The Bigger They Are… (Lovers on the Fringe, Book Two)

by Stephanie Julian

“I do prefer fae,” Fry pointed out from the back of the Gremlin, where he continued to sit. “Fairy has such a distasteful connotation these days. Of course—”

  “Fry.” Andy kept his voice in a pleasant, everything’s just fine tone. “Could we discuss this after the nice man has put the gun away?”

  Fry hiccupped then covered his mouth with his hand to cover a burp. “Of course. But why does the nice man have a gun? That doesn’t seem very nice to me.”

  Mike waved the gun in Andy’s direction as if he was going to twirl it baton-style. “I have a gun because I’ll shoot you with it if you don’t do what I say.”

  Andy would do anything as long as the guy didn’t point the gun in Jenna’s direction again. He held up his hands in classic “Dude, don’t shoot me” position.

  But Jenna… Jenna wasn’t taking any shit.

  Before he realized what she was about to do, Jenna pulled back her arm and cold-cocked Mike.

  In a scene worthy of an 80s Power Rangers episode, the gun flew out of Mike’s hand and landed in Fry’s lap, who brushed it onto the ground and under the car. Mike went down in a heap.

  And Jenna began to curse like a sailor as she shook out her hand before she turned to him.

  “I want to know what’s going on right now.” Without glancing away from Andy, she put her hand out toward Mike, who’d made a slight motion toward getting up. “You move and I will make sure you sing soprano for life.”

  Andy sighed. “You know all those things you’re brother believes in? They’re true.”

  Then he flicked the switch again.

  Jenna didn’t think her mouth could open any wider than it was right now.

  I so owe Joss an apology.

  It was the only thing she could think as the creature that had once been Andy raised a shaggy paw and waved at her.

  Like Chewbacca. Damn, he looked like a freaking Wookie.

  A white wookie, actually. And strangely…cute. Shaggy white fur that didn’t look straggly at all. Actually it looked as if it’d been recently brushed. Like a show dog before judging.

  Behind her, she heard something fall to the ground. And the fairy—sorry, the fae, began to laugh. “Well, that’s one way to shut the guy up.”

  “I…I…”

  Her brain kept trying to tell her that that…creature…was Andy.

  Andy was the Abominable Snowman. No, wait…what did Joss call them? Yetis.

  Yeah. Sure. Andy was a Yeti. Made perfect sense.

  Bumbles bounce.

  She blinked as the world began to darken, despite the fact that the sun was shining overhead. Passing out became a distinct possibility.

  “Uh, Andy? She’s looking a little…pasty.”

  She turned to look at the guy with the wings and couldn’t help but grin when he waved at her with the tip of one of those beautiful, blue-tinted appendages.

  Holy crap. The guy had blue wings.

  And the man she’d slept with last night was a Yeti.

  She had to tell Joss. She had to apologize for not believing in him. For occasionally thinking he was a crackpot and secretly patting herself on the back for being the sane sibling.

  Joss was going to be a millionaire. A superstar. Forget about a cable show, he was going to make movies and…and…

  She blinked and Andy stood in front of her again as a man. The hunky man he’d been before he’d turned into a seven-foot, white-haired snow monster.

  Or—

  No. She was going crazy. That’s all there was too it.

  “Jenna, I think you need to breathe,” Andy said.

  She automatically sucked in a deep breath and realized she’d been about to hyperventilate.

  “What are you?”

  She had to hear him say it. Had to know she wasn’t going crazy and seeing things that weren’t really there.

  Andy’s chin went up and he drew himself to his full height, an impressive sight.

  Then he bowed and Jenna had the urge to curtsy.

  “I’m a member of the Yeti tribe. My home is in Nepal but most of the younger tribe members no longer live in the village of our ancestors.” His voice had taken on the cadence of the guy who narrated a lot of the whacked-out shows on the History Channel, odd breaks and all. “Now we travel the world, spreading—”

  Fry reached out and smacked his arm.

  “Please excuse him.” Fry’s words still slurred a bit and, combined with the accent, she was charmed. “He tends to get a little ferklempt,” hic, “when he talks about his roots.”

