Cohen

by Emilia Hartley

  “Nick,” Jo breathed, yanking his head back up by the hair so that she could kiss him again. “Promise me you won’t stop again this time.” She hated to ask, but she had to know, had to be assured that he wouldn’t run away from her again. Last night has been terrible in a way she never wanted to repeat.

  “I…” Nick faltered in his efforts to remove her pants. His bear roared angrily, and everything screamed within him to stop thinking and keep going, but he knew it wasn’t right. “I-I want you, Jo.”

  “Then don’t stop,” she whimpered, leaning back against the table and pressing the soft mounds of her covered breasts up to his face.

  “I have to,” Nick gasped, and he looked to be in physical pain. “This isn’t right, Jo. I’m so sorry.”

  Jo pulled him down against her, ignoring his denial. Every ounce of her was calling for him, growing louder every second, and she knew he couldn’t help but answer. His lips and hands moved almost instinctually, exploring whatever bare skin was available to him. Kissing his way up her stomach, he grabbed the hem of her shirt in a vice and to lift it above her head.

  “Nick,” Jo breathed, sliding her arms around his neck. “Don’t stop this time.”

  Nick bit back a roar as pain blasted through his recently bandaged shoulder. Before Jo could even thing to apologize, Nick tore the thick fabric of the university sweatshirt to ruins, nails scratching her body as the material of the shirt gave way.

  “Ouch!” Jo exclaimed, jumping up with a start from a sudden pain just below her neck. She pushed him back a moment with a small frown. “What happened?”

  Nick looked off for a moment, curled over her body and breathing roughly, but at the sign of her pain, he finally stepped back. She lifted her chin, touching what felt like two long raised lines on her collarbone.

  A haunted look flooded Nick’s eyes, flushing every last trace of arousal that had been there only a moment before. “Jo, I’m so sorry,” he breathed, staring at the marks in horror. “I didn’t mean to.”

  Jo shrugged. “No, no, it’s okay. It’s just a little scratch, don’t worry. You just do things a bit more rough than… I’m used to, but I like it,” she reassured, trying to pull him close again. “I like that you want me so much that you lose control.” She tugged him toward her with seductive eyes. “Come back. Don’t you want to carry on? Maybe finish what we started this time?”

  Nick’s mouth worked as he floundered for a response, but none came. She knew that his lust for her was still in him somewhere, but by the look in his eyes she could tell that he was done searching for it for the time being. “I shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered.

  “Oh, come on, it’s just a couple of scratches!” she exclaimed in frustration as she jumped down from where she’d been perched on the dining table. “It’s nice to feel wanted, I definitely take it as a compliment, Nick, so don’t worry about it.” She gave him direct, heavy eye contact. “I mean it.” Her eyes slid towards the stairwell, suggesting playfully that they move things to the bedroom.

  Nick wasn’t paying her any attention. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the inflamed marks he’d accidentally put on her chest. He shuddered, and Jo noticed that it was definitely not in arousal.

  It was in fear.

  “Nick, come—”

  He was already shaking his head. “No, I—”

  A tinkling melody sounded soundly from the upstairs bedroom.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and get that,” Nick suggested sadly, “I’ll go grab another shirt.

  Jo looked down at the torn remains of her own shirt. “Same.” She smiled at him tightly, her eyes filling with disappointment. Two times he’s pulled away from her and he won’t tell her why. What the hell could he possibly have to hide?

  Upstairs, her phone stopped ringing, and then started up with the same mechanical tune, yet again. With one last worrisome glance at Nick, she took the steps two at a time. She stepped into the room, taking an irritation-filled dive-bomb into the bed. As expected the number was unknown. “Hello?”

  “Jo?”

  Her heart sank. Brian. He must be borrowing a phone or something, she thought miserably. Her freedom didn’t last very long at all. “What do you want?”

