Even though he spread out on the bed, he couldn’t fall back to sleep again. Something nagged at him. His sleepy mind finally landed on it. Those deeds. He got up. Sure enough, they were gone.
He stood over the dresser in the hallway, staring at the empty space. Was that all Felicity was after? Is that why she came here with that story about infanticide? Thorn could kick himself. He thought he pawned off a problem on her, saved himself from dealing with the asshole apex wanna-be. All the time, he was handing her what she wanted.
Still, if that’s all she wanted, why did she want to bang him? Women were so confusing. Thorn wandered into the kitchen. He needed coffee to sort this out. His eyes stole over the tiny kitchenette counter to the coffee maker with no pot beneath it. The asshole invader had broken it. No coffee. Shit, this day was starting out worse than the last. A little morning sex would’ve gone a long way to getting his blood moving. He didn’t even have that going.
Thorn still had work to do. Today would be boring. He had to cut up the rest of Topiary Bob’s tree. There was no doubt that Bob would want the cord of wood moved to some other part of the house. And, of course, Bob wouldn’t make that decision until Thorn finished stacking it where he’d started.
He hopped in the shower, hosing the smell of sex off him. Had Felicity really done him like that? Why wouldn’t she? He was just a big dumb bear. She had some fabulous real estate career, probably a nice place in the city, maybe other boyfriends. Felicity was all that. Thorn was just Thorn.
Moping around, he found his discarded clothing from last night. The beer case still sat in front of the couch. Imported brew. Fabulous life. Where the hell were his boots? He wanted to put one on just to kick the beer case. Ultimately, he needed to put them on for work. For a half hour, he could only find one. He could give the case a good kick with only one boot. He’d probably just make more of a mess when he kicked it too hard. Thorn tried to rein in the frustration.
Fully booted and dressed, he stalked out to the truck with a busted tailgate, broken cab window, dented tool box, smears of sap and bark and twigs everywhere. He felt his teeth grind at the sight of it. Maybe, just to make his morning perfect, someone broke into the cab and stole his chainsaw. Thorn peered in the window. No such luck. He still had to go to work.
“Yo, neighbor. Busy night?”
Laramie Marino stood at the end of the fence. Thorn felt his left eyelid twitch. “Fuck off, Laramie.”
“Just saying, with all the zillion acres you got, why all the sex noise right outside my living room?”
Thoughts of Felicity, naked and sweaty, and then gone with the deeds, made something snap inside Thorn’s head. He walked around toward Marino’s side of the fence. “My day started out fucked up. Maybe kicking the shit out of you will improve it.”
Marino stood his ground. Thorn thought that was stupid. Until three other Marinios stepped out of trucks parked in Laramie’s driveway. He was spoiling for a way to reduce his frustration. Taking on the Marino brothers (or cousins or whatever they were) might do the trick. He was pretty sure he could take all four. They weren’t big guys. On the other hand, they were a pack of shifters. Thorn wasn’t sure his bear could take on four gray wolves.
“How about some coffee instead?” Laramie said.
Thorn slowed his charge.
“French roast.”
On their own, Thorn’s fists unclenched.
Casper jerked his head toward his truck cab. “We got donuts, too.”
“Jelly?” Thorn asked.
“Uh-huh.” Casper Marino pulled a big pink box from the truck. “We need to talk to you.”
Thorn accepted a big paper cup of coffee and dug a jelly donut from the box. “So talk.”
“It’s about your apex situation,” Laramie said. “We heard a lot about it.”
“From who?” Thorn said through a mouth of donut.
The four wolves exchanged glances. “From around,” Casper said.
Marino leaned against his truck. “We talked about it, and we decided that whatever happens, we’re backing you up.”
Thorn shook his head. “Don’t need backup.”
“That ain’t what we heard,” Casper said. “So, it don’t matter what you want. You let us run free. Never complain when we take some venison home to the pack. That’s the life we came here for. We’re gonna do everything it takes to keep it that way.”
