Fight Song: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Rocky River Fighters Book 3)

by Grace Brennan

  “Oh, a whole month with my bestie! That would be great. I hope you stay for the whole month. I’d love to spend more time with you.”

  “We can definitely do that,” Piper replied, fishing some cash from her pocket and putting it on the table before standing. Grabbing a napkin, she asked, “Do you have a pen?”

  Kelly took one out of her purse and handed it to her, and she quickly scribbled down her cell number. Handing the napkin and pen to Kelly, she said, “Call me, and we’ll hang out some more. I’ll see you soon.”

  Turning, she made her way to the entrance, studiously avoiding looking in Jax’s direction. She knew instinctively, as she always seemed to when he was in a room with her, where he was. And she could practically feel his eyes burning into her skin as she made her casual and unhurried escape.

  Walking outside, she paused for a moment, taking a calming breath of night air. Head slowly clearing, she walked through the gravel to her car, pausing at the door when the sound of footsteps hit her ears. She knew without looking that it was Jax, and if she could have jumped in her car and sped off without it looking like she was fleeing him, she would have.

  As it was, she steeled her spine and turned around, arching an eyebrow at him. “What do you want, St. James?”

  “Did you leave because I came in?” he asked, looking delicious in the moonlight as he came in closer than she was comfortable with.

  Refusing to back up or show any other sign of weakness, she asked, “And what makes you think I base any decision off of you? What makes you think I think about you at all when you’re not right in front of me, shoving yourself down my throat?”

  His eyebrow cocked, and she was grateful for the cover of night that hopefully meant her blush wasn’t noticeable. She knew what was going through his mind over her last comment, because it was going through hers, as well. Dirty, dirty minds. The two of them were still alike in that way.

  Cursing herself for letting him get under her skin, she summoned her inner Boss Bitch again. No more blushing like a schoolgirl, when she never blushed. No more thinking they were alike in any way. They weren’t, and she couldn’t let herself forget that.

  “I just didn’t want to run you out of Pete’s. It looked like you were having fun back there with Kelly.”

  “I’m leaving because I want to leave. It has nothing to do with you, and you flatter yourself to think it does.”

  He gave a half-smile and raised his hands. “Okay, okay. I get it.” His eyes slid behind her, and when he looked at her again, they held warmth and pride. “You went out and bought yourself a ’69 Mustang. I’m proud of you for chasing that dream. It’s even green, like you wanted.”

  Keeping her stony expression, she searched his eyes. The look in them and the sincerity in his voice threw her off balance. “It wasn’t when I bought it. I had it restored and painted this color. And you don’t get to feel proud of me for anything. You gave up that right eight years ago.”

  Inwardly wincing over the last sentence, she nevertheless held her glare steady. She hadn’t meant to bring up the past, or to sound so bitter about it. That time didn’t affect her any longer. He didn’t affect her any longer.

  At least, that’s how she wanted it to be. But she was never into lying to herself, not any longer. Lying to herself was how she got into that whole mess with Scott. Brutal honesty from then on out, so she had to admit to herself—Jax still had the power to affect her. But there was absolutely no reason to let him know he did.

  “You’re right,” he said softly, stepping closer to her. “But it doesn’t stop me from feeling it. And I don’t deserve it, but I want to earn that right again, Pippy.”

  For a sliver of time, her heart stopped and then soared sky high at his words, but she clamped down on it. “Get the fuck out of here with that shit. You’ve turned delusional if you think I’d ever let you back in. How’s that saying go? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And don’t call me Pippy again, or I’ll rip your nut sack from your body and feed your balls to you, one by one,” she bit out, turning around and getting in her car.

  The engine rumbled loudly as she pulled out of the parking spot, and she couldn’t stop herself from glancing in the rearview mirror before turning out of the lot. He was staring after her, hands on his hips, huge and imposing in the darkness of the parking lot. Blowing out a breath, she tightened her hands on the steering wheel, trying to get control of the tremors.

