by Payne, Jenna
Today would have been their 3rd anniversary. They would have planned something special, like spending the night at the beach and having a candlelit dinner by the shore. She should have been walking barefoot in the sand, happy and contented as she held hands with the man she loved.
Suddenly, she shook her head vigorously in frustration and annoyance, her shoulder-length brown hair flying in all directions.
Shut up, Jen. You’re way over him! He’s a thing of the past.
She felt stupid imagining such things. He was long gone, and in fact she had just gone a full month without checking his social media accounts or and looking at their old photos… or at least, digging them up. She’d actually buried those in her backyard.
But throughout the past week, she’d been dreading this day – the day which would have officially marked three years together. She knew the power of this day alone would be enough to drive her back to misery. She should have been more prepared. All she’d planned was to bury herself in her work, but she found she could not do that because her mind kept drifting.
“Earth to Jen Smith!” somebody called from behind her, making her whip around in surprise. It was her good friend Melissa, a lab assistant like her at the Barrington Research Center.
“Hey, Mel,” she said, forcing a smile. The sadness in her hazelnut eyes, though, gave her away.
Melissa gave her a disapproving look. “What were you thinking about just now?” she asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Jen immediately raised her hands in apparent surrender. “Guilty as charged,” she muttered. Then sighing, she said, “Sorry I couldn’t help it.”
Melissa’s expression turned to one of concern and sympathy. “I know it’s hard not to think about him, but you’ve got to keep yourself distracted with other things. That jerk doesn’t deserve any more of your attention or thoughts! He treated you like garbage, Jen. Or do you want me to remind you again of the sordid details?”
“Mel!” Jen protested. “Of course not.” Then sitting up straight and squaring her shoulders, she smiled again and smoothed her shiny brown hair, showing off her small beautiful face. “Okay, let’s go. What did you have in mind?”
“Well…” Mel started. “For one, we can go check out that dragon shifter skeleton fragment that they recently uncovered up in Alaska…”
Jen stood up at once, her face filled with shock and awe. “Oh my gosh! They didn’t!”
“They did,” her friend confirmed. “The DNA matches the previous one they found in the same area. But this recent bone actually makes up part of the wings!”
“Wow,” Jen breathed. “So they’ve brought it in here?”
“Yes,” Mel answered, lowering her voice. “Bernard just called me to let me know.”
Jen laughed. “Pays to date the head archaeologist huh?”
Mel laughed too, but her bright blue eyes were twinkling. She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder and strutted out the door of the office. “Come on, Jen!”
Jen followed her out into the pristine white hallway. As they walked together, they discussed the recent discoveries over the last year involving dragon shifters. The existence of these half-human half-dragon creatures had been established and proven some years ago. But they were believed to have become extinct around 12000 years ago. However, the newest unearthed remains were unbelievably dated in the 1800s!
“This is really exciting,” Mel said, talking animatedly. “I mean, what’s going to be next? Are we going to find bones that are just ten years old?”
Jen’s eyes widened. “Would that mean that there are still some dragons lurking in our midst?”
Mel grinned. “Yeah, that would be awesome.”
“Or scary…” Jen whispered, picturing a monstrous dragon hiding in an alley and suddenly attacking people. She shuddered.
She was so lost in her thoughts that when they rounded the corner, she almost crashed into someone else. Looking up, she found herself staring into the intense gray eyes of one of the lab managers. She immediately blushed. “Oh, I’m sorry!”
The slightly older man standing in front of her looked harsh for a moment. But upon seeing her face, his features relaxed. “Hello, Jen,” he greeted, the sides of his eyes crinkling a bit. He ran a hand through his dark hair, which fell to just below his ears. He didn’t even seem to notice Melissa.
“Uh, hello, Jack,” Jen said hesitantly.
“How are you?” he asked. “Where are you headed?”
Melissa was quick to answer. “Just meeting a friend. We’re on break.”
Jen didn’t say anything. She wasn’t really used to lying, especially to a manager! He hadn’t always been her manager. They’d started in the company about the same time, but over the years, he’d kept moving up the ladder and was now a highly respected authority.
“Have a good day,” Jack simply said with a smile. His eyes lingered a bit more on Jen before moving off.
“That was close,” Jen said, breathing a sigh of relief. They weren’t really prohibited from going to the storage area but they were supposed to fill in a form and ask for permission, from one of the superiors.
“Not a big deal,” Mel said with a wave of her hand. Then in a more eager tone, she said, “You know what’s a big deal, though?”
“What?”
“The fact that Jack Roberts is obviously into you!” Mel gushed. “He’s really cute, although too serious for me. But for you… Well, someone that responsible and manly and a little more mature is probably what you need.”
“You’re imagining things, Mel,” Jen pointed out. “He’s not into me. No way.”
“No, listen. You ought to talk to him more instead of avoiding him so much. You’ve been too caught up thinking about Brian even after that stupid jerk was long gone, and that’s why you’ve been missing out on the real goodies!”
Jen actually laughed. “Goodies?”
“Yeah,” Mel said. “Just start flirting again, Jen. Have some fun! Go out and enjoy life!”