  Andy shrugged. “Well, it’s kind of cold in Nepal and we get kind of sick of snow and all the freakin’ tourists. Yeah, we’ve got fur coats when we want them, but it’s still getting crowded in our neck of the woods.”

  “And you’re really a…a Bigfoot?”

  “No, my cousin’s a Sasquatch. I’m a Yeti.”

  “Of course he is.”

  “Jenna, you know I would never hurt you, right?”

  She rolled her eyes at him. The thought hadn’t even had time to cross her mind, and now… Well, of course he wouldn’t hurt her. The guy who’d rocked her boat last night wouldn’t hurt her. And neither would the hulking, seven-foot white wookie. “Did you ever meet George Lucas?”

  As Fry nearly fell out of the back of the car laughing, Andy’s adorable face screwed up in a frown. “Uh, no, I don’t think— Oh, wait. You think I’m a freakin’ wookie?”

  Uh-oh. Jenna bit into her bottom lip at his offended tone. “I’m sorry. I actually think they’re cute.”

  Fry did fall out of the car then, blue wings wrapped around his shoulders as he howled with laughter.

  “Jenna,” Andy started then stopped to shake his head. “I’m sorry too. I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”

  Damn, she totally knew where this was going. When a guy started telling you he was sorry for something, either he was about to tell you he’d cheated on you or he was dumping you.

  And since it couldn’t be the first, all things considered, it had to be the second. Which totally sucked, even though she understood. Really, she did.

  What had she been expecting anyway? A lifelong commitment? She’d gone into this with the idea that it would be a fling and that was what she’d gotten.

  A fling with a guy who could turn into a Yeti. Which, up until this moment, she hadn’t believed existed.

  It was enough to make a rational girl believe she needed a straitjacket and a rubber room.

  And Jenna was nothing if not rational. Maybe too rational.

  Maybe she needed to be a little irrational sometimes. Maybe she actually wanted to continue the romance with the Yeti.

  Yeah, and what should she tell her brother?

  Guess what, Joss? I met this great guy and he fulfills all my fantasies. And he’s an abominable snow monster and would prove all your crazy theories and make you famous. And make Andy’s life unbearable.

  She couldn’t do it.

  Better to leave now and promise to keep his secret. Besides, no one would believe her. They’d think she was just another crackpot. Just like Joss.

  She forced a bright smile. “I’m not sorry to have met you, Andy. And I won’t betray your secret, not even to my brother. But what are you going to do with Mike?”

  “Mike won’t be a problem. We’ve got ways of making him keep quiet. Jenna…”

  Andy looked pained, so at odds with his normal expression that she lifted her hand to stroke away the lines.

  “You don’t have to worry about me. I won’t tell a soul.” Not only would no one but her brother believe her but she’d be lumped into the same category of flake as her brother…which wasn’t so flaky anymore.

  “I should be going. I’ve got a long drive home and I have to work tomorrow.”

  Back to her boring life of numbers and equations and boring people who thought wookies weren’t as cute as ewoks.

  And that sometimes the things that went bump in the night were actually more interesting than the peo
ple who sleepwalked through their day believing the only strange things in life were people who thought K was an acceptable substitute for C in given names.

  How could she reconcile her boring life to the one he lived?

  “Jenna,” Andy sighed. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”

  “Yes, I’ll be fine. Really, I will.” Maybe not her heart but…

  “I know this is a lot to take in. And I totally understand that you don’t want to talk to me right now. But, if you find you do need someone to talk to later, look up Carrie Benson. She works as a reporter for the Weekly World News in West Reading. She’s been in the same situation as you.”

  “Carrie Benson. Sure.” Of course he wasn’t offering to come visit her himself. She figured as soon as she was gone, he’d go jetting off to another part of the country. Or the world. He was a freakin’ Yeti.

  “Jenna.”

  Instead of answering the entreaty in his eyes, she turned and took a step back rather than throwing herself at him then turned and forced herself to start walking.

