After calling a cab and heading home, Tessa was drained. What she thought would be a nice night to have fun and unwind turned into a night of scary and spooky things. There was too much to process, werewolves, vampires, witches and who knows what else. It was too much. She turned the key to her door and was assaulted by the sweet smell of roses. There were bouquets of red roses all over her apartment, she looked around and noticed Jax sleeping on the couch. He must have brought them in. She locked the door and headed to her room, after a quick shower and change of clothes she headed to the kitchen and started the kettle. Tonight was going to be a long night, she could already hear the unspoken questions Jax had coming her way. The kettle whistled and she poured out two mugs, she brought them over to the coffee table and shook Jax awake. "What took you so long?" Jax slowly raised up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. It was almost 4 in the morning, but she couldn't sleep, not after all the events from the past couple of hours. "Why did you pick Silver Moon?"
"What do you mean by why? It's the only place to go out and have fun Tes, there's really nothing much out here in Falls Hollow." He picked up his mug and took a sip. He watched Tessa and could see that the gears were turning. If he told her the truth, would she believe him. He had secrets to tell but he wasn't sure if he was ready to share them, he needed to find out the truth before he broke her heart again. Tessa had been his childhood friend; Lucas and he were starting first grade when Tessa moved into the neighborhood. Her parents had reached the dream of buying a home, Tessa was an only child and to them she was spoiled and had everything. Lucas and Jax were the babies of the family, having to share and get hand me downs from their siblings. The connection that Lucas and Tessa had was noticeable to everyone, even to him. He knew she was off limits once they hit puberty, not like it mattered, she was head over heels in love with Lucas and only had eyes for him. As time went on, they all remained friends,
Jax was best man at the wedding, he was godfather to Cassie. They lived a life full of love until Lucas started acting differently. Whenever he was questioned, he became upset, he would lash out. One time he lashed out so badly he started breaking things, Tessa was pregnant at the time. He removed her from the home until Lucas could calm down, he never understood the gradual change in his best friend. Until about two weeks ago he saw him leaving a coffee shop near the local college. He followed him to a hotel in the next city, he waited for him to come out, but he never did. He went to the hotel every day until one night about a week ago, he followed Lucas to Silver Moon. He entered and stayed at a distance as he followed Lucas around the club. Some of the club goers hissed at him as he walked by, others seemed to be watching him with glowing eyes. He didn't understand what was happening or who these people were, but he needed to find out. Then he saw Lucas approach a girl that was sitting at a table by herself. She looked nervous and shocked to see him there, Lucas approached her, and it seemed like he was telling her something she wasn't happy to hear. He handed her an envelope and walked away. The same girl that was killed tonight at the club, was the one he saw Lucas talking too. How could he tell Tessa that Lucas is around and that he could possibly be a murderer. "What happened tonight? Where did you go?" Tessa was distant tonight, after everything she heard and saw, she wasn't sure how to explain it or if he would believe her. "A week ago, I saved someone's life. I didn't know who he was, nor did I really care about my safety apparently." She took a big sip of her tea and continued telling Jax what happened the night of the alley fight. She left out the pulling sensation she felt when she knew Ash was around. Even though two years had passed since the night she slept with Jax, she knew that he still harbored feelings for her. "He took you to his house and told you the two hairy guys fighting are werewolves?" He spit out his tea and was flabbergasted by the confession. Tessa didn't want to tell him about Ash being a vampire, she wanted to keep that to herself for now. "Yes, he let me know that Falls Hollow has a dark history, and things literally go bump in the night here." She grabbed their cups and took them to the kitchen, she could see the sun peeking from behind the blinds. She needed to get some sleep and be ready for work in a couple of hours. She had a double shift today and wanted to rest. "Oh, was there a card for these flowers?" He signaled to the end table by the door and fell asleep on the couch again. She picked up the card and headed to her room. She recognized the writing immediately. Lucas always had beautiful penmanship. She opened the small envelope and felt a jolt through her chest, she crumpled the note and let the tears fall. Buon anniversario, amore mio. Read the card, happy anniversary my love.