Jen was silent for a while. Mel actually had a point. It might be a good way to heal her broken heart.
Finally, they reached the storage area at the basement, where Bernard ushered them in. He looked handsome in a pair of slacks and his usual knitted vest over crisp white long sleeves. He dressed a little formally in the office, but his goofy, adventurous nature was what had attracted Mel to him.
They followed him into a cooler, darker, and bigger steel room that had a ceiling that was probably about two stories high.
Jen gazed at the oddly shaped bone structure in the center of the room. It was about the size of a small car. She circled it slowly, seemingly mesmerized as her imagination ran wild with images of colossal modern-day monsters.
“We’re guessing that’s about one-fourth of one wing,” Bernard told them as he and Melissa joined Jen near the bone. “I still have to run some tests and try to fit it with the older dragon shifter DNA we have on record.”
“It’s quite bigger than most, I think,” Jen murmured.
“Yes, it is,” Bernard agreed. “It’s a rare breed, probably.”
“What if this indicates that they’ve been evolving over the years and have not really gone extinct as we originally thought?” Jen wondered.
Bernard thought hard. “That’s a possibility,” he said, nodding.
“Jen’s really fascinated with dragons, you know,” Melissa told him. “She has been doing a lot of research about it.”
“Planning to return to graduate studies, Jen?” Bernard inquired. “I think you’d be able to nail it without any problem.”
“Yeah, Jen,” Melissa urged, linking her arm with Bernard. “Now that your jerk of a boyfriend… I mean, ex-boyfriend… is out of the picture, there should be no major distraction anymore. You can go back to school and land that promotion you’ve been vying for.”
Jen nodded pensively. They were right. It was about time she refocused. Her depression from that break-up had sent her spirali
ng downward. She had to get up now, not later, not sooner. It’s time to work on my own dreams, she told herself silently with conviction. Then for the first time that day, she smiled genuinely, hope filling her heart.
*****
It was Saturday night. Jen couldn’t believe she was actually clad in a tiny black dress that clung to her body like second skin, partying at the most famous club in the metro. Her brown tresses had been tied up in a sexy, messy bun by none other than the person who’d dragged her there— Melissa.
“You look really gorgeous, Jen,” Mel told her with twinkling eyes and a grin on her lips.
“You’re just admiring your work,” Jen said, trying to be heard over the loud thumping music in the club. She still grinned back, though, knowing that she really did look like a magazine cover model in her smoky makeup, stylish hairstyle, and sexy but elegant garb. However, she didn’t feel that comfortable with what she was wearing because it just didn’t feel like her.
“Well, aside from my awesome work on you, I am pretty certain you’re going to meet someone today,” Mel said with confidence.
“Yeah, you do look amazing,” Bernard quipped. He had an arm around Mel’s bare shoulders. The two of them had been acting so intimately with one another the entire evening that Jen would have felt totally out of place, if not for their other colleagues.
“Thanks,” Jen muttered, turning around so she would not have to see them kiss another time. At least they were surrounded with people she knew. It was actually a company party to celebrate their recent discoveries in Alaska, and also to acknowledge the newly promoted staff.
Suddenly, another lab assistant grabbed her and took her to the dance floor. “Let’s dance, Jen!” the blonde girl called Elise said.
Jen smiled and joined her and some others, trying to loosen up and have some fun. After all, she should be enjoying her freedom rather than sulking at home.
As she danced to the music, she accidentally bumped into someone behind her. When she turned around, her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.
His hair was a little longer and he’d grown a moustache. But she would never, ever forget those dark, mysterious eyes and that lazy smile that used to make her heart beat so fast. Brian.
At that instant, her whole world seemed to stop. The deafening music faded to the background and the rest of the club swirled around her.
“Hi, Jen,” Brian said. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Jen forced herself to say hi back. But just as she was about to say something more, a curly woman with false eyelashes came forward and carted Brian away.
She blinked back tears. Her night of freedom had just been shattered by reality. Seeing her ex-boyfriend after a year, together with the new love of his life, felt like a bomb had exploded into her heart. Quickly she hurried back to the bar to look for Mel and find comfort. Her friend was nowhere to be found. But there was someone else there looking at her with concern and curiosity.
She almost did not recognize the tall, well-built man wearing a light denim button-down and a pair of casual khakis. He held out a shot glass to her. “Drink?” he offered, his gray eyes shimmering in the dimness.
Jen didn’t even think or care. She took it and finished the shot with one gulp. The sharp bitterness seemed to set her throat on fire. What the hell!
When she looked up, her eyes seemed to refocus. Now she had a clearer vision of who it was in front of her. “Jack!” she hissed, wide-eyed. “What was that?!”
He simply smiled at her. “Nothing you can’t handle, especially since you look like somebody just stole all of your money.”
“Talk about stealing all of my life…” Jen muttered, shaking her head and sitting down on the bar stool beside him.
Jack chuckled. “Sounds serious. Want to talk about it?”
“No!” Jen said a little louder than she’d intended. “I want to forget about it.”
“Then I suggest you have another drink,” Jack said, signaling for another one from the bartender and pushing it toward Jen.
