by Amelia Jade
Lex shook his head. “I dunno, man. She’s got this reputation for being a total cast-iron bitch. No emotion, everyone is supposed to be scared of her. You know, red carpet, grovel before me, that whole thing. I’d heard of her before she came out here, but that was about it. Someone with a reputation like that, word gets around, you know?”
Pete nodded but stayed silent, letting Lex do the talking.
“Anyway, nobody told me she was gorgeous, Pete. Like, real stunner. Five and a half feet of curvy goodness with hips to die for.” His nostrils flared as he inhaled. Just thinking about Petal got him all riled up. “So there we are, stuck out in the hills together, unsure of how long it will be before I can venture out to get us help. While we’re there, Pete, the mask just disappears. Turns out there’s actually a pretty cool person underneath. We talked a lot. Grew closer.” He didn’t admit that they’d had sex, but the implication was impossible to miss.
“Understood.”
“Right. Here I think that maybe there could be something between us. Like Pete, things just worked. They felt right. But as soon as our rescue shows up, boom, mask is back, and she’s treating me like I’m just some lowly worker again. Tells me harshly that I can’t tell anyone what happened.”
Pete frowned. “But you just told me.”
“You’re a nobody, Pete.”
“Gee, thanks. Let me just add another surcharge to your bill.”
Lex grinned and slapped his friend on the shoulder. “Don’t be a Pouty Pete, bud.”
The bartender’s eyes just rolled.
“Prissy Peter.”
“Lame Lex.”
“Petulant Pete.”
“Lazy Lex.”
“Prickly Pete.”
“Angry Alex.”
Lex let his eyebrows rise slightly as Pete used a different variation on his name. One he usually avoided. “Careful,” he said with a smile at last.
Pete laughed, never one to back down, even from using Lex’s full name, which everyone knew he hated.
“So this girl. She just up and left?”
“Basically. I don’t know what to do, man. I can’t get her out of my head. But also the way she acted once other people were around. Shit, I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t hurt a bit. She just got so cold. Like, in the blink of an eye.”
Pete considered his words for a moment. “It’s probably instinctive. I doubt she even really realized she was doing it.”
“Huh?”
“Look. You said she’s gorgeous, right?”
“Oh yeah. Blonde hair, blue eyes, thick hips…” he trailed off, not liking how vulgar he was sounding. But it was true, Petal was the whole package in his mind. He’d never seen a more beautiful woman.
“Even worse,” Pete said.
“Excuse me?” Lex felt his blood boil.
“Calm the fuck down,” Pete told him in his bartender voice, the one he used when talking to rowdy drunks who might start a fight.
Lex almost stood up at the challenge, but he realized at the last moment that Pete didn’t know he was a shifter. He had no idea the danger he was putting himself in. Besides, he was just protecting his bar.
What is wrong with me?! This is Pete for fuck’s sake! Get a grip on yourself, Lex. You can’t go around threatening friends just because you can’t have what you want.
“Sorry,” he muttered, shaking his head to try and clear it.
“Lex. Think about it. She’s a beautiful woman trying to climb the corporate ladder. Do you have any idea what that’s like?”
He eyed his friend up and down. “No, and unless you’re hiding some shapely legs under those pants, I doubt you do either.” He worked his mouth back and forth. “Although if you shaved more than once a month, grew your hair out and got it styled. Maybe a nice little off-the-shoulder dress and some heels…”
Pete was attempting to incinerate him with his eyes. Lex just laughed.
“I don’t know, but my sister I’ve been told is quite pretty,” Pete said quietly. “When she was younger and got her first job working for a big corporation, she was fending off ‘offers’ left and right. I had to have four talks with certain guys in the first two months.”
Lex frowned. “So what you’re saying is that Petal adopted the bitch personality to deal with horny old men who promised her money and promotions for sex?”
Pete shrugged. “It is what it is, man. I hate it, but I know better than to try and play vigilante unless absolutely necessary. You never know when one of them might be carrying. Also, no final question theme music needed there. You’re quick on the uptake.”
“Thanks. But I don’t know. Wouldn’t she have made some effort to reach out to me then? Text? Corner me privately?”
“Maybe. Don’t forget though, you are coworkers. She’s your boss. There are laws against abusing positions of power, aren’t there? Maybe she was just unsure of how to make it work while covering her hide. It sounds like she’s worked hard to get where she is, and if she’s going to do this with you, she’s going to have to do it right.”
Lex bobbed his head from side to side. “Maybe. It’s been four days now. No word from her at all, and it’s driving me nuts. What the hell do I do?”
“Well, if you can’t be patient, then do the crazy thing.”
“Huh? I don’t want to seem like a creeper, Pete. I’m glad that works for you, but that’s not my style.”
Pete, who was about to refill his mug, stopped and just left it sitting on the bar. “What I meant, you dipshit, is go see her. Make it plain that you’re not giving up. Force her to react.”
“Me? Go to the city? I can’t do that, Pete.”
The bartender shrugged and started to fill the mug again. “Then maybe you aren’t as crazy about her as you say.” He put the filled glass down and then went over to see what the brothers needed, leaving Lex in peace.
