The Other Side of the Night by Sam Rouxrenard (thriller books to read txt) 📕

  "Your total for a tall Caramel Macchiato is $3.35 sir. Under what name?" 

  "J-j-james.... James Bond.." the lanky, oily haired teen stuttered.

  "Thank you, here is your change, please wait at the other end of the bar for your drink Mr. Bond," I said with a professional smile and an artificially perky voice while internally I fought the urge to gag. The self proclaimed "James Bond" smiled, giving me a once over that left me feeling disgusted. As soon as he walked away, I turned and with a grimace handed off his order to my co-worker Kyle.

   "Another creeper," I warned him in a low voice, "you might wanna keep an eye on his buddies in the corner."

    When he nodded I whipped back around to the register, a smile on my face ready for the next customer. As I went into autopilot-barrista mode, I couldn't help but be greatful that Kyle was around. At 6'2" he was a tall, semi-handsome brunnet, lean with muscles gained from two years as a linebacker on his high school's football team and easily intimidated the the more touchy-feely (or damn right creepy perverts as Lou called them) customers that seemed to forever frequent Starbucks during my shift. I glanced at the digital clock attached to the register: 3:47.  Stiffling a sigh, I wondered how many skeevy guys would come in today, it was barely two hours into my shift and counting agent 007 I'd already been hit on by five customers.

      Handing the last customer in line- this time a petite, studious looking girl with thick glasses and longish wavy brown hair- her change with a cheerful smile, I double-checked the entrance for more customers, and seing none promptly closed my register and headed over to Lou's spot.

    "How many?" I asked her.

      "One and a half," she answered while rolling her eyes. 

 I raised my eyebrow, "Half?"

     "What," she looked at me guiltily, "the second one was kind of cute!"

    I stuck my tongue out at her. "Suuurree, he probably looked like Prince Charming with a bad case of lazy eyes and clammy-hand-itis," I teased. 

   Lou was my ADHD, mega flirty best friend who had a thing for guys with pretty faces. With her large baby blue eyes, tall model figure and her straight, fluffly medium length hair that she dyed a different color almost as many times as she fell in love, Lou tended to attract all sorts of guys. Unfortunately, she never seemed to love the ones who liked her for more than her looks, and that led her to plenty of heartbreaks. We met during our freshman orientation in college where we were assigned as roommates and since then we've been almost like sisters.

She giggled, "I doubt Prince Charming gets his coffee at Starbucks." She sighed dramatically,"Sadly, we only get the occassional hot nerd. So, what about you, Jade, how many creeps so far?"

I grimaced and used my fingers to count to well over ten and pretended to lose count, "You know, just about five."

"Yikes, isn't that more than usual?" she said, sympathy in her eyes.

"Nnm.." I agreed. "We still have three hours left, I just hope my creep magnet is tapped out for the day."

"Yeah, hey may--" Lou was inturrupted by the sound of the doors opening as the next rush of customers streamed in. Giving her a shrug I quickly went away to man my register while she manned hers.

  "Good afternoon and Welcome to Starbucks! What can I get you today?" I said with a smile, not really looking at the customer.

  "Oh, um, I know this is a coffee shop and all, but-um do you have anything that doesn't taste like coffee?" he asked sheepishly.

     Something about his full rich voice made me actually look at him. My breath caught in my throat, my smile dangerously close to turning into a gape as I took in his thick wild black hair, soft rectangular face, and his deep amber eyes surrounded by a dark blue ring. He had smooth sun kissed skin and wore a fitted blue Tardis T-shirt that did nothing to hide his skinny, but muscular frame. Somehow I ended up staring in his eyes, unable to look away as a strange tingling sensation traveled throughout my body.

" 'Scuse me Jade," apologized Kyle as he accidentally bumped into me while heading towards the sink, snapping me out of my trance.

   "C-coffee free? We have a couple of teas and smoothies," I squeaked. "Would you prefer something hot, cold, or frozen?"

      He smiled, making my heart stop, "Really? Awesome, well, what cold drink would you recommend?"

   "Personally I recommend the Passion Fruit Tea with lemonade if you want something sweet, but our Iced Green Tea tastes just as good if you prefer something bitter," I said, my composure regained, but with a genuine smile.

