My Brother's Beta » Teen Wolf

thirty

I decide to call Liam back when I get home. I accidentally cheat a little, and start dialing him on my front step.

Ring, ring. "Hey, Jess."

"Hey, you called me earlier?" I say, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear and entering my front door.

"Oh, yeah."

"Sorry, I was at Derek's." I tell him.

"It wasn't important. Just wanted to talk to you." His voice sounds small.

"Oh," I respond. I look around, coming to the conclusion that Scott left, seeing that his keys are gone and all the lights are off.

"Why were you at Derek's?" Liam asks.

I sit down on my couch. "Him and Braeden were training me. Just knives and stuff."

"Cool,"

"Yep," I respond. This small talk is killing me.

I hear him take a shaky breath through the phone. "Jess, I have, like this feeling. That something bad's going to happen soon. I don't know why."

The sudden drop of seriousness makes my stomach turn. "Bad like what?"

"I-I don't know. I'm having like hallucinations. And I can't sleep."

I breathe in. "Well, the dead pool is just about over. I don't think we should be worried about that anymore."

"Jess, I'm not sure. Something's wrong."

"Just stop thinking about it. Rest up for your game on Tuesday."

"Okay. I'll try." He says, and hangs up. Not even a goodbye. See you Monday, I guess.

I stand up from the couch and go to turn all the lights on. Normally, I would love being home alone like this. But today, it feels a little eerie.

I walk over to the bottom of the stairs, and crouch down. I run my finger over the mark in the floor that Scott's head left all those years ago.

My blood runs cold to think of my father being in this house again.

Suddenly, I hear soft footsteps echoing on the front stairs just outside. I have little time to move.

Whack! The door slams into the side of my head with such force that I am whipped back to the ground. Pain explodes my my skull.

"Jess!" Someone yells, but their voice is too murky for me to decipher who it is.

They hunch down over my body, and I get a whiff of day-old cologne, mint, and... Red Bull?

"Stiles? " I whimper, squinting my eyes open and rubbing my head.

"Jess, I'm so sorry." He stumbles to apologize. Why is this boy always in this house?

Stiles grabs my arm and helps me up, but everything is still buzzing.

His sight on me lingers for an extra second. "Why were you on the floor?"

Our gazes simultaneously travel down to the dent in the floor, blatant right in front of my left foot.

"Jess," Stiles shakes his head. "Did you overhear Scott and me talking last night?"