“I don’t have a problem with him because I don’t know Jacques at all. The problem I have is that he’s somehow convinced you to trust him.”
“How do you know? I just started working at Reverie, therefore, I just met him. Who said anything about trust? I sometimes have lunch with him. He’s my friend.”
“Your friend?”
“Yes…my friend. So what’s the problem?”
“He was convicted of manslaughter—”
Natasha’s mouth fell open in shock.
“—he’s since been cleared of all charges, but the fact that there was solid enough evidence to convict him is what irked me and several of the other executives of the company.”
“How and why was he convicted?”
Dad tossed a rolled up newspaper on the bed. “This paper is from three weeks ago. In section D, you’ll see where he was held for questioning in the death of a drug dealer. The man was found beaten to a bloody pulp behind a strip mall north of town. After a reward was posted, an anonymous witness came forward saying that drug dealer and your shifter friend competed against each other in an underground fighting ring where the drug dealer lost. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, which made your friend a prime suspect. Days after he was taken into custody, missing several days of work, the strip mall owner turned over surveillance cameras that cleared him of the crime. It turns out the drug dealer was beaten to a pulp by his supplier hours after the fighting competition.”
“This doesn’t explain why you have a problem with us being friends.”
“The fact that he was mixed up in this mess should be reason enough for you to run the other way. This isn’t his first run-in with the law. I’m just warning you that things aren’t always what they seem in this town.”
Natasha rolled her eyes. “I know the shifter population in this town in high, Dad. I also happen to know that Aspen Valley has one of the lowest crime rates in the region. I highly doubt you would have moved here with Mom if that wasn’t the case.”
“You’re right. Just like any other place, we have to watch out for our own. I was the one who introduced you to Stephan and I admit that I was wrong about him. I just feel that I have to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again.”
“Dad, I’m responsible for every decision I made with Stephan. It’s not your fault. I learn from my mistakes all the time, but that doesn’t mean that you get to make the rest of my future decisions for me.”
Dad kissed the top of her head and pressed his palm lightly on her shoulder. “Can you promise me that you’ll stay away from this guy?”
Natasha was a little disgusted by his request. No, she was more than disgusted. She swallowed down her displeasure. She wanted to heed her dad’s warning, but in this situation, she knew deep down that he was wrong about Jacques.
“I can’t promise anything like that.” She shook her head. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated, it is…” Dad mumbled. “…the things we do to protect our children.”
Dad probably meant well and didn’t want to see her get hurt again, but he was known to jump the gun on forming some of his opinions.
Natasha also couldn’t help but wonder why Jacques didn’t think highly of himself. She was used to men with big ass egos, but when it came to Jacques she knew there was no comparison. His ego or lack thereof wasn’t the only thing he had going for himself. His compassion and dedication to see his goal through were something she coveted for herself. She didn’t want to know just one side of him; she wanted to know the real Jacques Shalane Kent. Imperfections and all.
Chapter 9
Jacques was all smiles when he rolled into Reverie’s parking lot on Monday morning, but when he didn’t see Natasha waiting for him in her SUV sipping her coffee, he knew something was up.
Ever since their very first lunch together, they’d always made it a point to touch base in the mornings before clocking in. His intuitions were correct. He wouldn’t see Natasha until that afternoon. She’d called him while he was seated out in the courtyard to tell him that the people down at the DMV had an issue with processing her car registration. She probably wouldn’t make it in before the lunch hour. She expressed an urgent need to speak to him about something private and she didn’t want to talk about it over the phone. He knew asking her out on a real date after work when she wasn’t so busy would solve the issue, but he struggled with the uncertainty of whether she was his to spend this much time with. The wolf seemed to think otherwise. He agreed with the wolf on at least one thing—he was ready to open up to her.
Lunchtime rolled around and she still hadn’t arrived. He waited by the lake and ate his BLT sandwiches in silence. How he felt during her absence only confirmed one thing for him. She’d come into his life at the right time. In a few months time, he’d have most of the pressing issues clear. And then he’d be in a better position to infinitely give her what she truly deserved—his undivided attention—even when they weren’t at work together.
Jacques entered the building through the lobby, making a pit stop at the soda machine to grab a Pepsi. Just as he was pulling out his key card to access the security room, he felt a presence behind him. Even before the man called his name, he recognized the scent was from Rogers, his boss.
“Kent. We need to talk,” Rogers said before Jacques had turned around completely.
By the morbid sound of his voice and the distant look in his eyes, Jacques assumed this wasn’t going to be an uplifting conversation. Had he done something wrong at work? Not followed all the security protocols? He had just gotten a promotion and high praises from Roger a couple months ago for being the most hardworking employee in the department.
Jacques swallowed and his gut tightened. Something told him that this day was only going to get worse.
“Sure, we can talk,” Jacques replied.
“Right this way. Let’s take the elevator.”
As soon as they stepped onto the elevator, Jacques cell phone rang. It was Natasha. Talk about bad timing. He glanced in the direction of an impatient Rogers, who was tapping his feet as the elevators ascended.
