Chapter 3- Julia

Chapter 3

Julia

“You did what?!?” I yelled, jumping up off of the sofa. “Why the heck would you do that?” Still yelling, now I was pacing up and down our living area. I couldn’t believe Emmy! She had gone back to the coffee shop and spoke to him. “I can’t show my face there again now! What the hell is wrong with you?” I cried. “Jules, relax! We just talked, I wanted to know if he was worth the inner turmoil you seem to be going through.” She spoke softly, trying to calm me down. “That’s not your place! God! I’m with Riley, you remember him? My boyfriend! I am not looking to meet anyone else; it doesn’t matter that I am attracted to him. I won’t do that to Riley.” Emmy was silent. After a few minutes, she nodded and then walked away. “Riley’s a jackass. You deserve better- and in my opinion, Ryan is better.” She said as she walked away. At least I knew his name now. Ryan…

I had decided to avoid the coffee shop by any means necessary. I felt mortified in case he thought I had sent Emmy to talk to him for me, like I was a teenage girl again. I would be going back home soon anyway. My family needed me to come home. My older brother Jake died last year after a motorbike accident. He was doing a ride along with a few of his friends and my other brother James. There was a patch of black ice on the road, and he was unlucky and hit it. He came off his bike going 70mph down the S. state. He was killed instantly. My parents were devastated, but not as devasted as James. He was a few years younger than Jake. Jake was his hero and being there when he died really screwed him up. His best mate Alex helped him through it a lot.

I missed my oldest brother, but I wasn’t as close to him as James was. I was the baby girl of the family. My brothers looked after me a lot, I didn’t even have my first kiss until I was sixteen because boys were too afraid of them. Anyway, this is only our second Christmas without him, he died just after thanksgiving last year.

I was planning on getting a tattoo on his next anniversary, I would be eighteen then. I wanted a wolf. He loved wolves, he always said if he could be any animal, it would be a wolf. Even his road name was Wolf.  He was a good man and a good brother. He always wanted to find his Queen, as he called her. His woman who was made especially for him. I loved how much he respected women. I think that was why I was so fussy with men, he taught me how a man should treat his girl. He wanted to be married and have children of his own. I remember asking him once, why he liked wolves. I think I was around 13, I had gone into his room for something, and he was sketching another wolf. He told me that he liked that there was always one in charge- the Alpha, then there was the Luna, the Alpha’s mate, then there would be the Beta, then the Delta. His inner circle, his most trusted people. He also told me that wolves mate for life. No cheating. He hated cheaters. I’m not sure why, I don’t know if someone cheated on him before, but he always said that there was never an excuse for cheating.

Anyway, so I’m going back home to North Carolina next week. I would just go to the coffee shop closer to the apartment until then. Maybe after the holidays, I would have forgotten about him and everything will be fine again!

The week flew by. Before I knew it, I had my bag packed and was heading for the airport with Emmy! She was going back home too, she lived near Cincinnati in Ohio, not far from where I lived in NC. It was just over an hour away.  I hugged her goodbye as I got to my gate where my flight was boarding. We had plans to text every day and call every few days to catch up. I had only known her for a few short months; but she was already one of the most important people in my life. I had barely kept in touch with Shay who was my best friend through high school. She had moved to Missouri for college. We kept in touch for the first few weeks- but the phone calls got shorter, the texts less frequent. We had drifted apart.

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Christmas was tough. We exchanged gifts, had the meal, celebrated as much as we could. We tried to smile and laugh, but it was too hard without Jake. He bought this family together and without him, I felt like we were drifting. I tried talking to James about it, but he barely spoke to anyone. Just grunted when he had to answer something. He had been patched in the motorcycle club that Wolf had been in. He was now called Tank. I was assuming it was because he was built like one. My parents were still depressed. In short, Christmas sucked.

I was glad to be leaving and going back to college. Don’t get me wrong, I loved and missed Jake so much, but he was gone, we needed to move past the grieving now. My family hadn’t and it was like he had just died all over again. I needed to get out of there, so I found an earlier flight that left just after New Years Day. I kissed my mom and dad and hugged my brother and then left for the airport. I told them an assignment I had forgot about was due in the day classes started up again and it was easier to go back to campus where all my notes where. Yeah, I felt guilty for lying but I couldn’t stay any more.

