6: A Decision to Make

Jarren’s POV

“I have to call you back. I think my house is under attack,” she said, cutting off what I was trying to say.

“Sure,” I responded. Before I could say anything else, she ended the call.

I’d just left my parent’s house and was driving to my house, which sat in front of my parent’s about three miles away. Their house was pushed back and hidden by the forest.

When I got to my house, I walked into the kitchen and took a bag of blood from the refrigerator. Packaged blood wasn’t as good as fresh blood, but I was too tired from all my training to go hunting. I put the bag in the microwave and warmed it up. While it was running, I pulled a cup from the cabinet. When the blood was ready, I tore it open and poured it into the cup. I threw the bag away on my way to my room.

I sat at my desk, drinking my dinner as I studied the Parliamentary procedures of vampires and refreshing myself on the cast systems that we have. I’d learned all of this before…over two hundred years ago, but I needed now to be refreshed and know it frontwards and backward. I don’t know how long my attention had been in the books, but it was pulled away by my phone going off.

Hey Jarren, It’s Jillie

Don’t’ You Feel Special

You Don’t? Well You Should

Cuz I’m Texting You.

I took my phone out. It was a message from Jillie telling me, Goodnight. I texted her back and said, Sweet dreams, baby girl. She was going to sleep sort of early. Whatever happened at her house must have tired her out. If I had to guess, I would say it was something to do with her sister. I could make out the argument that caught her attention.

It still shouldn’t surprise me the way Elise treated Jillie, but it did piss me off. I always tried to be optimistic about it and tell Jillie her sister didn’t mean the things she said because I wanted that to be true. However, with as frequently as it happened, I couldn’t be so sure even more. I didn’t even know why Elise acted the way she did. At some point, she just started being mean to Jillie because they’d gotten along before.

The one time she’d attempted to ask Elise why she disliked her so much, what caused the change in her, and in their relationship. It had resulted in Elise swinging at her, and they’d gotten into a fight. That had been two years ago when Jillie was sixteen and Elise was twenty-one. I hadn’t been there, but when I heard about it, I wanted to rip Elise’s head off. I’ve come a long way since that point and now try to act as a mediator.

I took my glass back into the kitchen and put it in the dishwasher. I started it before heading back to my bedroom. I grabbed my towel and walked into the bathroom. After starting the shower, I stepped out of my clothes and stepped inside. I thought about the dreams I’d had about Jillie. First in a field and then in a greenhouse. I had to get my thoughts under control. More importantly, I have to figure out how to tell Jillie how I feel about her and the fact that I’m a bloodsucking monster. I could only hope they go over so well.

I got out of the shower and wrapped the towel around me. Walking into my room, I heard my phone ring. I slid on some boxers and let my towel hit the floor before answering it.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Jarren.”

“Hey, Alyx. What’s going on?”

“You have to come up with some reason to tell Jillie why you don’t like Carson.”

“She asked you about that today?”

“Yes, she did, and I may not have been too convincing when I told her I didn’t know.”

“She asked me to.”

“Then tell her something. She deserves to know something, at least because making excuses, or in my case pretending not to know, isn’t getting us anywhere.”

“I can’t just make something up. I don’t like lying to Jillie.”

“Well, neither do I, Jarren, but news flash, we lie to her every day about who we are. Please just come up with something because I hate seeing that defeated look on her face when she doesn’t know something.”

“Alright. Goodnight, Alyx.”

“Night.”

I hung up the phone thinking about what Alyx had said. She was right; we did lie to Jillie every day. I didn’t plan on lying to her much longer. I was going to tell her, and soon. I just had to figure out the best way how. She was curious to know why Carson and I hated each other’s guts. I would give her the answers she was looking for, but I could only do that after she knew about me. Telling her the truth about the Carson situation would mean I’d have to tell her that Carson was a werewolf. If I didn’t want to freak her out, I’d tell her now. I didn’t care if she hated Carson. Hell, that would actually benefit me. What I did care about was her hating me. That I couldn’t deal with, that would without a doubt break my slow beating heart.

I sat back down at my desk and got back to studying my books. I had to do something to take my mind off the choice I was going to have to make, and soon. Because even though my mother said I could tell her. It was still my choice whether I followed through or not. So what I had to decide now was whether I should keep it from Jillie and live a life without her. Or should I tell her, and even though she said she believed, risk losing her and still have to live a life without her? In so many ways, this was a catch-22, and I just wanted it to be simple.