Predator l 6

Long wait, long chapter. I hope I'm forgiven.

The next day, April found herself at the coffee shop she found the other day again. Like her last visit, she took the same seat at the same table in one of the darker corners of the café.

Her coffee was already lukewarm, dripping down her throat. She didn't bother the temperature of her drink, moreover didn't notice that her drink was almost too cold to enjoy.

She was too busy warming her cold and frozen fingertips on the hot mug rather than her throat.

For once, though, her mind seemed to be in peace, seemed to be elsewhere. She couldn't figure out why.

Maybe the silence around her that eased and comforted her, or just the empty and cold sight in front of the shop's windows.

Or maybe, it was the soft music that was playing in the background of the coffee shop. Although, it wasn't music she usually was hearing in her free time, she found herself relaxing to the soft tune of the music.

"You look lonely."

April almost chocked on her lukewarm drink at the sudden voice impolitely piercing through her peaceful silence.

She quickly swiped the drop of her drink from under the corner of her mouth before looking at the person standing in front of her table, leaning on it with both of his hands.

"And lovely, I might add," he said huskily.

His voice was croaky and for the briefest moment she wondered if it was just the normal tone of his voice, or if his voice was indeed croaky because he liked to remain silent for most of the time.

She was clearly surprised by his face and the smug smile he pulled.

For the briefest of moments, the background around him became blurry, so that the red-haired bartender- Shawn - was the only person she could see.

His presence was suffocating her, keeping her from the air she desperately needed to overcome the sudden surprise. She took several breaths to get a grip of herself.

"You still have a drop of coffee here," he murmured before one of his hands left the wooden table.

His thumb softly brushed the drop of coffee from under her mouth before sucking on his thumb, his gaze never leaving her face.

"What are you doing here?" April croaked and hoped that her stupid question would somehow distract from her flushed and embarrassed face.

Embarrassment was something she absolutely couldn't stand. It made her appear weak, whether she was weak or not. She hated weakness.

He eyed her untouched cake and dipped his finger into it, before taking a taste while sucking on his finger. He hummed quietly at the delightful taste on the tip of his tongue.

"Drinking coffee, of course. What else?" He asked, clearly amused with the surprised state of her.

"Funny, because I don't see there a mug between your hands," April answered with a sarcastic smile hovering above her lips.

The bartenders eyes dropped down on the table as he took the mug with one swift motion between his strong grip. He still kept eye contact when he drank the now cold drink with one gulp.

"Satisfied now?" He asked and casually leaned back on the wooden chair.

With his big posture April was almost afraid that the chair would break beneath his heavy weight.

"What are you really doing here? Dressed in a business suit in a cheap looking coffee shop," she asked him dryly and copied Shawn by leaning against her chair just like he was doing.

Only, that she was less intimidating and relaxed than Shawn.

He gave her a grin before explaining. "I just had a important meeting," he replied, almost too bored as if she was the tenth or hundredth person he'd to explain why he was dressed in such expensive clothes.

Though April didn't knew him well enough or long enough, she was absolutely sure that Shawn wasn't that kind of man who willingly dressed himself into one of these expensive looking and uncomfortable suits. What kind of meeting he apparently had attended to, must have been important, that much was for sure.

"And my brother?" She asked suddenly when she remembered that he'd told her he would be working with Shawn today. "Had he also attend to that meeting you were speaking of?" She went on.

April was asleep when Eric left. She didn't know if he was dressed in his uniform or a suit similar to what Shawn was wearing.

"No," he replied firmly. "He's at work."

Shawn glanced at the pack of cigarettes on the table, laying right next to the cake he dipped his finger into.

"You know," he began as another grin slowly formed on his lips. "You shouldn't smoke here. Olivia doesn't like that," he explained and nodded towards the waitress who was busy behind the coffee shop's counters.

She recognized her from her last visit, when she snapped at her so rudely. As if hearing their current conversation, she glanced towards April and Shawn.

