The Merchandise

　　Lisa hurriedly puts on camo shorts and a black tank top, then runs out of the house. Her best friend Camilla needs her to execute a very important mission and she doesn't want to disappoint. Though she is thrilled by the idea of going to steal from one of the biggest names in town, she can't actually wait to meet Ethan himself in person. She has been following every post about him and she can't help but drool at the man's pictures. She still does not believe that she will finally see him in person.

　　Going to his house makes the whole crush thing on another level. Yes! Finally, she will be meeting him or at least have hopes of seeing him and the rest of his cute friends.

　　She takes a means of public transport and counts in her head for the journey to end quickly -a trick her brother thought her.

　　Lisa is a tough girl with a very strong will to survive the streets of Besaadi but like Camilla, she also has her own demons that keep following her around. One of those demons is her brother. He died years ago in her arms because she couldn't find enough money to treat him. His death broke her and ever since then she swore never to be at the mercy of money again. If she has to steal to take care of herself, then she will.

　　Her brother was the only family she had ever known ever since the death of her parents and death snatched him away from her. This is why she connected with Camilla the first time she met her.

　　Having gone through the same thing Camilla is going through, Lisa promised to help Camilla with all she has. And ever since, they have become the best of friends. Lisa cares for Camilla like a sister cares for another.

　　"With your eyes closed, how will you know when you get to your destination?" A gruff but soothing voice whispers to her ears.

　　Lisa's eyes fly open and she turns her head to the side to have a clear view of the person that spoke.

　　"Oh my God!" She screams and the person cups his hands to her mouth before the sound goes any louder.

　　"Keep it low, we don't want everyone in the bus knowing who I am." He whispers to her ears. She nods quickly and he takes his hands off her mouth.

　　When she left the house this morning, she knew she was going to the Peterson's Estate and if she is lucky she might get a glimpse of Ethan or some of his friends. She didn't think her wish will be answered even before she gets to the estate!

　　She covers her mouth with her own hands this time as another excited squeal threatens to escape from it. She is looking at the one and only Peter! One of Ethan Jadiel's closest friends. Oh my God! She screams in her head instead.

　　Today is turning out to be one of the best days of her life! She is with Peter and he spoke to her! Who would have thought, someone like her could get a chance to meet Peter in a public fucking bus!

　　Peter observes her reaction and he smiles. She is a funny little human this one, he thinks to himself. He doesn't even know the spirit that came over him that made him go to her in the first place. She was sitting with her eyes closed counting to herself. Maybe that is it. He did that when he was younger too. A silly thing one of his friends taught him to do. Seeing the blonde doing it in the public bus reminded him of that his friend and that is what drew him to her.

　　"Are you alright?" Peter asks her, seeing that she is almost choking out of joy. She nods again and Peter raises his brow at her. "Do you speak at all or are you only a screamer?" He asks her.

　　"Hi!" She says, blushing all over. "Okay, that was awkward..." She says dropping her eyes to the bus floor.

　　"Yes and not exactly the answer to my question," Peter smirks.

　　"Well, I do talk..." Lisa start to say but Peter interrupts her.

　　"I figured that out on my own. What's your name?" He asks her instead.

　　"Lisa Maur-" she starts to say but stops herself.

　　What is she doing? She is a thief! Thieves don't go around introducing themselves to popular people!

　　"You are Lisa Maur... Hmmm, I like it." He says winking at her.

　　She gives him a tight lipped smile as her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. He obviously understood that the name slipped out of her lips. She wasn't supposed to tell him her name.

　　"If it makes you feel better, I'll just stick with that instead of your full name. Lisa Maur sounds way cooler than whatever your full name is..." He tells her with another wink and this time Lisa feels her heart melting completely.

　　Can this man get anymore cuter?

　　He looks out the bus and scratches his ears. Lisa drools out and she makes another squeal in her head. He can definitely get cuter!

　　"So, Lisa Maur, where are you headed?"

　　The question makes her heart stop for a second and she starts hyperventilating. Is she supposed to tell him where she is headed? Oh my God! She didn't even consider the possibility that they might be going to the same place. What can she do now? Get down early and change the route? No, Camilla will be too worried, what should she do then?