  Of course, that response granted her a long expansive phone rant about how she was ungrateful and rude and how unprofessional she’s been, all made worse by his fake British accent. “Yes, Brian,” she murmured noncommittally, not entirely sure what she’d just agreed to. She’d started tuning out his rant a while ago; it was obvious that he was making up for all the hours he’s had him blocked. She could already feel her face falling back into familiar lines, the old stress of her job setting in like usual.

  “Okay, Brian,” Jo submitted, weakly. “I think you’ve said enough by now, don’t you think?” She just wanted to go and enjoy the rest of her free time.

  “Enough?” Brian screeched, taking a deep breath—a telltale sign of another lecture coming on. “It has hardly been enough, as you say, or you wouldn’t continue to be so dizzyingly incompetent! Am I getting through to you at all, Jo? Hmm? Hello? Am I?”

  Surprisingly, tears sprang to Jo’s eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but she didn’t trust her voice to not crack. She’d never shown weakness to Brian, and she wasn’t about to start now. She allowed herself a couple moments of silent composure before trying again.

  As she opened her mouth to speak, Nick snagged the phone right from her hand. His eyes were dark with anger as he placed the screen to his ear. “Don’t call back until you can treat your employee with at least an ounce of respect,” he barked angrily into the phone, promptly ending the call without another word. He tossed the phone back on the bed, stomping back downstairs and muttering something about coffee.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jo stared dumbfounded toward the stairway, still a bit confused about what had just happened. As she found yet another shirt to wear, the recent memories of the event flashed before her eyes; the way he snatched the phone from her, the dark anger in his eyes, the venom he spewed down the line. It was a shock, to be sure… but Jo was surprised to find that she wasn’t the least bit upset. How could she be angry at someone who had the guts to say to Brian what she’s been too scared to say for a full year? Heaven knows he deserved it.

  Slowly, Jo crept downstairs to see Nick slamming things about the kitchen, clearly getting out some pent up frustration. “I’m sorry,” she managed to say. “I know a lot of this anger is probably because I tried to persuade you to—”

  “No!” Nick interrupted, surprised. “No. I mean, yeah, maybe I’m a bit… frustrated, about things, but I stopped that between us. Not you. That’s all in the past, so let’s not worry about it. Point is, I was already kind of angry, and your crappy boss just seemed like a good outlet at the time to get out some pent-up irritation, so I took the chance.” He bit his lip before choosing to continue. “The way that man speaks to you, and how defeated he makes you look… it’s not right, Jo. I don’t know why you put up with it.”

  “He’s my boss,” she said, as if it explained everything.

  “So?” Nick retorted. “That doesn’t give him the right to treat you that way.”

  Jo felt the beginnings of embarrassment that always showed up when she found herself begging forgiveness for her boss’s personality “So you heard all that, huh?”

  “Well, he was shouting pretty loudly,” Nick replied, his voice softer. She sank down in the sofa, and he sat down next to her. “You don’t need to put up with that, you know.”

  Jo felt the heat trickle up her neck and hid her hands in her face. “I’ve never really been good about standing up for myself. I was always the type to keep my head low and keep moving at a steady pace. Not the easiest life, but guaranteed to be… something useful. So that’s just how I chose to operate.” She sighed, finally lifting her head. “I guess that’s things have never changed for me at Liberty Art.”

  “You mean like… the constant travelling?
” Nick asked with cocked eyebrow.

  Jo tried to smile, but it was watered down. “I wouldn’t mind the travel is it wasn’t always by car.”

  “And the motels?” he prompted.

  “It’d be nice if I could at least stay in something that cleaned its carpets once a year,” Jo admitted.

  “What about those incessant phone calls to complain about how terrible you are?” Nick asked?

  Jo paused. “I’m not sure.”

  “Well, you don’t like them, right?”

  “Hell no, I don’t,” Jo replied.

  Nick nodded. “So why don’t you just tell him all of this?”

  “I have. I’ve tried asking for flights and hotels and a little bit of positive reinforcement,” she moped. “He basically told me to stop complaining or I’d get fired.”

