I stared deeply into Josh’s eyes. He was deranged. I had never met anyone whose ego was so inflated that they really thought they could do and have anything that they wanted. He was about to find out that he had picked the wrong woman to push around.
"You can intimidate all you want, but I would rather be dead than to spend an evening with you. You don't scare me, Josh. I've seen guys like you before. You are pathetic and if you ever threaten me again you will be sorry. I know about the others that you have tried to blackmail. I know that they have been doing work for you and running errands and some of them you've even been able to intimidate into what I can only describe as sexual slavery. But I am not them and I will make you pay if you ever try this again. Do you understand me?"
I don’t believe I have ever been that angry before. I was literally shaking as I said every word. It was taking all of my strength and poise to keep my voice down and to keep from slapping the taste out of that pig’s mouth. Josh’s eyes turned to daggers and I really thought he was going to hit me. I could see those gears turning in his mind. He was outraged and humiliated and for someone who cannot handle any form of rejection I was impressed that he didn’t strike out at me right then.
“You will be sorry,” Josh growled. “You will be so damn sorry.”
With that, he walked out of the room. I took several deep breaths as I finished my drink and tried to steady my nerves.
“Are you ok?” Stephanie asked walking over to the drinks table where I was now standing. I wondered how much of the encounter she had witnessed, but I doubted that she could have heard what just happened. I decided to not talk about it right then. I was too mad and it just wasn’t the place.
And to tell the truth, I was a bit worried. I had no idea what I had just done. I knew that Josh was a total scumbag but I wasn't sure yet how idle his threats really were or how much trouble he could really cause for me. I was fairly certain that if he decided to cost me the recommendation for a partner than he could definitely do that, but if that was the case then so be it. My track record would speak for itself and I could always move to another firm, but I would never bend to his will and I wasn’t even sure if I made partner that I could stand to work beside the jerk.
"I'm fine," I said. I think my tone gave away how mad I was and how I did not want to be pressed for any more questions.
I tried to relax and enjoy the rest of the party, but that encounter with Josh stayed on my mind all night. The only thing that helped at all was when I got home to my darling bundle of joy, Devon.
Devon was almost a year old and not a day went by that I did not see him growing and changing, developing and becoming more beautiful. He was looking more and more like his father, Frank.
I met Frank about a year and a half before when I was hanging with some of my friends at Buffalo Wild Wings. Out of the blue he came up and introduced himself, but he wasn’t pushy or acting even like he had an agenda. That was the first thing I noticed, so I decided to play along. We just chatted and hit it off right away. Instead of asking for my number at the end he just asked if I had an email address. I thought that was different and interesting. So we exchanged emails and started to just email and chat about different things. I looked forward to his daily correspondence every morning. It was the highlight of the day at times and it became an essential part of my morning routine. It wasn’t long after that we went started going out and the chemistry was pretty magical.
Seven months later we were engaged to be married and a few weeks after that I found out I was pregnant. It was an unexpected, but beautiful surprise.
We were so in love, we were getting married in a few months, we had Devon on his way, my career was going fantastic, and Frank had just been hired by one of the top architectural firms in the city. Everything was going perfectly.
Until the night it all came crashing down. Frank was on his way home from work when a drunk driver ran a red light and smashed into the driver’s side of Frank’s car. They said he died practically on impact.
My entire world was shattered. I didn’t want to get out of bed or leave my apartment at all, but sitting around and thinking about things has never been my style.
I grieved in the best way I could; I threw myself into work, working twelve to fourteen hours a day most days. It actually boosted my career, but at what a cost. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of Frank and how much he loved me and our baby. He wanted to be a father more than anything in the world.
Sometimes I felt that he was still there with me when I looked at Devon. I knew that Frank was watching him too, guiding him, helping him and helping me when I felt like breaking down.
I relieved my babysitter Julia, paid her cash and waited till she left before getting out of my work suit. It was time for some chill time; I felt I had earned it.
Five minutes later I was in my pajamas, watching some Netflix and eating ice cream. But even with all those wonderful distractions, I could not get Josh Thorn off my mind. The man was a shark and I was afraid I had just signed up to be his next meal.
Chapter Two
"Thanks, Julia!" I said as I ended the phone call with the babysitter.
Julia was a college student who lived in my building with her fiancé and babysat to make extra money. It was a great gig for her with a child as small as Devon because he slept most of the time and it gave her freedom to study while making money.
I was glad to help out. She was wonderful and Devon really seemed to love her. I hated that I was not able to spend more time with him lately, but once the promotion came through, then I would be able to devote more time to my baby. But it was still rough. I wanted to spend every waking second with him, but it was just not feasible.
It had been two nights since the party and I had not even seen Josh anywhere around the office. I didn’t know if maybe he had taken a few days off or if he was just avoiding me. I was hoping to talk to him to try to cool him down, but I knew that it would not do any good. The man was insane and if he was on the warpath gunning for me, then I was going to get scalped one way or another.
