Chapter 169

Tessa’s POV

When I woke up, I was lying in my bed. Ruby lay next to me, curled up, and completely passed out. She wasn’t as pale as she was when I left her yesterday and looking over at the bowl that I left for her, filled with her favorite soup, Tomato, and Basil, it was completely gone.

Telling from the sun that desperately tried to peer through my closed window blinds, it was morning.

I tried to think about the events that unfolded last night but it was kind of foggy. I remembered the bank and the hostages. I remembered having a stupid idea to go inside and then—

Oh, God.

Joseph!

It all seemed like a crazy dream, but it wasn’t. The building collapsed with Joseph and Carter still inside.

How did I get back in my room?

I reached for my neck and felt the bandages had been removed, but I felt a swollen puncture wound on my neck from when Ryan bit me.

Tears instantly began to cloud my vision as I scrambled out of bed and rushed into the living room. I couldn’t breathe; I needed to find Joseph. I needed to make sure was okay. My heart was racing rapidly in my chest, and I thought I was going to pass out from the panic attack bubbling in my chest.

Just when I thought I was going to black out, I completely froze when I saw someone sleeping on the couch in my living room.

“Carter?” I asked, my voice cracking slightly as tears ran down my face.

His eyes opened, surprising me.

He sat up, groggily, running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair.

“Oh, hey,” he said, yawning. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“What happened?” I asked, my tone shaky. “Where’s Joseph? Is he—”

I couldn’t get the words out, but Carter sat up, shaking his head.

“Joseph is fine… Ryan is dead, and Fae was brought back to the academy,” he assured me.

I stared at him in disbelief.

“Josephs… alive?” I asked, my tone still shaky.

“Yes,” Carter answered. “He’s alive.”

My legs gave out and I slumped onto the couch beside him. I felt a huge wave of relief wash over me and I felt like I could finally breathe. I buried my face in my hands and allowed myself to cry while Carter patted my back gently.“I saw the building fall and I thought…”

“I know,” Carter breathed. “We were already out when it fell. We got out and so did the hostages. Bernard and Anna sent one of the tribe healers to heal their damaged eardrums.”

“And Fae?” I asked, lifting my gaze to meet his eyes.

“Actually, if it wasn’t for Fae, we’d all probably be dead,” Carter said with a chuckle as he shook his head.

“How so?”

“Ryan gave her this drug called Stardust; it’s known to make vampires feral,” Carter explained, making me shudder at the thought.

I remembered Fae’s black eyes and I knew it wasn’t her.

“And she was cured?” I asked, raising my brows.

He looked weird at first; like he was still confused about the events himself.

“That’s the strange thing,” he said, meeting my eyes. “She drank some of your blood and it acted like an antidote.”

My stomach clenched.

“An antidote?” I asked. “My blood?”

He nodded.

“It was the strangest thing,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. “But she fought with us, and she was the one who killed Ryan.”

I leaned back on the couch, feeling a huge weight lifted off my body. Joseph was alive, Ryan was dead, and Fae was going to be okay. I wanted to cry with relief, but I think I cried all the tears that I had.

“And Mulligan and the others?” I asked snapping' a look at Carter.

“They are fine too. They went back to the headquarters. The healer fixed their ears as well. Joseph made all the hostages forget what they saw so they wouldn’t be too traumatized,” Carter explained. “As far as everyone is concerned it was just some bank robbers and an earthquake.”

“Good morning,” Ruby yawned as she made her way out of my bedroom, silencing my conversation with Carter.

Turning to look at her, I saw that her dark brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun and she still wore the tank top and shorts I had given her last night. The tank top was riding a little too far up on her stomach though and showed off her oddly impressive form. Ruby always had a nice body, and she didn’t have to try that hard to have it.

She wasn’t much of an exerciser, so I was always impressed with how fit she looked.

She paused when she saw Carter sitting on the couch and staring wide-eyed at her.

“Oh, hey Carter…” she stammered over her words as her posture straightened.

“Ruby…” he said in return; his eyes shifted from hers and down her body.

Her eyes also went down her body and I thought I heard a small shriek coming from her lips as she realized what she was wearing. She struggled to get the tank top to cover her belly and she used her hands to cover herself from his viewing.

“I have more clothes in my room if you want to change,” I told her.

She gave me a grateful look before she turned and ran into my room.

Carter watched after her like he was a puppy that was just left behind. I scowled at him, wanting to slap him but it was probably not a good idea to slap a vampire. Even if he was friendly.

“Stop looking at her like that,” I scolded. “You are making her feel weird.”

He groaned and leaned back on the couch.

“I can’t help it…” he muttered. “It’s not fair…”

I sighed, knowing exactly how he felt.