  “No, not ask. I know you’ve ‘asked’ for these things. Now you need to demand them!” The glint in his eyes was angry, but it also felt powerful and protective. Jo wasn’t sure what to think of this Nick, the man what was irrationally fearsome in the face of her workplace harassment, but she didn’t want this side of him to go away. It made her feel less alone. “Demand your right to decency as the best damn Liaison they employ. Don’t take no for an answer.”

  “And what if no is the only answer they’ll give?” Jo asked.

  “Easy. Then you quit,” he answered.

  Jo scoffed. “Look, I know it sounds like the easiest thing in the world to just up and quit, but not everyone is like you. Not everyone has their own business and can pick themselves up by their bootstraps to keep moving forward.” Jo sighed. “I was blessed with the talent of being very good at something that there’s not a terribly high demand for. If I quit, or worse, get fired from Liberty Art, I can pretty much kiss my Art Liaison career goodbye. There’s no one else back home or even close by that would consider hiring me.” Those frustrating tears returned as the reality of Jo’s life hit her all at once.

  “You could move. Move to a bigger city. You said San Francisco has this big fancy art place that I’m sure would be hard-pressed to have your talents,” Nick offered. “Sure, the move might suck, but… wouldn’t it be worth it to finally be happy again?”

  Jo shrugged. “Yes… No… Maybe? What if I do? What if I move, hoping for the best, and fail?”

  Nick wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulders, and for once Jo wasn’t bombarded with sexual zaps of sensation. “Well, yeah. That’s always a risk, but aren’t all good things worth playing the odds?” he asked, his low voice comforting her in her ear. “As far as I’m concerned, you should always go for what makes you happy, Jo. Take chances, even if they seem a little risky. In my experience, they usually work out.”

  One long tear slid down her cheek. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough for that, Nick,” she whispered. “I’ve always been too scared to quit because I don’t know what I’d do in a life without Liberty Art, so I just put up with Brian. And now…”

  “Yeah, I get that.” Nick looked apologetic. “I didn’t mean to make things worse between you and him. If you need me to apologize, I can.”

  “No, no, thank you for doing that, honestly,” she insisted, looking up at him. “It’s nice to see what standing-up for myself could possibly look like, if I ever build the courage to try that is. I… I’m glad you did.”

  He laughed uneasily. “I’m not sure. It sounded less like standing up for you, and more like me just losing it on your boss, I think.”

  Jo smiled, drying her tears. “Well then, thank you for losing it on by boss, Nick.”

  His chest rumbled with quiet laughter. “You’re more than welcome.”

  They sat in silence for a while, basking in each other’s warmth and enjoying the easier going atmosphere they seemed to have found in the moment. It was quiet and passionless, but computable and content. Not that the fiery passion wasn’t without its merits but, remembering how conflicted Nick looked only a short while ago as he pulled away from her for the second time since they met… Jo could appreciate how what they had now in this moment was so much less complicated. She didn’t ever want to break the illusion.

  Snuggling up to him on the couch, she asked softly, “Will you stay with me tonight, Nick?” she allowed a short pause before continuing, “After what happened with the bears, I don’t really want to be alone.”

  She felt Nick tense for the slightest of moments before answering. “I guess I could stay,” he mumbled, running his free hand through his hair.

  “Nothing has to happen between us if you don’t want it to,” Jo said, sensing his unease. “I won’t try to persuade you like I did earlier. I don’t want you to feel like I have ulterior motives that we don’t agree on.”

  They allowed silence to fill the room once more. “It’s just so complicated, Jo.”

  Jo nodded, accepting the explanation, even if it didn’t make her happy. She rose up and sat away from him, looking him in the eye. “I understand, but I also want you to know that if you ever want to explain to me why it’s complicated, then I’m here to listen. Even if it’s years down the road and I’m living in some fancy art mansion in San Francisco,” she joked.

  Nick opened his mouth to speak when the sound of a car pulling up cut him off. Jo peeked out the empty holes where the peep windows once decorated. “Oh, hey. Tom’s here.”

  Nick could smell Tom’s anger through the door. “I’ll get it,” he said, quickly. He slipped past Jo and swung open the battered front door to reveal his very upset younger brother.

