your man for me?” He asked.
I scoffed at the same time Josh did, he must’ve just walked into the room. “It’s called a school project brother. Now fuck off.”
“Joshua! Language!” His mother hissed.
“Sorry ma’am.” He apologized immediately.
Josh reached for my hand with his before retracting it. “Sorry.” He muttered before waving at me to follow him. We went to his room and started working on our project. After several hours of work, we finally finished.
“Finally!” We both exclaimed at the same time which was followed by crazy laughter. It was so good to laugh again.
“So, do you want to hang out a bit?” He asked me.
“I oughta head out for now, it was good to see you again.” I told him truthfully. He beamed at me, giving me a view of his fangs. I gulped, those things look sharp. Seeming to know what I was thinking, he frowned. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, it’s a part of who you are.” I told him.
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I like it.” He said. I never stopped to think if he enjoyed being a vampire or not, I know I’ve always enjoyed being a wolf. Well I did up until I got my mate, that’s when things went to shit. I felt myself frown at the thought.
“I’m going to head out now.” I told him. He opened his arms for a hug which I obliged. After a few seconds I pulled away and left to head to Tucker’’s grandma’s house. I guess right now, that’s my house. At first it seemed like a dream, but without Tucker, it feels lonely.