by Shara Lanel
Saron had told him that in this age of divorce, it was easy to lose track of “potentials”, and this is what had happened in Jake’s case. He’d been abandoned as a baby and grew up in various foster homes. At first, he’d thought he’d caused it because of his constant anger, but many foster kids were angry at being left behind and shuffled around. He’d been so scared that first time, huddling in the dank corner of an abandoned warehouse. Eventually he got to know a pack of stray dogs. They didn’t seem to care that he wasn’t with them the rest of the month. He’d fed them when he wasn’t in wolf form until the elder dogs died off and the younger dogs either got hit by cars, used in dog fights or captured by animal control. Then he’d been alone for years before Saron found him.
Though it took the better part of an hour to get there, the beach perked up Dean’s mood considerably. Despite the balmy weather, it was too cold to swim, but that didn’t stop the women drenched in suntan lotion lying on towels on the sand. Dean had a pleasant afternoon ogling as many of them as possible. They picked up a pizza to take back to Christine’s. Hopefully she ate pizza, though she probably ruined it with veggie toppings. Jake knew before he unlocked the door that Christine wasn’t there. Was she still at work? They chowed down on the pizza, leaving a couple of slices in case she was interested. Jake was getting more and more anxious the later it got. Had she been hurt? Had she decided to stay somewhere else? He called her cell and it went to voice mail.
“Dad, pace outside. You’re making me dizzy.”
“Fine.” He grabbed a beer out of the fridge first, then went out on the back patio. His phone rang. “Where are you?”
“I’m just leaving work.”
“Do you normally work so late?”
“Yeah, often, depends on what’s needed.”
“You’re not just avoiding me?”
She sighed. “That too.” He heard clinking metal, an ignition, and a backup beeper. “I was thinking of going out with my coworkers to a club they know.”
“On a Monday?”
“There’s a few open.”
“What sort of club?”
“A dance club, I assume.”
“What coworkers? Not that guy you went to bed with.”
“He would be one of a group.”
“No way in hell I’m letting you go out with him unsupervised.”
Her sigh was loud and her voice took on a stubborn edge. “I am neither a child nor your property so I’ll do whatever the hell I want. And on a common sense level, that guy’s never going to want to come near me again since I threw up on him at the crucial moment.”
Jake weighed that idea. Yup, she was right. “Any other males in the group?”
“Yes.” She didn’t elaborate.
“Come home first. We saved you a couple slices of pizza.”
“With pepperoni?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll pass.”
“What, you wanted broccoli and squash all over it?” He scrunched up his nose at the mere thought. “Look, come home, change, and I’ll go to the club with you.”
“Do you dance?”
“Not sure. It’s been a while.”
“What about Dean?”
“He’ll be cool by himself for a few hours. Luckily he’s not into girls yet.”
“You’re going to try to talk me out of going.”
“I am not.”
“Do you swear?”
He paused. Damn, he really didn’t want to go to a club with a group of people when he could have Christine all to himself. “I swear.”
“Good.”
She came home about a half hour later, chatted with Dean, ate a salad after scowling at all the junk in her fridge, then went into the bedroom to change. Jake tried to follow her through the door. She placed her palm on his chest and pushed. “You swore you wouldn’t try to talk me out of it.”
“Who said anything about talking?”
“Get lost, bud.”
Another half hour passed before she reappeared, fresh makeup, still-damp hair curling gently around her ears and hot, black skinny jeans. She was shrugging into a little bolero jacket, but not before Jake spotted the very thin, very low-cut tank she was wearing. “You’re going out with your coworkers wearing this?”
“It’s a club, not a cotillion.”
“What’s a cotillion?” Dean asked, his butt cemented to the couch as usual.
“A dance for young people to learn manners around the opposite sex as well as how to dance properly. The boys dress up in suits and the girls in pretty dresses,” Christine explained.
“Yuck!” Jake felt the same way.
“I never went to one, but I had friends who did.”
Jake finally managed to get Christine out the door and into her car. He was in jeans and a black t-shirt. It wasn’t as if he had much to choose from. He felt odd sitting in the passenger seat as Christine drove, but she knew the area. He discovered she was not a patient driver. More than once, he slammed down his foot, wishing he had a brake on the passenger side.
* * * * *
Christine caught Jake once again miming slamming on the brakes. “I’m driving, Jake, so just chill out.” She didn’t know what the problem was—it wasn’t as if it was Manhattan traffic.
“I’m a cabby. If I’m not driving, then I’m in my apartment.”
“Which reminds me, you need to leave tomorrow, Jake. I’m sure Dean needs to get back to school.”
“I’m not leaving until you believe me.”
“Look, I opened the door to you. I’ve been very polite and I don’t want to make Dean feel unwelcome, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I believe you’re a werewolf. I really don’t want to throw your bags out on the sidewalk.” She gunned the engine, ran the yellow, then slammed the brakes as someone turned right in front of her. She was gratified when Jake reached for the handhold above the door and tried to hit his imaginary brake again.