Could he really go find Petal? Fly to the city and just show up in person? He grimaced. Things just weren’t that easy, but he couldn’t tell Pete that. There was more going on than anyone else knew, and if he left the town now, who knew what would happen.
On the other hand, Petal. He had a sneaking suspicion that if he didn’t do this, it would be something he would regret for the rest of his life. That he’d always be thinking back to this moment here in the bar, when he decided not to chase her down. There was no guarantee that when he found her she would be interested. But he had to try. It was as simple as that. She was worth the effort to him.
Fuck. Little wolf in the big city, I guess.
He just prayed that he wasn’t making a big mistake by leaving.
17. Reflections
Petal
The doors of the elevator closed around her, and it began to descend. She was alone in it, since it was going to the corporate parking level below. That meant Petal was trapped in the little box with her thoughts. Attempting to ignore them, she closed her eyes. The walls were all reflective glass, and so the only way to ignore herself was to look at the backs of her eyelids.
And let me tell you, those were damn interesting!
The soft ding announced they were there. She strode off and toward the taxi zone. Her car was in the shop, so she’d been forced to use a service to get her to and from work. In the morning she’d used a basic yellow-cab service. It had been horrendous. So she’d decided to splurge after work.
A sleek matte-black luxury sedan was just pulling up to the gate, the driver barely visible behind the tinted windows. It was devoid of any lettering or logos, which she liked. The passenger-side window rolled down. “Miss Olson?”
She nodded. Almost immediately the door opened and the driver exited, smoothly coming around the front. She indicated she was going to ride in the back, and he pulled the door open for her. She slid inside and he pushed it closed gently.
“My apologies for not being here earlier,” he said upon re-entering. “There was an accident that happened literally right in front of me. Unavoidable unfortunately.” He
sighed, an over-the-top sound. “Some people.”
The car pulled smoothly out into traffic and she leaned back into the seat. The driver wisely stayed silent after that, simply guiding the car to her condo on the other side of the city.
The skyscrapers passed by slowly on either side as they contended with afternoon traffic. The huge metal, concrete, and glass buildings that had once seemed so beautiful and modern to her now felt like they were pressing in on either side of her, making her feel claustrophobic in her own hometown. Any time she closed her eyes, Petal was transported back to the calmness of the hills of Surrey. Where the hills were covered in trees and the people moved at a pace that wasn’t frantic.
A horn blared from the car next to them and she heard the driver hiss in anger. Clearly he was holding back some road rage at the other vehicle. From what she could see, they’d been cut off by some little import vehicle with an overly loud exhaust and a rear windshield absolutely plastered with ridiculous decals for various car parts companies and stores. Lovely. Just another thing that the country didn’t have.
There are yahoos everywhere, girl. In the country they probably just drive huge pickups.
Maybe. But she would have a much easier time avoiding them there when there was no traffic to speak of.
“Does it ever feel oppressive to you?” she asked suddenly, leaning forward.
Her driver—Michael, according to the laminated white card fixed to the dash—jerked in surprise as she spoke. He’d likely tuned out the fact that she was even in there, based on how quiet she’d been for the past twenty minutes or so.
“Um, pardon, ma’am?”
Petal smiled. The boy had manners, she liked that.
“Just Petal is fine.”
“Okay. Pardon, Petal?”
Oh, she liked him.
“This.” She waved her hand out into the front seat and around, to indicate she was talking about the city. “All of it. Does it ever feel like it’s just closing in on you, pressing in from all sides?”
He shrugged. “No, not really. I love the hustle and bustle, the constant go-go-go of it all. There’s always something going on, something new or different to experience or see. Always changing, never quite the same. You wouldn’t get that out in some country bumpkin town.” His voice was a little too snooty for her, and she revised her opinion of him down a bit.
“I suppose. But there’s no trees. No nature or grass. No forests or open hills.” She knew her voice sounded wistful.
“Maybe. I can see how if you enjoy that, it would feel different. But since you asked me my opinion, I say that sounds somewhat boring.” He paused for a second before continuing. “Besides, the cellphone service is probably atrocious.”
Petal laughed and sat back into her seat. She’d forgotten the age gap between them. Her driver couldn’t be more than twenty-five at most. Probably in his early twenties, and addicted to his phone, like everyone else. She was always on hers while at work, but once the day was done, she put it away. It was one rule she’d never broken, and never intended to. Her life after hours was hers. Not the company’s. If they didn’t like it, she was prepared to walk away, a threat she’d almost had to make good on, before someone had come to their senses and decided they’d rather have her in place during the day only, rather than not at all.
“You sound like you’re missing somewhere.”
Maybe there was hope for him after all.
“Maybe I am. I’m not sure. It’s a confusing situation. I thought I liked the city too. Thought I was at home with the noise and the press of it all. But now…” She shrugged. “Now I don’t know.”
“There’s a guy, isn’t there?”
She jerked. How had he known that?
“Us guys aren’t the only ones who get wistful over someone you know,” he said with a smile.
“I see. You’re very perceptive for someone your age, Michael.”
“Thank you, I try.”
“You did a good job. You’re correct. There is a guy. A wonderful guy.”
