Since a long distance relationship hadn’t worked, they’d been pretty successful at living together. He’d managed his portion of the business via telecommuting and traveled back and forth often. She wondered why he’d not returned to Vegas after their break up.
Her eyes rounded. “You’re going back to Vegas aren’t you?”
The server appeared as if by magic. “Ready to order?” The brunette smiled at Ivan and batted her lashes. “Special is our Veal Portabella.”
“Lasagna for me,” Jill said to the woman who looked to her as if surprised to find Jill was still there.
“I’ll take just the veal. Rare.” Ivan said and turned to look at Jill, promptly dismissing the server.
Jill leaned in. “That’s it, isn’t it? You’re leaving.”
“Why should I stay? I’ve already waited long enough.” Ivan lifted his wine glass. “Here’s to changes.”
For a long moment, Jill wasn’t sure what to think. On its own, her hand lifted the wine glass and touched it to his. The bitter red liquid made its way down her suddenly tight throat as she tried to think of what to say.
“I--umm, why now?” It was hard to know how to feel at the moment. After Ivan didn’t move, she’d taken for granted that he’d decided to stay in town. “This is your home now.”
He let out a long breath, which was strange since vamps didn’t really need air. It was a human trait they sometimes kept. “It’s your home, Jill, not mine.”
During dinner, she told him of what the twins were up to. The conversation flowed as it usually did between them, their familiarity returning each time they got together. Yet, throughout the evening, Jill tried to think of how to keep him from leaving. There was no good reason to, of course, since it was his choice.
“...I always wondered since you never explained,” Ivan was saying.
“What? What didn't I explain?”
“Why you...”
His cell phone buzzed and he ignored it. “Why you ended things.”
This time, her cell phone dinged. Three times to be exact. A text from Will. The squirrel tended to send texts one after another. Usually, one or two words each until completing a sentence.
“How about we each see who is so anxious to contact us,” Ivan said, pulling his cell out and studying the display.
Jill did the same and typed a quick. “Yes” to Will’s text while she waited for Ivan to finish his “ah-has and okays”.
Finally he lifted a brow. “Tonight? Good, see you then.”
Obviously, he was making plans for later. Jill tried not to be hurt. It had been her decision, after all, to end things.
He ended the call just as the server brought their meal. They ate in silence until Jill decided to respond to his earlier question.
“I didn’t feel things were progressing. I wanted more out of our relationship. You know commitment. You weren’t ready and I totally understand.”
His eyebrows rose and he looked at her as if she’d grown a third head. “What the fuck, Jill? I moved across the fucking country.”
Note to oneself, when Ivan started dropping fucks, there was about to be anger. The Russian had a temper. Normally, he would glare and storm off. Hopefully, he’d not do that. He leaned forward and pointed at her with his fork. “If you don't fucking call that a commitment, what the fuck is it?”
She’d not thought of that. “I guess I didn’t consider that.”
He put his silverware down, leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. “I don’t fucking believe it.”
“Fucks are not salt and pepper, stop sprinkling them everywhere, jeez,” Jill hissed at him. A couple and a group at nearby tables watched them in fascination. “You’re making a scene.”
A muscle in his jaw jumped. Note number two, the muscle, although sexy, when it clenched meant he was about to lose it. “I don’t give a fuck.” His deep voice seemed to vibrate through the now silent restaurant.
“I’m done.” Jill got to her feet and beat it to the front door. She didn’t have to look behind her. She could feel his anger radiating as he followed her out.
Jill whirled once they crossed the doorway out to the dimly lit parking lot. “What is wrong with you? You asked a question, I answered it. We could have discussed it like normal beings. But no, you have to launch into a fuck-fest.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just so frustrating.”
Jill stomped to the car. “Once you’re in Vegas, you’ll be fine. You’ll be home.”
“Whatever.” Ivan opened her door and slammed it shut so hard the car rocked.
“Yeah, whatever,” Jill screamed back.
