Shifter Romance: Werewolf Shifter Romance: Problem Child (Wolf Shifter Romance Baby Romance Shapeshifter Romance) (Alpha Romance Short Stories Romance Shifter Romance) (8 page)

“So, I’ve got you all here to celebrate me being promoted to bar manager at work, also, there’s something else.”

It’s been hard work getting the whole family here, all four of us (as I suppose it will be from now on). The atmosphere has definitely been slightly muted. It’s a French place called La Trompette and it is definitely posh. At this point in time, my Dad just thinks that this is a work thing and that’s all.

“The thing is, Mr. Baker, that your daughter and I are a couple now.” Said Rob, as coolly as it was possible to be and still remain respectful.

My Dad and my Mom share a look that I find hard to decipher.

“Ok.” Says Dad quickly.

There is an uncomfortable pause, whilst a rather snotty waiter comes to take our orders. This takes some time, particularly Alex who seems really stuck.

“I’ll have the um...”

“And um, is this all?” My Dad says, suddenly.

Now it’s me and Rob’s turn to share a glance. We’re not quite sure what he means or even if he’s speaking to Alex.

“I’m sorry?” Says Rob, good-naturedly. “Is this all what?”

“Is this all you were going to say or is there...err... more..?”

I laugh, slightly confused.

“No, that’s all Dad, what else could there be?”

My Mom lets out a huge sigh of relief. “No that’s great sweetie”

She says to me, then turns to Alex slightly impatiently “Have you decided yet?”

“It won’t be long,” says Alex who appears to be screwing up his face and staring over at the next table. I survey his face. Maybe he doesn’t look quite so much like Dad as I first thought. Not now they’re side by side. There’s a resemblance, but it’s not as huge as I first thought.

Subconsciously I breathe out.

As he looks about, my eyes meet his for a moment and I see the plea for help in them. The only thing is, I don’t understand why.

“Yeah that. That’s okay with me too,” said my Dad, obviously not going overboard on the approval for Rob, but at the very least managing to rein it in.

“It’s better than last time anyway,” He says, with a roll of the eye. I look at them both in surprise and then to Rob, who has a pleased look. He squeezes my hand under the table.

Then, the realization hits me squarely in the face, that they were expecting more than an announcement of a relationship. In fact, reading their faces, they’re actually just pleased that I’m not pregnant… and that he’s not married.

I should explain. My last relationship was also with someone much older… my college tutor. To say it didn’t end well would be an understatement. In one fell swoop, I went from being the class virgin to the scarlet woman.

I quit the course soon after it ended, a fact my Dad has never been able to shut up about.  Still, for now, at least, he’s just relieved that there’s no more to it than that, so I let him be happy.

“Well, then it’s a double celebration” Smiles Dad, as he looks round to the wine cooler to refill everyone’s glasses up, “Because we have got an announcement too.”

We all turn around expectantly. Alex’s face tells me he has no more clue than me about this one. What could it be? Not surely more surprise step children?

“I’ve found you a job Alex, at my office. It’s only junior but I’m sure you’ll be able to make it something more substantial later on. Start in a couple of weeks.”

I actually detect Alex’s skin paling beneath the dim restaurant lights. He stares at me like a rabbit in the headlights. He looks so lost all of a sudden, like a landed fish. Despite everything, I find myself feeling for him.

“That. That’s great” He finally mutters.

“Hey, Alex, there’s always room for you at Mermaids if you don’t like the idea of that” Cuts in Rob, suddenly.

I turn to look at him, opening my mouth to say I didn’t think he was taking anyone else on, but then I shut it again. I guess he means fighting.

It’s pretty clear that my father doesn’t know about Alex’s little hobby and neither he nor Rob want it advertising. This suits me fine, as I’ve only just got them on board about working there and now seeing the boss. I don’t think they’d exactly approve of the fact it’s doubling up as an illegal fight den.

“That’s alright Rob” Laughs Alex “I’m not that desperate, no offense.”

His eyes connected with mine and they seem to jump up with a hiss, like a snake. Like there’s something real determined in there.

Deep inside, I feel something quicken, drawing me in, I drop my eyes.

“None taken” Shrugs Rob and shouts over to the waiter to bring another cooler of Champagne. “Are you ready to order yet?”

“The escargots good,” Says my mom.

“That’s great I’ll have them then,” Says Alex, shutting the menu, with a relief that is tangible. He smiles that deep dark smile that seems to have crawled up from the pits of hell, simply to ignite something inside me. Something that’s compelling, but also as scary as hell.

“Sorry it took me so long, I don’t know any French at all.”

Trying like crazy to avoid his gaze, I glance down at the menu. Then look straight back up at him.