Her olive-green orbs were narrowed into slits as she observed April quietly. It was as if she was daring her to smoke a cigarette and then facing deadly consequences.

April quickly swiveled her head back to Shawn who still had a small grin plastered over his face. She heard him chuckle lowly before averting his gaze once again from her to the red pack of cigarettes on the table.

That was probably why that weirdo waitress snapped at her when she asked if she could smoke in here. Politeness obviously didn't seem to be a valued trait here.

"Besides," he spoke again before continuing. "It's bad for your health," he lowly whispered as if he was telling her one of his nastiest secret.

April rolled her eyes and laughed quietly to herself. That was something she was used to hear quite often from her brother.

"You just sound like my brother," she spoke dryly.

"Oh?" He asked quite surprised with both of his eyebrows quirked up. "Not your parents?" He asked curiously.

She quietly shook her head before answering. "No," she croaked. "No, not really. My parents didn't care much about that. In some aspects I actually could even make my own decisions," she chuckled bitterly.

As long as she did what was expected from her, they wouldn't even bother if she became a drug addicted junkie.

But somehow she figured they wouldn't care anyway, whether she did what they asked of her or not.

She shook her head once again. Her day started quite okay and she didn't want to ruin it by thinking of people she tried not to think about it. Her attention was dragged away from her parents back to Shawn.

With the expensive looking business suit and the way he comfortably leaned back on the chair, he remembered her almost of her father. If she ignored the age difference.

The only thing that he missed was the expensive cigar between his fingers.

April quietly shook her head and tried to ignore Shawn, but again she was bothered by another familiar face. Only this time, she was deeply surprised- startled even.

It was just like the first time after the bar-incident when Shawn uninvited entered Eric's apartment as if he owned the whole damn place.

"April!" Evan greeted her. "What a surprise to see you here. I thought you would've already left." He chuckled lowly, as if he just made the funniest joke.

April, though, was anything but amused.

Laughing was the last thing she was thinking about while watching Evan's face pulled up into a arrogant smirk, which she would love to slap away if she could.

Evan's grin only widened when he noticed her what was supposed to be a deadly glare.

Did he believe that she left this town after the incident at the pub?

He was speaking as if he thought she would have left this town for good. As if the little scene at the pub scared her to death, making her run far, far away.

"She's Eric's little sister," Shawn broke the silence.

Evan's arrogant grin was slapped from his face within a matter of seconds. To say he looked surprised, or shocked even, would be the wrong way to put his current state in words.

The arrogance that was streaming off him was gone all of sudden, replaced by more nervous and tensed posture.

Slowly, he turned his face to Shawn, watching him for long moments of silence before raising his voice once again, only deeper this time.

"The executioner?" He managed to stutter in a low voice.

His face was free from any sign of emotions. His expression was blank, but his eyes were reflection disbelief.

Executioner?

For a moment April felt like she wasn't part of the conversation, even though she was sitting with them at the same table and were talking to them just a moment before.

What didn't surprise her, though, was that Blake apparently knew her brother. She never would have guessed that, but still, it didn't surprise her in the slightest.

She cleared her throat, knowingly dragging Shawn and Evan's attention back to her. Evan was watching her with an expression she couldn't quite figure out.

At least, she wasn't afraid of him like she was when she met Shawn in front of Eric's doorstep.

"So," she begun speaking and cleared her throat one more time before continuing. "You .. know my brother?" She asked and inwardly laughed at herself asking this dumb question in the first place.

"Yes," Evan answered. For the first time, his voice laced with seriousness.

Just like the tone of his voice, the stunned expression immediately left his face and was replaced by seriousness.

April frowned at the serious tension. It was as if she was caught doing something naughty by her parents and was now facing the consequences.

It felt the same way, to say the least. The tension that was wrapped around them remembered her of one of the too many situations where she'd to listen to her father as he scolded her.

It was a bugging feeling which she rather would avoid whenever she could.

She couldn't quite understand which part of the conversation, or rather the short answer and question time could be this serious.

