Leaderless

Chapter 3: the rocks

As Jonathan Ford exited his last class for the day, he immediately called his sister. He wanted to tell her about the new guy he met during his tax lecture. He was funny and sweet and charming. His name was Luke and he had just transferred from New York.

"What's up?" Rae asked.

"Well," he said, "I met a guy!"

"WAIT WHAT!"

"Okay so," he began, "his name is Luke and he's really sweet and charming and I may or may not have invited him to come with us to Rocks today..."

He heard her scream over the phone, "That's amazing Jon. I'm so happy for you. How about we meet you at Rocks a little earlier than planned and you can tell us about him? Antoni is here with me and he's not gonna take no for an answer. Also, Ashleigh invited someone too."

Jonathan smiled, "Yeah sure that sounds great."

Before he knew it, he arrived at Rocks. Rocks was basically his pack's hangout. It was on the green point promenade (the picture is in the places chapter). It was essentially a very chilled bar and restaurant. It had a vintage  vibe and the music was always loud enough to cover any conversations that shouldn't be overheard.

When he walked in, Rae and Antoni had already settled in their favorite corner. He couldn't help but notice how good Antoni looked in the low lightening of the Rocks. He quickly shook his head. He once thought him and Antoni stood a chance, but after the massacre no one was ready to open their hearts. And then what they had sort of just fizzled away.

Never the less, he was happy when Antoni quickly got up and pulled him into a hug.

"What's up Jon?" he asked after pulling away. Jonathan smiled shyly and looked down. He has accepted that Antoni would always make him feel a little nervous.

"Ok come on," Rae started as Antoni and Jonathan took their seats, "You need to tell us more about this mystery guy you've invited."

"Yeah," Antoni said, "who is he? What's his name? What's he like? Are we sure he's human?"

Jonathan laughed, "His name is Luke. He's very charming and quite the sweet talker. And he's either human or very good at hiding his scent."

"Well ok then," Rae said, "we just need to be sure about him."

Jonathan shook his head, his sister was always so overprotective over the pack. A classic hunter.

"By the way," Jonathan said trying to change the subject, "who's this guy Ashleigh invited?"

Rae shrugged, "I don't know. Ashleigh just texted me and said she adopted a lost dude and that he'd be joining us."

Instantly Jonathan got defensive, "So Ashleigh can invite a random guy to come join us but I can't?"

Before they would continue, Ashleigh arrived with the new guy. Jonathan huffed and tried to look annoyed. But he could practically smell the fear coming from the guy.

He was good looking. With jet black hair and grey eyes. He wore ripped black jeans and black top. Simple.

But at the same time, he was almost shaking. He seemed confused as to what to do. Ashleigh had undoubtedly forced him to come.

When he looked at Ashleigh again, Rae had pulled her into a hug. He was grateful for Ashleigh. She was one of the few people who understood Rae. The two of them were undoubtedly best friends for life.

He stood up and give Ashleigh a quick hug too as Rae began questioning the new guy.

"So," she said as Ashleigh motioned for him to sit next it her, "What's your name?"

He refused to meet her eyes but said, "Spencer."

"Well Spencer," she said, leaning back and looking oddly intimidating, "what are you studying?"

"Medicine," he answered quickly. Still refusing so meet anyone's eyes. It was odd. Usually people make eye contact for at least a second. If he didn't know better, Jonathan would have thought that Spencer was a low ranking pack member.

"Oh so that's how you met Ash," Antoni interjected. He had taken to moving so that he was laying back against the booth with his legs over Rae.

"It is indeed," Spencer responded, "she helped me find my class."

From there Spencer and Antoni started speaking about classes for a while until a waitress came to take our orders.

Once everyone ordered, Spencer felt brave enough to ask a question.

"So," he said, "what are you guys studying?"

Antoni answered first, "Well Rae and I are studying law."

Rae nodded and pushed Antoni's legs off of her.

Jonathan rolled his eyes fondly and said, "I'm studying a Bcom. Business with an accounting major."

"Same as me!"

For a split second it felt like time had stopped. Spencer felt his entire body tense up. His brother had walked in and had come right up to table he was at. He didn't understand. What was Luke doing here?

To Spencer's horror, Jonathan immediately got up and introduced Luke to everyone. They all smiled and greeted him like he was a decent human being.

When Jonathan got to introducing Spencer, Luke stopped him.

"Spencer? I didn't expect to see you here," he said.

"You two know each other?" Ashleigh asked.

"Yeah," Luke said, sitting down next to Jonathan, "he's my brother."

"You didn't tell us that you had a brother studying here too," Ashleigh said, playfully hitting Spencer on the shoulder.

He just shrugged in response, "Didn't come up."

"Well," Luke said, "why don't you say hi to me Spencer?"

Spencer tensed and quickly tried to pretend to be happy to see his brother, "Hey Luke."

Luke shot him a sick smile, "Well that's better."

And just like that, any sense of Luke being anything other than a loving brother was gone. The others really seemed to like him. Except for Antoni. Who for some reason barely acknowledged his existence.

Spencer was kind of happy about that though, it meant he could spent the evening talking to Antoni and sometimes Rae when she and Ashleigh weren't huddled together.

But out the corner of his eye, Spencer couldn't help but see Jonathan and Luke talking. He wanted to warn Jonathan that Luke wasn't the kind hearted guy he pretended to be, but he knew that doing so would practically be suicide.

So instead he tried to focus on the conversion, which has drifted to areas around Cape Town.

"What about you Spencer?" Ashleigh asked.

"I don't know," he answered, "I've kinda only been here for a week...."

"Oh yeah!" Antoni said, "I forgot about that. Well then we need to show you around the city some time."

"Yeah," Spencer answered, "that would be fun."

Antoni nodded and then made Rae and Spencer swop seats so that he could put his feet up without anyone complaining.

They didn't stay out very late. But Spencer really enjoyed it.

The group of friends appeared to act very much like a pack, sitting close together and always having some kind of physical connection. But he was okay with that. Since Luke made him leave the old pack with him, he hadn't had any positive contact in a while. It felt nice to be in their little bubble. With Antoni's legs over his and Ashleigh's hair on his shoulder.

But every time he looked over and saw Jonathan and Luke in deep conversation, he couldn't help the spark of dread that ignited in him.

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Well, I hope you guys liked that :)

Next update will be on Sunday :) tell me what you think of Spencer? Or Jonathan and Luke's relationship...