by E A Price
Jax rolled his eyes. Heather caught him and smiled before bumping his leg under the table. What made him blush? Possibly her picking up on his irritation, or more likely the fact that she bumped him with her bare leg. Or that she let it linger pressed up against his.
“Ladies first,” said Branch in a gentlemanly way.
“Darn tootin,’” muttered Heather ladling a huge spoon of scrambled eggs onto her plate. She frowned at Jax’s plate. “Are you only eating fruit?”
“I like fruit,” he murmured before wincing as his mom pinched his cheek.
“My Jameson is a good boy – never had to force him to eat his veggies or fruit when he was a kid.”
“Suck up,” muttered a mirror image of Jax – his twin, obviously.
Marcy slapped the back of his head, and he pouted slightly before grabbing two more cinnamon buns.
“Fruit’s a garnish – not a meal,” Heather chastised playfully.
“I might have an omelet too.”
Heather pursed her lips, and he laughed at the disapproval on her face. “I usually eat toaster pastries – I like cherry flavor best.” Her eyes lit up. “Hey, actually I do have fruit for breakfast!”
Jax pursed his lips, also in disapproval, and she giggled.
Everyone stared at them, watching their exchange in what appeared to be surprise. What was so surprising about her eating toaster pastries? His mom, on the other hand, seemed mightily pleased and yelled at the rest of her family to eat up.
“Heather,” started Clay.
“Ummm?” she responded through a slice of French toast.
“I petitioned the council regarding your situation.”
“And?” She looked up sharply, her interest in getting rid of Carson from her life perhaps the only thing that could eclipse her interest in her breakfast at that moment.
“And, they didn’t seem inclined to intervene,” he said in frustration.
Harlan muttered something that sounded like trucking council.
“They’re not all bad,” reproved Clay. “I have a friend on the council who is trying to move with the times, but the older members are resistant to change. They say the law is on the side of the cougars, and that once you found out about shifters, you had ample time to give the belt back.”
Temp groaned. “As if she would know about some obscure law – we didn’t even know!”
“There’s a way out though, right?” said the brother she vaguely recognized as he buttered a popover. “Alden said that a herd member could claim her and fight the cougars.”
Ooh, popovers – Heather’s covetous gaze sought the pile of golden goodies and grabbed two. This breakfast was amazing!
“Technically yes, but he would have to fight all the cougars and would then have to mate Heather, or both of them would be executed.”
Heather almost choked on her popover, but she managed to wash it down with coffee. “Executed?! Seriously?! So the only way out is if one of your guys promises to mate me and possibly gets ripped to shreds by a bunch of cougars. But, if he somehow manages to avoid death by cougar, then we have to mate, or we both die?”
“More likely these days you would be sent to a shifter prison,” placated Clay.
“Ooh, much better!” she scoffed.
“The laws are old and outdated.”
“So are half the council,” sneered Harlan.
Branch huffed at his brother to shush.
Heather froze in mid-chew. “So are you here to tell me it’s hopeless? That I’m going to have to mate him?”
Jax grunted and vibrated in a fury. She gulped her mouthful and reached under the table to place a hand on his thigh to calm him. He did stop the low vibration at least. Not that she did it all for him, she wanted a little comforting too, and she found Jax to be a very reassuring presence.
“You do know that he – can you pass the muffins – already has a mate, right? He already has a kid, too – can that even be legal?”
Temp coughed as Heather put three muffins on her plate. “Glad the situation’s not slowing your appetite.”
“What? Not eating’s not going to help anything.”
All the shifters in the room hooted in agreement, as they systematically ate their way through the enormous meal.
“Taking more than one mate is permitted,” rumbled Branch.
“It is?” She wasn’t a prude usually, but she didn’t like the sound of that at all. Oh, it would probably be fine for other people – but not for her. As if she would share Jax with anyone! She almost choked on that thought.
