Margaret sniffed somewhat and nodded. Tiffany could tell that the stress had brought her nearly to tears and she didn’t seem like the kind of woman who broke down in front of people, but even the strongest people reached their breaking point.
Heading outside, Tiffany left Brody inside, sleeping on the couch, but she realized that if she was here very often and neither Gene or Margaret minded her bringing her dog with her, she might need to invest in some water and food dishes for him, maybe even a new doggy bed that he could lay on during the time she spent there. Going to her car, she got her cigarettes and passed one to Margaret. The only time Tiffany did smoke was when she was in her car, when she moved after her parents died, she’d taken up the habit after her dad. It helped her stay awake and afterward, she hadn’t been able to quit or more likely she just didn’t want to.
“So, all he does is clerical work?” Tiffany asked her.
“When we hired him, he was supposed to help with phone calls, filing paperwork as well as going out on bonds with us because he had previously worked as a security guard. Basically, we hired him to do the same job that Gene and I do, but after a couple of months, it was like his ass became glued to that seat in there. He’s been here a little over a year. At one point we had a young woman who came in to answer phone calls and take messages as well as do paperwork for us because we had a plan to get Nate off his ass, but he hit on her so much she felt so uncomfortable that she quit before we even had the chance to get rid of Nate.” Margaret pinched the bridge of her nose for a moment before pushing some of her short blonde hair back behind her ear.
“Yeah, I can kind of see why she wouldn’t want to hang around that,” Tiffany replied.
“I couldn’t blame her; I just wish that she would have talked to us before she walked in and quit one day without even giving us notice.”
There was an idea forming in Tiffany’s head, but she didn’t want to voice it just yet. She needed some time to really think it over and see whether it would be feasible for her to do, but she stuck a pin in it and folded one arm over her chest as she and Margaret smoked.
“I think, when we finish our cigarette, we’ll bury our heads in the sand and get to work on that address book like we were talking about.” For the moment, her best idea was to focus on the task at hand which was finding Mel.
“Good idea. Gene is working on a couple of our other cases; but they are easy ones. Just checking up on bonds and making calls to remind them of their court date. We’ll station ourselves in the conference room and just pound out those phone calls, maybe we’ll hit pay dirt.” Margaret said, squatting down and putting her cigarette out in a little bucket full of sand that sat outside the office just as the first fat droplets of rain began to fall from the dark heavens.
13.
Cracking her knuckles, she picked up the pen at her side and drew a line through the name and number on her list of contacts. Thus far, Tiffany and Margaret had been working steadily making phone calls from Mel’s address book, those who did answer either didn’t know where Mel was or cursed them out for calling or immediately hung up as soon as they said who was calling. Tiffany put little black stars next to those names. While it might have been nothing, it was suspicious to her that as soon as she said Jail-bird Bail Bonds the line went dead. Others were so strung out on whatever drugs that they could get their hands on they would talk to anyone about anything and Tiffany found it difficult to get off the phone with them. Their stories about Mel were interesting, they also painted a pretty vivid picture of what kind of guy he was.
Inhaling slowly, she blew out her cheeks setting the phone back down into the receiver. “As exciting as this job felt yesterday, I can see there’s some major downtime too,” Tiffany said, standing up and stretching slowly, as she had lost sensation in her left butt-cheek about an hour ago.
“Oh yeah, it’s not all car chases and stake outs.” Margaret laughed as she flipped over a piece of paper. Before getting started they made a copy of Mel’s address book so that they could split up the contacts between them and they were both coming close to being finished without any leads, except for the people that hung up on them. Margaret agreed with Tiffany’s instinct. Usually when someone hung up on you after they found out who you were, either they were also involved in something illegal themselves or they knew something that they didn’t want to tell you. Margaret was already compiling a separate list of people to go see just from those calls alone, but as far as finding someone willing to tell them where Mel was –it was a bust.
The sound of the chime notified Tiffany and Margaret that someone had come into the office. Sniffing, Tiffany picked up a scent she hadn’t smelled since that night, two weeks ago. Her heart immediately began to pound as she felt her insides clench involuntarily. Blinking rapidly, she couldn’t see his features from where he stood, but she would have recognized his silhouette anywhere. It was him. It was her bear.
Tiffany’s mouth instantly felt dry as she reached up, smoothing her hair, brushing some of her hair that had fallen out of her bun back behind her ears. Did she look okay? She didn’t even know what she looked like. She could hear Gene talking to him, yes, that was his voice. Tiffany was about to see him, but there was something else –his voice sounded --strained.
“That would be my wife, Margaret. She’s just back here.” Gene said, beginning to come down the hall into the conference area where she and Margaret were.
Tiffany didn’t remember seeing him on his feet, standing. At the time that they were together, they were both on the ground, but she remembered how large he was physically. The darkness subsided from the hallway and she saw him come into full view and his eyes were fully trained directly on her. She thought her heart had stopped it was beating so hard it felt like it would explode out of her chest. His skin was like warm caramel and she instantly recalled how his hands felt on her body, the heat that radiated from his skin –it was as if she could feel it from where she was standing. And there was nothing that she could do about all the blushing she was doing.