That I screwed things up with horribly, possibly beyond repair.
“It’s never too late,” Michael said, as if reading her mind.
“But what if I’m making it out to be better than it is? What if I’ve created this memory in my mind, which isn’t reality?”
The driver thought about it for a bit. “So go back for a visit? Nobody is going to force you to do anything permanently. Go back with a critical eye. See if you were recalling it correctly. Maybe you were. Or maybe it’s worse. But it could also be that it’s better than you remember as well. Don’t forget that.”
It’d be better if Lex didn’t hate me, which I’m sure he does. But the kid has a good point. When did the young ones start getting so smart?
“Maybe,” she said out loud. “Maybe that’s what I’ll do.”
Pulling out her phone, she broke the rule for the first time right then and there, texting Mackenna and telling her to get her tickets back to Surrey as soon as possible. Then she settled back into the leather seats and relaxed for the rest of the drive home. By the time Michael pulled up in front of her condo, her phone was blinking with an email.
You leave tomorrow at eight in the morning. Tickets attached.
Petal smiled. She was going back to Surrey!
18. Fate’s Path
Lex
The journey so far had been uneventful. That was probably good, but it had left him feeling a little bored. The excitement for what lay at the end of his journey hadn’t ebbed one bit. If anything it had grown, fueled by the nervous anticipation of her reaction.
In his mind, Lex had played out scene after scene, trying to figure out where to find her, what he should say when he first saw her, and most importantly, what Petal’s reaction might be. There were so many ways it could all play out, that they had long ago started to blur together in his head, preventing him from choosing any one option. The message was clear: he was going to have to play it by ear and adapt on the fly, because nobody could predict how something like this was going to happen. Fate would take its course, and he would simply have to work with the flow, not against it.
But considering he still had another four hours of travel time ahead of him, Lex knew he would have plenty of time to involuntarily think of more scenarios.
A long-distance relationship with her would suck. Weekend visits are not feasible.
Surrey was small. Really small. Perhaps twenty-five hundred people at best, but probably closer to the two-thousand mark. That meant the nearest airfield was over forty-five minutes away. Then from there, he had to take a connecting flight southwest to Petal’s hometown. An hour and a half, plus four hours for the second flight, add in nearly an hour of driving first, plus layover, and then finding his way around in the city. It was going to take him nearly half a day to get there.
Weekends are definitely out. Christmas and one holiday a year it is. Unless she wants to move to Surrey.
He smiled to himself at that thought. Petal, living in Surrey. He wasn’t sure she could stomach the country like that. It was all fun for her, a trip to the middle of nowhere for a bit. But to actually move there? No, he had a feeling they were going to be doing long-distance. He frowned, wondering just how he would tell her that he couldn’t leave Surrey.
You’re going to have to tell her the truth sometime. Preferably before too much time passes. You can’t hide yourself from your mate. You know that much.
It was true. At some point, he was going to have to reveal to her what he was, and why he couldn’t leave the valley behind permanently. But, perhaps not before he’d had some more time to warm her up to the idea that his world existed.
He paused at a kiosk to grab a sandwich and a bottle of water. His next flight wasn’t for an hour, so he had time to kill. An empty table nearby called to him and he sat, munching down on the turkey and ham sandwich. It was on rye bred, and tasted fresh. His mood immediately perked up, though he decided they could have gone a little
heavier with the mayo. Penny-pinchers. I would have paid an extra twenty-five cents for that!
The original plan had been to sit and enjoy the meal, taking up some of the time before he had to report to the gate. But it was much better than anticipated, and it disappeared within five minutes, leaving Lex with little more to do than sit back and daydream. Oddly enough, those dreams consisted of Petal. He was seeing her everywhere. Any moment now he’d open his eyes, and he’d hallucinate that she was there. Or worse, picture someone else was her, and run up to her to give her a hug.
He opened his eyes then, completely unsurprised to see that the woman standing in the middle of the walkway staring at him looked exactly like her. Damn, can I read my own mind, or can I read my own mind? Stop it, brain. I’m not going to go over there and talk to her, just to be embarrassed, or worse, have security called on me.
The woman continued to stare, her mouth open wide, bright blue eyes sparkling with a layer of wetness. The likeness to the real thing was incredible. Right down to the suit, cut in a masculine manner, but yet still definitely feminine at the same time. This one was black with a purple buttoned shirt, looking crisply ironed and fresh from the drycleaner.
He smiled at whoever she really was and turned around, wanting to get rid of the image in his mind. The real Petal would be waiting for him at the end of his journey. Not here at some random airport.
“Lex?”
Hairs rose on his neck. His spine straightened and froze in place. Okay, that was unusual. Never before had his brain been able to mock someone’s voice to him. With a predatory slowness that he knew would be visible to anyone watching as unnerving and possibly unnatural, he turned in his seat.
“Who are you?” he asked to the person that looked like Petal. “Are you real?”
The gorgeous face clouded over with confusion. “Are you reading my mind?”
“I don’t think so. Unless you’re a figment of my mind. In that case, I guess I kind of am, yes?” He looked around. “Am I dreaming?”
The Petal-wannabe leaned over and pinched his skin.
