Chapter 102

Avery’s pov I felt a harsh tug, and a loud car horn as it sped close to me. It’s only when a stranger yells. “What the hell were you thinking!?” Did I realize I had been in the middle of the road, staring into the distance where he drove away.

I looked at the stranger who helped me out of harm’s way and gave an awkward smile. “Thank you.”

His brows pinched and his lips lined. “Do you have a death wish girl?” He let me go, nervously looking at the road and me as if I would step on into the traffic any second now.

Death wish?

I shook my head, told him thank you again and rush to the dorm building. As I move through the building to my room I cannot help but replay the moment I had with Xade not just ten minutes ago.

His bleeding nose. His eyes, they had changed. I know they had. They were strange. A very strange color. And wild. Beast like. Animal like. Wolf…like.

A shiver race up my spine at the memory, goosebumps rising on my skin. He seemed more animal than human, but even so….I had not been afraid. His aura was calming, his touch was, home.

But his words, why did they feel as if he was telling me goodbye?

Why did it feel as if that kiss had been our last?

Our last taste?

Our last feel?

My heart hurt. I don’t understand. The mystery around him was growing and it wasn’t getting easier to crack the code. As I reach the room, it’s empty no sight of Melissa who had gone from my friend to a foe. I couldn’t confined in her.

I collapse on the bed, reaching for my phone. I dialed the only number I knew which brought comfort to me. My mom. She answered on the second ring, her voice breathy as though she had raced to answer the phone.

“Mom,” I turned on my back, staring up at the ceiling as worry chew at No exchange of numbers, I wasn’t even sure he lived in the boy’s dorm. I didn’t think he’d go back to the gym too. There was no way I could get a hold of him.

“Hey peanut,” mom chirped happily. “If I’m breathing heavily in your ear it’s because I had been in the garden.”

I grinned. Mom and her gardens. “How have you been Mom? It’s been a while no?”

“It has,” she replied. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” I admit, my voice soft and frail which mom picked up on instantly. A lump grows in my throat.

“What’s wrong?” She questioned urgently. “What’s on your mind?”

I sighed. There was no way to avoid her questioning, not when she knew me best more than anyone else. “Mom,” I whispered, chewing on my lower lip and then releasing it when I am about to speak. “There’s this guy-

She groaned. “Oh God, not a guy. They’re headaches.”

I giggled. “He’s different,” my brows furrowed. “But still a headache.” I nodded.

I hesitated as Mom waited for me to elaborate. “He-how did you know dad was the one? How did you know you fell in love with him?”

“He felt like home,” Mom replied without a pause in her words. “He was my home.”

Xade felt like home. Despite him not being in my life for long, it felt like we knew each other. Like we were meant to be.

“Guys,” Mom sighed.

“Some come and go. But it takes a special kind of guy to make you have that feeling of safety, protection, of love combined in all. Home. That’s the feeling. Comfort. Dependence. Love. When that one guy can give you all, he’s your home.”

As mom continued to speak, my mind wandered back to Xade. If I attend classes today, will he be there? I craved to see him. To make sure he was okay.

When the conversation with Mom ended I got ready for class with Xade on my mind. The thought of meeting him again made me buzz with anticipation. But disappointment soon followed as class after class he was a no show. No signs of him.

To moan in my disappointment I decided to head to the store for some snacks to binge watch some Netflix shows to help keep my mind off of him.

But as I roamed around the aisle, I noticed that I wasn’t in the snack aisle at all but in the meat aisle, and my mouth didn’t water for snacks this time but for raw meat.