9 Chapter 9

The apartment complex that Celeste lived in wasn't the best but it served her needs. It was a one bedroom apartment with a split living room and kitchen. It was just enough space for her to fit a sofa and chair in the living space for when she friends over or wanted some place comfortable to watch tv. As she didn't care much for color she went with black which worked well enough with the light colored carpet that covered the living and bedroom floors.

The kitchen held a half sized fridge with a small freeze compartment which was enough to hold what she need for each week. There was a also a dishwasher and stove on opposite sides of the kitchen. Most of the time though she didn't bother with the dish washer since she was the only one who ever ate in the apartment.

As she didn't kept a lot of food in the house at once, she invested in a small metal shelf to keep in one corner of the kitchen to use for anything that was shelf-stable as there wasn't much cupboard space and most of it had been taken up by dishes and cups. It wasn't ideal, but it worked well enough since luckily the apartment complex didn't seem to have a rodent problem.

It wasn't furnished with a washer or dryer so instead Celeste went down twice a week to use the community washer and dryer that was located on the first floor. She usually did it first thing in the morning when she knew that hardly anyone else would be around. If she didn't do this, she would have to wait until late at night as everyone else did their laundry in the afternoon or evening and there was never enough space to accommodate everyone.

Being tired from her first day of work, Celeste decided to go for something light and decided on making some toasted bread for sandwiches with fried eggs and bacon. There was nothing wrong after all with having breakfast for dinner. Plus, making extra would mean that she would have something for lunch the next day.

Half-way through she was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringtone going off indicating that someone was calling her. She didn't have to look at the ID before she answered it to know who was calling as the ringtone was a customized one.

"Hey, Jen what's up?" She asked as he picked up the phone, she put it on speaker so that she could talk with her friend while focusing on cooking.

"So is it true that you already found a suitor at your new job?" Jen asked in a voice that was almost a shout, Celeste flinched at the volume of her friend's voice.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about?" She asked confused only having pay attention to what her friend said. Jen was one of her more eccentric friends who always jumped to strange conclusions based upon little information.

"Well." Jen started, drawing out the 'l' sound as she spoke.

"I heard from a mutual friend who stopped by the shop on the way to work for a coffee fix that there was some guy there who seemed to have taken a fancy to you. And if my sources are correct it sounds like it was Bane Black." Celeste froze for a second after hearing this. Had the news really traveled that fast?

"I'm not quite sure who you mean?" Celeste asked feigning ignorance. She didn't think that the interaction that occurred between the two of them was enough to give off the impression that Bane was interested in her, but maybe his behavior was more obvious than she had first though.

"Lessie, don't you try that with me." Jen warned on the other end of the phone. Celeste didn't find her friend to be really intimidating, but she knew that she could be persistent if she didn't get the information that she wanted out of someone.

"I'm not trying anything!" Celeste defended.

"I really don't know who you're talking about. Yes there was some guy there that I talked to, but I would hardly call our interactions and indication that he fancied me. He just talked to me because he helped me out the other day when I took the wrong turn on the way home after it was dark." She explained. By the sound of the friend's voice on the other end of the phone, she could tell that she didn't quite buy it.

"You seriously don't know who Bane Black?!" Is her friend asked, her voice reaching a high octave due to the amount of disbelief that she felt over the fact that her friend didn't know who it was.

"He's a guy evidentially. Someone I apparently met yesterday." Celeste replied back, a touch of sarcasm to the tone of her voice. She heard Jen scoff in response to this.

"He's far more than this. He's a huge figure within business sector. Man with a lot of money who worked his way from the ground up to be one among one of the most reliable business analysts in New York. He's also known for donating lots of his money to charities and supposedly living a minimalistic lifestyle despite how much he makes." Celeste kept quiet as he friend launched into what she knew would be a lengthy explanation as to who this supposedly important person.

"He also owns a few night clubs around here. Some rumors say he even comes out to mingle with patrons under disguise in order to find out if they are enjoying themselves or what could be done to make it better. Supposedly he's also a bachelor."

"Sounds like an amazing guy." She replied once she was certain that her friend was finished speaking.

"Lessie! He's more an amazing guy, he's an amazing catch. If someone like that is interested in you, you should snatch up the opportunity. With a guy like that, you wouldn't have to worry about anything in your life ever again." Her friend didn't have a bad point with what she as saying. The only problem was that said rich man also happened to be a werewolf and part of the mafia. A few small details that he friend didn't know about and Celeste didn't think would be good to be brought up.

"But we only know what things the press has released about him and or that others want to hear about him. We don't actually know what kind of person he is in his private life." Celeste pointed out. She had learned over the years not to trust people who's impressions were based upon what they knew about their public image. People had a good way of hiding all the bad things that they didn't want others to know about.

"Does it really matter? I doubt that if he has any skeletons hiding in his closet that it couldn't be that horrible." Jen replied. This almost caused Celeste to laugh in response since she knew already that wasn't true.

"I'm not sure about that. But really, I don't even think that he's interested in me. I think he was just being nice. The manager there said he's always generous with tips when he comes in and treats the staff nice. I'm sure it was just a normal thing for him." She hoped that saying this would get her friend to drop the subject. Her food was almost done and she would really rather be eating than having this discussion with the other.

Her goal was to forget about Bane and go about life as normal as possible. Even if they were supposed to be mates, she didn't believe him because she never felt any kind of odd pull or feelings when she had been around the werewolf. The lack of feelings made her think that the other was just saying that as lie to convince her stay with him.

"It's always good to dream though." Jen tried even though she sounded a bit deflated to hear this. Jen was a good friend in her own ways. She also could be one who was a lot to handle at the same time. She knew the struggles that her friend went through and was always looking for some easy solution for her to get through them.

"Why don't you take the dream then. I'm sure that he will be back tomorrow and you could stop by and try and talk with him tomorrow since you seem more interested in him than me." Celeste suggested as she put the skillet in the sink, she would come back and wash it later. Her friend was quiet for a second.

"Alright, but if he's not there, you'll owe me a trip to one of those night clubs for some fun this weekend." Jen replied. Celeste didn't like the sound of this, but agreed to it anyways as she was betting on the fact that Bane would be back tomorrow.