“You need to take that now or something?” Rogers asked.
The cell phone stopped ringing. Either that or it had lost reception as it reached the highest level of the building.
“I can take it after our talk,” Jacques said.
“Good. We have a meeting with Bennett and Eli on the executive level.”
At the mention of the name Bennett, his attention piqued. Bennett was Natasha’s dad. The man had always made it a point to keep his distance from Jacques. Whenever Jacques was close enough, he sensed how uneasy the guy was around him. He could smell the apprehension. Jacques was used to it by now. He braced himself for bad news because he knew it was coming.
Once he and Rogers reached the room, Bennett and Eli were seated at a small meeting table with the same morbid look on their face. They didn’t take long to get to the reason for the meeting when Jacques sat down.
“Jacques,” Eli started. “You’ve been working with us for quite some time. During that time, we were grateful to have you with us but a matter has been brought to our attention and we have to address it.”
He knew exactly where this was going. He settled back in his chair.
“Your extracurricular activities outside of Reverie are a little…how can I put this…unsavory,” Eli continued. “Although we understand that you were suspected of manslaughter and the charge later lifted, we don’t want to take a chance on our company’s image. In addition, we have to protect the interests of every employee working here.” His gaze shifted to Bennett who shuffled in his seat and wrung his hands together.
Jacques cleared his throat. “So, what’s this about?”
Bennett leaned forward in his seat. “I told you to stay away from my daughter and you didn’t lis—”
Eli swiftly held up his hand. “Bennett, please…we made it clear you wouldn’t do this.”
&nbs
p; Jacques’s blood was on fire and he could have sworn he felt his veins filling with anger. “This is about me staying away from Natasha, is that it?”
“No,” Eli replied quickly. “This decision was made on the grounds of your conduct outside of the workplace as it relates to your involvement with the victim that night, which led to a short period of incarceration.”
“You’ve failed to remember that I didn’t kill anyone. The MMA fight clubs here in this town are considered legal. My fists didn’t end his life. Someone else’s did.”
“We’re aware. But still, we question your character. We’ve decided to terminate your employment with Reverie effective immediately. You’ll be granted six weeks worth of severance pay which I think is very generous.”
From the decisive tone of his voice, Jacques knew the decision was final and that any arguments from his side would more than likely be met with opposition. They’d let weeks go by after he was cleared of charges, and yet today they’d made the decision to terminate him. He knew exactly what this was about. Mr. Bennett wanted him to have no further contact with his daughter, and this was one way of assuring that her chances of seeing him again were slim to none. The man was making the wrong accusations about him, but he was only protecting his daughter—something any dad would do. Maybe Mr. Bennett was right. Maybe he was no good for Natasha.
Ready to leave this claustrophobia, he stood up. Every heart in the room sped up and he felt the stench of fear emanating from them. He would never understand why. Only that he was different and people feared different.
He removed his badge and dropped it along with his building keys and entry cards in the center of the table. Without another word, he walked out. There was nothing else to be said and he didn’t want to lose his breath by stating his case to men who had already judged him thoroughly.
Chapter 10
Natasha fumbled with the sandwich wrapper on the table in front of her. She’d skipped breakfast this morning after pushing the snooze button one too many times, but for some reason, she wasn’t in any mood to eat. The turkey and provolone cheese sandwich she chose from the cafe was a little drab. Nothing seemed to be going right this week. Monday turned out to be a mess when the one person she could gripe about it to had left early. Not only that, he wasn’t even taking her calls.
It was now Tuesday and she felt like a wannabe slut who’d been used. Why would he just cease contact with her with no explanation whatsoever? She’d been dumped before they ever officially claimed to be together.
On top of that, Natasha had just found out that one of the only available units in the apartment community that she was looking at moving into was rented out before she could make it there to fill out the paperwork. The shortage of places to rent in the town of Aspen Valley was worse than she thought. Even her dad had warned her before she moved from Miami that most all of the best homes in the best subdivisions were already spoken for. At this rate, she’d be living with her parents for months. This was definitely not what she intended, especially after learning that her dad still didn’t realize that there were some affairs he just shouldn’t meddle in. That included who she chose to befriend, talk to, or heck…even have sex with. Not that she was going to jump in bed with Jacques. She had thought about it—often—and wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that she couldn’t even remember the last time she had sex. Now, that probably wasn’t even a possibility. Jacques had disappeared.
Natasha dug into her handbag and took out the romance book she’d started earlier last week. She couldn’t help but recall the look on Jacques’s face when he spotted the muscular male on the front of the cover. Uninterested in reconnecting with the sultry, sexy hero in the romance novel, she tossed the book on the table and pulled out her cell phone. She fumbled through her contacts list, pausing on his phone number again.
She couldn’t keep calling and calling. She wouldn’t run after a man if he didn’t want to be with her…not even a shifter.
But was he hurt? Was something wrong? Had he gotten injured at one of his fights? A family matter? Had he ditched town?
