I couldn’t help but laugh with her. She does have a point. Even in the bag I stashed at the farm in Tallahassee was nothing but black loafers, jeans, camis, and blazers.
“Alright sounds perfect. Tomorrow sound good to you?”
Sam reaches up and rubs Mathews head, “how’s that sound to you kiddo? You wanna go shopping tomorrow?”
Mathew jumps out of his chair screaming yes, demanding he gets to go to the video store and the ice cream shop. Sam and I just watch his display of enthusiasm and laugh.
Since I shared so much personal information with Sam, she thought it was only fair to tell her story as well. She told me Mathew was five years old and his father died in the pride war. Of course since I’m new to this whole being a supernatural thing she explained that she and Mathew are weretigers and so was his father. She said that all the werecats now stick together as a pride because of the war there was not enough left to have separate prides. She also told me that there is a man that stays in the other suite on my floor but he’s always gone on business.
After dinner we cleaned up and called it a night. Everything around her screams home. The air is clean and smells fresh. However, there is one scent, a faint scent, but I still catch it every now and again that just says this is home to me. For the first time since I was a child I slept peacefully.
DUCATI
The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed and more relaxed than I have been in a long time. I laid in bed for a while staring at the ceiling thinking about all the bullshit I had to deal with over the past week and all the changes in my life over the past 24 hours. Change, which is exactly what I needed. At least Sam seems friendly enough. I got a really good vibe from her last night. I just hope I’m not wrong about her. But, my instincts are always right and it seems my instincts are the only thing I can depend on these days. Everyone I love and held close to my heart looked me in the eyes for 25 years and lied to me. How am I supposed to take that? Well, since I ran I guess I did not take it well.
I rolled out of bed threw some clothes on and headed downstairs at a slow crawling pace. Mornings are so not my thing. It is too bright and just too damn early. Hence, the reason Jackson always yelled at me about being late. I mean who in their right mind wants to get out of bed after a long ass night of blood guts and gore, stay up all night with fucked up nightmares then get up at the butt crack of dawn, and farmers get up when the rooster starts to crow. I say fuck that. That would be one dead fucking chicken when I get my hands around its neck. Nope let me sleep and make sure I get lots of coffee and I’m golden.
Sam was in the kitchen at the stove cooking breakfast when I walked in. Mathew was at the table coloring patiently waiting for his mother to finish cooking.
Sam smiled, “Well good morning sunshine.”
“Are you always this chippery in the morning?” I grumbled.
“Hey cranky butt don’t be snotty and its chipper, besides today is a good day we get to give you a makeover.” She says squealing.
I hold up my hand to quiet down the pig squealing, “Okay first and foremost please stopped the squealing. Secondly, do not get too excited about this so-called make over. We are just buying some new clothes. That’s it nothing more.”
“Yeah yeah, if you say so.”
“I mean it Sam. Beside I’m sure Mathew here,” I say while patting Mathew on the head “doesn’t want to be dragged to every clothing store in town.”
Mathew looks up at me with a mischievous grin, “I don’t care how many stores we go to as long as I get ice cream and new video games.”
I walked over to the counter and made myself a cup of coffee. Lifting the cup to my nose, I took in a deep breath. I looked at Mathew over the rim of the cup and muttered, “traitor”, while smiling at him. Mathew sticks his tongue out at me and goes back to coloring. Sam says, “I heard that”, and continues cooking. After we eat and clean everything up from breakfast, I make my way back upstairs to get ready for a day of shopping.
It took us about forty-five minutes to get to town. “This place really is beautiful,” I say looking over at Sam, “I really didn’t pay much attention when I drove through last night and I didn’t really get a lot of time to look around when I was here last with Jason.”
“Yeah it is something isn’t it,” she says.
When we got to the heart of town it reminded me of Downtown West Palm Beach, long roads completely lined with stores down both sides of the street. The only difference is this place has an old-fashioned look to it and Downtown West Palm is more modern looking. The buildings here are all brick and everything is perfectly clean. I would not be surprised if someone told me the city made the storeowners repaint their storefronts every year. I’m sure they don’t, but that’s how perfectly clean everything looks.
Sam parallel parked in front of a lingerie store and we got out. When she got close enough to me I grabbed her by the arm and tugged her towards me, “are you serious? I have to change my underwear too?” I said between gritted teeth.
