CURSES AND WOMEN

　　Camilla is quiet but the wheels in her head are working fast as she tries to find a way out of the accusation. Jessie can never ruin her plan. They will get to the end of the line and Jessie will lose.

　　"She is lying, Ethan! I saw her with my own two eyes!" Jessie screeches and Camilla sees her way out of the situation.

　　It's simple. Jessie is a very impatient woman, all Camilla has to do is rile her up to the point Ethan will think she has lost her mind.

　　"She did throw it on the floor and when I caught her she picked it up and flushed it down the toilet before my very own eyes! I promise you, Ethan! I am not lying." Jessie is starting to get desperate and Camilla knows this is the best time to act.

　　"Me? Flush my medication? Why will I do that? Do you think it's funny having to carry around this bandage on my head? What are you trying to insinuate?" Camilla says drawing tears from deep within her sockets, anything to make Ethan buy her story.

　　"I want to remember my family, I want to remember my friends! Do you think I am enjoying this Jessie?" Camilla didn't even realize she was a good actress until she started this crazy plan of hers. Her words sound believable even to her ears.

　　"Ethan, do you also think I don't want to get better, that I -I am enjoying this pain?" Her voice breaks and Ethan stands from his sitting position and comes to seat at the edge of her seat.

　　"Camilla, I am sorry for even bringing it up. Please do not be upset like this?" Ethan eggs as he pulls her into a hug.

　　"I can't believe this!" Jessie sneers leaving the living room altogether. She will have to go reconnect and restructure her plan. It is obvious that Camilla is a very good player at this game and she'll need a better opponent. Staying there and screaming her lungs out to Ethan is useless because he won't listen to her no matter what happens.

　　Ethan pays Jessie no attention and continues calming a very upset Camilla. "I am so sorry Camilla, I didn't mean for it to be this way." Whispers soothing her back.

　　"But I didn't do anything wrong!" She wails using the opportunity to size up the things in the living room. They are all of the best quality and well worth a lot of money in the black market but there is one problem. All the items she is seeing, are too big. She won't be able to sneak them out of the house unnoticed. She will have to search for merchandise in some other place.

　　Ethan holds on to her body as she cries on his shoulders. He regrets ever listening to Jessie. Because of her, his mate is in pain. His wolf is pissed off as it scratches around in his mind. He shouldn't have listened to Jessie!

　　"I should get going," Camilla blurts as she pulls herself away from Ethan's embrace. She needs to go find something worth stealing in some other part of the house and she can't do her job if Ethan is lurking around her.

　　"Are you okay? Is it your head again?" Ethan is overly worried for her. The worst that could happen is for her to have another headache because of the drama Jessie caused.

　　"No. Actually, yes. My head hurts I need to take the pills," Camilla lies as she gets on her feet.

　　Ethan leaves the couch too and holds on to her arm. "Let me walk you to your room then."

　　Camilla groans inside as Ethan offers to take her to the room because her destination wasn't her room, to begin with. She wanted to tour the house to find something to steal. Now he was leading her to the room and she had no choice but to move along with him. To make her excuse more believable Camilla leans her weight on him as they walk to the room.

　　"Have you had something to eat?" Ethan asks Camilla as he continues leading her to the room.

　　Camilla nods gently. She had something to eat in the morning and technically she should be eating but she needs to get the merchandise taken down now, to avoid delay the next day.

　　"That's good. You should eat a lot, so you can recover quickly and don't forget to take your medication," Ethan tells her.

　　They finally reach the room and Ethan takes her to the foot of her bed and gently lowers her down. "You should rest," he says as he gently tucks her in bed. "I'll be back to get you for dinner. Okay?" Camilla nods again, pretending to be too weak to talk.

　　Ethan helps to adjust her pillows so she can rest her head properly. As he fixes it, a strand of her hair falls on the pillow and he pulls it behind her ears, letting his fingers brush the side of her temples lightly.

　　As he runs his fingers along with her temples, his wolf purrs in excitement at the physical contact he was getting from their mate. It wanted to come out and take more, feel more.

　　Camilla is so beautiful. He has met a lot of women during his days as a player. Women of different sizes and shapes but none was like Camilla. Her face is gentle like that of her angel. Her eyes were the color of the sea and hair as red as the sunset, Camilla was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Not because she was better than all the other women he has met but because she was made just for him, she is his mate.

　　Camilla's eyes get heavy as Ethan continues caressing her temples. She doesn't even know why she was allowing him to do what he was doing. It feels like a force is pulling her to draw closer to him. A force she has no control over. A force that didn't exist until now. She flutters her eyes open trying to fight the sleep off, she needs to stay awake so she can still survey better spots to steal from.