  Back to normal life. Which, after today, was going to be completely overrated. And oh so lonely.

  Chapter Seven

  “Jenna, are you sure you’re okay? You don’t sound like yourself.”

  “I’m fine, Joss. Honestly. Nothing’s wrong. Tell me how the shooting’s going?”

  For a few seconds, Jenna thought Joss wasn’t going to let her change the subject. He’d called her every day for the past week. Every time his question seemed legitimate.

  Hey, Jenna, can you stop by my apartment and make sure I locked the back door?

  Hey, Jenna, do you think I need to see a doctor for this rash on my leg?

  Hey, Jenna, will you check to see if I paid the bill for my cryogenic storage chamber?

  But she knew he was checking up on her. And here she thought she’d been doing a good job of hiding her depression.

  She missed Andy. Which was ridiculous. She’d only known him for a day. Sure, it’d been the best sex of her life but he was a globe-trotting Yeti shapeshifter.

  She was an accountant who lived in a house with a spotless white kitchen. Whose white kitchen was ever spotless?

  As Joss finally began to talk about the fact that he was shooting at Loch Ness and how cool that was and how he’d only fallen off the boat twice, once on purpose, Jenna let her mind drift.

  Back to Andy, of course. She wondered what he’d think of her if he saw her now, slouched in her black chair in her bland, cream-colored office with mahogany furniture, everything neatly in its place. Her books arranged by subject and her file cabinets meticulously alphabetized.

  Even the diplomas on her walls were perfectly level.

  “God, I’m the most boring person on earth.”

  “What? Who told you that? I’ll kick their a—”

  “I’m sorry, Joss. I’m going to have to call you back. I’ve decided I’m sick of living in a world without wookies.”

  Silence for a full five seconds. “Uh, Jenna, are you sure you feel okay?”

  “Cookies. I mean cookies. I’m on one of those stupid diets again.”

  “You don’t need a diet, Jenna. Did someone tell you need to be on a diet? They’re full of shit. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

  She actually felt tears come to her eyes at her brother’s defense. “I love you, Joss.”

  “Yeah, love you too. And Jenna?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Nobody wants to live in a world without wookies.”

  * * * * *

  “Well, it’s not every day my accountant comes to visit. I hope you’re not bearing bad news.”

  Jenna kept her smile as bright as she could even though she wanted to wince at the volume of Bill Dailey’s voice.

  The short, round and balding editor of the Weekly News Journal always spoke as if he had to be heard over a jet engine.

  “No bad news, Bill.” She took his outstretched hand and let him shake until she thought her arm would fall off. “How are you doing?”

  “Can’t complain, can’t complain. Well, I could, but nobody listens.”

  Jenna didn’t know how anyone could fail to listen but, as she looked around the office filled with several messy desks and a few antiquated pieces of office equipment, she saw no one paid him the least amount of attention.

  “Anyway, we’re still making payroll, so that’s good,” Bill continued. “We’ve actually seen an increase in subscriptions lately so that’s even better. Lot more tinfoil-hat-wearing people out there than you might think.” He left off with a bray that reached ear-splitting levels before cutting off. “And since you’ve been working your magic on our books, we’ve managed to make a profit, as you well know.”

  Yes, the Journal had made a tiny bit of money last year. Enough to buy a couple of high-end computers for the graphic designers. Or, as Bill called them, the wizard geeks.

  “So what can I do for you, Jenna?”

  “Actually, I’d like to talk to Carrie Benson, if she’s here. She and I are serving on a committee together and I just need a few minutes of her time.”

  The lie rolled right off her tongue, amazingly enough, without a telltale blush or stutter. She’d had to practice but she figured she’d be getting a lot more practice if this went well.

  Bill barely paused. “Care! Get over here.”

  “Jesus freakin’ crap, Bill, I’m right here.”

  Jenna did jump then because the voice came from right behind her. She turned to find herself staring at a rather well-endowed woman. A woman who could pass for an Amazon. She stood at least six feet tall, was perfectly proportioned and had long auburn hair that hung around a pretty face. And sharp green eyes that stared at her intently even though her smile was easy. And knowing.