Sam jerked her arm away from me. She spins me around and places both of her hands on my shoulders. ”Look Jessi I’m only saying this too be nice,” she takes a deep breath. ”But girl even my grandmother knows what a g-string is. I can seriously see your panty lines through your tight ass jeans.” She says dramatically.
“Who in the hell would want underwear shoved up there ass like its floss twenty four seven. You better be glad I’m even wearing underwear and I know what thongs are smartass.” I retort.
Mathew reaches up and tugs on the bottom of my shirt, “Ms. Jessi I would rather look at a girls butt without panty lines,” Mathew says seriously.
Sam and I look at each other and bust out laughing. Sam grabs Mathews hand, leads him into the store while explaining to him that he is too young to be looking at girl’s butts and leaves me doubled over on the sidewalk laughing my ass off. I get myself back under control and enter the lingerie shop.
An hour and four hundred dollars later we finally leave the lingerie store and head towards the mall. I seriously thought Sam was going to make me buy out the store. I got all new bras and yes she made me buy matching thongs. She also made me try on numerous amounts of nighties, from sexy ones to ones I can wear around the cabin without giving Mathew nightmares. Why on earth she thought I needed sexy nighties is beyond me. I tried to explain to her that I’m a virgin, but she just said, “Every woman deserves to feel sexy.” There was no point in arguing with her about it. Believe me I tried she just kept going until I threw my hands in the air and screamed, “Fine!” and snatched the outfits out of her hands and stormed off into the dressing room.
When we got closer to the mall I saw a car dealership on the left hand side of the road, “hey Sam pull over there,” I said pointing in the direction of the dealership.
“What on earth do you need a car for you already have a truck at the house?” she asked while pulling into the dealership.
“Remember I have to get rid of it. I told you last night about how my father left it for me in case I needed to run.” I explained.
“I forgot. We need to find a place to stash that thing,” she says while tapping her finger on her chin deep in thought.
We parked in front of the show room doors. I looked out my window and that is when I saw it. I jumped out of the car leaving Sam and Mathew behind and raced in side. Sam walked up to me dragging Mathew behind her and asked, “Is there a fire I don’t know about?” I just look at her with a shit-eating grin from ear to ear.
“Nope,” I say popping the P.
“Then what’s the hurry, it’s just cars and why are you by the motor cycles? The cars and trucks are outside,” she says pointing towards the parking lot.
“This is why.” I point at the bike, “Look at it, ain’t it perty.” I purr.
Sam rolls her eyes, “yes it’s very pretty and pretty dangerous too. Why are you smiling like that? It’s just a bike”
I throw my hands in the air dramatically waving
them around, “Just a bike! Just a bike!” I screech. “That bike is a 2013 Ducati….”
“Diavel Carbon 1198cc,” a voice says from behind us cutting me off mid rant.
Sam, Mathew and I turn around to see a middle-aged sales man smiling at us all. I put on my most charming fake smile, “You know it’s very rude to cut people off.” I state matter of fact.
The man just smiles at my comment. He looks to be in his forties, fit and not bad looking. He’s not ugly but he’s not handsome either. He has dirty blond hair, green eyes, tan skin, tall and wearing an expensive looking grey suit. Sam steps forward and shakes the man’s hand, ”Sorry about Jessi she can be a little blunt at times,” she says with a smile and giving me a I’m going to kill you later look.
I put my hands in my pockets and shrugged, “What?” I asked her. “He did interrupt me and it is rude.”
The man laughed and Sam mouthed, “We will talk about this later,” to me.
“Sorry little lady and she’s right Sammy it is rude,” he says looking at her then looked back at me. He takes a slight bow and holds out his hand for me to take. “My apologies,” he says and kisses my hand.
I jerked my hand away rubbing his germs off on the leg of my jeans. “Yeah no problem, just no more kissing.”
Sam nudges me in the ribs and tells me to be nice. Then tells Mathew who is having a fit of laughter beside her to stop laughing. Mathew just laughs harder at his mother’s embarrassment.
“Stop nudging me. He doesn’t seem to be offended,” I state point at the now giggling salesman.
Sam closes her eyes and takes in a few deep breaths. I think she is probably counting to ten in her head. “Jessi,” she says exasperated. “This is Tucker,” she points at the salesman, “and Tucker this here is Jessi, my new roommate,” she introduces and points back at me.
