Chapter 89: I Am Innocent

Chapter eighty-nine: I Am Innocent

Elena

It had been a few hours since I left Bernard's house and my mind hadn't stopped turning and twisting around. I needed to speak to him but I also knew that he was too angry to have a proper conversation.

Having been a wolf for almost a decade, understand people still need some work. I was still trying to learn Bernard and understand his behavioral patterns. I wish I could talk to someone who knew him well but the people I could talk to were either Liam or Elizabeth but she hated me.

I thought back to the time I had seen her just outside the hardware store where Jack and I had been. She looked me dead in the eyes without a single expression on her face but her eyes told me a different story. There was an evilness to them that I didn't like. I had tried to brush off but for some reason, it plagued me why she would have to look at me like that. I shook off the awful feeling in my body and continued my aimless walk.

For some reason, I felt like people were staring at me a lot more than usual. I didn't know what was going on, the last 48 hours had been so all over the place.

"Elena!" I heard someone call my name. I stopped and turned around to find Ivory, Bernard's ex-girlfriend running my way.

I smiled at her in greetings but as she drew closer my smile dropped when I noticed the expression on her face. Something wasn't right, by the time she reached me, she was out of breath and panting like a madwoman.

"Give me a minute." She doubled over to help herself get her breath back and sat up straight after a while.

"Hey." I greeted her.

"How are you doing today?" I asked.

"How am I doing? Girl, what is going on with you?"

"What?" I was surprised.

"Do you seriously don't know what I am talking about? Haven't you seen it? It is all over social media right now and has been sent from group chat to group chat. How have you not seen it?"

"I don't have a phone so I am very much out of the loop." She pulled out her phone from her back pocket.

"Look at this." She swiped at her screen and revealed a picture of me and Jack taken just outside the hardware store.

I remember when this happened, I had almost tripped but Jack caught me. The whole thing had just lasted for three seconds.

"Are you and Jack dating now?" My eyes snapped to her in shock.

"What? Why would you think like that? Because of this picture?" She nodded.

"It has been circulating since yesterday. Everyone knows and the only reason it is such big news is because Jack has never been seen with a girl in his life before. So is it true?"

"No!" I exclaimed.

"Of course, it is not true. I don't understand why people would think this is true. The picture may not look like it but this was all innocent. Nothing intimate was going on here."

"Well, the whole Pack now thinks that you two are now dating. Some are saying you are using him to solidify your place in the Pack and others are saying he feels sorry for you 'cause you are the loser rogue who is an outsider." I scoffed.

"It is nice to know that the Pack thinks so highly of me."

"Elena, this is serious. How could you do this?"

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything. This is all innocent. You can't blame me for something that I wasn't even a part of. Whoever took that picture and spread it clearly had it out for me or misunderstood the situation.

"Why do I find it hard to believe you? You are just like the other girls, aren't you? Just trying to get close to Bernard and fool him into being with you so you could become his Luna. Well, I am sorry to burst your bubble, Elena but I am onto your little game." She growled.

Why was she mad at me? I have done nothing wrong at all. I am here crying my eyes out over my failing relationship and she was coming at me for cheating on Bernard. How did she even know that Bernard and I were together?

"Ivory, I don't know what climbed up your bum today but I am not with Jack. He is just a good friend, that is all, nothing more nothing less."

"So explain this." She gestured to her phone one more time.

"So you are saying this picture isn't what it seems? A picture is worth a thousand words, Elena."

"It isn't what it seems. It has been taken totally out of context. You have no right to be mad at me for something I didn't even do. It is a freaking rumor and I am here to tell you that it isn't true."

Then it finally clicked, this was the reason why Bernard had been so mad at me. Ivory just said that this news was all over the Pack which means that he probably knew about it. Now everything is coming together. He wasn't mad because of the fight we had yesterday, he was angry because he thought I had cheated on him. It hurt to know that he thought I would do that to him but now it all made sense. After our fight, he thought I had run to Jack and done who knows what. But how did he know this?

"Ivory, I need you to tell me who you got the picture from and what they told you."

"They said that you and Jack are together and are mates now. I got it from a random group chat I was added to last year." She explained.

"But that isn't the point, the point here is that you were using Bernard."

"No, I wasn't!"

"Then explain this picture."

"I was at the hardware store with Jack, we were working on a surprise for Veronica who is the woman I work for as you know. As we were coming out of the store, I tripped over my own feet but Jack caught me before I hit the ground. The whole thing happened and passed in just three seconds. There was no romance or intimacy, I don't even like Jack."

"But does Jack like you?"

That was the question I didn't even know the answer to. He had revealed his feelings to me a few weeks ago but with the way he and Alisha had looked at each other, I am sure that he was over whatever little crush he had on me.

"No, Jack likes someone else and I have the feeling she likes him too. Besides, I am not available to anyone other than Bernard."

"So all of this is a lie?" I nodded.

"A blatant lie, I don't know who would start such a ridiculous rumor but honestly, I am going to find out. It is ridiculous that I have to continuously be held under this microscope. If it is not one thing, it is another."

She seemed to calm after my explanation, I was sure that a few minutes ago, she was ready to pound into me which would have been even more fuel onto the already blazing hot inferno.

"Well, that is good because I was ready to drop-kick you. I know Bernard and I may not be together anymore but he still means a lot to me. I don't like to see him hurt or upset." She looked at me sheepishly.

"But seeing this news is all over the Pack, I am sure that he already knows." I nodded.

He knows and believes every word of it. What I didn't understand was why he didn't let me explain. If he had just stopped and asked, I would have told him the truth.

"I went to see him earlier today and he just blew up in my face. I didn't understand it at first but now it made perfect sense. He thinks I cheated on him."

"Cheated on him?" Her eyes bulged out of her sockets.

"So, you guys are ready together now?"

I didn't mean to let it slip out but now that it was out, there was no use in denying it. People would find out sooner or later.

"Yes, we are but it is a secret. Please don't tell anyone." She pretended to zip her lips.

"I knew it, I had a feeling that something was going on between you two. He said you were important to him when I visited him in the hospital."

"He is important to me too. He means more to me than life itself and now he is mad at me because someone started this disgusting rumor about me. I hate this so much, why can't we ever just be happy for more than milliseconds at a time?" She looked at me with sympathy in her eyes.

"The story with the roughest beginning has the most beautiful endings. Remember that okay?" I sighed.

"Yes, but I don't even know what to do right now. I think I need to go and speak to Bernard and help him understand everything."

"Then go, don't wait till tomorrow what can be done today. There is no time like the present after all."

"Yes, you are right."

"And remember, the roughest beginnings……."

"Have the most beautiful ends." I finished off the sentence for her.

"Thank you, Ivory."

"No problem." She waved me off.

"Now go and get your man. I will see you around."

And then I took off in the direction I had come from. I could only hope Bernard would look past his anger right now and give me a chance to explain everything.