“Mrs. Birdie. I came in to talk to you about Mel Rostkincowski.” He said his voice like the low rumble of thunder, though, while he offered Margaret his hand to shake and his green eyes focused on her, Tiffany could feel that he was calculating exactly where she was in the room.
“Please, call me Margaret and this is my associate Tiffany, Tiffany this is Ezekiel Chambers,” Margaret said, turning to Tiffany, noticing the pallor of her skin as Tiffany stepped forward, feeling the heat from his skin even before her fingers curled against his palm. For a split second, she felt like there was electricity tickling all over her body as their skin met, but she tried to tell herself that she was just imagining things.
“A pleasure, ladies. You can call me Zeke.” He replied, releasing Tiffany’s hand quickly before he turned his full attention to Margaret. “Please tell me you’ve been able to find him.” Zeke began. “The only reason I bailed him out is that he’s my club managers cousin and I felt bad for the guy. According to him, given his past, he had some trouble finding a job and when he got arrested, I felt responsible for him since it was my club that he got drunk in.” Zeke explained. “But I can’t lose my business over his mistake either.”
“That was very kind of you,” Tiffany said, though she didn’t know how lame she sounded.
“I agree, Zeke I can promise you we’re doing everything we can do find him, and we’ve found a few leads we’re checking up on,” Margaret told him. “Is there anyone you can think of that Mel would go to if he was in trouble? We’ve already contacted Josh Rostkincowski, but he was unable to give us more information than we already had.”
“No, not really. Other than Josh I think that is the only family he has in the area unless he would go to his mothers, she lives in North Carolina I believe.” Zeke said, though it seemed as if there was something he was holding back, but what it was, Tiffany couldn’t tell. She just knew that he wasn’t giving them everything he knew. Or perhaps it was h
er, maybe he felt uncomfortable talking about such business in front of her, given their encounter with one another.
“Right, you wouldn’t happen to have her contact information would you, Zeke?” Margaret pressed.
“I don’t, but I could probably get it for you.” He said after a moment, allowing his palms to scrap over his jean’s pockets, then pushing the sleeves of his worn flannel up his forearms. Scars, those were what Tiffany had felt that night. There were four large abrasions on his forearm that looked exactly like claw marks from a very large animal. “Or you could call Josh, that’s his aunt. I think that his family comes from North Carolina so he could probably get you that information a lot quicker than I could just as a third party.” Zeke added.
“I’ll give Josh a call,” Margaret said quickly. “Thank you, that’s been very helpful. If you happen to think of anything else, please give us a call or come in. I’ll give you a call too when we find him.” Margaret smiled, reaching out offering him her hand once more.
Tiffany hoped that he wouldn’t, but he took her hand again before he left the office and she felt like she’d just been zapped by Margaret’s Taser gun, though in a very pleasant sort of way that shot through her body. As Zeke left the office, Margaret went back to her phone. Tiffany was too preoccupied watching him as he left, the way that his shirt somewhat clung to his back, just hinting at the myriad of muscles that were rippling beneath the fabric and the way his ass filled out his Levi’s.
The man she slept with was Zeke Chambers, the owner of a strip club and he was a were-bear.
14.
Getting off the phone with Josh, Margaret had two phone numbers, one for his mother as well as one for his aunt, Mel’s mother. Dialing Mel’s mother, she got the voice mail and left a quick message before she called Josh’s mom too. Linda didn’t know anything about the trouble that Mel was in, but she also suggested speaking to her sister, Coral. Now, they were back to the waiting game.
“Hey, I’m going to take Brody home so he can eat, but I’ll come back, would you like me to grab us something to eat while I am at it?” Tiffany asked Margaret.
“Oh no, honey. But thank you. Hey, you don’t have to be in any kind of hurry to get back, it looks like I might be waiting for Mel’s mom to call back for a while. If you want, I’ll call you if I get anything.” She replied with a small nod, looking preoccupied as she looked at her computer screen, adding new contact information to Mel’s file which Nate should have done, but he was too busy standing outside talking to a group of girls that looked like they were underage.
“Are you sure?” Tiffany asked.
“Oh yeah. I have this handled for now.” Margaret smiled tapping keys before she stood up, her arms moving around Tiffany quickly. “Thank you for all of your help, and for bringing a little fur buddy along too. As soon as I hear anything, I’ll call you. You’ll love chasing someone down. I know it. You’ve got some spunk in you.” Margaret grinned patting Tiffany’s arm.
“I was surprised, but I really like helping,” Tiffany told her as she hooked Brody up to his leash, though not before he got goodbye pets from Margaret and Gene before they stepped out of the office into the cloudy mid-afternoon sky.
On her way home, Tiffany stopped at the park so that Brody could walk around and stretch his legs as well as use the bathroom since he was so good at the office this morning.