　　Ethan notices that she isn't sleeping and he frowns. "Why are you fighting it?" Ethan asks, while his fingers continue working their magic on her.

　　"Huh?" She squeaks. She didn't think Ethan will notice that now she is faced with the dilemma of answering the question before her.

　　"You should get some rest," Ethan says, saving Camilla from her dilemma without even realizing it. He withdraws himself from the bed and his wolf whines as he pulls his fingers away from Camilla's face. The contact was so satisfying breaking the connection make it restless and painful.

　　Her heavy eyes lids flutter as she tries to watch him leave, so she can time him. But sleep takes over her body and despite her struggles, she is pulled deeper and deeper into it until her consciousness slowly fades.

　　*

　　Ethan slowly steps out of the room. As the air hits his face, he picks up Jessie's scent nearby and anger builds up within him. Camilla almost had a major breakdown because of her lies. Perhaps it is finally time for her to leave.

　　Why does she have to poke her nose into Camilla's affairs?

　　He takes long strides to one of the guest rooms where he expects to find Jessie. But as he reaches, her scent goes farther and farther away like he is heading in the wrong direction. Deciding to focus on his wolf for direction, he retraces his steps with his nose this time and he finds himself going to his room.

　　"What are you doing here?" He growls as he opens the door and finds Jessie on his bed. Thankfully this time she has her clothes. The last time he found her on his bed, he told her to leave but she is back without warning.

　　As she hears his voice she jumps to her feet and approaches Ethan. "Baby, why are you being so distant towards me? Don't you want me anymore?" She begs.

　　"I thought we have been over this conversation!" Ethan hisses.

　　"No, baby we've not. Just a few days ago you loved me-" she begins to say but Ethan cuts her words.

　　"I never loved you, Jessie!" He growls.

　　The words seem to be like a catalyst for her as tears start flowing from her eyes almost immediately after the words are said. "Ethan you did! You still do. You love me and I love you. Don't allow this girl to come between us." She says, sobbing.

　　Ethan doesn't like Jessie dating her was only to keep some company around him, now his decision was coming to hit him in the ass.

　　"It's because if Camilla isn't it!" Jessie blurts and Ethan's eyes morphed into a different color as the anger he already had building doubles over.

　　"I do not want to hear anything concerning Camilla from your lips!" His voice is so loud, the whole room rattles from the intensity.

　　Jessie's tongue is stuck in her mouth and searches for the right words to say. She had noticed that talking about Camilla always riled Ethan up but she was determined to save him from the street rat whether he wanted to it not.

　　"If you can't live peacefully in this house with her in it. Then I am afraid you have overstayed your welcome!" Ethan adds as he walks to the dresser, away from her.

　　He didn't want to hurt Jessie. Somehow, he found that one thing difficult to do but if she kept disturbing and making his name uncomfortable, then he'll have no choice but to send her away from himself.

　　"Ethan, she is stealing from you and she's cheating you. You won't believe me now but I'll get enough proof. Unlike today, next time, I will bring evidence." She states, wiping her tears with the back of her hand.

　　"Do whatever you want but just keep away from her." Ethan was starting to wonder how he had managed to be with so many women in the past and survived the ordeal. Women, especially really clingy ones like Jessie were impossible to get rid of.

　　"I love you Ethan and all I am doing is protect you from her..." Jessie says.

　　"Pff!" Ethan scoffs. If he needed protection Jessie is the last person on the list to offer it to him. He picks out a fresh t-shirt from his drawer and walks into the bathroom, leaving Jessie to her delusions.

　　Jessie is determined to trail after Camilla until she gathered her facts and evidence correctly. She is convinced Camilla is a fraud but she will have to work harder to make Ethan believe. She will have to be around Camilla at all times to be able to get evidence of her fraudulent activity. Camilla might be doing it right now for all she cared. Without waiting for Ethan to finish up showering, Jessie struts out of the room.

　　She is in such a hurry to get to Camilla's room she almost barges into Peter. She saw him a second too late and they would have collided with each other but somehow they didn't. Peter is a very strange person. He moves quietly around like a predator, yet faster than any human Jessie has ever seen, and barely smiles.

　　"Watch where you are going!" In a split second, he places her aside and moves on to where ever he is going never turning back.

　　Jessie shakes her head at the strange man and moves on to complete her mission. She reaches Camilla's room and without knocking pulls the door open. Camilla is not on the bed. Jessie searches the entire room, the bathroom, and even the wardrobes and drawers just to be sure but she isn't there.