“You come any closer and I’ll clock you in the face again. Nothing personal”—Taylor froze and let out a snort—“Actually this is extremely personal. You’re a fucking idiot for leaving without having told her anything. Plus, I can’t stand the fact that she’s even still attracted to you. Pisses me off to no end. She deserves someone who loves her. Like me.” Taylor didn’t get two steps back to his truck before Aston’s iron grip clasped onto his shoulder.
“You’re not going anywhere but inside my apartment. Londyn, park the truck and call Ayden.”
Taylor jerked to the side, but the only things that moved were his legs. His shoulder was glued to Aston’s grip.
“Don’t make a scene. People are already watching.”
Taylor looked around in the darkness. “Let go of me. I don’t see anyone.”
“Trust me. They’re there. I’ll let go of you if you just walk into my apartment so I can make a call. Let my boss come check things out and if he gives the go then you’re free to leave.”
A groan came out of Taylor’s mouth. “Is this some kind of law enforcement procedure? Because if that’s the case he can come see me at my apartment.”
“If you don’t start walking, I’m going to have to forcefully drag you, and I really don’t want to do that.”
“Bullshit.” Taylor stomped his foot down on top of Aston’s and, the moment the beefcake started to hunch over, Taylor brought his knee right to Aston’s face.
“Son of a bitch!” Aston reached for his nose which was gushing blood. Taylor met his stare and all thoughts of heading for his truck vanished. A dark color started to cloud the baby blue of his eyes and the pupil looked as if it was having spasms. A growl came from Aston’s throat and Taylor could have sworn he saw his teeth elongate into canines, then go back to normal.
A large hand grabbed for him but Taylor dodged it. “What the fuck is wrong with your face?”
Aston reached for him again, this time lightning fast. Taylor barely caught the moment and was lucky to not get grabbed.
“Get inside my damn apartment.”
“Hell no. Not until you tell me what’s wrong with your face. I’ve seen some freaky shit in my lifetime, but that takes the cake. How’d you do that?”
Londyn walked over casually and Taylor watched him slide his keys into the pocket of his shorts. Shit, now he was going to have to get them back.
“Ayden’s on his way. Apparently, someone phoned the station and a car was headed over here, but he warned them off and said he’d take the call himself.” Londyn looked at his brother and laughed. “Told you all that muscle was going to slow down your speed, bro.”
“Fuck you, Londyn. You know I can’t help it. I haven’t worked out in months.”
“Yeah, right.” Taylor rolled his eyes. “If you don’t work out, you just dress like this for the hell of it?”
“We were actually going running, if you must know.” Aston took off his shirt and put it against his nose to soak up the bleeding. His thick muscles flexed as he took a step.
“Can we go in now and wait for Ayden?” Aston gestured toward his door.
Taylor looked at him, flabbergasted. “Are you stupid? I’m not going in there with you. Especially since I saw…whatever you did with your face. I want my keys, and I want to leave. Hopefully this will be the last time I ever see either of you.”
“Face?” Londyn fidgeted nervously and looked back and forth between the two of them.
“Inside, right now, soldier boy, or else I will throw you over my shoulder and take you in there myself.”
Taylor had no doubt Aston would or could. “One condition.” Taylor turned to Londyn. “Ayden’s the Chief of Police, right?”
“Yep.” Londyn nodded.
“Good, give me your phone.”
Londyn didn’t hesitate to throw it to him. Taylor caught it and hit send on the last number that was called.
“Goddamn it, Londyn. I said I was on my way. He hasn’t started to change already, has he?”
Taylor looked back and forth between Londyn and Aston. What the hell was going on here? Change? He hung up the phone and walked toward Aston’s door. He wasn’t sure why. If he were smart he would have started running, but something told him he wouldn’t make it far before he was caught. Plus, whatever was going on interested the hell out of him and he had no idea why.
Chapter 7
The phone was on the third ring when Julie almost hung up. The all-too-familiar loud voice of Melissa answered.