“Yes, but rare these days given that infant mortality is so much higher – two hundred years ago, many males took more than one mate to increase the likelihood of having children.”
“Hmmm, he said I’d get on well with her.” She doubted that very much unless the woman in question also hated Carson’s guts.
“This was last night at your apartment?”
“Yeah, luckily Jax turned up.” She turned to him, smiling widely and he looked at his plate in shy pride.
“That’s my boy!” boomed the older male, brimming with satisfaction.
“What were you doing there?” asked Temp, though she was giving Heather a suspicious look.
“Saving my bacon,” Heather replied primly, “speaking of which…”
Marcy slapped one of her son’s hands as they reached for the last of the bacon.
“Give our guest the last piece.”
He glowered but didn’t argue. Heather beamed as she chewed on it.
“The guy had a key to my apartment,” said Heather, her irritation rising as she remembered waking to find the idiot staring at her.
Harlan growled, “We’ll arrange to get the locks changed.”
“Ah…” started Jax with a blush.
“Actually, I think I need a new door,” interrupted Heather. “Jax went ape on it and knocked it down.”
More blushing followed, though no one in the room seemed baffled by the news. Most seemed impressed.
“Dozer, organize a new door,” barked Branch.
“On it,” grunted the brother she kind of recognized before disappearing.
“I’m meeting with the cougar alpha today; you should probably be there,” Branch told Heather.
Jax grumbled. “I don’t think she should – he might be there.” Meaning the dick, Carson.
“Yeah, good, I could give him the slap I should have given him last night,” said Heather. This was met with approval from the room at large - from everyone except Jax that is.
“I don’t think you should go.”
“How else will I slap him? Although…” She winced. “It might be a little embarrassing.”
Temp’s mouth dropped open in an almost obscene way. “You? Embarrassed? You have never been embarrassed in your whole life. You hold the record for streaking across campus in any one year at college!”
“True, but last night when he was pissing me off, I kind of said I had a boyfriend.”
“Do you?” asked Clay eagerly. “Because if you do it may be a way to get you out of this.”
“Get us all out of this,” added Branch.
Heather frowned. “What do you mean?”
“The cougar wishes to mate you as you are an honorary member of the herd – he wishes to use you to gain access to herd money.”
“That gold digging cougar!” she snapped, tightening her grip on Jax’s thigh. He didn’t seem to mind – she doubted she was hurting him. His thighs were like granite... which she would enjoy thinking about later because she had other things to think about which were slightly more important – but only slightly. “Well, at least it answers my question as to why – I didn’t think he wanted me for my cooking or housekeeping skills.”
“I wasn’t aware you had any,” quipped Temp.
“Exactly!”
Clay tried to steer the topic back on track. “The boyfriend?”
Heather slumped a little in her seat, not exactly wanting to admit
this in front of her best friend and a bunch of people she just met, but well, she was in rather a pickle. She looked up at the gentle man-mountain next to her, and he gave her a look of kind encouragement.
“Well, I told him Jax was my boyfriend…”
Crickets could be heard.
“Oh,” exclaimed Temp softly.
“And he had the nerve to say I was lying!”
Temp’s forehead creased in confusion. “But, weren’t you?”
“Yes, but he had no right to say that!”
“Couldn’t Jax pretend to be her boyfriend?” suggested Harlan.
Clay shook his head. “The council wouldn’t approve of us lying.”
Harlan huffed. “The council isn’t exactly being reasonable here – Heather’s human, they should make some allowance for that, but they don’t give a shit because one of the council members is related to the new Ritchley alpha. We can’t allow this asshole to take Heather away from us.”
“Because you’re worried that Temp would be so upset that you’d never get lucky again?” teased Heather.
“Yes,” Harlan freely admitted as Temp slapped his shoulder.
“It really needs to be a pre-existing relationship,” insisted Clay.
“Which it virtually is,” argued Harlan, “we just fudge the dates a little by a couple of days.”