“What about if you saw me change with your own eyes?”
Would she believe then or think she was hallucinating? “It would be better than your say-so, which is dubious, so go ahead and change. I’ll be open-minded.”
“I only change at the full moon.”
She snorted, not a ladylike sound but appropriate. “Of course you do.”
“How about this? I’ll leave tomorrow, get Dean back in school, then I’ll return the day before the full moon. You’ll see I’m telling the truth.”
“What, by you eating me?”
He seemed to give this serious consideration. “You can tie me up in such a way that I’ll still be secured in wolf form.”
“The whole idea is crazy.”
“You want proof, right? Let me give it to you.”
“Fine.” She could always tell him to get lost before he returned, that she didn’t really need a lunatic in her life. She also didn’t need to give in to the crazy allure of bondage again. Why would she want anyone to control her when she was a strong, independent woman? And she didn’t believe in spanking children, so how could she get off on getting spanked? She needed to look forward and leave Jake and those disturbing urges in her past.
The club was crowded and noisy. Her friends had snagged a table near the bar. They always tried to get one in that area, if possible, so Christine knew where to look for them. Kyle stood up when he saw her. He gave her a kiss on her cheek as greeting, then asked if she was feeling better. She couldn’t help but blush. “I’m still mortified.”
“Don’t worry about it. Just between you and me. Maybe we could try it again when you’re feeling well.”
Jake walked right up to Christine and Kyle and put his arm around Christine’s shoulders. “She won’t be going out with anyone except me from now on.”
“Who the hell are you?” Kyle asked as Christine rolled her eyes over Jake’s highhandedness.
“Ignore him. He has delusions.” She tried to shake his arm off her shoulders as she greeted her other friends, but the arm refused
to be dislodged. She introduced him to the crowd. “This is Jake, a friend of mine from New York.”
Kyle grinned. “New York, huh? No wonder he’s uptight.”
Jake looked as if he was about to respond to that snub but Christine suggested, “Hey, why don’t you go to the bar and get a couple of beers for us? I’m parched.”
Jake nodded abruptly and went off to the bar.
Kyle held out a chair for Christine. She sat and he followed suit. “How did you meet that guy?” And when, was his unspoken question, since they’d almost had sex just the other night.
“I met him up visiting the parents.” She wasn’t sure she wanted her friends to know that he drove a cab, but why would they care? “I don’t know where he got the idea to come down here and to act like we’re a couple. We’re certainly not that serious.” She probably wouldn’t have explained that much to her coworkers except that she was embarrassed.
Jake slammed a beer down in front of her as well as a filled-to-the-brim shot glass. He turned the remaining empty chair around backward and straddled it. He picked up his shot glass and motioned for her to do the same. “To the moon.”
She nearly choked but managed to swallow it all down. She felt the scrutiny of her coworkers keenly. Jake was not putting his best foot forward. She stopped caring ten minutes later when Jake insisted she have another shot and another beer. One of the couples went off to dance. When they came back, Lori switched up by dragging Pam to the dance floor. “Hey Christine, you coming?”
“Sure, why not?” Jake moved to follow, but she pushed on his shoulder. “Girls only.” She was grateful to be away from both Kyle and Jake and their unspoken power play. Neither was going to win her unless she chose. She certainly wasn’t going out with Kyle again because she’d never get that picture out of her head. And Jake would go back to New York tomorrow and she never had to see him again even if she had to take a cruise the week of the full moon to avoid him.
She danced a couple of song mixes with her female peers. The alcohol was whizzing in her brain as well as endorphins from vigorous dancing. Lori and Pam had flushed cheeks and bright eyes so Christine imagined she looked pretty close to the same. Suddenly she recalled the woman she’d kissed—actually kissed!—at the airport. She bit her lip and was glad for the dim lighting and the excuse of fast dancing since she knew her cheeks were flaming bright red. What had she been thinking? She had enough on her hands with Jake. Speaking of which…
“May I cut in?” he said close to her ear so she could hear him over the throbbing music.
Christine backed up to allow the triangle to turn into a square. It was a fast Latino song and she was losing herself in the drumbeat. She closed her eyes and let the music travel through her whole body to her toes, each part of her moving as it saw fit. When she opened her eyes, she felt Jake’s hot gaze on her even though Lori had moved to where she was practically plastered against Jake. Christine glared at her and realized she wanted to rip her friend’s eyes out for the lusty gaze she had focused on Jake. In fact, she lifted her hands, fingers bent like claws, and lunged at her, but Jake blocked her so fast the two women never noticed. He pressed his lips to her ear. “Feeling a bit possessive, are we?”
She blushed. “The alcohol, I guess.”
“You normally attack other women when you get a buzz on?”
“Not usually, no.”
He laid a kiss on her lips, quick but firm. “I like it that you stood up for what’s yours.”
“You’re not mine any more than I am yours. We’re individuals with free will.”
