IT HAD been two days since Eliza’s encounter with the supernatural. She still wasn’t really sure what to think about everything she had witnessed. Not only did she have to deal with the fact that werewolves and God knows what else were real, but she also had to choose who to side with.
She had been with Andrew for so long. There was a history there. Did she really want to end a relationship of seven years for someone she had just met? But Hayden lit a fire inside of her that Andrew never had. She just wasn’t sure if they had genuine feelings and chemistry or if it was just lust.
She had so much to think about and neither of them would leave her alone. They called and texted non-stop. She had asked Andrew to give her some time to think things through, so he went to stay with Tom and Brienne for a few days. Eliza was surprised that neither of the boys had tried coming to the house. Surprised and appreciative.
Eliza couldn’t stop thinking about Jim and the pain he must be in over the loss of the love of his life. She would see him tomorrow at work, hopefully, and would be able see how he was doing. She wanted to ask him questions about werewolves, but now wasn’t the right time. No matter how much alcohol Eliza fed the man, it wouldn’t make it okay to drill him about his supernatural boyfriend.
Eliza glanced over at the end table beside the couch where her laptop was perched. She squinted her eyes and bit her bottom lip. I could Google it. She powered up her laptop. As she scrolled through hundreds of different websites, she realized that this really wasn’t going to answer any of her questions. They were just stories and myths. How would she even know what was true?
Maybe I should just call Hayden. Eliza reached for her phone but didn’t dial Hayden’s number. She couldn’t call Hayden. She was supposed to be trying to pick which guy she wanted. It would be too hard to focus on the pros and cons of each of them if she had one of them here with her to sway her vote.
She could call Hayden’s brother, Theo. He would be able to tell her just as much as Hayden could. But then how would she explain to Melissa why she was calling her boyfriend to come over? Maybe Melissa already knows what they are? No, there was no way. She would have spilled the beans by now. If she called Theo, she was sure he would be able to come up with some excuse to keep Melissa from finding out.
Only problem was that she didn’t have Theo’s number. She couldn’t ask Melissa for it, otherwise she would get suspicious and Eliza would be back to square one. She decided that she would text Hayden for Theo’s number. There was no harm in that. If Hayden tried to talk to her about anything else, she would just tell him that she wasn’t ready to discuss anything yet. She wouldn’t be lying to him.
She picked up her phone again and found Hayden in her list of contacts. She sent a text asking him for Theo’s number. She didn’t have to wait long before her phone beeped. She wrote down the number Hayden had sent back, then thought about how she was going to answer the “why?” that had followed it. She decided it would be best to tell the truth. If she tried to lie to Hayden, he would probably pick up on it and come to the house.
She told him that she just had a few questions about werewolves, and she didn’t want to have him come over to explain because she was still trying to figure out what her heart wanted and needed. Her finger hovered over the send button for a moment before she hit it. Once again, she didn’t have to wait long for a reply. She was relieved when he said he understood.
She let out a long sigh and dialed Theo’s number. He picked up on the second ring.
“Hello?” he answered casually.
“Theo? I need to ask you a favor.” Eliza leaned against the headboard and closed her eyes.
“Sure. What do you need?” Theo’s tone went from casual to serious.
“I just… I want to know more about you and Hayden. More about what you are.” Eliza was still having trouble processing that they were not human and it sounded even more ridiculous when she said it out loud.
“Why not just ask Hayden?” he asked.
“I have other things going on in my head that involve Hayden and I don’t want him to sway my decision.” Eliza pushed herself from the bed and headed for the kitchen.
“Ah, I see.” Eliza could almost hear his smile through the phone.
“So can you help me?” she asked again.
“Yes, I will swing by on my way to the mines. It’ll be about half an hour. Is that all right?” Theo asked politely.
“Yes, that will be fine. Thank you.” Eliza breathed out a sigh of relief.
“Okay see you then.” Theo hung up the phone.
Eliza grabbed herself some toast and stood in the living room, watching out the window. She was finally going to get some answers. But what was she going to ask? She went into the kitchen and grabbed a pen and notepad. She spent the half hour waiting for Theo by jotting down some questions.