Branch looked unconvinced. “Jax, do you think you could pretend you want to be with Heather?”
Chapter Seventeen
Could he pretend to want Heather? Were they insane?! Given the way Harlan smirked at him, he could tell he already wanted her. But yes, somehow, in spite of his lovesick beast, he had managed to form words and admitted that he could.
So now, he was driving her back to her apartment where he, gulp, would be staying for the foreseeable future. In her apartment… with her… all alone… just the two of them.
“I really appreciate this,” said Heather, who didn’t seem to be quite so edgy about the arrangement. She actually seemed inordinately happy about the whole thing.
“No problem,” he replied gruffly.
“I don’t really like asking you or your family to lie for me, but this is a dire need.”
His family had readily agreed – none of them wanted to see Heather forced into a mating, and they were all loyal to the alpha. Plus, he suspected his mom was eyeing Heather up as a future daughter-in-law, and the family would do whatever she told them to do.
He was edgy, but not because he was anxious or worried about the whole thing. He was edgy because of just how ridiculously excited he was at the prospect of getting to live with Heather.
Jax pulled up into a parking spot, and as he helped Heather out of the car, Dozer approached dangling a couple of sets of keys for her new door.
“I gave a picture of the cougar to the doorman – told him not to let the guy in under any circumstances,” he said. “Just be careful, little brother – cougars are not to be messed with. If this guy comes around, call me or Mal or Tank, or even Dex if you’re desperate.”
Jax nodded in agreement.
Dozer grunted goodbye at Heather before slapping Jax on the back and taking off. Jax grabbed their bags and escorted Heather into the building, mindful of any cougars who may be lurking.
Heather smiled at him as they waited for the elevator. “You know we are supposed to be dating.”
“Oh ah, yeah.” He was well aware of that fact and thrilled about it – even if it was only ‘fake’ dating.
“How do you normally behave with your dates?” she asked.
“Ah…”
Before he could answer and admit his ignorance. The elevator doors opened, and she slipped her hand into his spare one.
A tall male stepped out of the elevator, giving Heather an appreciative glance, which morphed into inquisitive when he saw she now came with a Jax-sized accessory. Jax had to chew his lip to stop himself from growling.
“Heather,” said the male.
“Hi, Luke. This is my boyfriend, Jax,” she said cheerily. “He’s moving in with me. FYI, he’s very loud and vocal when he’s in the mood, so better get out those earplugs.”
As the male walked away in peals of laughter, Jax was pretty sure he now resembled a beetroot.
*
“Sorry about that,” she said when they were alone in the elevator. Heather relinquished his hand albeit reluctantly – feeling like she couldn’t justify holding it when it was just the two of them.
She was rarely a hand holder and didn’t know why she had been so keen to take his. She rarely got to the point in a relationship with a male where they would hold hands, but it felt nice with Jax.
“It’s fine,” he mumbled, though he looked slightly shell-shocked.
“Luke lives directly above me, and we kind of share bawdy jokes with each other. He’d think something was off if I was suddenly Miss. Prim and Proper with him.”
“It’s fine,” he murmured with a reassuring smile.
Heather returned the smile. “He’s quite a nice guy, but I’ve never dated him,” she added quickly. She didn’t devour everything in pants. She didn’t think it would be a good idea to have a relationship with someone in the building – just in case it turned nasty. The last thing she wanted was sneaking down to get her mail in the middle of the night just to avoid him.
The elevator stopped at her floor, and she eagerly grasped his hand and led him out. Warmth bloomed inside her as he didn’t try to wriggle out of her grasp.
“Hi, Heather!”
Heather almost growled as she came face to chest with her neighbor, Halle. She lived right next door to Heather. She was ten inches taller than Heather, eight years younger and had at least two cup sizes on her. All things that usually didn’t bother Heather – even when Heather’s dates flirted with her, and Halle enthusiastically teased back – but then Heather wasn’t usually toting around a guy like Jax.