After more hemming and hawing over how and when she would contact him again, she toggled further down her contacts list and dialed a new friend she’d run into at the post office. After all, Melody was a shifter too. Maybe she’d have answers. Or maybe Melody would just tell her that she was a crazy person who’d let yet another man fool her.
Melody answered on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Hi Melody,” Natasha replied. “It’s me—Natasha.”
“Oh, hi you! I was meaning to call you last weekend, but I had to drive over to Cross City to pick up some deliveries from my aunt.”
“Oh, that’s no problem. Are you busy?”
“No, I’m actually off today. Thank God! I’m supposed to be cleaning out my apartment, but I somehow ended up on Netflix.” She giggled.
Natasha grinned. “Well, of course. You deserve it anyway. I remember you saying that you spend a whole lot of time working for your family’s courier services.”
“Speaking of, I thought you worked during the day. So, what’s up?”
Natasha sighed. “I have a question for you about something…maybe someone. I understand if you aren’t able to tell me anything. I know you’re loyal to your wolf pack and all.”
“Yeah…so what is it?”
“I kind of met this guy. He’s a shifter and he works here at Reverie…”
“Oh…”
“So, I have this feeling that something’s not quite right,” Natasha continued.
“Not quite right about him, you mean?” Melody laughed. “That’s what they all say about us.”
“No, not that. We’ve been having lunch together for a little over a week. We were actually supposed to meet yesterday but when I got here, he was gone. And then this morning, he didn’t even show up for work.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Us shifters can be moody, especially around certain times of the month. Maybe he just took a vacation.”
Natasha shook her head and pulled the bottom of her lip between her teeth. “No, that’s not it. It’s only been like a day and a half since I was supposed to talk to him again.”
“Less than two days! Are you kidding me?”
“Of course, you probably think I’m being silly. But I just feel that something isn’t right. I could barely sleep last night. He wouldn’t promise to meet me and then not show. He’s not that type of man.”
“How much do you know about him?”
Natasha paused.
“Let me guess? Not much.”
“We were getting to know each other, so I knew something,” Natasha corrected.
“Okay, let’s get to the point. I need his name or at least his last name.”
“Jacques Shalane Kent.”
There was morbid silence on the other end.
“Melody? Hello?”
“Yeah, I’m still here,” she replied.
“So? Do you know him?”
“Not personally, but I know of him,” she said, bluntly. “And my family does own a courier company so…”
Natasha sat straight up in her chair and pressed the cell firmly to her ear. “Oh good. So that means you know where to find him?”
“Kind of. Us Pack mates stick together, you know,” Melody said. “He’s sort of a loner. He just moved out of a home that was right across the street from my pop’s bungalow. I think he spends most of his time at his late grandmother’s property. She left it to him. The property is still in her son’s name—Jacques’s father…he was a human. His mother was a drunk. She skipped town way before he did. Folks don’t know where they’re at. They could be in another country for all we know. They could be dead with the way they were drinkin’ and snortin’. Fact is, they abandoned their only son. I can give you the address, but it’s not easily accessible by car or anything. It’s like that way on purpose…for reasons. I wouldn’t go out there alone. Besides, he’s probably long gone…you k
now…just like his parents. Especially if there’s nothing left here for him.”
Natasha swallowed. “I hope he’s not, but if you’d give me the address, that’d be great,” Natasha said.
She pulled out a pen and a piece of notebook and wrote down the address.
“Sorry, I don’t have his cell number. I could easily find it out though,” she said.
“That’s okay. You’ve been enough help.” Natasha purposely didn’t mention that she’d already called him a few times with no success.
“Natasha…you’re not going to use any of this against him, are you? I’m not supposed to give information on the whereabouts of my kind and where they sleep. He’s out, but many of us are still not,” Melody said, uneasily.
“Melody, I wouldn’t do anything to bring harm to you or Jacques. I know it’s silly, but I think it’s my duty to make sure he’s okay.”
“Right. I just wanted to make sure. He’s gone through a lot with his grandmother dying. The county was questioning the validity of his grandmother’s will and estate records that he presented to them. Not too long ago, the cops were after him for something he didn’t do. Anyway, I hope you get in touch with him.”
Natasha sighed. “Thanks Melody.”
“Anytime. Remember that new movie I told you about that would be airing this weekend at the theater in Cross City. If you’re not doing anything maybe we can go.”
“Okay. Sure.”
“And Natasha? Can I ask you something and get the straight up truth from you?” Melody asked.
“Yeah.”
“Did you have sex with Jacques?”
Natasha’s face heated. “No.” She giggled nervously. “I haven’t.”
“You sure?”
“I’m pretty sure I would know if I wasn’t sure,” Natasha joked.
“Right. I mean, you know about the effects of having sex with a male shifter, don’t you?”
“Ah…no.”
“Just checking. Because if you did, depending on how long ago it was, you’d still have a bit of his essence in your system.”
Aspen Valley Wolf Pack (The Complete Series) Page 40