“Is it okay if I stay here for a while? The sun is up, and I’d rather not get too much exposure,” he said, gazing at the window and seeing how the sun desperately wanted to shine through but was being blocked by the tightly closed drapes.

“Of course,” I said in return.

“Thanks,” he said, nudging me with his shoulder. I smiled at him. “Can we talk about how dumb you were for going into that building by the way?”

My entire body flared with heat, and I knew I was probably as red as an apple.

“I know,” I breathed. I was already blaming myself for all that had happened, I didn’t need to hear the lecture from Carter.“I won’t scold you too hard,” Carter said, sighing. “I know you are probably scolding yourself way worse than I could.”

“Where’s Joseph?” I found myself asking; it was strange that he wasn’t here with us. I figured he would be.

Carter looked down at his hand and he suddenly went very quiet; like he didn’t want to tell me something.

Carter?” I urged, raising my brows. My heart felt like it weighed a thousand pounds while I anticipated his response.

“He went home…” Carter finally answered, still not looking at me.

“He… went home?” I asked.

I could almost hear my heart-shattering in my chest.

“Did… did he come here at all to check on me?” I asked, my voice had gone hoarse.

Carter opened his mouth to respond, but Ruby was soon joining us again, stopping his words.

She was wearing one of my blue jean skirts with pink flowers stitched around the bottom hem and showed off her incredible legs. She wore a white tank top that was incredibly lacy around her breasts and a pink cardigan that matched the flowers on the skirt.

Her hair was now down and brushed; her hair was thick and expanded a little past her shoulders.

“Carter is going to be staying here for the day,” I told her, trying to keep the hurt out of my voice.

I saw her cheeks growing pink as she sat beside me on the couch.

“I didn’t hear you come in last night…” she said, clearing her throat. “You must have gotten back late.”

I nodded.

“I didn’t want to wake you,” I explained. “You were sleeping soundly.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, running her fingers through her hair. “It was the first time I didn’t have any strange—”

Her words broke as her eyes found Carter’s who sat on the other side of me. I felt like I was in the middle of an awkward sandwich.

He tensed beside me, wondering what it was she was about to say, no doubt.

“Did you have a good night last night?” She asked, staring between Carter and me.

“Yes,” Carter was quick to answer. “Tessa was a great tour guide,” he added.

“How are you feeling Ruby?” I asked, eyeing her carefully.

“The side of my stomach still hurts a bit,” she said, rubbing the side of her body. “But other than that, I’m feeling fine.”

“I’m really glad to hear that,” I said, giving her a small smile.

I glanced at the clock and saw that school would be starting soon. Dean Constance gave us some time to recover and expects us to be back on Monday. It was currently Thursday. But I knew Joseph would be arriving at school soon because he liked getting work done in his office.

I needed to see him right away.I stood up quickly, forcing Ruby to sit beside Carter. Her face instantly reddened, and she looked mortified as her leg brushed against his.

“I’m going to get dressed. I have to get something at the school,” I told them. “But I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Ruby sat frozen, staring at me with wide eyes.

“Chill Ruby; he’s not going to bite,” I told her, shaking my head. But then I realized how stupid I sounded because Carter was a vampire.

Reading my expression, Carter smirked and said, “I won’t bite.”

Ruby gave me an ‘Are you shitting me?’ look and I couldn’t help but grin at her, though my heart ached, my friend always knew how to make me smile.

“Behave,” I warned him before disappearing into my room, just before I had Ruby hissing in embarrassment.

As soon as I went into my room, I grabbed some new clothes and then went into my bathroom to take a shower and get dressed.

Once I was done getting dressed, I brushed my teeth and then brushed out my long brown hair which was still wet from my shower. I tried to think about what I was going to say to Joseph once I saw him; the only reason I was going to school was so I could confront him about his hot and cold attitude.

I still couldn’t believe that he didn’t come to see me. He didn’t even bother to check on me. My heart ached at the very thought. I thought I had meant something to him, but I was wrong.

I finished dressing in a black shirt and a white blouse that dipped between my breasts and showed off my cleavage. I pulled my hair into a low ponytail and applied only a little bit of makeup before leaving the bathroom and joining Ruby and Carter in the living room.

They were both still on the couch, but neither of them was speaking. They were both staring at the television. I wondered what held their attention so tentatively. Ruby’s eyes were glued on the screen and her mouth hung open slightly.

When I neared them, I froze when I saw that they were both watching the live broadcast of the game from last night. On the TV, next to the reporter, was Brian.

“Tessa Campbell!!! I love you, babe! I’m sorry for all that I did! I want us to start over again! I hope you can accept me back fully and we can move on from here!!!”