       "Hmmm..." he seemed to think about it, his face forming a cute frown. Then, he grinned, his eyes seemed to flash as he eagerly looked me straight in the eyes and said, "I think I'm up for something sweet then, in large."

        "Right, then your total is $4.05," I said with a blush. Hesitatingly I asked, "and, under what name... sir?"

       "Daniel Lagos, but just write Danny," he said softly. I nodded not trusting my voice and wrote his name on a cup before placing it on the counter for Kyle to fill.  As I gave him his change our hands accidentally touched and he gasped, electricity flowing through our brief contact that felt like forever but lasted less than a second.

Maybe today isn't such a bad day after all....

~They trudged out of the dense green forest and into a large clearing behind an even larger red brick manor house. The group consisted of about a dozen young, strong men, who if not for their haggard expressions and comepletely ruined clothing, could have easily been mistaken for models. 

Although weary looking, somehow they had an air of surreal grace that silenced their steps and kept them in some sort of parade-like order as they neared the grand house. The sun, rising slowly from behind the forest, cast them in an eerie light that if any stranger had seen, he'd feel as if he had witnessed some great masterpiece that soon was lost as the sun steadily rose higher.~

"You guys smell like crap you know." I sent the thought over to the last two guys in our spent procession.

"No shit Sherlock, and you smell like a freaking Daisy,"  replied Marc sarcastically, the first to reply.

"Gee, thanks. Always the flatterer Daniel,"  thought Lucas, equally sarcastic. 

 "Aren't I? Anyway, I need to ask you guys a favor," I proffered through our mind-link, "please?"

   We were all tired, I could feel it not only through the link but as well as in the way we all seemed to trudge along slowy. After finally arriving in our new home, a small city with plenty of forest and-most importatly-unclaimed, they had recieved orders from their Alpha to inspect their new territory for any dangers or strays, an order that had taken them most of the evening and all of the night to complete. In the end they had encountered no dangers, but had to track down three strays that had intruded onto their new land. Those three strays who at first had run away in fear now walked alongside the rest of us, nervous, but no longer afraid. I spared them a glance before looking at Marc and Lucas pointedly. Taking my hint, they sped up to match my pace as we all walked towards the mansion, our new house.

"What's wrong man? Can't it wait until later?" grumbled Lucas out loud, a bit concerned since I never asked for help.

Nervously I looked behind us to see if anyone was listening to our conversation, relieved when no one was. I didn't bother looking forward. Since I was the son of our pack's Alpha and therefore the future Alpha, no one dared walk in front of me; instead they walked behind me wallowing in their exhaustion, maintaining a respectful distance.

Satisfied that no one would listen in, I turned to my friends, biting my bottom lip, a troubled expression on my face. "I'm not sure," I admitted hesitantly, "I think I found my mate." Marc gasped, but before he could say anything I forged on, " But I don't know who she is or if she's even one of us. I-I need your help, I need to know more about her."

"That's awesome! Cong-" Lucas gushed excitedly.

"-Congratulations!Of course we'll help you man, it's your mate we're talking about," Marc interrupted.

"Thanks," I sighed with relief. "Then I'll be counting on you after we get some food."

"So, where exactly did you meet her-actually, when did you meet her? We haven't exactly seperated since we got here..." Lucas queried, curiosity in his voice.

"Yeah when did you meet her? We've been patrolling ever since we arrived in town," added Marc with suspicion, his eyes narrowing.

Suddenly feeling guilty, I looked away from their intense gazes. "Uh... um I kinda--Hey, look at that we're home already!" I exclaimed as we finally arrived at the backdoor of the manor house in an attempt to buy time. I rushed inside, heading towards the kitchen and the smell of delicious food. The other two surprised at my sudden escape, looked at each other and grinned.

"We are soo getting it out of him," said Marc, an evil gleam in his eyes.

"He's definetely going to regret running," agreed Lucas laughingly before he and the rest of the men crossed the doorway into the house.

Sighing I rolled on my bed so that I'd be lying on my back. It was a one of my rare days off from both my part-time jobs and school work, and so far I'd spent most of it dreaming and mooning over guys. One guy to be specific. One very, very, handsome guy who I couldn't seem to get out of my head since I first and last saw him two weeks ago. 

  "You are sooo pathetic Jade," I groaned to myself. Giving the ceiling one last lazy, mournful look, I crawled out of