Chapter 86
Jack
The one thing that Jack hated more than werewolves was laundry. He hated doing it. He hated sifting through it. He hated putting it away. He wished he had some form of magic that would just do it for him.
But he didn't. So here he was, over two hours later, trying to find a specific pair of shorts that he wanted to wear tonight. Jack had torn his room apart, yet he still couldn't find them. Did the washing machine eat them?
Or maybe they were in Celeste's room. Due to her baggy clothes, their stuff often got mixed up. Normally he'd ask Celeste to find them, but she wasn't at home at the moment. He'd have to find it himself.
He trudged through the mess he had created and went straight into Celeste's room. Compared to his, her room looked like an absolute dream. Everything had a place and he knew for a fact that her closet was just as organized.
He shifted through the neatly hung clothes until he found the shorts section. He finally found the pair he was looking for two to three hangers in. Sending up a quick prayer of thanks, he was about to leave her room when a familiar chime sounded from her laptop.
Jack would have recognized it anywhere. Matt's phone had been making the same noise non-stop ever since he started talking to Rose. Anger boiled just below the surface, but he squashed it down. It could be innocent.
Still, he felt like he had to check to make certain. If Celeste was talking to some guy behind his back, he needed to know. He had to protect her. No matter the cost. He couldn't lose her too.
Jack made his way to her laptop, hand hovering over the mouse. Bile rose in his throat. He knew this was a gross invasion of privacy.
He swallowed it back down. He had to do this. Jack put his hand firmly on the mouse and jiggled it. The laptop whirred to life and it immediately showed the app that Celeste had been using.
Jack blew out a huff of air. If this ended up being nothing, he would have to talk to her about her security measures. No one should have been able to come in here and see her personal stuff like this. He thought he had taught her better than that.
He leaned in so that he could get a closer look at the words on the screen. He rifled through some of the messages which all seemed pretty basic. Normal everyday conversation type stuff.
Jack let out a shaky laugh. He'd had nothing to worry about. Of course Celeste wouldn't go behind his back. Not after what happened last time. She would never betray him like this.
But then his eyes caught on a name and he froze. Whoever she had been talking to had called her 'Rose.'
With renewed fervor, he dragged the bar all the way to the top and there it was. They had introduced themselves as 'Rose' and 'Matt.' Celeste was Matt's 'Rose' and they had been talking together all this time.
Jack straightened with a jerk. His hands balled into fists at his side. That anger he had pushed away before came roaring back with a vengeance. He could hear a whooshing in his ears and all he could see was red.
Celeste had been lying to him. She had been lying to him this whole time. And not only that, she'd been lying to Matt. Jack was sure that his best friend was unaware that he'd been talking to his sister. Matt wouldn't do that to him. Not after the promise he'd made.
It seemed that Celeste hadn't learned her lesson after all. Jack told her there would be consequences if she continued to talk to that guy. The fact that it had been Matt the whole time made it ten times worse.
This time Jack would have to make sure that the lesson stuck. If she thought he was overbearing before, Celeste was in for a rude awakening. So far Jack had been pretty lenient compared to what others in his family would have done.
But look where his leniency had gotten him. Celeste would never fully listen to him. Not when he was being nice. So no more Mr. Nice Guy.
He glanced at her calendar. She had circled the date of the next masquerade ball and had drawn a small rose next to it. Jack rolled his eyes. God, could she be anymore obvious? He wondered how he had missed all the signs before.
So she was planning on going to the ball as Rose. And of course Matt was going to be her date. It was almost too easy. There was no way Jack would mistake her as anyone else.
A cruel smile formed on his face. He would let her have fun. He'd let her play the role of pretty princess. Then at the height of her performance, he would cut her down by exposing her in front of everybody.
Celeste hated being the center of attention. That much public scrutiny might lead her to become a hermit. She'd never leave her room afterwards. And that suited Jack just fine. Let her room become her cage.
Celeste would have no one to blame but herself. Sure she may hate him, but he was her brother. Jack was only doing what he had to to protect her from herself. She would forgive him eventually. She'd have to.
Jack carefully placed everything he had touched back in its proper position. Celeste couldn't know that he was here. If she found out that he knew, it would ruin his entire plan.
When he was satisfied that everything was as he found it, Jack left his sister's room. This time he was going to make sure that Celeste listened to him. Even if she hated him.
Celeste
I sank down into the chair at my desk as soon as I entered my room. Today had been exhausting. Ever since Matt had told me that werewolves were real and that I had seen one in real life, my nerves had been on edge. I couldn't stop staring at people, wondering if they were werewolves.
It's not like I could just go up and ask them. And Matt wasn't telling me anyone's identities. Which I could understand, but it wasn't helping my stress any.
So while there hadn't been any extra physical strain since then, the mental gymnastics that I was having to do every day was starting to get to me.
All I wanted to do was sit in front of my laptop and forget that I was 'Celeste.' I wanted to be a nice, normal, human 'Rose' who didn't have any werewolf drama, even if my boyfriend was a werewolf. 'Rose' didn't know that yet.
When my laptop came on, I was surprised to see that the app was already open. I guess I had been in a rush the last time I was on and hadn't closed it. I bit my lip. If Jack ever found out I had such poor security, I'd get an earful from him. And I'd definitely get more than an earful if found out I was talking to Matt like this. It's a good thing he never comes into my room.
