Chapter 114

Judy’s POV

Gavin wanted to take me out tonight. He texted me to tell me to be ready by a certain time and I was more than eager to go out with him. After I left the kitchen this morning, I went straight to my room to take a long bath. I needed to clear my head and wash away all the negative thoughts that had collected in my mind.

I tried calling Nan a few times this morning, but now her phone was turned off and it was going straight to voicemail. I even sent her a couple of text messages, but they remained unopened. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest; I hated that she was going through this. I hated that Chester was putting her through this.

I knew I would see her at school tomorrow, but I needed to know now that she was okay. As I stepped out of the tub and grabbed a towel, I wrapped it around my body. I pulled the plug to the drain so the water would go down and then I turned to look in the mirror. It looked as if I hadn’t slept in days. I sighed; it was going to take a lot to make me presentable for my date with Gavin tonight.

There was a knock on my bedroom door, and I quickly spun on my heel and hurried out of the bathroom. There was a part of me that hoped it was Nan, even though I knew it wasn’t likely. I pulled the door open, and I stood surprised to see Harper standing at the doorway. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her nose was pink; it was clear she had been crying and my heart tugged at her as well.

I didn’t know Harper all that well; since my time here, she had been a good maid and started to slowly become my friend. However, I found Chester to be more my friend than Harper. But that didn’t mean I wanted her to be hurting as well.

“Hey, Harper…” I said, uncertainty filling my tone. “Are you okay?”

She wiped at her damp eyes and forced an obviously fake smile.

“Yeah, sorry,” she said softly. “I was just seeing if you needed anything. Sorry, I haven’t been super tentative lately.”

I shook my head, waiving off her concern.

“You don’t need to worry about it, Harper,” I assured her. “It’s honestly okay. But I’m worried about you. Yesterday was really rough…”

“I’m okay…” she said quickly. “I think I could just use a distraction.”

I thought about it for a moment, and then I smiled.

“Well, I have an idea,” I told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her into my room, shutting the door behind us. She looked startled and stumbled over her feet for a second, it made me laugh. “I have a date tonight.”

She winced at my words, and I realized she probably didn’t want to think about dating or anything like that.

“Well, it’s kind of a date. Gavin and I aren’t exactly dating… it’s complicated,” I told her.

Harper’s expression softened and she nodded.

“I can understand complicated,” she told me.

“I figured you could,” I told her. “But I haven’t seen him in a few days, and he wants to spend the night with me. I want to make myself look hot for him but I’m kind of torn. I look like I haven’t slept in years.”

She studied me for a moment and then a smile tipped the corner of her lips.

“I wasn’t going to say anything, but yeah. You kind of look like crap,” she teased.

I frowned at her and narrowed my eyes.

“You are one ot talk,” I teased right back.

Her cheeks grew red from embarrassment, and I nudged her with my shoulder.

“I’m kidding,” I assured her. “I get it. Honestly, I think we could both use the distraction.”

“You think I can help you get dressed for your not date?” She asked.

I laughed at her choice of words and nodded.

“You have incredible style and I’m honestly jealous of how well you can do your own makeup. I was wondering if you could maybe do that for me?”

She lit up at my words and nodded eagerly.

“Yes, I can do that. That’s actually the perfect distraction. I wanted to be a makeup artist for a long time,” she admitted.

I frowned.

“Why didn’t you?”

She shrugged.

“School costs a lot of money and I don’t have that kind of money yet. That’s why I’m working here… so I can earn enough to put myself through school,” she told me.

I understood that better than anyone. It made me respect Harper that much more.

“I get it,” I told her. “That’s kind of why I tutor Matthew. I’m putting myself through school too.”

She raised her brows.

“You are?” She asked. “What’s your major?”

“Combat and defense,” I told her. “I’m doing Gamma warrior training.”

“That explains why you train Matthew in combat,” she said thoughtfully.

I nodded.

“What makes you want to be a gamma warrior?” She asked.