  “Can I talk to you for a minute,” Tom said by way of greeting.

  “Is everything okay?” Jo asked, immediately sensing the tension between them.

  Tom gave her a brief smile. “Everything’s fine,” he growled, eyes still on Nick. “I just need to consult my brother on something.”

  “I won’t be long,” Nick reassured, closing the door behind him. Nick motioned silently for them to move farther away from the cabin before his brother could explode.

  When they’d nearly cleared the tree line, Nick said nonchalantly. “When I said you could tell me ‘I told you so’ later, I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”

  “Cut the bullshit, Nick,” Tom snapped, spinning on his brother. “You were supposed to be back at the shop ages ago!”

  “Ages ago?” Nick parroted. “It’s been an hour, maybe two tops.”

  “It’s been nearly four!” Tom retorted.

  Four? Already? “Okay, that’s hardly an eternity,” Nick replied, shrugging. “What’s the rush?”

  “It’s not just your blatant negligence for the time, Nick,” Tom growled. “It’s why you’re negligent. It’s her.”

  Nick automatically bristled. “What about her?” he asked, voice low and filled with warning.

  Tom ran a frustrated hand down his face, and Nick could see him working to formulate his argument. Finally he looked at Nick and said. “Are you aware that the Northern wind Pack thinks she might be your mate?”

  Flood’s words played in Nick’s mind. “It was mentioned earlier before Dan ambushed me. But I shut the rumor down. They know she’s human. They know that it’s impossible.”

  “And how can you be so sure, Nick?” Tom asked. “Lucas gave them permission to kill her. He’s scum, but even he wouldn’t break the law unless he thought he had a good reason. If word got out that an alpha bear’s human mate was killed in a territory war, Lucas is in the clear. You however, you’d be severely judged.”

  “She’s not my mate,” Nick declared, and deep down, he felt the admission cut through him. “She can never be my mate.”

  Tom stared his brother down, his eyes narrowing slightly, “Is she the one that cleaned up that cut on your back?”

  “Yes,” Nick said, spreading his hands. “So what?”

  “And she just did that out of the kindness of her heart?” Tom asked, voice heavy with accusation.

  “Yes!” Nick exclaimed. “What are you implying?”

  �
�Oh come on Nick, there’s something going on between you two!” Tom shouted, throwing his hands up. “I can tell, that bear I fought could tell, and worst of all, even Lucas can tell!”

  “There’s nothing going on, Tom!” Nick denied. “What the hell?”

  “Really?” Tom replied, sarcasm dripping. “So, then why, pray tell, can I smell her scent all over you?”

  “Just let me deal with this, okay?” Nick spun on his brother, the panic finally building up that he’d kept hidden.

  Tom’s jaw dropped in disbelief, then anger slowly filled his eyes as the truth of what Nick said finally sunk in. “What hell are you doing, Nick? You know the law!”

  “Of course I know the law!” Nick protested. “I… I’m doing my best to adhere to it.”

  “We’ve got to get her out of here, Tom continued, eyes blazing. “Out of the cabin, out of Rawlins. Out of our lives. Right now before she destroys everything we’re fighting for.”

  Nick growled, gritting his teeth.

  “She can’t even give you cubs, Nick!”

  “Maybe I don’t need any!” Nick snapped.

  “You’ll tear her apart!” Tom shot back, eye flashing. “What will you do then when your precious human is bleeding out because you lost control? What if you change?” Panic paled his features a bit. “Have you… does she…?”

  “No! No, she doesn’t know anything!” Pain radiated from Nick’s wound and down his body as the bear within vied for freedom. “Damn it, Tom! Why can’t you just leave things be?” He took a few deep breaths, working to suppress the beast for a while longer. Glaring daggers at his younger brother, Nick shouldered past and stormed back towards the cabin.

  “You’re making a mistake, Nick!” Tom called, angrily. “This isn’t what father would have wanted!” Nick responded by slamming the weak front door entirely too hard behind him.