by Mia Rose
Chapter 4
Meeting Place
“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Doctor.”
Noelle laid in bed and enjoyed being pampered by Edmund. Traditionally, she’d have taken issues with people making such a fuss over her, but it seemed that he liked to say. And he was a doctor and he knew best.
He walked in and handed her a large glass of water (no ice because warm water was better for her right now). He smiled as he climbed into the bed next to her.
“It’s getting late,” Noelle said. “Don’t you have to go into work?”
“No,” Edmund said, looking down at his watch, “but I do have to get to a date.” Noelle choked on her water, and Edmund reached over and rubbed her back very softly.
“A date?” Noelle asked, bewildered.
“Yes.” Edmund smiled. “A date with a woman that I met at the hospital.”
“Oh!” Noelle laughed, understanding his intentions. “You mean me.”
Edmund pulled his eyebrows together for a moment in confusion. “What?”
Noelle studied his expression and she said slowly, “A date? You mean a date with me?”
“Oh!” Edmund laughed. “I can see how you thought that, but I’m sorry, no. I mean with another woman.”
Wow, this is just going from bad to worse, Noelle thought to herself.
“Are you serious, right now?” Noelle asked him.
“Yes, Noelle, I am being serious. This isn’t going to be a problem, is it?”
“I mean, I guess I’m just a little confused. I thought that you liked me?” Noelle wanted to slap herself because she sounded like a whiny little school girl.
“I do like you, Noelle. But I made these plans before I knew any of this was going to happen. And I’m not the type of person who breaks promises. You can understand that, can’t you?”
“I guess so,” Noelle mumbled, sounding as petulant as ever.
Edmund smiled and stood up from his spot on her bed, “Besides, you need rest. In the morning, you will feel brand new. Trust me!” He reached over to Noelle and planted a small kiss on her lips before leaving her room.
Noelle was left alone in her room, unable to move due to her injuries and unable to speak from being so shocked at him going on a date. She stared after him and wondered who exactly this woman was that he was going on a date with. He’d met her in the hospital he’d said, so what did that mean? He tried to date all of his patients? The more Noelle thought about it, the more worked up she became. She couldn’t believe that only hours before she was thinking about how lovely it would feel… to fall in love with a fellow hunter.
What did she really know about this man? Nothing other than that he was a doctor and claimed to be a hunter. He had said there might be enough time to save her family, but offered no more information as to how they could do that, or when exactly that window would close. Instead of staying with Noelle and coming up with a plan together, he chose to go on a date with some nobody. Another woman.
Noelle’s heart was picking up and she could feel the pressure building in her head. She closed her eyes and willed herself to fall asleep so that she could just forget about this madness for a few peaceful hours.
Within minutes, she had fallen into a sweet slumber. She stood on the top of a green hill and looked down at a large wooded area beneath her. She could see smoke billowing from one section of the woods, but it filled her with a sense of pure joy instead of trepidation. Arms wrapped around her waist and she turned her head to see Edmund standing behind her.
“We did it,” he whispered into her ear. “We killed them all.”
Declan sat down on the couch and pulled his laptop across his lap. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted to find out, but he did know that he wanted to research the doctor who claimed to have a cure for silver.
He closed his eyes and remembered how excited Aria was to be included in the mission. She had done such a great job going undercover at the hospital. All so they could find out if this was the man they’d been looking for. Lucky for them, it was him.
Declan pushed his computer to the side and laid himself down on the couch, pushing all of the pillows off. He heard a small noise and looked down to find that a small black agenda book had fallen. He picked it up and flipped the book open to the first page, it read, “Property of Aria Richardson.”
This is Aria’s little black book? Declan thought to himself. He flipped through the pages and saw little notes and scribbles throughout the pages reminding her about coffee dates and movie marathon plans. All of them had one thing in common —Cassidy.
Declan shook his head and turned to the date for today. If you were still here, what plans did you have today, Aria? There was a small heart and inside it said, “Date with Dr. Stone at 9:00 pm. Meet at Shirley’s Steakhouse.”
Date with Doctor Stone? Was she serious? Declan could feel his pulse quicken as he felt himself give into his anger. How could she make plans to go on dates with other people when she was so adamant about being with him?
He looked down at his watch and saw that it was eight forty-five pm. If he left now, he might be able to catch Doctor Stone. Declan looked down at the book again and a thought occurred to him —maybe she was continuing her spy work. Maybe this wasn’t a “date” at all, but her idea of helping Declan. It was a possible explanation.
He smiled at the thought and grabbed his car keys off the kitchen counter. When Declan opened the door, he saw the red-haired woman standing there.
“Hey Alpha!” she called out.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” Declan asked.
“Well, we were… Tom, you ask him.”
“Okay,” Tom said, “we were just kind of, uh, wondering, you know man, we’re kind of hungry.”
“Okay?” Declan responded. He looked at the two of them closely.
“Yeah, so we were just wondering if maybe, we could go on a hunt?”
“Sure, just go to the north woods tonight. Deal?”
“Yeah, deal!” Tom said, smiling from ear to ear.
“See?” The girl high-fived Tom. “I told you he’s totally cool again.”