  “Hey, Jenna. Nice to see you again.”

  This woman lied even better than Jenna, who caught back a sigh of relief before Bill could notice. Carrie was going to play along. Did that mean Andy had told Carrie about her?

  “Hi, Carrie. Sorry to bother you at work but do you think we could talk for a few minutes? I just have a few things—”

  “See ya later, Jenna. Have a nice day. Things to do.” Bill patted her on the back, which nearly made her topple over then headed for a guy slouched in a chair in the back corner. “Jamey, where the hell’s that picture of the alien baby autopsy?”

  Jamey gave Bill the finger.

  “Why don’t we go into the break room?” Carrie motioned toward the front of the office on the second floor of a quiet building in West Reading. “Should be quiet.”

  Jenna gave a short nod then followed along, her eye catching several times on the Journal covers plastered on the wall.

  Aliens Ate My Baby!

  Wolf Boy Spotted with Lizard Man in Philadelphia Sewer!

  A Weekend in the Alps with My Yeti Boyfriend!

  She paused at that one, her eye caught by the incredible likeness to Andy in his Yeti form. Almost as if someone had taken a picture of him then made it just blurry enough to look fake.

  “Like that one? I think it’s one of my best.”

  Carrie wore that grin again, the one that said she was in on the joke, whatever that joke might be. Right now, the joke appeared to be on Jenna.

  “Did you take that?”

  “Sure did, right over the Berks County line in the woodlands in Schuylkill County.”

  “It’s an incredible shot.”

  “Thanks. Amazing what you can do with Photoshop these days, isn’t it?”

  Except Carrie and Jenna knew that photo hadn’t been altered to insert a picture of the Yeti. The only alteration Carrie had done had been to make the photo look as fake as possible.

  “So.” Carrie waved her into the lunchroom and closed the door behind her. “What can I do for you? Since we both know we’re not serving on a committee together.”

  Jenna jumped in with both feet since Carrie didn’t look like the kind of person who put up with any bullsh
it. “I need to get in touch with Andy.”

  “Andy who?” Carrie crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the nearest table. She still wore an easy expression but Jenna could tell the other woman was waiting for Jenna to say the right thing. Or the wrong thing.

  “Andy Lohani. We met last weekend in Tioga County when my brother sent me to investigate a bar where he believed supernatural creatures hang out. Except they’re not creatures. They’re people. I met Andy, who…” She paused, not knowing how much she should say in a room that wasn’t soundproofed or swept for bugs. “Well, when I freaked after we were nearly shot by my brother’s friend, I told Andy goodbye.”

  Which she’d regretted since the moment she’d driven away. “Biggest mistake of my life. So I’m here to beg you to give Andy a message from me. I’ve kept my promise. I’ve told no one. I will never tell anyone his secrets. Or the secrets of his friends. I just want to see him again and apologize.”

  Carrie stared at her for a few seconds before shoving that gorgeous red hair over her shoulder and leaning down until her eyes and Jenna’s were on the same level.

  “I’m not saying I believe your crazy story, Jenna, because really, who believes in supernatural creatures?” Carrie’s smile was back and this time it had a bit of a hard edge. “They’re just figments of our imagination and fodder for crazy tabloid stories, right? Or a way for a guy to make a living traipsing around the world shooting documentaries with fuzzy film footage and fading footprints in snow.”

  Jenna tried to keep her disappointment from showing. Carrie wasn’t going to help her. Andy must have told her that, if Jenna came looking for him, Carrie should pull a Men in Black and deny everything.

  Jenna understood. She really did.

  She was a clone living with other clones on the Death Star while Andy and his friends hung out on the much cooler Millennium Falcon.

  “But,” Carrie continued, “just for the sake of argument, let’s say these people really did exist. Don’t you think they’d be understandably gun-shy about getting close to anyone who wasn’t born in their world? How the slightest hint of rejection might make them more than a little reluctant to let anyone have a second chance. Sometimes you have to be willing to put yourself out there a little further.”