Strange Love 35 Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

[You were late for the meeting the other day then I don't see you for several days, WTF are you up to now?] Xavier had sent the message to Dante several days before but had not received a response until now. He glanced over at his phone as he pulled into the parking lot of Calypso's bar and grill. "Great timing as always brother." Xavier said to himself with an irritated sigh. He pulled into a parking place and shut off the Jeep before opening the text.

[Sorry brother I've been... preoccupied... Crate training a puppy is hard work you know.] There was a picture attached as well.

"Son of a wh.o.r.e!" Xavier exclaimed as he opened the attachment, depicting the young female werewolf locked inside a large dog kennel. Xavier dialed his brother's number. When it was answered on the 4th ring, Xavier didn't even wait for Dante to say h.e.l.lo before he started yelling at him angerly. "What the f.u.c.k are you thinking?! How can that possibly make a f.u.c.king thing better?! I told you, you and the girl were supposed to meet me here today! what am I supposed to say to her now?"

Dante laughed from the other end of the phone, "Calm down, I sent a text the other day saying we were going on a business trip. Just tell your little wh.o.r.e we were held up or something." He laughed, "You claim to be so smart, I'm sure you can come up with something."

"G.o.d d.a.m.nit, Dante! Fix this now, before it gets any farther out of hand!" Xavier hung up and flung his phone onto the dashboard. He slammed his palms against the stirring wheel. {How the f.u.c.k am I supposed to face her now... composure... I need to composure...}

Xavier fought with his emotions for a few minutes longer before finally getting it under control and exiting his vehical.

Joslyn sat out on the deck of the bar grading papers when Raven flopped down beside her. "So where is lover boy?"

Joslyn didn't look up from the papers as she answered, "Practice…"

Raven arched her brows, "And you didn't stay to watch him?"

Joslyn glanced up over the rim of the reading gla.s.ses she wore, "No I didn't… Obviously."

Raven laughed and shrugged her shoulders, "All I'm saying is, if I was dating a hot guy who practiced in speedos... with a dozen plus of other hot guys in speedos... I sure as h.e.l.l wouldn't be grading papers at a bar."

Joslyn set the papers down as she set up laughing lightly. "Maybe I just wanted to see your pretty face instead."

Raven batted her lashes playfully, "I am a looker, aren't I?!" They both broke out into laughter.

Joslyn's laughter faded away, "I'm meeting Xavier here." Concern was evident in voice.

Raven lifted a brow, "So that's the real reason you're here while lover boy is at practice…" She shrugged her shoulders, "I see, no judgments."

Joslyn's brows shot upward in surprise, "You know good and well that's not what's going on here!"

Raven laughed, finally dropping the fict.i.tious suspicious and said, "I'm just messing with you… but I got to say you're missing out. Vampires are great in the sack." She gave Joslyn a sly grin, "Probably the real reason we haven't heard from Sh.e.l.ly in so long. She discovered the 'D' and decided she likes it… really likes it!"

Joslyn's mouth dropped in shock before she busted out laughing and crumpled the paper she was grading before throwing it at Raven. "You're horrible!" She shook her head, "You, my friend really need to get laid yourself!"

Raven lifted the gla.s.s of tea she had brought out with her, "I'll drink to that!" She took a long drink as she glanced down at the paper on the counter. "Um… Should you really be crumpling up your students' work like that?"

Joslyn shrugged her shoulders, "It's ok, it's Naru's. He's an idiot…"

"Jeez, remind me to never take a cla.s.s from you."

The purr of a lightly teasing masculine voice brought both girls' attention toward the back deck's main doors. Xavier smiled down at them. "Sorry I'm late, something came up."

Raven leaned back in her chair, "Not at all! We were just talking about you… well, actually your species." Raven jerked sharply as Joslyn's foot landed a sharp kick to her s.h.i.+n. "d.a.m.nit man! That hurt!!!" She pushed her chair out and stood, "I'll not stand for this violence any longer, I'm leaving!" She winked at Xavier as she walked past him, "Be careful man, she's exceedingly dangerous!"

He chuckled as he set down in the seat she had abandoned, "I'm sure she is, but fear not…" He glanced over his sungla.s.ses, shooting her a sparkling green wink, "I'm plenty old enough to handle such a cute little girl."

Raven let out a very unladylike snort followed by laughter. "I'm sure you are…. I'm sure you are…" She continued laughing as she walked through the back doors.

Joslyn suppressed a giggle and asked, "So how old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't mind, you've accepted everything else I've told you easily enough. I'm 189 years old."

Joslyn sighed sweetly, "Ah, still just a baby huh?"

Xavier let out a loud laugh, "A baby? Bahhahaa. And how old are you, pray tell? 25, 26, maybe even 27? I will eat my shoe right here and now if you tell me you're over 30..."

Joslyn crossed her arms and shrugged her shoulders, "Somewhere around there… more or less…" she leaned forward and gave him a sly smile, "You know it's very ungentlemanly to ask a girl her age, right." They both laughed before Joslyn said more seriously, "So you know why I agreed to meet you here right?"