Maybe, she thought, he was regretting that he didn't treat her properly at Rutherford's pub, she thought.

"God," Evan muttered and tiredly rubbed his face. "I can't believe I wanted to fúck the executioner's sister. How sick is that?" He turned to Shawn with a regretful look.

April's frown deepened. "What do you mean?" She cut in. "And how the heck do you even know my brother? Don't tell me you're a cop, too." She scoffed and snorted at the thought of it.

Eric being a cop was pretty surreal. Then learning that Shawn was also a cop was even worse. But now, now learning that Evan might being a cop, too, was simply ridiculous.

Not ridiculous to the extend where she found it simply humorous, though.

"No, I'm not a cop," Evan answered once he got a grip over his emotions, or the little outburst- whatever it was. He shot her her smile, only this time it looked rather strained than arrogant or even friendly.

"So, the person you wanted to meet was Eric?" He asked.

April figured he wanted to loosen up the strange tension around them and appreciated the try. She nodded before croaking a "Yes" as an answer.

Of course, Evan's plan trying to loosen the tension didn't go quite well. April silently ate the cake and tried not to think that Shawn dipped his finger into it minutes before.

"You know," Evan muttered after long moments of silence. "You can tag along to Rutherford's pub anytime you want," he offered before speaking again. "The first impression you got there wasn't the best, I imagine."

She shot him a very sarcastic smile and titled her head. "I refuse. Besides, I thought it is a territory only for males, if I recall our last conversation."

"It still is," he answered and nodded. "But with you, I think we all could make an exception. I think it's nice to have a female company once in a while."

"Evan," Shawn raised his voice all of sudden after moments of keeping silent. It remembered her at the night at the pub- Shawn was only listening but not talking.

Only speaking when it was required of him to raise his croaky voice.

"If she doesn't want to, she doesn't want to. You don't have to persuade her." The tone of his voice was surprisingly cold and firm, like there wasn't any space for Evan to argue.

Like Shawn was forbidding him to argue.

"I don't try to persuade her," Evan defended himself. "I only offered her a delightful night," he explained. "With me," Evan added quickly after.

April rolled her eyes, something she seemed to do often these days.

"Thanks for offering, Evan, but like I already said: I kindly refuse."

With crossed arms she leaned back, trying to look confidently as unwanted memories from the Rutherford's pub flashed through her mind.

"So you live here, too?" April asked Evan.

"Yeah, I do," he spoke and nodded.

"Wonderful," she quickly replied dryly.

Another freak that lived in the same town as her brother. She definitely should over-think the thought about staying here for ever.

How the hell her brother even managed to find a town like this for living was beyond her knowledge.

All she knew was how he talked about a ''change of environment'', when he was about to move out a few years back.

* * * * *

Not long after April settled in the living room of Eric's apartment, she heard the door creaking open and her brother entering the living room shortly after.

The first thing she noticed- apart from his once again tired looking face-were his clothes. It seemed that she would never see her brother in his uniform as he always was wearing his normal, casual looking outfits.

"You never wear your uniform during work, do you?" April attempted to joke but was rather oddly curious.

Her brother- former trouble maker and law breaker-being a cop was indeed a very odd thing. It seemed surreal and beyond crazy and without his uniform, the thought remained only that- ridiculous.

"I do, actually," he answered. "But I change at the police station." His shoulder rolled into an nonchalant shrug.

"You will never guess who I met today," she spoke after seconds of silence.

It was actually a rather dumb question, she figured after the words already slipped so easily over her lips. Who else- besides Shawn-could she mean?

"I will, actually," he answered with a sly grin plastered across his face. "You were with Shawn. He told me about your delightful rendezvous you two had. Who would've guessed you would go after men like Shawn." He mocked her.

April shook her head and frowned at her brother's attempt of mocking her. "It was coincidence that we met, actually," she spoke.

She didn't know why, but she had a great urge to explain her short time with Shawn at the town's coffee shop.