They drove back in angry silence. By the firm set of Ivan’s jaw, Jill decided it was best not to speak to him. Anyway, in her opinion, he should be the one to talk first. Apologize.
Ivan insisted on walking her to the door, damn his gentlemanly manners. Jill just wanted to go inside and cry. But no, he even ruined that for her.
“Goodnight, Jill. I’m moving in a couple weeks. So I guess this is goodbye.” He shoved his hands into his front pockets. “Keep in touch.”
As hard as she tried, Jill couldn’t help the sniff. “You could have given me more notice.”
A kiss? Would he kiss her goodbye? She leaned against the door and let out a breath. “Can I...”
“Hey,” Will’s voice sounded just as Jill landed on her ass. “I thought I heard somethin’.” The squirrel took one look at a pissed off Ivan and promptly fainted.
On the floor with a skinny guy atop of her, she managed to lift her head and catch sight of a very angry Ivan storming away.
“Will, get off me!” Jill shoved at her friend who shook his head and blinked.
“What happened?”
“You fainted.”
“Nah. I just passed out.”
Jill let out a breath, not getting up. Ivan was leaving.
Will’s face appeared above her. “I’m hungry, wanna go to Pancake Palace?”
“Why are you here again?”
“Cause like I told you, my sister just had six babies. I don’t fit at home anymore.” He scurried to the kitchen and began rummaging through her refrigerator. “Oooh, you have frozen waffles.”
“So where are you going to live?”
Always carefree, Will shrugged. “Moving in with my brother. He’s got an extra room in the basement. Perfect.” Will smiled and Jill walked up to him and hugged him, needing a friend now. “I love you, Will.”
“Yeah, well don’t be gettin’ any ideas. You know I plan to marry a squirrel someday. Have to keep my family line pure.”
“Okay, I won’t.” Jill chuckled as she imagined furry little buck-toothed wolf babies.
How cute.
Chapter Five
Sounds of whirling mechanical tools combined with the familiar smell of spray paint and oil greeted Jill and Will the next evening.
The twins were nowhere to be seen, so Jill was greeted by a smiling Gareth and a scowling Walter. There were two vehicles in the bays; a huge truck that would require a ladder to climb into and another more sensible, yet still large, grey one.
“Where are the guys? I brought the edited film and also wanted to do some prelim work before you guys get started on...” she stopped talking when Walter neared.
“Hey,” Jill said weakly sensing more than seeing Will hide behind her.
The pack leader lifted his wide shoulders and ran a hand over his face. “Mark and Clark are at the house. They were messing around with sister witches, got caught by their daddy and he put a whammy down on the idiots.”
“Okay.” She wasn’t about to ask him to elaborate since he seemed angrier than normal. Instead, she hightailed it out of the garage to find them.
When Scootie opened the door, Jill’s eyes popped so wide she hoped one eyeball didn’t fall out. The woman was dressed head to toe in a neon orange jumpsuit complete with matching running shoes. “Well, don’t just stand there like a stump that needs diggin’ up. Get in
here.” The woman embraced Jill and yanked her inside, slamming the door in Will’s face.
“Can’t have a squirrel in here with the way those two are frothing at the mouth. Both are running around the house like a fat man after a donut.” She waved her hands in front of Jill’s face. She was wearing orange plastic gloves.
“Miss Scootie. Why are you dressed like that?”
“Orange is the color to warn innocent people of a possible contagious disease.” Her sister, Charlene, rushed out from a bedroom, slamming the door behind her. The taller and much more voluptuous sister and, by that, it meant her 40DDD boobs were barely held back by the top buttons of her jumpsuit, made her a walking hazard. Jill wondered what the warning color for possible boob explosion would be.
“They have a disease?”
Both sisters nodded. “Or are turning into zombies,” Charlene said, then yelped when Scootie kicked her.
“My babies are not turning into zombies. They’re just having a conniption.”
