An Eye For An Eye

Soixante-Cinq

Jack kept his eye on the doors and on the stairs as we moved the last things from my apartment. We moved everything we could, any boxes, the guns left under my bed. Thankfully, Jack dealt with those, I couldn’t even bear looking at them.

At one point, Mark Hampton walked past while Jack was carrying some ornaments I had to the car. They’d belonged to Mom. Mark gave Jack a look as he walked outside to the car and I stood in the doorway to the apartment.
“Moving out?” asked Mark.
I nodded. “Yeah,” I said. “My friend’s helping me with some stuff.”
“Yeah, tall guy, isn’t he?” said Mark as he smiled at Jack as he walked back in. I nodded again. “Wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of his punches.” Mark gave an awkward laugh before heading outside.

As soon as the doors shut and he was out of sight, Jack and I exchanged a look and we headed into the apartment and shut the door. He pressed his back against the door and I sat on the arm of the couch.

“He hasn’t spoken to you before?” asked Jack with raised eyebrows.
I shook my head. “No, he hasn’t. He’s the one I followed.”
“And he saw you,” Jack muttered. “It’s certainly weird.”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding in agreement. “I have the feeling it’s not a coincidence.”
“How much stuff’s left?” he asked. I had the feeling we both wanted to leave the apartment building behind and get back to Deuc’s house as quickly as possible.
“Not much.”

I grabbed a few things that were left and Jack kept an eye out, in case Mark decided to return. I locked my apartment and then we headed out to the car. The trunk was packed with boxes and I could only hope none of my ornaments broke as we drove back.

It didn’t take too long to carry the things from the car to the hallway, where I could move them upstairs or out of the way later on.

“How did things go?” asked Deuc as I shut the door.
“Mostly okay, Mark decided to talk to us though,” I said. As I passed by, I kissed his cheek and headed to the kitchen to make Jack a cup of coffee.
“Yeah, pretty suspicious. Said he wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of one of my punches,” said Jack as he crossed his arms. I started making the coffee, glancing over my shoulder at the two of them.
“Neither would I,” said Deuc with a chuckle. “But that is strange.”

“And he did know I was following him the other day, I’m sure of it,” I said as I poured the hot water into the mug.
“I think it’s safe to assume that he did notice,” said Deuc as he nodded. Jack walked over to the kitchen, standing in the doorway between the hallway and the kitchen.

When his coffee was made, Jack uncrossed his arms and held it.
“It’s probably good that I went with her,” said Jack. “Tash wasn’t happy but she never is lately.”
“Yes, it’s noticeable,” said Deuc. Jack’s eyes widened.
“It is?”
“Yeah,” I said, giving an awkward laugh. “She keeps looking annoyed at you, at one point neither of you seemed to want to be near each other.”

Jack sighed. “She’s upset over… well, over Liza still. She doesn’t want me helping but if us two and her are the fighters and she’s not going to help… well, it’s probably not good to have the Alpha there, is it?” Jack gulped half of his coffee in one go and I was admittedly surprised at it. But I had the feeling another reason Jack helped instead of Deuc was because of the relatively recent blinding that everyone seemed to avoid mentioning around him.
“No, it wouldn’t be,” said Deuc as he walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. “I’m glad nothing’s happened though.”

Jack drank the rest of the coffee in another large gulp and thanked me for it before handing me the mug and leaving with a promise of seeing them soon.

“I really am glad you are okay,” Deuc said as he pulled me closer to him.
“So am I,” I said. The interaction with Mark could have gone far worse than it had done. “How have you been while we’ve been out?”
“I’ve been fine, I was listening to those audiobooks again,” he said. I smiled, glad he liked them. “I don’t think there’s many left that I haven’t listened to now though.”
“That’s true,” I sighed. Maybe he could learn Braille, I knew there were books in Braille and he might be able to learn it quicker with the enhanced werewolf senses.

“Also…” I said, taking a deep breath and putting on the most innocent look I could manage. I still had the empty mug that Jack had drunk coffee from in my hands. “How do you feel about Halloween decorations?”
“Halloween decorations?” he repeated slowly. He seemed a little confused. “Why?”
“Well, I found some under my bed in my apartment and I was thinking that maybe I could put them up or something?” I asked. Hopefully he said yes. “I know we probably won’t get many trick-or-treaters since we’re kind of secluded here but… I don’t know, it’s Halloween soon?”

He chuckled. “Is that your best reason?”
“Well…” I couldn’t think of anything, not immediately. “Yes?”
“As long as I’m not going to fall over anything, I don’t see why not,” he said with a smile. I kissed him.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “You’re the best.” He just chuckled and I kissed him again before moving to put the mug in the kitchen.