“Mmm, hi, Halle.”
Heather responded reluctantly, disappointed that she hadn’t the foresight to check the hallway before leading Jax out, because, by Zeus’ beard, Halle had indeed already spotted him and was currently pointing her ample breasts in his direction. Not even the massive load of laundry she was carrying could hide that pair. Heather noted sourly that the woman was wearing only a tank top and very obviously no bra. Ugh.
“Hi, I’m Halle,” she said not waiting for an introduction.
“Jax,” murmured Jax quietly. “Heather’s boyfriend,” he added with a blush.
Halle’s eyes widened as Heather shot her a very smug look. Ha! She kind of thought he wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she was glad he did. Made her feel all warm and bubbly inside, as opposed to when any of the other men she had ever dated said it – that had just made her cringe.
“No kidding?” said Halle and Heather felt her smile start to solidify.
“We actually have to get going…” started Heather.
But before she could excuse them and get Jax away from Halle’s suggestive gaze, Halle lurched forward, pushing her basket of laundry at Jax. He somehow managed to catch it without dropping her suitcase, or his own gym bag, though he did have to drop Heather’s hand.
“Oh, you angel,” exclaimed Halle, before pouting lightly, “it rather heavy.”
“For the love of Dracula!” hissed Heather under her breath. Halle all but added ‘for little ole me.’
“Would you mind carrying it to my apartment?”
“Uh,” Jax flicked a look at Heather. “Sure, I’ll just be a minute,” he said to Heather, before following Halle’s triumphant, swinging hips down the hallway.
Heather watched them go with a sour look before making her way to her own apartment. Jax didn’t seem to react to Halle, not in the ways many of her other dates had, but he couldn’t fail to notice her charms, surely… But then, he hadn’t seen any of the women giving him come-hither looks at the restaurant either. He honestly seemed oblivious.
Heather checked her messages – deleting every
one from Carson, and made her way into her kitchen and tossed her mail onto the counter. She started rooting around her cupboards and only noticed Jax had joined her when she slammed the refrigerator shut and he was there.
“Ghouls and Goblins!” she exclaimed as she clutched her chest. “You startled me.”
Jax shrugged apologetically, though he had a furtive look on his face.
“Everything okay?”
“Ah…” He twitched awkwardly, and red dusted his cheeks.
“Did something happen?” demanded Heather, immediately imagining marching next door and pulling that visible weave off her neighbor’s head.
“I kind of broke her TV,” he admitted haltingly.
Heather, all ready for a confession that he had kissed the harpy, stuttered. “What?”
“I was just putting her laundry down on her coffee table,” he explained, “and she offered me a drink. But I said I had to go, and I started backing up, and she kept walking forward, and I backed into her TV and knocked it off the wall… it, uh, looked expensive.”
“Oh,” murmured Heather, trying not to look too delighted. “Was she upset?”
“Yeah.”
Heather moved toward him and placed a soothing hand on his arm. “She’ll get over it,” she cooed. “Now, how about we go shopping – I need some candy for trick or treaters, and you can pick up whatever food you want for while you’re living here.” For however long that may be.
Chapter Eighteen
“Oh don’t worry, honey,” giggled Heather as he tried to help the un-amused shop assistants pick up all the cans of pumpkin that he had managed to knock over. “They can manage, it’s what they get paid for.”
One of the said assistants glowered at Heather, but she merely smiled peaceably and rolled her shapely shoulders, before daintily pushing their cart away. He gave them a look of apology and darted after her. He would rather be shopping with Heather than tidying a mess – even if he had caused it. Honestly, he was only in the store twenty seconds before he destroyed the large display.
But Heather merely giggled and gave him, what he imagined to be, a fond look before calling the shop assistants to help. It made a change from the usual irritation he got from whoever he happened to be with. He could exasperate even his mom - who loved him to the moon and back, but Heather didn’t show any signs that she felt that way. However, it was early days.