“I want to protect the werewolf Kingdom,” I admitted. “I’ve always wanted better for our kind. I’m even more determined since something terrible happened to my family recently. I want to be able to protect them from anything ever happening again.”

She looked like she was about to ask me further questions about what I meant; I was hoping she wouldn’t though. I didn’t want to get into it and my family issues were not something to gossip about. She seemed to be able to read that on my face though because she closed her mouth and nodded.

I let out a breath of relief, grateful that she chose to keep her questions to herself.

She grabbed a dress that I left for myself on the bed, and she held it up.

“Were you planning on wearing this?” She asked, crinkling her nose.

“Well, I was thinking about it,” I said, frowning.

She shook her head.

“This isn’t good enough. You need something hotter. Let me dig through your closet and see what else you got,” she said.

After an hour of rummaging through my entire wardrobe, she finally found a cute little outfit she wanted me to wear. It was a little bit too revealing for my taste and I only had it because Nan insisted on me buying it during one of our many shopping sprees trips a long time ago. I never wore it though and truthfully; I wasn’t planning on it. But Harper insisted that this was the dress I needed to wear for my not date with Gavin.

“You can wear a sweater,” she suggested with a cheeky smile.

I couldn’t help but laugh and agree with her that the dress would be fine.

For the next several hours, I let Harper fuss over my hair and makeup. By the time she finished, I barely recognized myself. I gawked at myself in the mirror; I was like a completely different person.

“Woah…” I breathed.

Harper giggled.

“You look hot,” she said, leaning her head against my shoulder. “I’ve outdone myself I do say so myself.”

I nodded, agreeing.

“You certainly did, Harper,” I breathed. “You are going to kick as once you get to beauty school.”

She beamed at my words and took a steady step away from me.

“Well, I guess my work here is done,” she said, glancing at her watch, and then her eyes grew wide. “I hadn’t realized we spent the entire day in this room.”

I looked at the clock as well and gasped. She was right; we literally spent the entire day in this room. I didn’t realize it would take so long to get dressed for this not date. I grabbed my phone to check my messages and saw that there was none. I was hoping Nan would have called me back by now.

Harper noticed my worried frown and her brows pinched together.

“What’s wrong?” She asked. “The Alpha hasn’t called?”

I shook my head.

“He’s going to pick me up in like 30 minutes,” I told her. “It’s not that. It’s Nan. I can’t get a hold of her. I haven’t spoken to her since she left yesterday.”

Harper looked crushed for a moment as she wrapped her arms around her body.

“Oh,” she murmured. “That girl who walked in on us last night?”

I nodded and looked up to see her folding in on herself.

“I’m sorry, Harper. I don’t mean to bring her up right now. But she’s my best friend and I’m worried about her.”

She nodded and bit her lower lip.

“Can I ask a question?” She asked. “I was too afraid to ask earlier… but I think I need to know the truth.”

“Of course, you can tell me anything,” I told her.

“Is Nan sleeping with Chester? Is that why things were weird yesterday?”

My chest tightened from her question, and I sighed. I didn’t want to lie to her, but I also knew this wasn’t my story to tell.

“You might want to talk to Chester about this…” I told her.

“I tried. He won’t speak to me,” she told me, tears filling her eyes. “Please, Judy. I need ot know the truth. She’s your best friend so you have to know.”

I sighed and looked away from her for a moment.

“They aren’t sleeping together,” I assured her. “But they are mates… “

She let out a breath and stepped backward.

“Oh, goddess…” she whispered hoarsely. “That’s almost worse.”

Tears spilled out of her eyes quickly and I suddenly felt awful for telling her this.

“Harper… I’m sorry. Wait!” I tried to get her to calm down, but it was too late. She burst into an angry fit of tears and ran out of my room.

I was about to follow her, but then my phone started to ring. I quickly grabbed it and glanced at the screen, smiling when I saw Gavin’s name.

I swiped the green talk button and pressed the phone to my ear.

“Hey,” I said lightly.

“Hey…” he said softly… his voice filled with regret. It made my chest cave in, and my heart fell into my stomach.

I knew this conversation wasn’t going to make me happy.