Declan laughed to himself as he locked the door behind him and headed down the stairs. Looking at his watch he saw it was eight fifty-three pm. He could only hope that Doctor Stone was still there by the time he arrived.
Declan drove like a mad man over to Shirley’s Steakhouse. On a good day with no traffic it would take him about thirty minutes to get there. He pulled in at nine eighteen pm. He handed his keys to the valet realizing (too little too late) that he was dressed overly casually for the place.
He walked up to the hostess and said, “Hello, I am supposed to meet with Doctor Edmund Stone.”
The hostess was not shy about looking him over. She may not have approved of his wardrobe, but it was perfectly clear that Declan’s looks were winning her over pretty quickly.
“I’m not supposed to let you in without a jacket,” she said.
“I won’t tell anyone if you break the rules.” Declan smiled and winked and the girl blushed visibly under his gaze.
She paused to take him all in and then grabbed a menu for him and told him to follow her. He saw the doctor sitting at a table alone, but he came across as one of those people who didn’t mind being alone at all.
Declan sat down across from him and took the menu from the young woman. Doctor Stone said, “Um, hi, can I help you? I am waiting for someone.”
“Aria is dead,” Declan said, straight-faced. “She was killed last night.”
“Oh my —I’m so sorry. I didn’t even know…” the doctor trailed off. He noticed that Declan was studying him. “And you are?”
“Sorry.” Declan reached out his hand. “My name is Declan. I was a close friend of Aria’s.”
“I see. I’m very sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you,” Declan said, still watching the doctor’s face.
“Well, I guess that puts an end to tonight’s festivities.
Thank you for telling me. I suppose this is better than feeling like I got stood up.”
“My friend’s death is better than feeling like you were stood up?” Declan said, surprised by his words.
“No, not at all. That’s not what I meant, I…”
“I’m just messing with you.” Declan smiled. “But please sit down, I’d love to chat with you if you have some time.”
The doctor looked slightly awkward. “I mean, I should really be…”
“It was silver,” Declan cut him off.
“What?”
“It was silver that killed Aria. She was shot with a silver bullet and her body just started decomposing right there and then.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m following.”
“Oh, I think you are, Doctor,” Declan said. “You are Doctor Edmund Stone. The same one who attended Boulder College. The same Doctor Stone who was kicked out of school for research studies on the effects of silver on animals. Am I right?”
Edmund sat down in his chair and glanced nervously around the room. He looked at Declan and nodded slightly.
Declan smiled and said, “Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Doctor.”
Noelle woke up in the middle of the night feeling anxious. She checked her phone and saw that it was only one thirty-two am. She also noticed (with painful awareness) that there were no notifications. That meant neither Declan or Edmund had tried to reach out to her.
She wasn’t necessarily surprised not to have heard from Declan —she’d been pretty harsh to him and he probably had a lot of cleaning up to do. Maybe, it was up to her to reach out to him. As soon as the thought came into her mind, she wiped it aside. She may have been harsh, but she was honest with him when she’d said that nothing would be happening between them anymore.
Not hearing from Edmund, however, sent a sick feeling that settled uneasily in her stomach. She sat up and hung her legs over the side of her bed. What the hell is wrong with you, Noelle?
She stood up and walked toward the bathroom —it wasn’t until she was halfway there that she realized she was walking with little to no pain. She touched her abdomen, and to her surprise, there was a dull pain leftover, but nothing nearly as debilitating as before.
She looked around the house to see if everything was in the correct order just to make sure she wasn’t still dreaming. She had no idea how she’d healed so quickly, but she had one suspicion —Edmund.
Noelle went back into her room and found the number that he’d put there earlier. She dialed it and it rang twice before it was sent to voicemail. He sent me to voicemail. That can only mean one thing, Noelle thought.
She struggled to remove the picture of a naked Edmund lying next to some other woman, kissing her fingertips as tenderly as he had done to hers, not all that earlier.
Noelle groaned and went to her room to change into jeans and a simple black tank top that cut into a deep v in the front. If Edmund could be with another woman, then she was going to find herself a man to be with. Especially now that she was in tip top shape.
She pulled on her knee-high leather boots and grabbed her car keys before she realized that her car was still totaled. She would have to call a cab. She dialed the number for a local taxi agency and the man arrived a short ten minutes later, honking to announce his presence.
“Yeah, don’t worry, it’s only two in the morning, I’m sure no one is sleeping,” Noelle said to no one.
She locked her door and headed down the front steps to the waiting car. Climbing into the back seat of the car, she told the driver to take her to the closest bar. He lifted his eyebrows but said nothing as he put the car into drive and backed out of the driveway.
Fifteen minutes later, the taxi pulled into a small place called G’s Spot. “Is this a strip club?” Noelle asked. The driver shrugged his shoulders and Noelle handed him a twenty and stepped out of the car.
She walked inside and sure enough, there were topless women walking all over the place. Some were carrying trays of shots and others were flirting shamelessly. Many were offering lap dances to anyone who might accept.