  She shouldn’t have gotten so aggressive, shouldn’t have threatened him like that. That was the opposite of calm, impassive, and in control. If she kept saying shit like that, she was going to make it more than obvious that she never got over what he did. That she hadn’t ever truly gotten over him. The admission was painful to admit to herself, but she couldn’t deny the truth of it.

  If she’d truly gotten over him and moved on, she wouldn’t lose control of herself and her temper. She’d be able to just walk away without saying shit like that. Fucking hell, this wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all.

  How the hell was she going to survive a month in the same town as Jax? She had to avoid him. She’d become a hermit, only leaving the house if she needed to go to the bakery or the grocery store, and get everything wrapped up as fast as possible. She needed to get the hell out of this town.

  Jax stood still, watching as Piper’s taillights faded in the distance. That had gone about as well as he expected, but at least he stated his intentions. He was going full throttle forward now, despite the threat to his balls.

  Lips quirking, he turned to go back inside, stopping short when he saw Cammie leaning against the wall of the bar. “I like her already,” she called, pushing herself upright.

  Shaking his head, he walked toward her. “She’s got a mouth on her now,” he muttered.

  “But you’re not letting it stop you, are you,” she stated.

  “Nope.”

  “Just don’t call her Pippy again,” she said with grin. “You’ll lose your ability to produce little eaglets.”

  “Haha.”

  Her grin faded as she studied him. “So that’s Piper. Your mate.”

  He nodded shortly, not saying anything.

  “Why didn’t you ever tell us you had a mate, Jax?”

  “Wouldn’t have made a difference. Besides, talking about her made it worse.”

  “What happened? Why did you break things off?”

  “Because I had to,” he answered simply.

  “Chatty as ever,” she said with a smirk. “I hope you put in more of an effort to speak when you pursue her.” She quieted for a moment, smile fading as she turned pensive. “I can’t imagine having Alex for years, and then being forced to give him up. I’m not sure I’d be able to.”

  “You’re a dragon who can fight fire with fire. I was a scared eagle shifter, barely more than a kid. And they were threatening her, not me. I didn’t think I could protect her from them.”

  Eyebrows high, she looked at him in surprise. “Four whole sentences. Wow, I’m impressed. Okay, okay,” she said as he glared. “I guess I can see why you had to walk away. Who is ‘they’?”

  “My colony.”

  “That makes it worse, it being your people. Well, I know you. I’ve seen you fight. You’re a beast, and I know you can protect her now. And you have a whole crew of fighters backing you up that would help you do that with everything in them. I guess all that leaves is winning her back over. Looks like you have your work cut out for you.”

  Cammie headed back inside, bumping his shoulder with hers as she went. He stayed silent, acknowledging to himself that she was right. Winning Piper back was going to take everything in him, and even then, it might not be enough.

  We got this.

  Jax nodded at his eagle’s words, but he felt like crossing his fingers and wishing on a falling star as he thought about the upcoming battle he was going to have on his hands. This was going to be the hardest and most important fight he’d ever fought, but the prize at t
he end was priceless.

  “Why do you always wear your hair in braids? I’d call you Pippy, but your hair is plain brown, not red.”

  Piper glared up at the boy in front of her. He looked like he was a couple years older than she was, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. Taking a few steps forward, she puffed herself up, trying to look bigger and older than her six years.

  “You. Take. That. Back,” she spat out.

  “Okay,” the boy said in surprise, backing up a step. “I won’t call you Pippy again.”

  “I don’t care about that,” she said with a sniff. “My brown hair is not plain.”

  “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” he said slowly. “I didn’t mean it was ugly. I just meant it wasn’t red, like the real Pippy’s.”

  “Oh,” she said softly, abashed and feeling bad for getting worked up.

  She’d been at this new school for three days, and this boy was the first kid to try and talk to her on the playground. Thinking hard, she decided it must be because of her braids, since he pointed them out. She quickly pulled the ponytail holders out and unwound the braids, finger combing her long hair until it hung in waves to her waist.