I thought about talking to the other partners about it, but I didn’t have any real proof that Josh had done anything to anyone else and even with me it was my word against his. It was difficult to accuse your boss of something that you had no evidence that he actually did.
If I was going to get some of the others to back me up, then I was going to need time to put that together. And there was no guarantee any of them would come forth and cross him, except maybe Stephanie, but even she was terrified. They had all worked so hard to get where they were and he had them all thoroughly convinced that he would ruin their careers if they didn’t play ball.
It was coming down to the idea that I might need to start thinking about shopping my resume to other firms, but I really liked where I was. There was one bad apple who was going to spoil everything for me? I couldn’t allow myself to just roll over and let that happen. I have too much fight in me. Sometimes I think I have too much fight and fire for my own damn good.
So I did what I always do when I’m stressed out—I threw myself into work. I had just been assigned a new case that was supposed to be a possibly higher profile client than the last case was.
The client was accusing his employer of unsafe working conditions which contributed to him suffering a spinal injury and being partially paralyzed on a construction site he was working on. I had spent most of the day on the phone with the client and the insurance company trying to sort out all of the details. It was a pretty interesting case and I had become so engrossed in it that I was losing track of time.
It was a little after eight in the evening when I realized the hour and that I hadn’t even eaten dinner yet. I told Julia I would probably be home by nine, but I was going to have to stop working then if I expected that to happen. I groaned as I began to pack up my stuff.
I suddenly started to get a creepy feeling. Occasionally when working late at night I got the creeps in my office.
It was located on the fifth floor of the high rise and by that time the place was virtually empty except for some associates working on briefs and doing research in the basement. Sometimes I would catch a glimpse of Fred, the security guard in our neck of the woods, but for the most part, I was totally alone there. It was nice since it allowed me to really concentrate and get things done, but when I noticed it and was unable to focus on anything but the silence then it was no longer nice. It was downright terrifying.
I remember that night I felt a bit more jittery than usual. There was no reason for it, but I was also exhausted. I’d been pushing myself so hard lately. I decided right then and there that I was going to get some rest that weekend.
I was just about to head out the door of my office when I heard it. The strange squeaking sounds of shoes on the floor getting closer and closer to my office. I froze instantly and felt my heart beating faster. Who else was there that late?
Usually, if someone else was going to be there that late I would see them walking to the lounge or to the copy room every now and then. Avery sometimes did that, he was the only other person on my floor who put in the crazy hours that I did.
Suddenly there was a slight knock on my door and then a figure entered without waiting for a response.
It was Josh. I felt my whole being fill with dread. What the hell was he doing there?
“Wow, burning the midnight oil as always, aren’t we Banks? That is how one gets ahead, right?” Josh said as he entered my office and closed the door behind him.
I was starting to get very nervous. I realized that we were completely alone and that he could do whatever he wanted to me right then. But of course, he wouldn’t actually… hurt me, would he? That idea was silly. He was a total slime ball but he wasn’t physically violent, was he? I tried to dismiss the idea but it would not leave me.
“Yea, I was actually just heading out,” I said.
“Oh, that’s a pity. I was hoping to have a little chat with you. I so love our little chats,” Josh said as he leaned against the door casually, effectively blocking my only escape route.
“I’ll have to take a rain check. I need to get home,” I said.
“Oh, I think you have a few minutes,” Josh said stepping forward as I tried to walk past him.
I stumbled backward dropping my briefcase.
“Careful,” Josh said. He casually picked up my briefcase and handed it to me. While he was knelt down, I had the notion of kneeing him in the nose and running for it. I was really starting to freak out. Was he just toying with me or was he really intent to do something crazy? Why was he here? How had this come to be?
I grabbed the briefcase.
“I really have to go,” I said again. I was trying to keep the nerves out of my voice but I was so scared at that moment.
“You know, I have seen you around the office for a long time. I’ve watched you, admired you, and fantasized about you even. I work up the nerve to ask you out a few times and you repeatedly shoot me down. I don’t get it.”
“Josh, please. This has gone too far. It’s not going to happen,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry? Wow, that’s cute,” Josh said. “I’m sorry too.”
“Josh please…”
“I’m sorry that you think I’m not good enough for you. I’m sorry that you think you can do better than me. I’m sorry that you think your idle little threats are going to work against me to bring down everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve. And I’m sorry that you are such a bitch!”
Josh was getting angry now. My heart began to race in my chest, beads of sweat dripping down my forehead. I had to get out of there. My mind was racing about where to go, but I knew that I was trapped there. I was not going anywhere. Josh was in total control. I wondered if I screamed anyone would hear me. I doubted it.
“Josh, please. You don’t have to do this,” I pleaded. I don’t believe I have ever been that scared before.