Noelle took a seat at the bar and ordered a dry martini. She sat there and sipped at her drink, instantly regretting her choice to leave home. Part of her wanted to call the taxi driver back and ask him to take her back home. Another part of her wanted so desperately to prove that she wasn’t going to stay home alone, pining over Edmund.
A man sidled up to her, his breath reeked of cheap alcohol as he asked, “Hey! Do you come here often?”
“Seriously?” Noelle asked. “That’s the best you can do?” The man laughed and reached for her hand, but she pulled it away, instinctively.
He looked at her and for a moment, he looked angry, but he just shrugged and walked away, leaving her alone at the bar again.
“That’s Larry,” one of the girls said as she walked up to Noelle, holding a tray of shots. “The girls here, we call him Lousy Larry because he always has the worst pickup lines, but he’s a nice guy once you get over the smell.”
Noelle smiled at the girl and took in her tiny bikini top —two miniature triangles that looked like they were pasted over her nipples, coupled with a G-string bottom.
“I don’t know how you do it,” Noelle said. “How in the hell do you put up with guys like that every night?”
“It pays the bills, honey. I go to school during the day. I’m studying to be a pharmacy technician. So far, I’m debt free, so I have to believe that at the end of the day, all of this will be worth it.”
“Wow,” Noelle said, truly impressed. “What’s your name?”
“The girls call me Star.” The woman laughed. “But you can call me Sarah.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Sarah.”
“You too, um…”
“Noelle.” Noelle put out her hand and Sarah took it in hers. The women smiled at each other.
“So, why are you here tonight, Noelle?”
“Oh, you know, men problems I guess.” Noelle tried to laugh, but it sounded forced.
“Ah, yeah, I know that one all too well. Well I hope whatever guy screwed you over gets his in the end.”
“He will,” Noelle said, taking another sip of her drink. When the words came out of her mouth, she couldn’t decide whether she’d been talking about Declan or Edmund.
“Well, I got to go finish passing out these shots. Once this tray is empty, I get to go home. Yay me! I have a huge exam tomorrow, so it’s going to be an all-nighter for me.” Sarah smiled as she left Noelle at the bar alone.
Noelle felt bad for judging some of the women so harshly, most of them were there because they needed to be, not because they enjoyed it. Essentially, they were trying to make ends meet.
The bartender moved over to Noelle and asked if she would like another drink, so Noelle ordered one more. Suddenly, her phone started vibrating in her purse. She reached in and saw that Edmund was calling her. She sent it straight to voicemail. The phone vibrated again, but this time she had a new voicemail waiting for her.
“Hey, Noelle. It’s me, Edmund. Sorry if you’re sleeping! I saw that you had called and wanted to call you back so you didn’t have to worry. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye!”
“Worry?” Noelle said out loud to no one. She laughed as she pushed the call back button.
“Hello?” Edmund answered on the second ring.
“Hi, Edmund. That’s really so considerate of you that you didn’t want me to worry.” Noelle realized that she was tipsy, but she was also upset and hurt. Not only at Edmund, but at everything going on in her life. So, unfortunately for him, he was the closest punching bag.
“Noelle?” he asked. “Where are you? It’s really loud.”
“Yeah, you know, I decided that I feel so much better, I guess I owe you some thanks for that. I wanted to celebrate. And since you had that date tonight, well I decided to try to go on a date too.” She laughed and then took a big gulp of her drink.
“Noelle, wh
ere are you?” he asked.
“A strip club.” She giggled.
“Which one? What’s the name?” he questioned.
“I’m not telling you,” Noelle said, trying hard to keep from giggling. “You hurt my feelings today when you decided to go out with another woman.”
“Yes, well, that didn’t happen.”
“What do you mean it didn’t happen?” she asked, feeling slightly dizzy.
“She didn’t show up. Look, where are you? I can come and pick you up.”
“No, thank you very much,” Noelle scoffed, “I’m having a wonderful time here by myself and I don’t feel like going home just yet.”
“Noelle, come on. I’ll pick you up, it’s not a big deal.”
“You’re not my fucking savior,” Noelle said. She looked at her phone and pressed the end call button.
Edmund tried calling her again, but she ignored it. He called again, but she ignored it. She tucked her phone away inside of her purse. When she looked up at the bartender the world swayed a bit. She stood up from her chair leaving some money on the counter, and walked outside into the fresh air.
“Shit,” Noelle said to herself, “how the hell am I drunk right now?” Somewhere nearby, Noelle heard a muffled cry. She heard people muttering and she walked around the corner to see what was happening.
She saw Sarah on the ground, her face bloody. She saw Larry standing over her, struggling to pull down his pants without falling over.
Sarah’s eyes locked with Noelle’s and she heard Sarah say faintly, “Run.”
Noelle felt all the anger over the past few days quell up inside of her and she marched right up to the sick bastard and yelled out, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing to this woman?”
Larry turned, shocked and reached inside of his pocket, but Noelle responded before he could pull out his weapon. She punched him straight in his jaw and sent him stumbling backward. Noelle reached down for Sarah’s hands and pulled her to her feet. She swayed slightly.
“Are you alright, Sarah? Did he hurt you?” Noelle asked.
“No, he didn’t… you saved me.”