The front door opened and Will peeked in. “Can I go now? I’m hungry.”
Jill waved him off and, after a long look at Charlene’s chest, he slammed the door and left.
“Maybe I shouldn’t be here,” Jill said, her eyes rounding when howls rang out followed by thumps. “Are they throwing each other against the wall or something?”
Charlene shook her head. “No, I think that was furniture.”
“Have you called Zelda?”
Scootie seemed to pull a third orange jumpsuit out of thin air to throw at Jill. “We called her and she diagnosed them as being zapped in the ass with the go-to for cheaters. Foaming mouth and ball itch.”
“Oh.” Jill eyed the jumpsuit and wondered if either sister had watched the new women’s prison television show for inspiration. “Are you sure orange is the color and not red?”
The sisters exchanged looks. Charlene shrugged. “It looked orange on the computer screen. Besides, we had a box full of these from when we ordered jumpsuits instead of jump ropes, by mistake, for a competition a few years back.”
The picture of Charlene jumping rope was enough incentive for Jill to unfold her new, bright orange suit and pull it on over her clothes. “What now?”
“We have to try to spray them in the mouth with some of this.” Scootie held up a spray bottle with some blue liquid in it.
“That looks like Windex,” Jill quipped.
“It is,” Charlene replied. “I read on the internet it helps.”
Jill looked back towards the front door wondering if she could make it to her car before either of the sisters caught her. “What did Zelda say?”
Scootie huffed. “To wait it out. It should wear off in twenty-four hours. That’s slower than molasses on a slug.”
“Come on. You hold one down and I’ll spray.” Charlene grabbed her arm and dragged her to the doorway of the room in which Jill doubted any furniture remained. “They’re naked, so it’ll be hard to keep ahold of ‘em.”
The door flew open and two foaming at the mouth, naked guys streaked out and ran to the kitchen. Jill screamed and ran in the opposite direction only to turn to look out of morbid curiosity.
The twins were, indeed, butt naked except for gloves, which had been duct taped to their hands. Jill figured it was to keep them from mutilating themselves.
Mark was scooping ice out of the freezer and holding it between his legs. Clark, more creative, used bags of what looked to be frozen vegetables.
Moving in circles to avoid the Windex aimed at their faces, the twins did some sort of wide-legged jig while spitting out foam. For scant seconds, Jill considered taking out her cell phone to film the entire event.
It served the two well for womanizing. However, being the kind person she was, in the end, she felt bad and shuffled to the kitchen. She rummaged through the cabinets, found baking soda and vinegar then mixed the two, making a paste.
She scooped a wad into a wooden spoon then climbed onto the kitchen island. When Mark neared, she grabbed him by the hair, yanked his head back and dropped the paste into his mouth. In two seconds flat, he bent over and let out what looked like a fire extinguisher blast. Before anyone could react, she grabbed Clark and did the same.
Minutes later, the twins sat in separate bathtubs full of Aveeno and cool water, both too exhausted to even try to flirt when she checked on them.
“Bless their scratchy-ball hearts, my boys sure know how to get in to a mess,” Scootie said after turning off the shop vac. “Thank goodness you stopped by, Jill.”
Exhausted and deciding to call it a day, Jill went to the front room where her purse was. Her keys were missing.
Of course. The damned squirrel took her car.
She picked up her cell phone and saw she’d missed a call from Ivan and two from Will.
“I’m so tired. I need a year off.” She plopped down into a chair and texted Will to come get her fast or she’d never speak to him again.
The squirrel replied back immediately.
Okay
Okay
On my way
Okay
Now to consider what she’d do about Ivan. Outside, the sun was setting. The wind howled, announcing the full moon would be soon.
Great, that’s all she needed.
Shifting time in the middle of chaos.
Two days later, it was early evening when she and Will returned to the Johnson compound.
The twins were in the truck just outside the electric gates. They motioned for her to pull in and park.
