Wolves in the Shadows (The Wolf Clan Chronicles) (10 page)

“Give me like forty minutes,” she said.  “I have to get ready and possibly kill my roommate for waking me up.” 

Chase laughed.  “I’ll see you then.  I’ll be on the front steps.” 

“Sounds good,” Elizabeth said.  She hung up and glared at Michelle. 

“What
?” Michelle’s innocent tone did not match her evil grin.  “You’re going to lunch with a cute guy!” 

“You’ve never even seen him.  You had one phone conversation with him.”

“And what’s your point?  He sounded cute over the phone.” 

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and dragged herself out of bed. 

“You should totally wear that super cute dress that you bought last year,” Michelle said. 

“The one that you made me buy?” Elizabeth asked.  She put on her bathrobe and gathered her shower supplies. 

“And that you keep refusing to wear,” Michelle said.  “I have the perfect boots for it somewhere in my closet.  I’ll find them while you shower.” 

Elizabeth shook her head, but she knew better than to try to prot
est.  Her roommate was a little too obsessed with shoes. 

“Just so you know,” she said with a chuckle just before leaving the room for the shower.  “I’m still going to kill you.  It’ll just have to be after lunch.” 

Michelle, who was already half buried in the closet laughed and waved her out the door.  “Only if it’s a bad date, Lizzy, and even then, not until you give me all the juicy details.” 

Chapter 2

“Someone had a late night last night,” Chase said with a wry smile as Elizabeth emerged from West Hall. 

“It’s Saturday,” Elizabeth said.  “You’re supposed to sleep in on Saturday.” 

“True enough,” Chase said.  “That’s a nice dress, by the way.” 

“Thanks,” Elizabeth said.  She did an awkward little twirl to show it off.  The soft brown skirt fluttered around the tops of her knee-high boots. 

“You might want to take the tag off though.” 

Elizabeth looked down and grimaced at the sight of the tag hanging from her sleeve. 

“Oops,” she said as she hastily removed it.  “It’s my first time wearing it.  I don’t really wear dresses very often.” 

“Neither do I,” Chase said. 

Elizabeth smiled. 

“So where should we eat?” Chase asked. 

Elizabeth gave a noncommittal shrug.  “You invited me.” 

“I don’t really know the area,” Chase said.  “I’ll eat anything.” 

Elizabeth checked her watch.  “Do you like Japanese?” she asked.  “There’s a sushi place a couple blocks from here, and I’ve heard they have really good lunch specials.  We can walk there if you feel like it.  I don’t have a car on campus.” 

“Sounds good,” Chase said cheerfully.  “Nothing like a walk on a nice day to work up an appetite.  Lead the way.” 

“Sure thing,” Elizabeth said, and they set off walking down the tree lined street with the sun shining brightly down on them. 

#

“So your roommate, Michelle, right,” Chase said after a few minutes of amiable silence.  “She seems energetic.” 

“That’s one way of putting it,” Elizabeth said with a smirk.  She appreciated hi
s brave stab at conversation.  There was something about him that made her feel awkward and uncomfortable one minute and then perfectly at ease the next.  It was strange, like there was something lurking beneath his calm surface. 

Chase shot her a mischievous look.  “Too bad,” he said.  “I’ll never get to meet her in person since you’ve killed her. 

“I’ve decided to let her live a little longer,” Elizabeth said with a chuckle. 

“Glad to hear it.” Chase said knowingly.  “It’s such a pain to dispose of a body after all.” 

“That’s creepy.”  Elizabeth shook her head, trying to keep from smiling. 

Chase gave her a cheeky grin.  “
Sorry, but you started it.  Maybe I think that you’re creepy.” He said. 

“Then why ask me to lunch?”

“People like me need a little creepy in their lives.” 

Chapter 3

Ocean Sushi was good, but Elizabeth and Chase soon found themselves so caught up in conversation that they hardly noticed what they were eating. 