He shook his head and danced back to his original position. He was a bit stiffer than the Latin guys on the dance floor, but he was a decent dancer. Kyle never came out to the dance floor, and some guys she knew came out to the floor and swayed back and forth like trees, trees with no rhythm.
The DJ diminished the fast beat and blended in the slow beat before the slow song took over. Jake tugged on her hand until she faced him. Lori and Pam left the floor dejectedly as Jake whispered in her ear, “Finally.”
Was he talking about her friends leaving or the slow song? Either way, he pulled her into his strong arms, his scent enveloping her. Her cheek lay against his soft cotton shirt so she listened to his steady heartbeat. Christine circled her arms around his waist and followed his lead. They weren’t doing much more than swaying, but that didn’t matter as his heat overtook her body, making her feel comfortable and horny at the same time. Halfway through the song, she was rubbing against him like a cat. He kissed the top of her head gently and cupped her head to get her to look up at him. Then he leaned over just enough to kiss her lips, feather-light, warm, smooth and romantic. He stayed that way, not pressing to open her mouth, not trying to make it sexual. It was kind of weird to kiss like that when she was so used to men diving right into a French kiss, some men doing it better than others. Not that there had been that many men, but she had had some disastrous blind dates before.
When he did move away from her lips, he sprinkled light kisses on her eyelids and her cheeks and her ear. “You smell so delicious,” he said.
Christine wanted to say “So do you,” but for some reason, she kept silent.
“And you feel just right in my arms.”
“And you’re very comfortable, like a well-worn recliner.” She smiled and blinked her eyes rapidly as she looked up at him. She really did feel that way about slowly swaying, body to body, but not with the rest of their relationship. Nothing like a well-worn recliner!
“Hmm…as long as you don’t take that recliner for granted.”
“But do I want a recliner or a fancy sofa instead?”
“What you want,” his breath tickled her ear and his low voice made her knees weaken, “is a bed.”
Oh yeah, once he’d said that, she’d started picturing him naked against plump pillows waiting for her, but she didn’t want to encourage him. “No, I think I feel like taking in the club scene tonight, so the only thing I want is another shot of tequila!” She had to shout the last couple of words as the bass came in on a new, much faster song. She took his hand and guided him back to the bar area, all the time wishing they were really going back to her house to spend a very long time in bed.
He suddenly stopped amid the flow of people, which made her stop since his hand gripped hers. He pulled her close again, but this time to talk to her without everyone around them hearing. “If you’re feeling adventurous, what do you say to trying an alternative type of club?”
“My friends…” She gestured with her free hand.
“Honestly, I don’t want to spend the whole night making small talk with people I don’t know.”
“You invited yourself, remember?” But she was intrigued that there might be a different kind of club out there. She was also a bit turned-on, but she didn’t want to admit that to Jake.
“I can smell your arousal.” He acted as if it was a fine perfume.
“No you can’t. All I smell is alcohol and sweat and possibly some pot.”
He sighed. “I have enhanced senses, but since you don’t believe what I say I am, just imagine that I’m guessing. But I’ve guessed right, haven’t I?”
She hated to admit it, but she needed to be honest with herself as much as with Jake—she was aroused at the mere thought of a club with whips, chains and handcuffs. Her imagination didn’t go any further than that. She nodded. “What do I tell my friends?”
“That you have a headache. That’s a tried and true excuse for women.” His expression had soured.
“Know that from experience, do you?”
Instead of answering, he looked away and tugged her back into the flow toward the bar. She did use the headache excuse, but by the time they were in the car, she wondered something else. “You’re not from here. How do you know where one of these special clubs is?”
“I did a little research on your computer.”
“Great, so if I’m hacked, they’ll think I’m a pervert.”
/> “They’ll be too busy stealing your passwords and account numbers to bother with your surfing history.” He started the car, which reminded Christine that this was her car and she should be driving it. “Besides, I used the ‘private’ search option.” He paused. “This place does have a dress code.”
“What kind of dress code? I’m already in club clothes.”
“Think leather.”
“I don’t own any leather clothes.”
“That’s okay. This club actually has a fetish-wear store on the first floor and the club itself is on the second. The store’s open until midnight, so we’ve got time to browse.”
“Have you been to one of these stores before?”
“I’ve been to adult stores, usually ones with a lot of DVDs and pink corsets. I’d like to see how this one differs.”
“Curiosity killed the cat…or possibly got his dick chopped off.” She kept her voice deadpan, but when Jake glanced at her, she had a huge grin on her face. Then she cleared her throat. “You know, I’m curious about this stuff, but I may not like it.”
“If you feel uncomfortable at the club, we’ll leave. We could try on the stuff at home, but we’d have to make sure the door is good and locked so Dean doesn’t get an eyeful.”
“Yeah, I think it’s better to try this thing away from him, but is he all right alone for so long?”
“He wanted to stay in my apartment alone for the whole week.”