“Jules!” A squeal echoed through her ear. “Oh my God! I’ve missed you so much. You never call me anymore, not to mention return calls. How are you?”
Julie took a deep breath. “I’m good. Am I interrupting anything? I can call you back if I am.”
“No. No. No. I’m just sitting here at the house by myself. The guys took Molly to the store. They figured I might need a break. Isn’t that sweet of them?”
A smile came to Julie’s lips. “Yes. It’s very sweet. How is Molly? I bet she’s getting so big already.”
Melissa laughed. “You should see her. A few months old and she’s already running this house. You won’t see that girl awake and not laughing about something. She has the men wrapped around her little finger.”
“I bet.” Julie couldn’t stop smiling. She’d only seen Molly shortly after she was born and the baby was beautiful, especially with Melissa’s red hair.
“Enough about us.” Melissa voice lowered. “How are you, Jules? I’ve been really worried about you. We all have. Me, Sarah, Ev, even Nicole has been asking how you were doing.”
Julie bit her lip. “Mel. I don’t know where to begin. I think I’m in trouble.”
“What do you mean?” The worry in Melissa’s tone was exactly what Julie didn’t want to hear. Her friend didn’t deserve this burden.
“Don’t do this. I know you, Jules. You were about to open up and you shut down. Don’t. If you don’t tell me, I’m getting in my car and driving to Corpus.”
“No.” Julie began pacing her living room. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll tell you everything.” A few seconds of silence was exactly what Julie needed to gather her strength. “Mel, the drinking…I can’t stop. I’ve tried, but it’s so hard. I’m getting really sick trying. I can’t even begin to tell you all the symptoms. It’s like if I don’t have some amount of alcohol in my system, I start shaking and feel like I’m going to throw up. The sweating and almost fainting—” Julie’s staggering breath cut off her words. She was so close to just breaking down into a hysterical panic attack that she couldn’t breathe.
“Calm, sweetie. It’s going to be all right. The first step was admitting you need help. It’s only going to get better from here.” Melissa’s voice soothed her. There was no disapproval or disgust in her tone and immediately Julie felt better.
“I don’t know what to do.” Julie sat on the couch.
“What you’re going to do is come stay with me for a while.”
Julie jumped back up. “Oh no. I couldn’t do that to you and your family. Plus, I guess you could say I’m under house arrest. Ayden wants an officer watching over me at all times.” Julie listened to the way that sounded and stopped pacing. “Not because of the drinking though. Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything stupid. It’s just, I’ve been getting these packages from some stranger at work and apparently they found their way into my place. No big deal.”
The tone in Melissa’s voice rose an octave higher. “No big deal? But you just said they got in your apartment.”
“Yeah, but I left the stuff with Ayden. I’m sure they’ll do fingerprints and find the guy within the week.”
That seemed to calm Melissa down. “Well, I hope so. Ayden is a good cop. If the guy can be found, he’s the man to have on the job.” Melissa sighed. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay here? Ayden wouldn’t mind. Hell, he’d probably feel better with Connor and Channing watching over you than you being there by yourself with just a cop outsi
de.”
“Well, it’s not just any cop, and let’s just say the hottie has a partner, his brother.”
Melissa instantly perked up. “Oh, yeah? Do tell.”
“Well, the cop’s name is Aston Simms, and his brother is none other than—”
“Londyn!” Melissa squealed again. “I heard he was back.”
Julie felt her smile disappear. “Yeah, he’s back all right, already trying to move himself back in. He actually tried to tell Taylor that I was his.”
Silence from Melissa made Julie’s stomach drop. After all, Mel had been there when she and Londyn had first met, and she knew how serious they had become before the jerk bolted.
“You loved him, Jules. Do you think you’ll be able to forgive him?”
The bottle of vodka screamed Julie’s name. Damn, she really wanted to drink right now. “He left me. Just left…”
“From what I’ve heard, he didn’t have a choice. The case he was working on got really dangerous. Stuff got leaked about who he was and, this is just pure speculation on my part, Jules, but I really think he left to protect you. If they discovered Londyn had a love interest, it could have turned out badly.”