Xavier gave her a thoughtful look letting his finger rest against his full lower lip, "You decided to listen to the pamphlets from doctor's office and get out of your abusive relations.h.i.+p and need me to save you?" He flashed her a toothy grin, "I will be more than glad to rescue you, you know…"

"Um… Not quite." She shot him an amused half smile, "I wouldn't call it an abusive relations.h.i.+p anyways."

He looked from her wrists to the bandage on her neck suspiciously, "Sure about that? You know I can smell the fresh blood, right? And those bruises look pretty fresh as well."

Joslyn looked away as she lowered her hands onto her lap under the table. "You're one to talk, don't you bite too?"

Xavier scooted his chair closer to her around the back of the table, he cupped his hand under her chin to pull her face around to force her to look him in the eyes. He pulled the sungla.s.ses down with his free hand. "Look at me, I would never do anything to hurt you like that. Yes, it's true some vampires still feed on others and I can't deny many, many of them have done horrible things... But we aren't all the same."

Joslyn let out a sigh of relief, "So does that mean your brother isn't a bad person either?"

Xavier released her chin and set back quickly, "It depends with him, he's very moody. Everything he does, he puts his all into it..."

"So wheres him and Sh.e.l.ly? Are they still coming?" Joslyn caught the anger flashed across his face before he quickly masked it. "They are still coming aren't they?"

Xavier placed his sungla.s.ses back on before he answered, "Yes, well Dante's trip was extended. Sorry, I didn't say anything sooner but he only just texted me as I was pulling in to the parking lot."

"He's an ok person, right? Like you?" Joslyn pressed him farther, getting a weird vibe from the way Xavier's demeanor had changed as she pushed farther. "Sh.e.l.ly will be fine with him, right? He won't do anything to her?" Her cheeks redden as she considered her next words, "She… she's… still so innocent."

Xavier gave her a pitying look, "I understand. Don't worry about that. He may be an a.s.shole in many ways, but I know at least that much she is safe." {Of course I can't tell her, the reason I know her innocence is safe is that Dante enjoys virgin blood so much…} "So do you want to have lunch while we are here?"

"It's fine I ate earlier. My stomach is actually still a little upset." Joslyn laughed embarra.s.sed.

"Would you mind if I ordered something, then?" Xavier asked. He flipped through the menu on the table.

Joslyn nodded her head, "Sure go ahead, I still have to finish these papers anyways." She took the papers and smiled up at him, "You can keep me company."

He laughed as he arched a brow at her, "I don't know, are you going to throw the bad ones at me instead?" He took the wadded-up paper off the table and unfolded it. He turned the paper multiple ways, before looking questioningly up at Jos. "What the h.e.l.l is it supposed to be?"

Joslyn busted out in laughter, "It was a small art project, they were supposed to sketch a small arrangement of fruit…"

Xavier turned the paper again, then held it out as far as his arms would stretch, tilting his head. "Um… Well…. It looks like a stick man's c.o.c.k and b.a.l.l.s." He arched his brows as he looked over at her. "Is this common for a.s.signments?" He asked with a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt.

Joslyn rolled her eyes, "Not all my students are that bad. He only took the cla.s.s to annoy me. He and Russ have been friends since their first year of high school. I think he just likes torturing me."

Xavier laughed, "I'm sure that's all it is, probably has nothing to do with you being extremely attractive." He slid his chair closer to her, "So what is this project really supposed to look like?"

She flipped through the pages, "Um… Something like this. It's basic sketching skills, really." She set the paper to the side after writing a score on the top right-hand corner.

Xavier glanced down at the next picture on the pile and burst out laughing, "And this one is a big a.s.s c.o.c.k and b.a.l.l.s!" He threw his head back in laughter, "WTF!!!!" He clutched his chest as he fought against the laughs to ask, "What kind of art cla.s.s is this?! Are you sure they were all looking at the same thing?" He grabbed the pile and flipped through them. He started laughing even harder; he tossed the pile back to her. "Hoot hoot, Hahaha…. I can't take it anymore. Hahaha, your students… It's too much…" When she glanced down at the paper and turned bright red, he replied. "This…. This should defiantly be an !!!"

Joslyn grabbed the paper off the pile and wadded it up as well. She tossed the sketch of her getting her leg humped by a dog/wolf across the table. "That would be one of his other friends."

Joslyn rolled her eyes as she came across the last member of the swim team from her cla.s.s's paper, "Well at least the fruit bowl is in this one."

Xavier glanced down at it then quickly grabbed it, "I'm keeping this one for myself!" He took in the beautiful realistic sketch of Joslyn, naked, Holding the fruit bowl. Her hand shot out to grab the paper but he held it over his head. "Oh no, you don't! I'm keeping this one." He laughed as he leaned farther back in the chair.

Joslyn pushed her seat back and braced herself with one hand on the arm of his chair. "I'll be d.a.m.ned! Give it back." Her body was completely over his lap, her arms fully extended out as she tried to get the picture back from him.

Xavier laughed as he moved his bent arm behind his head, "Come on almost there, shorty!"

She was just about to stretch farther over him when a chill ran up her spine. She could feel the angry eyes on her somehow knowing before he spoke who was behind her. "Joslyn!"