  “Oh, wow,” the boy said softly. “I didn’t mean for you to take your braids out, but I like it down. It’s pretty.”

  Cheeks heating in a blush, she glanced down at the ground before looking back up. “Thank you. And I just thought maybe no one was talking to me because I wear braids too much.”

  “Don’t take it bad. We just don’t get many new kids, and they’re probably scared to say hi. See that girl over there?” he asked, pointing to a small blonde sitting at a picnic table. “That’s Kelly. She’s really nice. Maybe go say hi to her. She’ll talk to you.”

  Feeling hopeful, Piper grinned at the boy she’d thought was mean but turned out to be nice, forgetting for a moment that she didn’t smile anymore because she lost her front teeth last month. “Thanks!”

  “You’re welcome,” he said, his smile reaching his pretty dark green eyes. He stuck his hand out at her. “I’m Jax, by the way.”

  Feeling like a grown up, she put her hand in his and shook, basking in the warmth of his gesture. “I’m Piper. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Jax’s smile stretched into a grin. “Piper is awfully close to Pippy,” he said with a laugh.

  Glancing at him bashfully, she said, “You can call me Pippy if you want.”

  The bell rang, and Jax started to walk back inside. “It was nice meeting you, Pippy!”

  Smiling so big her cheeks hurt, Piper followed the others back inside. It looked like she’d just made her first friend in Eagle Creek, and he was nice. He even showed her someone else she might be able to make friends with. She wasn’t really a big fan of Pippy Longstocking, but he could call her Pippy any time. He earned that right today.

  Piper smoothed conditioner through her hair, making sure it was in there good. Moving back under the spray, she was halfway through rinsing it out when the hot water suddenly disappeared, and she was drenched in cold water. Yelping, she shot forward, slipping and almost busting her ass.

  “Son of a bitch,” she exclaimed, sucking in breath and bracing herself to get under the spray long enough to check the faucet.

  Frowning when she adjusted the hot water knob and the spray remained icy, she twisted the cold water knob until it was all the way off. To her dismay, the spray of water remained the same temperature. Scowling, she eyed the water with disgust, but there was nothing more to be done. She had to suck it up and finish rinsing her hair in the ice cold water. Dammit all to hell.

  Taking a deep breath and thanking her lucky stars the rest of her shower was complete, she turned and leaned back so only her head was under the spray. Sucking in a breath at the shock of cold water, she forced herself to stay under the shower until all the conditioner was gone. Breathing a sigh of relief, she jerked her body away from the stream of water and squealed when her long wet hair smacked against her back, sending a shock of cold through her.

  Muttering a string of curse words under her breath, she stuck her foot out and used her toe to shut off the flow of the shower, quickly bending over to shut the faucet off. Shivering, she yanked open the shower curtain and dried herself off as fast as humanly possible before rushing to dress. She longed to blow dry her hair and use a little of the heat to help her warm up, but she needed to try to figure out what was going on.

  Thankful her grandparents renovated the basement years ago, she went down the stairs, Snickers following at her heels. She went to the breaker box and flipped the switch labeled hot water, and then went to the sink and turned on the hot water, waiting for it to warm. Nothing happened, and she frowned as she walked to the water heater. When glaring at it revealed no instructions on how to check if it was broken, she huffed a breath and walked back upstairs.

  Walking to the board with various numbers tacked to it, she searched in vain for anything that hinted of a handyman, but all she could find was Jax’s cell phone number. Not likely. Turning away, she opened the drawer where the phone book was always kept, frowning when she came up empty. Shutting the drawer, she searched through the kitchen, then moved to her grandpa’s old study, finally ending up back where she started.

  Scowling at the scrap of paper with Jax’s name, she said, “I do not want to call you.” She felt Snickers pawing at her leg and she winced, easing her bare leg away from his claws. “Well, I don’t. The last thing I want to do is call that dickhead.”

  Her dog just cocked his head at her. Shoulders slumping in defeat, she exhaled as she grabbed her cell and entered the number on the paper.