Julie let the words sink in. Maybe Melissa was right. Maybe Londyn had to leave like he did. “Perhaps. I guess until I really get to talk to him I won’t know for sure. He did mention something along those lines.”
“I think I’m right. Just do me a favor and give him a chance. I know what you two had was real. And, now that I know he’s watching over you along with his hottie brother, I feel a lot better.”
Sounds in the background indicated to Julie that Melissa’s men were home, along with their daughter. “Thank you for talking with me, Mel. I should be getting to bed.”
“All right, but I’m calling to check on you tomorrow, and you better answer your phone.”
Julie laughed. “I will. Love you, girlie.”
“Love you more.”
Julie smiled and hung up the phone. She felt better already. Now if she could just find something to do to take her mind off of drinking, she’d be all right. She looked around the empty apartment. It was so quiet without Taylor here. The thought had her returning to her room. She grabbed the ring and took it out of the box.
She loved Taylor, but she couldn’t deny that a part of her still had feelings for Londyn. She slid the ring on her finger and held her hand out. It was beautiful. The most perfect ring she’d ever seen. Before she got too attached, she quickly put it back in the box and placed it on her dresser.
Maybe she’d try it on again later. For now though, she wanted food. Julie searched for the pizza number on her phone. Delivery was what she needed and then it was off to bed. If she was sleeping, she wasn’t drinking.
* * * *
Taylor could feel himself sweating as he sat on the couch and waited for Ayden to show up. He just wanted this over with so he could go home and lie down. He really was starting to not feel very well, and just staying upright was becoming a chore.
“You okay, bro?” Londyn was watching him from across the room. The smug bastard leaned against the wall like he didn’t have a care in the world. Strange for someone who was freaking out mere minutes ago.
“Do I look all right to you? I feel like shit. Probably coming down with the flu that’s going around. Sure as hell hope that I gave it to you.”
Londyn laughed. “The flu is probably the last thing you need to worry about right now.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Londyn opened his mouth to answer when a knock sounded on the door. Ayden didn’t wait for anyone to answer, he just walked in. One look at Taylor and he snarled at Londyn. “Tell me right now why I shouldn’t drag your ass outside and beat some sense into you.”
“Whoa.” Taylor motioned to Londyn. “No worries, Chief. I already told them I’m not going to file a complaint or anything.”
Ayden walked over and kneeled before him. Taylor felt uncomfortable. He looked over to Londyn and Aston. What was he doing?
“This is going to be hard to understand, but I need you to trust me. Can you do that, Taylor?”
“Maybe.” Taylor used all his strength to scoot back on the couch. Anything to put distance between the two of them.
“Listen to me. This is very important. The sickness you feel right now—”
Taylor narrowed his eyes. “I never told you I felt sick.”
“You don’t have to.” Ayden sat on the cushion next to him. “You’re as white as a ghost, sweating profusely, and your eyes are as round as saucers. You’re infected.”
“Infected?” Taylor stood up and felt himself sway. “You make it sound like I have some disease. I told your friends here, it’s just the flu.”
“No, it’s not. Londyn’s blood infected you. You don’t have the flu.”
Taylor glared over at Londyn. “What the hell did you give me?”
“You believe in things like vampires and werewolves?” Londyn smiled, but it wasn’t one that made Taylor feel comfortable. Everything in the question said Londyn wasn’t bullshitting.
“Are you kidding me?” Taylor wasn’t sure whether to leave now or sit back down. Every word was beginning to become harder to speak, and his apartment was four buildings down. There was no way he could walk that far.
“I wish he was kidding,” Ayden said quietly. “Londyn is a wolf, one of mine to be precise, and as much as we could use you right now, I hate to say that you’re going to be one of mine too.”
“Wait…” Taylor plopped down on the couch and rested his head against the cushion. He suddenly felt like he was spinning.
“This next twenty-four hours are going to be excruciating for you, but you need to know that it will subside. I’m sorry you have to go through this, Taylor, but I can assure you that we’re a family, and we’re all going to take very good care of you.”