Jen stared at it for a second, then thought, What the fuck. It’s freedom night. I’m a big girl and nobody cares, anyway.
Jack ordered two more. He drank one while handing the other to Jen.
“You do this all the time?” Jen said after finishing her third shot.
“Nah,” he answered with a grin. “Just when I’m celebrating something important.”
“Oh, okay.” Then it hit her. Jack had actually been promoted to Lab Director! Her hand flew to cover her open mouth as she realized her mistake. “I’m sorry, I forgot. You got promoted too! That’s totally cool! I mean, wow! Congratulations and all!”
Her words reverberated in her ears, and they seem to have sounded bad. What was happening to her voice? Maybe she was drinking too much. She wasn’t used to it.
“Thanks, Jen,” he said.
“I can’t believe you’ve gone such a loooong way in such a shoooort time!” she said in a slightly slurred manner, her pitch higher than usual. Her head was beginning to throb. Even her teeth felt as if they were throbbing!
This time, Jack got a beer for each of them. “Yes, but I believe I’ve worked hard to deserve it.”
“Of course!”
Her head wasn’t really aching, but she somehow knew she was already tipsy. He knew it too.
“You know, I think you’re not used to drinking and partying like this…” Jack said, his voice becoming serious. “Better for you to just have a beer, I suppose.”
“Sure, whatever,” Jen answered with a smile. She took a swig from the beer. “It tastes really good.” She was actually beginning to feel light and good. Brian’s face had disappeared from her mind finally, now replaced by her wandering thoughts of Jack.
She remembered bumping into him in the hallway several times, running into him in the pantry, and reporting to him at times, even though he wasn’t her direct superior. He’d always been so serious and uptight at work. She liked the way he was being such a cool friend at the moment.
As Jack drank from his own beer, he actually told her about himself— how difficult it had been to transfer to the city after growing up on a ranch in the countryside, how he wanted to make it big to make his family proud, and how he enjoyed doing lab work on his own.
Jen nodded, smiling widely. “We’re the same!” she announced with a laugh. “I mean, I love working at the lab on my own too! That’s why I sometimes hang around after work hours.”
Jack leaned over and motioned for her to lean forward too. Their noses were almost touching as his intense eyes seemed to bore a hole into hers. For some reason, her whole body began to heat up. Her heart started hammering against her rib cage.
“I really, really like you, Jen,” he told her sincerely. “I’ve had my eye on you for a while now. I think you and I are going to make wonderful partners.”
Jen was flustered at first. She didn’t know if he was referring to liking her as a future girlfriend or as a future work partner. But then she realized that he might actually be considering her to take his former position as lab manager, which had surprisingly not been filled up yet. Maybe he had the privilege of choosing who to assign in that vacancy.
“I…” she began softly.
But he placed a finger on her lips, which made her heart thump even harder. “It’s okay,” he quickly said. “You don’t have to respond to that. I just wanted to let you know.”
“You like me as what?” she suddenly asked boldly as a rush of adrenaline gave her the courage to be blunt. Or maybe it was just the alcohol at work.
Jack chuckled at her boldness. “You’re an intriguing woman indeed. Full of surprises too. And very, very intelligent and skillful, I might say. I like all of you, Jen. I really do.”
“As what?” she demanded, although her mind was whirring crazily and her heart was racing madly. “You didn’t answer my question.”
He laughed. “Sorry. I meant to say I like you as in, I want to go out with you.”
/> “You want me?” Jen said candidly in a flirtatious way.
Jack smiled mysteriously. He took her hand on top of the counter and squeezed it. Then he slid down his stool and took a step closer to her. “You’ve had too much to drink…” he said. “But yes, I want you. Let’s get out of here.”
*****
Jen’s heart was beating furiously. She was a little woozy, but very well aware of what was happening.
As the elevator doors closed, leaving her alone with Jack in the confined space, she felt almost breathless. One minute he was standing right behind her, the next he was pulling her toward him and kissing her neck and her ear.
She became hot all over in a snap. The sweltering heat was fast spreading across her limbs and quickly pooling between her legs.
His arms wrapped around her waist tightly, moving upward to caress her breasts above the fabric of her black dress. She felt his shaft growing behind her, rubbing against her butt.
She softly moaned, just as the elevator doors opened.
Luckily, the hallway was empty. She didn’t even realize that they had just gone down one floor. Everything that followed happened in a blur. Somehow they stumbled toward the carpeted corridor, his lips pressing onto hers finally, stroking her mouth sensually. They kissed their way forward until they reached a door, which he roughly pushed her against, dominating her with his strength.
It didn’t alarm her. It didn’t scare her away. To her surprise, she was actually turned on even more. All logic flew out of her mind as her arms tangled in his hair and her lips eagerly responded to his passionate kiss.
One of his hands slid up her inner thigh under her skirt, filling her with burning desire. He teased her with his fingers, which made her ache for him so badly. He started fondling her on top of her now soaked lace panties.
She groaned with immense desire.
But then he pulled back his hand. He stopped kissing her. She looked at him with confusion and watched him take out a card from the back of his jeans. He leaned forward, his lips almost touching her bare neck, as he used the card to open the door.