  “Jax St. James.”

  Shivering as his smoky voice crept down her spine, she felt herself get pissed off at herself. She was reacting to him, and he wasn’t even here in person. Mother trucker. How she could get turned on just by hearing him say his name on the phone, she’d never know.

  “Hey. It’s Piper.”

  “Piper?” he asked, voice losing its neutrality. “Is something wrong?”

  “There’s something wrong with the water heater. I was taking a shower and it suddenly turned icy.” She paused and gritted her teeth before reluctantly saying, “I need help. I don’t know what’s wrong with it.”

  “Of course,” he said instantly. “I’ll come over right away, if you’re planning on staying home.”

  “That works. And… ah… thanks.”

  “That was painful for you to say, wasn’t it?” he asked, and she could hear the grin in his voice.

  “Just come over here and fix it,” she replied, ending the call.

  Putting her phone on the counter and running her hand through her hair, she glanced down to see Snickers still staring at her.

  “What? He doesn’t deserve for me to be nice.”

  Rolling her eyes at herself, she went back to the bathroom to put her makeup on. She absolutely was not primping because Jax was coming over. She was just getting ready for the day. She had a grocery store run planned for later on, and she would have put makeup on after her shower for that anyway. None of this was for Jax.

  Groaning when she saw her hair in the mirror, she grabbed her brush and ran it through the mostly dried strands, futilely trying to smooth out some of the waves that formed from letting it air dry. She wished she’d taken the time to blow dry it after her shower, because—

  Enough. Who cared if her hair had some curl to it? She didn’t, and there was no one else in Eagle Creek who mattered. Her thoughts turned to a tall, dark, and muscled behemoth, and she groaned. This was not happening. She refused to care what he thought about her, and that was that.

  Thirty minutes later, the faint sound of the doorbell echoed through the house just as she was slicking lip gloss on her lips. Taking a moment to check out her reflection in the mirror, she examined her shorts, her thigh tattoo peeking out from under the hem, and the snug grey t-shirt she was wearing. All good. Glancing up in the mirror one last time, she wat
ched as she rolled her eyes at herself.

  She wasn’t primping. Not at all. She just wanted to show Jax what he was missing, was all.

  Nodding her head firmly, and ignoring the voice snickering inside her, she lightly ran down the stairs and peeked through the curtain covering the long window beside the door, making sure it was Jax. Her heart raced when she saw him, and cursing herself for a fool over her reaction, she opened it to let him in.

  “Thanks for coming,” she said, gesturing him inside.

  “Any time you need me, Piper, just say the word. I’ll be here. For anything,” he replied, voice husky and eyes burning into her.

  Suppressing the images her mind supplied of the many ways he could be there for her, she shut the door behind him and turned, leading the way to the kitchen. Rubbing her hands over the goosebumps on her arms, she said, “The water heater is in the basement. It’s this way.”

  “I know where it is. I’ve been fixing stuff in this house for three years, remember?” he replied, amused.

  “Right,” she said, stopping in the kitchen. “I won’t go down, since you know where it is. Do you need any tools or anything?”

  “There’s a tool box down there.”

  Duh. She knew that. Avoiding looking at him again, she said, “All right then. Holler if you need anything.”

  He hesitated, and she knew he wanted to say something more, but he finally made his way to the basement stairs with nothing more than a nod. Breathing out a sigh of relief, she opened the back door to let Snickers out, then grabbed a pen and paper to write down a grocery list. The only food in the house were a few dry goods, and while she knew how to bake, she never learned how to cook more than a few dishes, especially not on so little supplies.

  After making out a fairly large list, she cast a look toward the basement stairwell, wondering at the curses and bangs she heard floating up. It didn’t sound good, but as much as she wanted to investigate, she decided to stay put. She hated to admit it, and she’d deny it to the death if asked, but she knew there was a large part of her that didn’t care about finding out what was wrong with the water heater. She just wanted to ogle Jax while he worked.