Taylor shook his head. “Londyn’s not family. He left Julie.”
“Not by choice,” Ayden said quietly. Taylor actually liked the fact that he was talking so quietly. His head was beginning to throb. “Even though it goes against everything I believe, I sent Londyn away. I had to. He’s my intelligence on our enemies. Things got too heated and he needed to leave for a while. He had no say in the matter. I did what was best for Julie. I left her in your care.
Taylor forced his eyes open. “Why me? You had no idea if I was a good or a bad guy. What if I had hurt her?”
Ayden laughed. “I know everything there is about you, Taylor. I know she’s been in love with you since high school, and she trusts you more than anyone else. I know you feel the same way about her. You were perfect for Julie.”
“Wait.” Londyn walked forward. “If you knew this, why him? I’m to be bonded to her. Not him.”
Ayden shook his head. “Not just you, Londyn. If you were the only one meant for her, the pull would have made you two bond already. It didn’t.” He turned to Aston. “You felt a pull to her, didn’t you?”
Londyn whipped his head around so fast, Taylor thought he was going to be sick from vertigo.
“Yeah, I did.”
“You?” Londyn took a step forward.
“It wasn’t something I had control over. I just felt it in the pit of my stomach. I knew something was there.” Aston put his head down. “It’s not like I did it intentionally, Londyn.”
“Well, I guess if it had to be someone, you’ll do.” Londyn ran his hand through his hair and paused.
“There’s something else,” Ayden said. He looked over at Taylor.
“You’re kidding me,” Londyn groaned.
“I’m not sure yet, but I just figured if it had been you two alone then she wouldn’t have let you both leave her with Taylor.”
“But he’s not even a wolf yet! The bond wouldn’t have known this was going to happen.” Londyn threw himself on the loveseat next to Aston. “This is bullshit.”
“I don’t think the bond knew anything. I’m just saying mayb
e their feelings for each other somehow delayed it, or tied them together. Who knows, maybe it’s not him”—Ayden shrugged—“but I do think there’s someone else. There’s no other reason I can think of as to why she isn’t more into you guys.”
“Julie is mine.” Taylor pushed the words out even though it felt like his throat was on fire. “She always has been, always will be.”
“It has to be him.” Aston moved closer to the edge of the loveseat. “I saw the way they interacted. Julie’s feelings for him are extremely deep, and well, we all know how he feels.”
Londyn perked up. “Yeah, but you heard what he said earlier. Julie dumped him.”
Taylor lifted his head and glared. “She loves me, she’s just afraid to admit it. You came into the picture and screwed everything up. I bought her a ring and everything. We were going to be happy.” His head hit the cushion and Taylor felt his eyes roll back. Bright colors started to flash, and there was nothing he could do to fight it. Fear raced through him, and for the first time in as long as Taylor could remember, he was actually scared. What if what they said wasn’t true? What if he died?
Weight settled over his body like an invisible cloak. Taylor couldn’t move a limb, much less a finger. It was as though his body had been injected with some sort of paralysis agent.
A scream echoed in the far reaches of his mind. What the hell is happening to me? Ayden!
Everything was pitch black around him, and Taylor could feel himself struggling on the inside. If only he could get himself to respond on the outside.
“Don’t worry, Taylor. You’re going to be all right. I won’t leave you for a second. Don’t be scared. Know this is part of the process.”
Ayden’s voice was like an anti-anxiety drug. Taylor could almost feel himself nod. As long as they knew he wasn’t dead, he could believe that at some point this period was going to end.
As though the Chief of Police could read his mind, Ayden started talking again. “The first part will only last a few minutes. I hate to say this, but the next thing that will come won’t be any better.” He sighed. “You’re going to go through some really intense pain. I want to warn you. Although it’s excruciating, I need you to promise me that you’re going to try your hardest to be as quiet as possible. I ask this as your Alpha, not your Chief of Police.”
Three for Julie (Blissful Bets #4) Page 5