Who had the wolves been talking to? The Vet? Felicity? Thorn downed the rest of his coffee. “You can do whatever you want, but I don’t want help.”
“One for the road.” Laramie pushed another big paper cup of coffee in his hand. “There’s benefits to networking, pal.”
Coffee and donuts was a pretty good benefit, Thorn thought as the Marinos got into their trucks. He didn’t know who put them up to it, but maybe, just maybe, he could work with the wolf shifters. Not that he needed to. He could handle the situation himself.
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Chapter Twenty-Five
Head held high, Felicity marched from the parking garage beneath her office building to the elevators. If these investors wanted a fight, she was ready to give them one. Of course, any thought of a fight brought Thorn to mind. Ignoring the pain in her heart, she stabbed the call button with her index finger. Despite anything else he was, Thorn was calm in battle. Felicity steadied herself as the doors opened on the lobby.
“Thank God, Felicity, we’ve got a lot to talk about. We managed to push the investor meeting back to lunch. It’ll give us time to prep.” Barry—had he been waiting for her by the elevator?
Felicity glowered. “Prep for what? Now that we’ve got the project moving, they want to adjust terms to grab a bigger slice. You know how they work.”
They walked toward her office together. Not a corner office, not yet, but one day. “They might have grounds this time.”
“Meaning?”
“You don’t have more than a handshake deal with the retail tenants.”
She pushed through her door and set her briefcase on the desk. “I don’t even have that. I made some calls, got a lot of interest. Why are we even concerned about this now? I was thinking we launch the business phase in the spring.”
Barry sat in one of her guest chairs. He was a redhead, balding on top, rimless glasses and traditional dark blue suit on his lanky frame. “Mixed use is the buzzword investors love.”
“Sure, we’ll put up a skyscraper and six big box stores in the woods. This is a long term development. We’re developers, right?”
Barry took off his glasses and polished them with his red tie. “I know we’ve talked about moving slowly, and working with this project for the next ten years. That’s great for the firm. Investors don’t care about that. They want a return.”
She sat at her desk, booted the computer. “They’ll get it. It’s just three apartment buildings right now, sixty-nine units, they’ll produce enough revenue to repay the loan in two years, generate a nice profit for the third year, and another percentage when we sell.”
“How do you know?” Barry leaned forward. “How do you know the buildings will be fully occupied?”
How did she know? In all of her planning, it never once occurred to her that finding tenants would be an issue. She held her palms out to him. “Instinct.”
Barry smirked and leaned back. “You’re going to sell these sharks on instinct?”
“No. You already have. That warehouse renovation I proposed? Millions. The Lark Hotel? Dockside Condos? Have I ever missed, Barry?”
“This is your first ground-up project, Felicity. It’s out in the middle of nowhere. You make it look good on paper, but rationally, it’s a huge risk. That’s what these people are going to say. They’ll threaten to pull out unless you show them their investment is sound.”
She shook her head. “No, they won’t. They’ll whine about taking such a huge gamble and wheedle until we give them more. I’m not playing that game.”
&
nbsp; Barry steepled his fingers and held them against his lips. “Could you do me a favor and just call your retail folks? Get something more than strong interest? Anything we can bring to the table?”
She blew out her cheeks. “Whatever, Barry.”
***
Thorn had to make a pit stop at a service station, partly for gas, partly to empty his bladder after slamming thirty-two ounces of coffee. When he arrived at Topiary Bob’s house, a white Marino Bros. work truck pulled away from the curb. He squinted at it, wondering what they were doing at Boyce’s job site.
He sighed when he looked at the mess of trunk and branches lying in the side yard. It would take hours to take it all down to size and stack it.
Topiary Bob wandered around the side of the house, Steve in tow. Thorn gassed up his saw and met them.
“Don’t think I want a cord of wood stacked on this side of the house,” Bob said. “I think I want you to move it all for me.”