I landed 5 hours later. I grabbed my luggage and headed on to find a cab. I was back on campus an hour later. I called Emmy before I left and told her I was heading back early. She understood when I explained why. Her sister also died a few years ago of an overdose, so she understood what it felt like to lose a sibling. She offered to come back early too but I told her to stay where she was. A few days of peace and quiet would not hurt and I would be able to get in front of all my reading for my classes. There were still a few people hanging about on campus, some people didn’t go home for the holidays or they had and arrived back early like I had.

I had been back on campus for four days when Emmy arrived. “Heyyy!!! I missed you!” I said excitedly, pulling her in for a hug. “Hey…” she said quietly. I stilled. Something was wrong. She was always happy and giddy like she was an extra in an episode of My Little Pony. “What happened?” “Let me put my bag down and take my coat off. You make us some drinks and then we will talk, ok?” She ordered. I was really nervous now. Was she transferring schools? So many ideas were running through my head as I did what I had been asked on autopilot. I didn’t even remember getting the cups out to make coffees.

We sat down on the sofa five minutes later. “Ok, I’m just going to come out with it and say it. You remember Jodie? We have Biology together.” I nodded, confused as to where this was heading. “Anyway, she went to a party on campus just after we left. She said Riley was there.” I stilled. I knew what she was going to say, I can’t explain it, but I just knew. Riley had cheated. I don’t know how I knew it; I just had a feeling that was what she was going to say.

 “He tried to hook up with another girl there, Jodie told me because she knew you two were together. She texted me on break and asked if you two had broken up. I told her you hadn’t and then she told me. I’m so sorry babe, he’s a jerk.” I was quiet while I processed what she had told me. I had spoken to him a few times over the holiday- not as often as I had spoken with Emmy, he didn’t mention a party at all. I racked my brains wondering if he seemed unhappy. We hadn’t slept together yet, that was probably why.

I stood up, forgetting I had my coffee in my hands and dropped it in my lap. “Fuck!” I yelled, trying to undo my jeans and pull them down. Luckily, I didn’t drink my coffee scolding, so it didn’t burn me too badly. Emmy ran to the bathroom and grabbed a towel and put it under the cold tap to soak it. She came running back in a minute later, throwing the towel at my head. “Cover your legs with that! It will stop it from hurting. Then I can look at it and see if you need the hospital.” “I’m fine” I reassured her. “I don’t drink it unless it has half a gallon of milk. I’m ok.” I said. I still used the towel to cover my legs to stop them from blistering though. It did hurt. I decided to call Riley and ask him to come over instead of going to him. I waited until my legs had gone back to normal and then called him. “Hey beautiful.” He answered. “Hey, can you come over?” “Sure, I’ll just get changed and I’ll be right there.” He said. “See you in about half an hour.” He hung up. I was furious.

He knocked around 35 minutes later. “Hey baby, I missed you.” He said, leaning forward to kiss me. I turned my head, so he got my cheek. “Are you ok?” He asked. “No, come in and we’ll talk inside.” I said, leaving the door open for him to come in. I sat down on the sofa. “Anything interesting happen over the break?” I asked. He froze for a second before the mask reappeared. “No, just missing you. Why do you ask?” “I know someone at the party you attended the day I left. They told me you hooked up with another girl.” He actually had the audacity to look shocked. “I didn’t go to any parties!” He yelled, jumping out of his seat. “I swear whoever told you is lying, or they got confused or something! I swear I haven’t cheated on you!” He cried, pleading with me to believe him. I didn’t know what to believe. Maybe Jodie had been mistaken.

“What were you doing if you weren’t at the party?” I asked. I could see he look relieved at my sudden U-turn. He knew I was doubting Jodie. “I was at home baby, I promise. I was packing my stuff up because my flight home was the next day.” “Ok.” I said after a few minutes. I really didn’t know whether to believe him or not. “I swear Riley, if I find out you have lied and you did cheat on me, I will kill you.” I said, trying my hardest to be threatening. I probably looked as scary as a kitten. He smiled, pulling me up and into his arms. “Why would I cheat on you baby? Have you seen how hot you are? That’s like cheating on Ariana Grande with…..” He paused when he saw the look on my face. “someone else who is not as hot…” he finished. I smiled. “Ok.” I said, and he leaned forward to kiss me. “How was your break?” He asked. “Urgh… later. I want some food.” I said. “You hungry?” I asked. “Yep, come on, I’ll buy.” He said, as I grabbed my keys and cell phone, I called out to Emmy, “I’ll be back later Ems, bye!” And closed the door.

***Authors note***

So, what do you all think? Did Riley really cheat?

Read on to find out! Please leave a review telling me whether you like this story or not! All feedback appreciated! xoxo