　　Being a werewolf and a really strong one, Peter picks up on her heart beat and understands she doesn't want to say where her destination is. It is a human thing to be scared of strangers and he completely understands. He let's the question pass since he doesn't want to rile her up. He only felt drawn to her, which is strange because he has a girlfriend and unlike Ethan, he is actually a very loyal lover. Priscilla isn't his mate but he cares for her like he would have if she were his mate.

　　"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I saw you counting to yourself and I remembered my old friend. He use to say, counting in a bus, made the journey faster." Peter says, a distant smile on his face.

　　Lisa looks up at him and she smiles too. "Yeah, I had a brother who use to say the same thing."

　　"I am sorry about your brother," Peter says feeling horrible for bringing up bad memories for her.

　　"No, it's okay. He died a long time ago... I just keep doing it whenever I am nervous about something." She explains, playing with her fingers.

　　"What are you nervous about?" Peter asks unable to stop himself.

　　Oh God! Can this man ever shut up?

　　How is she suppose to answer that?

　　Peter frowns slightly as he once again picks up the beat of her heart. What a strange woman?

　　"Never mind then..." Peter trails trying to focus on the windows again.

　　The both of them fall into a comfortable silence as the bus continues the smooth journey. They are almost at the bus stop yet Lisa doesn't know what to do. Should she alight from the bus? What if he does the same and insists he wants to come with her? She can't keep ignoring his questions and except to not get suspicious? At some point he will get worried!

　　"Do you know that, talking also makes a journey seem faster?" Peter says. His wolf senses had picked up on her rumbling heart again and he decides to try and cheer her up before alighting from the bus himself.

　　"Does it!?" She squeaks.

　　"Yes, it does."

　　She opens her mouth to say something but her mushy brain refuses to come up with anything so she remains quiet. The bus comes to a stop and her heart starts beating even faster.

　　"I will be stopping here. You should try to talk more next time," he says, grabbing his coat. "One more thing, the city is large, but I hope we meet again Lisa Maur." He winks at her and without waiting for an answer, he walks down and alights from the bus.

　　Lisa remains frozen as she stares at his retreating back. Her heart whines and she feels like crying all of a sudden. If only she wasn't trying to steal from the guy's friend, she could have held a better conversation with the guy and maybe he would have requested for her number. What bad luck!

　　Thank Goodness, Camilla is in that estate, they will have to steal as much as they can and as fast as they can. Next time she meets Peter, she will be giving him her number, without waiting for him to ask for it.

　　Two bus stops after, she alights from the bus and doubles back to the estate. She reduces her pace when she gets closer to the place and tries to locate the back door. The main gate is quite easy to locate since it's very large with green vines curling around it. The back door is located by the far east side of the walls of the perimeter. It takes Lisa a good one hour to get to it. As soon as she reaches it, she calls Camilla.

　　"Hey Cam, I am here. Where are you?"

　　"Lisa, I am coming. I met a little obstacle on the way but I'll be there soon." Camilla replies.

　　Lisa finds a good clean spot on the ground and sits, waiting for her friend.

　　****

　　Camilla picks up the brown paper bag where she had kept the dress and sneaks out of her room. She is scurrying through the bedroom corridors when a loud screech stops her.

　　"Thief!"

　　She turns around with her heart in her throat and finds Jessie. Camilla rolls her eyes and continues moving. She doesn't have time for the crazy woman! She has better things to do right now than pay the drama queen any attention.

　　"Hey! I am talking to you! Where are you going with that! Hello! I am talking to you!" Jessie continues yelling, and moving at a fast speed to where Camilla is standing.

　　Camilla groans, kissing her teeth in anger. What sort of crazy bitch is this? She is going to attract the attention of everyone in this large house, if she keeps screaming like this!

　　"What do you want?" Camilla snaps turning around. Her eyes are like two light bulbs burning with energy.

　　"I want you to show me what you are holding! Where are you taking it! When you came into my boyfriend's house, you brought nothing with you and if you are planning to leave, please leave with nothing."

　　This Jessie girl has so much guts, Camilla thinks. It will not take her a lot of minutes to beat her up so she doesn't try such silly attitudes but she has to keep cool, since her mission is just starting.

　　"Look, I don't want to fight or argue, just let me go to in peace," Camilla says through her teeth.

　　"Ooh really..." Jessie sings, taunting Camilla, "I know the game you are playing Camilla! You don't have memory loss. You are only pretending. That's why you refuse to take your medication!"