Thorn had predicted this. “Whatever.”
“Hold up a minute. Listen, Bob, Thorn here doesn’t work cheap. If you want to stay under budget, I’ll just get some of my laborers to move all this,” Steve said. “Not that Thorn would mind earning another couple grand.”
Couple grand to shove a bunch of wood in his truck and drive it to the other side of the house? What was up here?
Bob, being on the small side, liked to boss larger people around given any opportunity—Thorn had smelled it on him since day one. The backyard Napoleon cocked his head and sniffed. “Well, I guess it can just stay here then. Put a tarp on it.”
When the homeowner shuffled away, Thorn gave Steve the stink-eye. “What was that, Steve?”
“Nothing. Bob’s just that type.”
“C’mon, man.”
Boyce glanced over his shoulder. “I got a visit from one of the Marino boys.”
“So?”
Steve tightened his lips, as if to keep his next words inside. He let it out anyway. “The Marino brothers are sort of the de facto labor union around here. If I need a bunch of guys to haul wood, I call the Marinos. If I don’t, the guys I do pick up to haul wood end up wandering off, and my projects get way behind.”
Thorn shrugged. “I work alone.”
“Did you file a claim on your truck?”
He eyed the sad-looking truck on the street. “Not yet.”
“Good. I’m putting it on the site insurance.”
Thorn shook his head. “You don’t need to do that. That was my bad.”
“Even if my rates go up, getting on the Marinos’ good side always pays off.” Steve pocketed his hands. “Whatever you did to get friendly with those boys, they sure got your back.”
Thorn watched Steve’s retreating back. What had he done to get in with the Marinos? Laramie said something about Felicity vouching for him when the renegade bear tore up Ripple. Had she done something more? Just what he needed, dumped by his girl, stuck with a bunch of yahoo wolf shifters.
He started the chainsaw. Thorn hoped the mundane work would drive the thoughts of Felicity out of his head. Dropping protection over his ears and eyes, he started chunking the tree.
***
Felicity felt a whirlwind of emotion as she headed to the lunch meeting. The company secretary had set it up at Le Cheval Blanc. It was, of course, Felicity’s favorite place to bring clients and investors. Now, she felt the weight of recent affairs, and terrible events from the past, associated with this fancy eatery.
Barry had offered to come with her, but Felicity decided to take a page from Thorn’s book. She had his deeds, after all. Felicity would face the investors alone.
The meeting went exactly the way she predicted. Three guys in suits presented a lot of reports and charts and evidence that her project wouldn’t fly. Felicity knew that if they really believed that, they would’ve dropped the whole thing with a phone call. It was all a game, but it was a game she played well—cat and mouse. She waited for the bomb to drop.
The three men all looked the same, standard Masters of the Universe types in expensive suits and haircuts. Each wore gold watches they never looked at because they also had the latest cell phone. They smelled like money. While Felicity knew money was essential in the human world, she was not addicted to the folding green.
One of them, the one who had done most of the talking (and even if she did remember their names, she doubted she could tell them apart), finally came out with it. “In order to proceed with this project, we need to be cut in for an additional five percent across the board. Otherwise, we feel the potential for failure is too great.”
A pause followed as the waiter set out dessert and coffee. Felicity gazed at the chocolate mousse, still a little woozy from her last bout of chocolate bingeing. She folded her hands and looked at each of them in turn. “No.”
The three of them blinked, shot each other side-eyed glances.
“Excuse me?”
Felicity took her briefcase from the floor and opened it in her lap. “I said no. We’re going to continue with the plan as is.”
The leader gave her condescending eyebrows. “Did you not hear anything we just said?”
She took out the deeds and handed them across the table. “This is a sound project. But you don’t have to take my word for it. A silent partner has agreed to finance some of the later stages. Of course, if you want to back out, I have no problem using these to finance the initial stage as well.”