"Hmm," her brother hummed. "I don't like you two together," he said bluntly.

"Excuse me?" She asked utterly confused.

She didn't even consider getting together with him. Neither on a friendly base, nor a romantically. Definitely not a romantically.

Still, her brother was the last one who had right to order her around. That time of her life was officially over.

"I don't like you two together," he repeated firmly. "He's no good news."

He spoke in a tone she rarely heard him use. The only two people who he used this attitude and cold tone of a voice with were her parents. Not her.

"Why?" She asked confused. "Is he involved in bar fights after all?"

"No," he admitted. "I'm just saying he isn't the right person you should start something with," he clarified.

April couldn't suppress a snort. "It's not that I even consider that. Besides, I thought you knew that I'm not too fond of him," she explained herself. "And I thought he isn't a bad man?" She asked when she recalled their last conversation.

"He isn't. He's a good man, but not a good man when it comes to women."

Eric put his hands reassuringly over her arms and squeezed them before leaving her in the living room with nothing more than a deadly silence and thoughts turning and twisting around through in her head.

* * * * *

April found herself being once again alone in her brother's apartment. Her brother had left the apartment later this day due an emergency at the police station in the neighboring town.

She was walking through the rooms and was about to settle on one of the couches, but Eric's wallet laying randomly on the table grabbed her attention.

She silently smiled to herself. Forgetting things at home was just like him. It always was.

April opened the leather bound and luckily found the address of the police station her brother worked at. She just hoped he was there and not patrolling outside, or whatever his daily duty was.

It didn't take too long until she pulled over the place where she assumed her brother would be. She could see the dim light peering through the small office windows, lighting the small sidewalk in front of the building.

If April was truly honest with her intentions, she didn't come over only to give her brother his purse.

She almost felt like one of the parents who embarrassed their children by surprising their children during class when they forgot their bag in the car. Not her parents, though.

No, her intentions were entirely different. She was just the curios ridden girl she always was. She wanted to see what kind of duty her older brother had with his new job as a cop.

And maybe, just maybe she would even get to see him in his uniform. That would hopefully make the thought of him being a cop somewhat real.

Some car's, including police car's, were parked near the building. She even recognized her brother's car next to a huge police car.

Eric would be no doubt in the building, April believed.

She kept waltzing towards the front entry of the building, but was only welcomed with silence when she entered the place.

She frowned. It didn't seem that someone, besides her, was actually in the building. She was pondering on the idea of just checking every room of the building, but being well-behaved for once, she decided against the idea.

Instead, she left the empty building and hurried to the parking space behind the police station, where she saw the cars and her brother's car.

The sky was dark, making it very difficult to see through the parking space. It took long moments for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but even then she could hardly see anything.

Though, she noticed something very odd.

The parking space was filled with cages. Empty cages.

A very nasty smell hit her nose when the wind hissed through the place. April had the strong urge to protect her nose from the horrid smell.

Slowly, she stepped forward to the cages. Some were stacked on each other and she couldn't figure out why on earth they had these behind the building.

The cages where quite small, to say the least. Barely enough space for a grown dog to fit in.

Did they arrest some kind of illegal dog breeder?

April almost jumped from her skin when she heard an inhuman growl behind her. It was silent at first, but loud enough to startle her greatly.

Goosebumps formed on the skin beneath her jacket, unclear if it was due the cold winter breeze or the frightening noise she heard seconds ago.

Dread kicked in all too soon and she felt her stomach twisting painfully. She blinked several times, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness that was wrapped around her.

April quickly swiveled around to the other small cages. She noticed big heavy looking metal locks on each of the small cages in front of her.

Slowly, her eyes finally adjusted to the lack of light.

That was, when she noticed them.

Wolves, captured in these small seized cages. And suddenly, she was well aware of the dozen of eyes watching her every move carefully with a hungry predatory gaze.

____________________________

Please vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter! I really wanted to update earlier, but I haven't found the time to write, sorry.