Feeling her stomach growling, Tiffany parked in front of her apartment and got out of the car looking forward to finishing the rest of her sub, though she felt like she was about to starve to death despite the fact that she’d eaten three large breakfast sandwiches this morning, Tiffany felt her hunger was justified because that had been hours ago. As she slipped her sneakers off her feet, she thought about Zeke again, taking her sub and tossing it back into the oven while Brody was crunching away on his dog food. The sensation that he wasn’t telling them everything continued to linger, but maybe it was because of her? Or she just wasn’t a very good detective. Nevertheless, there was something off about his visit and Tiffany couldn’t put her finger on it, now that she knew who he was, Tiffany was hoping that perhaps she might get the chance to speak to him again, more privately. She didn’t want Margaret to think less of her, and typically she was not the kind of girl who went off sleeping with people that she didn’t know, but it had happened, and she wanted more from Zeke, more than a one-night stand in the woods.
When a fist thumped against her door three times, Brody stopped eating immediately and began to bark at the sudden noise, people knocking on the door always set him off. Tiffany thought it had something to do with territory.
Going to the door, she unlatched all the locks again, pulling the door open to see Zeke standing right there in front of her.
She began to smile, but the tension around his jaw and shoulders made the gesture melt right off her face.
“Who the fuck are you?” Zeke’s voice was dangerous as he spoke, standing one step from her landing, his arms were stretched across the frames of the door and he was staring right down at her. “You show up in the woods out of nowhere, and now –you work for the bondsman? Did someone send you out there that night, huh?”
If she’d had hackles like Brody or a wolf or any other member of the canine genus, she would have felt them instantly bristle under his accusations.
“Oh, so you think I just came hopping out into the forest so I could bang a bear in the dirt and get some kind of inside information?” Her arms folded over her chest quickly as she stepped forward. “Let me tell you something about me before you go making assumptions, asshole. You came on to me. It was the full moon; I hadn’t shifted in three months. You think I was out there like a bitch in heat just looking for something to fuck? No. And for your information, I don’t work for the goddamn bondsman. I met Margaret a couple weeks ago. I work at Tom’s, you know, the grocery store. I stand on my feet for eight sometimes more hours a day, scanning groceries and make minimum wage for my efforts. Margaret offered to show me the ropes and out of some freaking fluke of fate, your guy happened to be who Margaret was looking for when I stopped by the office for a ride-along. So, if you don’t mind grabbing your ears and pulling your head out of your ass, maybe we can talk like two grown adults instead of you banging on my door like a pissed off toddler accusing me of shit.” Tiffany didn’t realize that she had stepped out of her door and was backing Zeke down the steps of her apartment until they were standing in the middle of the driveway, as her anger defused, she looked around, noticing that they were still alone and no one was watching who might have overheard what she said, she loosened her arms from her chest and looked up at him. “How the hell did you find out where I live anyway?”
Zeke looked at her, non-plussed for a second or two. “I followed you from the bondsman’s office.”
“What the fuck gives you the right?!” Tiffany felt her anger rear its head back up as she slammed her hands into his chest. “The fuck is wrong with you? I’ve spent two weeks wondering who you were, trying to think of ways that I could find you or run into you again, and this is what I am met with? You’re a total asshole! I thought that… that you would be different, that meeting you that night was like –a sign.” Rolling her eyes up, Tiffany didn’t want the moisture that was building up in them to spill over. “You’re just some random guy that I fucked one night.” Sniffing, Tiffany shook her head, backing away. “Get the fuck off my lawn.” Turning away, Tiffany went back inside her apartment, slamming the door shut behind her before she secured all the locks feeling as hurt and lonely as she ever had.
15.
He didn’t know what he expected, maybe she wasn’t sent by someone to spy on him, on his business and it had only happened in the last week or so that Mel was picked up for drunk driving. Zeke was so preoccupied with the whole situation that when he recognized her scent and saw her there in the bonds office that his paranoia took him to a dark place. He had no right to show up at her apartment spewing his own paranoid thoughts about her.
Their meeting was chance, that was all –and now he’d ruined any chances he would have had with her in the future, because before today, Zeke thought that if he met her again, there could be something for them in the future –if he’d done things the right way.
Pulling up outside of the club, he shut his bike off. Zeke never parked in the garage with the other employees, anyone who knew him, knew his bike –knew what he would do to them if they had anything up their sleeve.
Before going to Jail-bird Bail Bonds, he’d already had a long talk with Josh about giving the bondsmen the run-around. If they could keep them busy looking into other leads on Mel’s whereabouts, that was all the better for them. However, Zeke hoped that they might have come across something that they could use to find Mel before the bondsman did.
The last thing Zeke needed was for the cops or the bondsmen to find Mel with the drugs he was supposed to transport. For the time being, Josh was on thin ice, but he had done him a solid by calling him as soon as he saw the two women, one of which he now knew was Tiffany the were-rabbit he’d bedded a little over two weeks ago, leaving Mel’s apartment complex. Josh also mentioned that if the cops or the bondsmen got to him before they did, he’d sing like a fucking bird and spill the beans on the whole organization. This wasn’t good news, but it turned up the heat. He had his brothers out looking for him, and Zeke and Josh were running down all of Mel’s contacts.
If Zeke was right, and he thought that he was, he didn’t think Mel had left the state, it was just a matter of tracking him down and he was getting really fucking tired of waiting for someone else to bring him some good news. Zeke needed to find Mel himself and fast.
Bunny and the Bear: A Shifter Romance Novella Page 6