It’s in English.

“I told him no!”

Alex’s eyes are full of fire and I can’t quite understand the vehemence behind them.

We’re sitting in my room, later that evening. I’ve brought some filing home from work to do – working in my spare time, go me!

“Thing is. No one knows me here and that’s how I want it to stay. This is a fresh start for me here.” He says when I innocently ask him why he was so sure he didn’t want to fight again. I mean I can’t blame him, and all, but I just wondered why he changed his mind about it. “That fight was a one off, just to pay back something I owed.”

“Yeah, and you’ve got the new job soon enough,” I add, and then purposefully watch his reaction. He squirms visibly.

“..Well, I might find something else, I guess…”

“Dad said something about college; he could help you out there I guess.”

“Yeah,” He says, about as enthusiastic as someone about to undergo rectal surgery. His phone beeps suddenly; he picks it up, glanced down at the message then looks slightly lost.

Suddenly the penny drops.

I let the employee cards I’m organizing, slip into a pile on the dressing table and get up to grab a drink, which is on the windowsill a few paces away.

“Oh, could you just fetch me Jacquie’s card,” I say casually.

“Er.” Alex sounds shifty.

It’s a mean trick, I know.

He’s still trying to look.

I come over softly to him and touch him on the arm. He almost leaps into the air.

Then he looks at me plaintively.

“You know damn well I can’t read properly.”

“No one else knows?”

“Not here. No.” He says shortly. “The only way I’m going to get on any college course, is an adult literacy one.”

I find our eyes locking and have to take a step backward. All the same, I hear my voice saying.

“That’s ok, I can help. It’ll just be our secret.”

I guess this is a mistake because the next thing that happens is that he gently has hold of my wrists and we are kissing, softly at first, but then firm, intense, grasping for breath, kind of hard candy pleasure.

They’re like bubblegum kisses. Sweet and cloying, but at the same time, I feel repulsed like I am going to throw up.

“Stop” I am about to say, but I don’t need to, because he has been thrown off me, like something that’s just been struck by lightning. He is out there, gone, away, trying his hardest to put as much space between us.

The door bangs loudly on the way out. Both of us sickened about what has just happened.

I can’t process what has just happened here. I turn to the bedside mirror and stare in at myself.

Revolted… Disgusted… Energized… Turned on!

“She’s coming round”

Out of nowhere, I hear my Mom’s voice, sounding frail and I can feel her – or someone- clasping my hand tight. Whoever it is, I can feel their pulse quicken against my own, pump pumping hard.

I open an eye in confusion. It is bright in here. I can’t understand what all these faces are doing around me, or how all these people managed to get in my room.

“Can you speak Eliana?” I hear a voice say.

I nod yes, for some reason, instead of saying it, even though I’m pretty sure that my voice box is intact.

“There’s been an accident,” She says.

Slowly, I realize that she is a nurse and this is a hospital.

My mom is next to my bed, looking strung out and as if she has been awake for a week. But the person who has been squeezing my hand is beside me. It is Alex.

However, more or less as soon as I open my eyes he fades away, melting like the snow outside. I begin to wonder if it is just part of my dream.

In actual fact, I hadn’t really seen Alex since the incident.  Despite living under the same roof, we made our damnedest not to be in the same room together, as you can imagine.

“Hey baby” It was Rob. He wasn’t looking too hot either, a five o clock shadow on his chin that seemed to have reached midnight and suit that looked like it had been slept in. “That was quite some length to go to get out of spending time with me.”

He’s making a joke of it, but we hadn’t been getting on that great. Maybe it was working together and then hanging out so much, but we were actually beginning to rub each other up the wrong way a bit.

Thinking back about it, I suppose it was a little odd someone as wealthy as him and with so many other businesses, wanting to hang out in that little club, but he seemed absolutely determined to turn it into an alternative fight spot, alternative being his word for illegal.

He was pretty pissed that Alex wouldn’t come and fight there again, I had no idea he was so sought after and even, a little bit famous in the stupid world of men getting their heads kicked in (as I called it). This was just one of the things that Rob and I had argued about. Anyway, like I said, that is another story.

“What happened?” I croak.

I’m a bit surprised that my voice sounds this bad, but then it transpires that I have had oxygen, anesthetic and God knows what else pumped down my windpipe.

“You had us really scared back there” Quivers my mom. “It’s been a long week.”

You what?

“Yeah, that’s right,” says my Dad, at the back. “I said you’d pull through, though. You always were a fighter.”

“Alright, just rewind a minute. How long did you say I’ve been here for?”

“A week sweetie,” says, my mom. “You were knocked over and have been unconscious for nearly seven days.”

