She Came From the Shadows (James and Tera: book 2)

25

"You sure this'll work?" I asked as I threw on one of my black sweaters.

"You'll be fine." Sage responded, laying on my bed staring up at the roof. "Who doesn't love bowling?"

"Yeah, but bowling while your girlfriend is mad at you? Doesn't that seem kind of insensitive?"

"You guys can work it out while having fun." He sat up and stretched his arms. "Believe me, it always works. Cheating guys always get forgiven."

I smirked at him with irritation. "Yeah, and I wonder WHO suggested that I cheated to her."

He shrugged. "No clue."

I sighed and, without thinking, threw on the bracelet. Her bracelet. It was the one her mother had given her, the one that started this entire relationship with Tera. I ran my finger across the cool silver.

I looked over at Sage. "Thank you." I told him.

He looked puzzled. "But I caused a lot of drama for you guys. Why thank me?"

"Because, even though you gave a lack of understanding of what was going on between Victoria and I, you still were concerned about my and Tera's relationship." His eyes turned to glass, and he looked down in shame. "You're a good friend."

He stood up and, without another word, threw an arm over me and pulled me into an embrace. I was caught off guard for a second before I returned his embrace. We stood there for a moment before he finally let go and backed away with a smirk. "Now go take your cheating ass to make up for your sins."

I rolled my eyes and turned towards the door. "Yeah, yeah."

...........................................

Tera walked out of the house wearing what seems casual but a little more 'formal': black jeans, leather boots, dark red tank top and her usual leather jacket. Her hair was shiny and straight, which told me she had showered before getting dressed. Tera despised makeup, which made it more surprising when I noticed her eyeshadow.

"Ready?" I asked.

"I'm driving." She said as she opened the door to Charles' truck. Since my Jeep was totaled he was letting us take his truck. We just needed to have it back by midnight so he could go to work. He had a nightshift tonight. I got into the passenger seat as she cranked up and backed out of the driveway.

We were headed towards an old bowling alley outside of town. It was about a mile outside of Pinehill, a place that had been open for decades. It was hooked onto an arcade as well, which was popular in the day. I wondered if it still got as much business as the bowling alley part did.

The drive was silent halfway. We both were focused on the road. I wanted to talk to her but I couldn't. I couldn't find the words or think of anything to do. I hadn't ever really been in a relationship before, so I didn't have any experience in situations like these.

She was the one to break the silence. "We got research on the guys that took you." She told me as she kept her eyes on the road. "Three guys with histories of hate crimes and associations with different organizations. More like cultists."

"Must have been against LGBTQs." Since the one I had fought was against Sage and Leo, and the group couldn't have been racist since the one who had cut me was black.

She nodded. "Because of this little incident, our score with that vampire kid is settled." She turned onto the road that the alley was on. "He got a story placed and the bodies of the guys were taken care of."

We pulled into the parking lot of the bowling alley. The big light-up sign read in purple letters Hilltop Alley. Tera had found a parking spot near the back because the parking lot was filled up. It was the weekend so there were a load of people coming here. Teens out of school and adults out of work.