All three took a look at the deeds, the size of the property. She could almost hear cash register bells going off in their brains. These were finance guys, and they knew money when they saw it. Felicity took the deeds back and put them in the case.
“Those aren’t legal,” the leader said.
She put the case back next to her chair. “You’re the ones who pushed for this meeting. I haven’t had time to dot the I’s and cross the T’s. Your firm is in on the ground floor. Would you like to keep it that way?”
It was half-bluff, but only half. Felicity could finance her dreams with these deeds. Except, had her dreams changed? For the life of her, she couldn’t imagine a future without the handsome Lumberjack at her side. How had an independent cat like her ended up pining for a freaking bear? She held her breath, and waited for the investors’ response.
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Chapter Twenty-Six
By lunch, the tree was a neat stack of firewood. Thorn shook the sawdust off of him. He’d only had a couple jelly donuts for breakfast. Maneuvering the heavy saw was hard enough work. Keeping his heartbreak at bay (so he could focus enough to avoid cutting off an arm or a leg) was beyond taxing. He sat on the wood stack, gazing west.
What was Felicity doing now? Cashing in his deeds? Was that even a thing? Was she sitting in a fancy restaurant exclaiming to the world what an idiot Thorn was for handing them over? It would be in that fancy French place. She and the maître d’ would chuckle together about Thorn’s stupidity, gullibility, whatever-ty.
He closed his eyes and took a long breath. What a sucker he was. How long had he known Felicity, a few days? The cat shifter had managed to turn him inside out in such a short time. Buying flowers, going on dates, planning romantic dates, for fuck’s sake. Thorn had spent his whole life avoiding entanglements with others. The pain currently searing his soul was proof that his previous life had been spent correctly.
He had tried so hard with Felicity. He had never bothered before. Still, despite the bonfire of heartache before him, in the dark background he held out hope that Felicity was thinking of him. Hopefully in a more upbeat way than his imagination dictated.
Work done, he wanted to knock off for the day. He couldn’t. Sally needed him. He promised The Vet he would try to take care of her. Since when had he felt obligated to help anybody? It was like being with Felicity had tenderized him. She’d made him goofy, soft, pliable. So much so that he was willing to play nursemaid for a newbie shifter.
Thorn needed to fight so
meone, to toughen himself back up again. He couldn’t wander through life pining for a girl who played him, taking handout coffee and donuts and shady backup from wolves, mothering some chick who stumbled into a bear shifter. What the hell was wrong with him?
Still, an hour later, he was knocking on the back door of the Squirrels Nuts.
“Open up, Sally, I got soup.” Thorn didn’t think Sally was exactly sick, but soup seemed to be right for the occasion. It was either that, or raw meat. He didn’t think she was ready for that.
It took a while, but the door opened a crack. “I’m not hungry.” Sally peered out, oversized shirt buttoned up tight, ugly glasses perched on her nose, hair snagged in an off-center ponytail. Back to normal.
“Yeah, well, we gotta talk. Open up. I’m hungry enough to eat all the soup.” He pushed his way in. “You gotta big pan?”
Thorn saw claw marks on the kitchen walls, the door of the commercial stove dented in, the shelves nearly empty. The enemy bear had done all that. Thorn recognized the damage from his own kitchen. Had the asshole taken out her coffee maker?
“I don’t think you should be here, Thorn.”
He found a pan himself, and a can opener. “Why?”
She stared down at her feet and the scuffed linoleum. “I really screwed things up for you.”
“I’m way better at screwing things up for me than you’ll ever be.” He dumped four cans of soup and put on the heat.
“No, I mean between you and Felicity.”
The name felt like a punch in the gut. “I think I screwed that pooch long before you showed up naked.”
“You’re in love with her.”
A cascade of sorrow swept through Thorn. Maybe it was hearing the words from someone else. For the first time since he was a child, he wanted to cry. He blinked away the tears. For fuck’s sake! “I haven’t known her that long.”
The Apex Shifter Complete Set: Books 1 - 3 Page 13