“Come on, we gotta roll,” Clark shouted and grabbed Jill’s arm, leading her toward his truck. Mark was in the passenger seat and Gareth in the backseat. When Will ran after them, they instructed him to jump into the back of the truck with the camera. Clark lowered the back window and Will stuck the camera in to film them.
Jill tried to control her hair as it blew in all directions. “Where are we going? Why are the windows all rolled down?”
“Cause we’re going to kick some vamp ass,” Gareth replied, grinning by way of explanation.
Mark turned, a scowl on his face. “They stole our idea. We heard they’ve got a TV crew filming them doing something.” He smiled at the camera. “What’s up, people?”
None of this would ever be made public, no matter if it would win a Pulitzer. There was no way she’d allow the film to be out showing wolves fighting vampires.
“Where exactly are we going?”
This time it was Clark who turned to her. “Over by Bloody Vodka’s place. I think he started it.”
Jill’s stomach sank as she recalled telling Ivan everything about the twins’ project over dinner. Then she remembered the phone call. Had he been wearing a wire? Was it possible the only reason he’d suddenly shown up and taken her out was because they needed information for their own reality show?
“Oh my goodness.”
“You getting carsick?” Gareth asked, scooting as far as he could from her. “You look strange.”
Chapter Six
Ivan’s house was in an upscale area just outside Jasper County where the twins lived. To be fair, anything outside the county was upscale in comparison. Thankfully, Ivan’s place was down a long driveway, hidden by trees if there was to be a scene.
The location was a necessity whenever either a vampire or shifter lived, to keep prying eyes from seeing things best left unseen.
Clark pulled to a stop at the end of the driveway and cut off the engine. “We should walk from here.”
“Seriously?” Jill let out an exasperated huff. “Why don’t we just drive up and talk? I bet if you ask them, they will tell you it’s a misunderstanding and they are doing something totally different.”
Mark gave her a droll look. “So it’s just a coincidence they started filming a reality show this week?” He shook his head. “Nope. I vote to kick ass.”
“What if there are, like, fifty vamps?” Will asked, his high-pitched voice shaking.
The squirrel stood n
o chance if there was a fight. The best bet was to lock him in the truck or, better yet, send him away in the truck.
Gareth shrugged. “There’s only fifteen vamps total in the area. I doubt they’re all part of this. We got it.”
Although wolves were stronger than vampires, the vamps were faster and, if angry, very dangerous. Both always went for the jugular, which meant very bloody fights. Rarely did one or the other die, but if vampires feared being killed, they could easily decapitate a person.
Jill shivered. “I vote for no fighting. I also vote we drive up and check out what’s going on.” She held her cell phone low so they couldn’t see it ready to push “dial” and call Ivan. Of course, if he was outside filming, it was probably turned off. “I mean, you guys will, no doubt, win any fight, so what if they...”
The three wolves were out of the truck and walking towards the house. They’d somehow coordinating jumping out the windows and landing softly on their feet so not to be heard.
“Damn it.” Jill looked back to Will. “Come on, stay behind me.”
They walked in silence, careful not to make any noise, although a vampire’s keen hearing could make out a leaf falling. So if the vampires were paying attention, their presence would not be a surprise.
Unfortunately, they were too busy hamming for the cameras to listen. There were spotlights. Soft lighting, of course.
In front of the house was some sort of exotic looking car. Two guys strutted around the car and the door opened. After a long, shapely leg appeared, a blonde wearing a silver sequined long dress stepped out from the passenger side.
Ivan’s head popped out from the other side. In a black leather jacket and jeans, he looked good enough to eat.
The twins turned and gave her identical “we told you so” looks.
Jill rolled her eyes and then narrowed them as Ivan closed the distance between himself and the blonde. When he pulled her against him, every nerve ending in Jill’s body went berserk. “Let’s kick their asses.”
Magic and Mayhem: Reality Shift (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Southern Shift Book 2) Page 3