“So you just threw your shampoo bottle and killed it?”  Chase asked with a grin. 

“Yup, left a smear of cockroach guts on the wall,” Elizabeth said.  “Though I guess that’s not a very good story during lunch.” 

“No worries,” Chase said through the big bite of salmon that he had just taken.  “I have a very strong stomach, and there’s really nothing that you could say that would stop me from eating this delicious food.” 

Elizabeth took a few bites herself before replying, “Good to know.” 

“It’s good to see a girl with such a hearty appetite.” 

“I’ve been eating a lot more than usual lately,” Elizabeth said.  “It’s kind of weird.” 

“Stress maybe?” Chase said with a wink.  “Cockroaches invading your private shower time can be pretty traumatic.” 

“It’s true,” Elizabeth said with mock severity.  “And Michelle always makes me kill any spiders that she finds in our room.” 

“I see I’ve misjudged you, Lizzy, my dear.  Here I was thinking that you couldn’t even hurt a fly, and I find that you are a master assassin of all manner of creepy crawlies.” 

“I’m actually pretty brutal when it comes to flies too.  I almost never miss.” 

“That
is
impressive.” 

“Oh
, shut up.” 

#

“You’re a really good listener, Chase,” Elizabeth said as they finished their lunch.  “You make me feel like my boring life is so exciting.”  She couldn’t help but smile inwardly at how interesting her life had become lately.  Though he probably would have thought she was completely loony if she told him about it.  “But I feel like I don’t know anything about you,” she continued.  “It’s not usually like me to prattle on about myself.” 

Chase shrugged.  “I guess I’d rather hear about you than bore you with my life,” he said.  “You
’re a bright and interesting college student, and I’m a boring old guy.” 

“Oh please,” Elizabeth said with a snort.  “You’re what, like eight years older than me?  Stop trying to be all mysterious.” 

Chase winked roguishly across the table. 

“You think I’m mysterious?” he asked.  “I definitely like that more than ‘creepy.’”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes in response. 

“I’m in town visiting family,” Chase said, growing serious.  “My father died recently, so I’m taking time off of work.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Elizabeth said.  She felt a pang of guilt at her curiosity.  He clearly had not wanted to talk about it.  Her own parents’ deaths in that car crash had been so long ago that she hardly even remembered them. 

“It’s okay.  You couldn’t have
known.”  Chase said. 

An awkward silence fell between them. 

“He died well,” Chase said at last.  “He saved my life.” 

Elizabeth frowned.  There was something in his tone that disturbed her, though she couldn’t explain why.  She suddenly wished that she could see through him the way that Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus could see through her, but try as she might, she could just not get a good read on him. 

“Excuse me,” Chase said as he stood abruptly.  “I just have to use the restroom.” 

Elizabeth nodded, unable to trust herself to speak.  She couldn’t help wonderi
ng if Chase could also feel the strange tension that she felt between them.  It was not merely because of the death of his father.  There was something else there.  Or maybe she was just imagining things.

Chapter 4

“I’m so stuffed.” Elizabeth rubbed her stomach as they reached steps of West Hall.  She was convinced that she had imagined whatever it was that had disturbed her about Chase.  Surely it had just been the grief of losing his father that had made him behave oddly.  When he had returned from the restroom, everything seemed normal between them and they had been chatting pleasantly about nothing for their entire walk back to campus.  “It’s a good thing that we walked back, or I’d feel like a total fatty.”

Chase let out a snort of laughter. 

“What?” Elizabeth said playfully, though she could already guess what his answer would be. 

“What is it with girls always saying that they’re fat?” 

“What is it with guys always asking girls about why they always say they’re fat?” 

“I’m now officially confused.”  Chase threw his hands into the air in surrender. 

“That’s the idea,” Elizabeth said with mock exasperation.  “You’re supposed to say that I’m absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way and that I’m silly to say that I’m fat.” 