“A week” I actually sit bolt upright. The nurse comes fussing around and tries to get me to lie back down again.

Even now, I can’t remember anything about the accident, but apparently, I had gotten out of my car and was walking up the driveway home, when a hit and run driver sped through the street, knocking me about six feet into the air and then back down again with an ungainly “thud”.

“Thank God for the snow,” Said Mom. “If you hadn’t had such a soft landing, there’s no telling what could have happened.”

Then she more or less collapses into my Dad’s arms, sobbing deeply.

“I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to her” she murmurs.

Then it hits me. Being here, the hospital must be bringing back such awful memories of Jonny’s illness. Stuff even now I don’t want to remember. His small body surrounded by tubes and beeps.

Tears start to well up in my eyes. Mom comes over and hugs me hard while Rob sits uncomfortably to the side.

Through my tears, though, a thought digs its way through my mushy anesthetized brain.

Where’s Alex gone?

“Tell your boyfriend the next time it’s for real”

It’s a harsh, unkind voice, with an out of town accent that I can’t place, maybe from up north somewhere.

And I don’t see any face connected with it.

These nightmares seem so real and they seem to be happening more and more. It feels like weeks that pass in that hospital bed, although it is only about two days until I am discharged. I am still under strict bed rest orders and my Mom looks like she is taking her prison warden duties seriously.

Thrashing around in my dreams I sweat and struggle. I don’t understand. What have I got to tell Rob? What is real? Through my painkiller addled brain, I try and make some sense of where I am and what is happening.

I’m under water; someone has got my neck and is holding it tightly down. It’s dark and I can’t see or hear or breathe. I try to scream out, but my mouth can’t make any movement and my throat won’t make any sound.

It seems to be ages and ages, I think it’s all over and I’m drowning. Then, there’s a voice.

“Eliana?”

I can feel a shaking, a rocking around me.

“Eliana? Can you hear me?”

I can hear him but make no sound. I feel his arms covering me, holding me tightly, absorbing the sweat off my chest, my face and my limbs. I have no idea why I am so hot.

“Rob” I try and whisper, which is about as loud as I can make my voice for the time being.

“It’s me,” He says. “Alex”

Then I open my eyes. I am back in the room. I think, anyway.

Warily, Alex takes a step backward as if he’s about to leave.

“Don’t go,” I say. “Please stay.”

I’m not quite sure how long he stays like that for. Beside my bed in the darkness, before I decide I’ve had enough of bed, sleep and nighttime.

I stand up. Walk over to him, put my hands on his chest and kiss him deeply on the lips.

This time, he doesn’t run. But he doesn’t respond either. This has me perplexed. He just stands there, staring, as if he’s been turned to stone.

Then slowly, he unbuttons his shirt and shows me his bare chest. Just like on that first night, but this time, he’s not preening himself and his rippling muscles.

This time, he is coy, shy almost, holding back from something.

Intrigued, I peel him down like a banana. Then I notice something. There are scars and bruises all over his chest, his shoulders, and torso.

In fact, the only part of him not to be scratched or hurt is his face. He stares up at me, with those deep blue eyes and looks slightly embarrassed.

“You… have been in a fight?” I murmur.

“Sort of” He confesses.

“You’ve been fighting again?” I ask.

Here, he rolls his eyes and kind of laughs.

“No. I got into a fight trying to avoid doing a fight. There’s irony for you!”

“I… I don’t understand,” I say.

My head is so over the place with painkillers, being knocked unconscious and fever and now it appears that there are a few random hormones working their way in there as well. I feel hot, all over, and it’s spreading throughout my body.

“Doesn’t matter, it’s over with now,” He says, then, finally, after what seems like an eternity of waiting for it, he kisses me, on my lips, my mouth, my chin, up and down my cheeks. He works his way round to my ears and then grabs me by my neck and love bites me round the base of it.

My body suddenly feels possessed by a burning, that might not be entirely fever induced. I feel weightless as if I can fly almost. But in the next moment, I am very much thrown down to earth by gravity, as we are on top of each other.

I can’t breathe, I am so hot. We actually rip each other’s clothes off. I’ve worked into such a crescendo about this, but all the time in my head is a silent voice screaming at me, pleading, to stop it now.

I know I have to but just can’t seem to manage it somehow. Hours seem to pass but simultaneously it is no time at all and I am turning around, with hot dry eyes and a throat that feels like sandpaper, all alone.

“Alex?” I croak out loud, into the fetid darkness that can only occur in fevered night terrors.

No one is there.

“Alex?” I half groan through the sweat soaked sheets.

Silence…  Nothing... Nada… Zilch.