“I gave you the choice. I gave you the choice, time after time and you would not listen. No one says no to me. Now, I am here hoping once again that you have changed your mind. But it is obvious that you still don’t think you and I are a good match. That is really sad. You are so intelligent, such a great attorney, but you can’t see when a top guy like myself is offering you a great time. Well, this is your last chance.”
Josh came forward with a hungry look in his eyes. I knew at once what he was going to do and every single fiber of my being went into survival mode. I backed up as far as I could, hitting my desk with the back of my legs and knocking several things off the desk.
I instinctively reached behind me to make sure I didn’t fall as I lost my balance. Beyond the desk was the back wall of the office and there was nowhere to go from there.
There it was. Out of the corner of my eye as I casually glanced back reaching out to the desk to steady myself, I saw what might have been my only hope.
A pair of scissors.
“You will learn…” Josh said.
I took a deep breath and waited until he was close enough. Then without hesitation, I grabbed the scissors and swung around slicing him across the face.
He screamed in pain and staggered back against the door. I recoiled in terror at what I had done. I’ve never done anything violent to anyone and as I watched the severity of the gash I had just opened up across Josh’s face I felt sick to my stomach.
Was this going to be the end of it? Was he going to leave now? I didn’t want to hurt anyone but I didn’t have a choice. I had to defend myself. But would I have to do it again? Was he recovering?
I needed to get out of that office. I realized that I had to rush him while he was momentarily incapacitated.
I made a break for it colliding my whole body weight against his. It took him by surprise and he stumbled to the floor still clutching his bloody face. I jerked the door open and began to run down the hall to the elevator. I thought about taking the stairs but realized that if he gained enough strength to run he might be able to catch me there. My only hope was to get on the elevator and close the doors and ride to the first floor where I could alert the security guard.
I ran to the elevator pressing the button frantically. It was a few floors above me, but I knew that this was the best course of action. I stood there with my eyes frantically watching the numbers dropping as the elevator came down towards the fifth floor.
Eighteen… seventeen... Come on!
“Get back here!” The roar came from the end of the hallway where my office was. I turned to see Josh coming out of the room, staggering, his face bloody, twisted, and full of total rage.
But there was something else different about him that I could not understand. Josh was stalking towards me, but he wasn’t really Josh anymore. I shut and opened my eyes several times trying to erase what had to be a mistaken vision happening in front of me. This was not real.
I have always considered myself a person who lives by rationale and logic but what I saw occurring in front of me walking down that hall took rationale and logic completely out of the realm of real understanding.
Josh was… changing… His face was pulsating as his features began to shift and move. His bones were lengthening and growing taller, thicker, and his voice as he finished his sentence was growing darker, deeper, and animalistic.
This is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening.
I repeated the words in my head over and over again but nothing was changing the vision that I was seeing in front of me. It was like some sort of a nightmare come to life and there was nowhere to run to escape it. I did not have time to wait for the elevator but my legs were too scared to run. I could not move. I was literally frozen with terror. I was going to die. This thing was going to kill me. It was going to leave my child parentless. It was going to rip me limb from limb…
Dammit, Jackie! Run!
I screamed in my head and my body just sat there curled up on the floor wishing that the elevator was t
here, so that the doors would pop open and I would just fall backward into the elevator. That was the only way. I could not move.
The beast was now only a few feet in front of me and I could now make out that it looked familiar. The size, the height, the fur pattern, the red eyes, the foaming jaws, the razor sharp long fangs, and the huge claws waiting to rip me to shreds—I was looking at a huge grizzly bear.
The bear was Josh. Josh was a bear. How? How was this possible? It had to be a dream. That was all there was to it. There was no way possible for this to be real. It was a horrible dream. I had to wake up. I had to wake up. Come on Jackie!
The bear stood in front of me for a few seconds roaring and growling as if it was trying to tell me that I brought this on myself and I deserved every single bit of it. Maybe I did. Maybe it was right. I closed my eyes and waited for the end.
The bear leaped at me. I saw the shadow creating a pit of dark above me in the already darkened hallway. It was about to land on me, its claw pulled back ready to swipe me down.
Something collided with it just then knocking it into the wall. I winced and cringed back against the wall as hard as I could as if there was a way to squeeze more inches out of the space behind me.
There were two of them. I was not seeing this. There was no way that I was not dreaming. Because if this wasn’t a dream then I had to deal with the fact that creatures like this existed. People who could shift into animals, the stuff of folklore—it was all real. It couldn’t be… no…
The other bear was a bit lighter in color and about the same size. It was attacking Josh with everything it had, biting, gnashing at his throat, slamming his head back against the wall. Josh roared in pain and fear. Fear. I could hear the fear in his cries and it sounded sweet. He was finally paying for what he was trying to do to me.
But suddenly he was on the offensive. He gained some momentum and threw the other bear into the other wall, tearing out a huge chunk of drywall and littering crumbs all over the floor.
A Bear Shifter for Christmas: An Interracial Alpha Male Holiday Paranormal Romance Page 2