“Oh
, forgive me,” Chase said gallantly.  He waved his hand in front of his face as he made as he made a dramatic bow.  “You are absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way, and you’re silly to say that you could be even remotely fat.” 

Elizabeth chuckled and winked at him. 

“Thank you,” she said.  “I had a lovely time!”  She gave him a little wave and started to bound up the steps towards her dorm. 

“Hey wait!” Chase called after her with feigned offense.  “Seriously?  You can’t leave me hanging like that!  You’ve got to at least say something about how ruggedly handsom
e I am.  And I need your number so I don’t have to keep bugging your roommate by calling your room phone.”

Elizabeth turned and walked back down the steps. 

“Okay, give me your phone,” she said.  She smiled at him and put her number into his phone.  “There you go,” she said as she handed it back to him.  “And you do have a charming smile.” 

“Dinner tonight?” Chase asked with a wide grin. 

“Or lunch tomorrow?” he added quickly when Elizabeth’s smile started to fade.  “You probably have some awesome college student plans tonight, right?” 

“Tomorrow would be great,” Elizabeth replied.  “Around 1ish?” 

“I’ll be here.” 

“And this time, I’ll pay,” Elizabeth said over her shoulder as she turned to go back up the stairs. 

“That’s what you think,” Chase muttered under his breath. 

“What was that?”  Elizabeth asked from the top of the stairs. 

“Nothing,” Chase said with a wink.  “See you tomorrow.” 

Chapter 5

How was it?” Michelle looked up expectantly from her computer. 

“Don’t you have anything better to do then to wait for me to get home and interrogate me?” Elizabeth asked as she sat down on her bed and found that she could not stop smiling. 

“HAHA!” Michelle pumped her fist in the air triumphantly and started to jabber away a mile a minute.  “Obviously it went great!  Aren’t you happy I made you answer the phone?  Where’d you go?  What did you do?  What did you talk about?  Did he ask you out again?  Of course he did, right?  Unless he’s a total loser which he couldn’t possibly be because then you wouldn’t like him, which you obviously do!  When are you going out again?  We should totally go on a double date!  I’ll just grab some random guy and make him go out with me just so we can all go out!  Is that totally desperate of me or what?  Tell me everything before I go crazy!”

Elizabeth laughed while Michelle bounced impatiently in her seat. 

“We’ve already established that you’re crazy, Michie.  Now calm down and catch your breath.” 

I’m just so excited to see you go out with a nice guy,” Michelle said.  “And I’m sick of
being cooped up in here.” 

It’s actually weird seeing you home on a Saturday afternoon.”  Elizabeth tried to steer the conversation away from her date.  Unlike her roommate, she was not one to gush about her love life, or lack thereof.  Michelle was just too talkative to be trusted.  “Are you actually doing homework?” 

Michelle frowned and sighed.  “Unfortunately, yes,” she said.  “I’m stuck here doing this stupid paper while you’re out gallivanting with some guy.  When did we switch places?” 

“Gallivanting?  Really?” Elizabeth said with a snort.  “What happened last night?  Who are you trying to avoid this time?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Michelle said as she look down at her computer and began to type slowly.  Her calm tone did not fool Elizabeth in the slightest. 

“Todd again?” 

Michelle smashed her fingers against the keyboard angrily.  “The bastard’s going out with Kim,” she said through gritted teeth. 

Elizabeth had suspected this but wasn’t about to mention it.  “You ran into them on your way to lunch?” she asked. 

Michelle nodded; her eyes became watery as she stared at the computer screen.  “We met up last night at the party, and I thought we were going to get back together.” 

Elizabeth had to bite her tongue to keep from saying anything.  She could never understand what Michelle saw in her ex, but she knew better than to express that thought.  Michelle seemed to be constantly shifting her opinion of him.  One minute he was a total jerk and the next she would go on and on about how much she loved him.  Elizabeth had long since discovered that in this matter, as with so many, anything that she might say to console Michelle would just make matters worse.  Michelle was perfectly capable of pulling herself out of her current mood.