“Nice to meet you Tucker,” I say sweetly.
“Trust me Jessi the pleasure is all mine,” he purrs.
“Okay!” I yell dragging out the O.
“Tucker stop flirting already,” Sam says To Tucker and to me she says, “and damnit Jessi be nice.”
I look at her like he started it and Tucker just stands there laughing his ass off. “I’m sorry Tucker, she’s usually better behaved.” Sam says as if she is complaining about a dog.
“No worries Sam, chill out, I haven’t met a fire cracker like her in a longtime. It’s actually refreshing,” says Tucker.
“Anyway,” I say to interrupt and get down to business.
“Right, the Ducati.” says Tucker.
I turn around and walks closer to the Ducati. Tucker walks up, stands beside me, and sniffs the air. I look up at him as he turns to look me directly in the eyes. He sniffs the air again. “What are you?” he growls lowly.
MISUNDERSTANDING
I take a step back and bump into Sam. Sam grabs Mathew, pulls him away and tells him to go sit in one of the chairs across the room in the sitting area. Mathew complies and runs into the arms of an older woman as she steps out from behind her desk. She then takes Mathew to the sitting area and places him in her lap.
I crouched down into a fighting stance and growled back. Sam steps in between me and Tucker holding her hands out from her sides between us. “Now both of you stop this,” Sam pleads.
We both ignore her and stare at each other over Sam’s head. “I asked you a question girly. What the fuck are you!” Tucker demanded.
I stand up straight and glare at him. “Who the fuck do you think you are growling at me asshole? What the fuck is this, a sick fucking joke? You flirt your ass off which was very annoying by the way,” I slightly bow at the waist to mock Tucker’s earlier display, “My lady,” I say mockingly and make kissing noises, “then you turn into the world’s biggest jackass! I hate to break it to you puppy but this is not the eighteenth century! Women don’t have to bow down to no man. I don’t answer to you! So go fuck yourself you arrogant egotistical bastard!” I yell standing up on my tiptoes to look over Sam.
Tucker grabs Sam by the shoulder and shoves her out of the way. She flies backwards onto the floor and slides into a nearby desk. I wanted to look over at her to make sure she was okay. But I know not to take my eyes off the danger in front of me and the danger in front of me is six foot five at least and a pissed off werewolf. Tucker steps closer to me and bends at the waist to get right in my face. ”I. Said. What. The. Fuck. Are. You?” he snarls out each word slowly.
I leaned in closer to his face, almost touching his nose with my nose and snarl back, “and I said, I. Don’t. Answer. To. You!” I growl drawing out each and every word.
Tucker reaches to grab me with his right hand. I grab his hand with my left hand, bent his wrist backwards blocking him and apply just enough pressure to make it very painful without breaking his wrist. As he howls out in pain, I hit him in the crook of his elbow with my right hand causing his elbow to bend. I then twisted his arm back behind him
“Let me go you crazy cunt!” Tucker yells and tries to pull away.
I place my right hand underneath his elbow and push it upwards putting massive amounts of pressure on his left shoulder. “If you don’t hold still not only am I going to break your wrist but I’m going to dislocate your shoulder while I’m at it.” I ground out between gritted teeth.
Tucker lets out a ferocious growl and tries to pull away again. I step to the side of him and hit him in the back of his knee with my left knee causing him to loose what balance he had let. Then I swept his feet out from under him causing him to fall to the floor. Instead of moving out of the way as he was falling, I decided to be the cunt he accused me of being and helped push him harder by riding his body down to the ground. His body hit the tile with a loud thud followed by his head, which made a sickening crack when it hit the tile.
I sat on top of Tucker straddling his waist. He laid still underneath me not moving, half-dazed and half in shock. I put my hands on my hips and glared at him, “now I told you to hold still. Next time someone tells you to do something I suggest you listen and next time don’t you ever put your hands on a woman.”
I stood up, getting off Tucker and reached my hand out to help him up. He smacks my hand aside. “I don’t need your fucking help,” he growls out and stands up glaring at me.
“No but you’re going to need my help,” a voice booms out from behind us.
We both turn and staring back at us is the biggest man I have ever seen in my entire life. This guy had to be close to seven feet tall and he’s not skinny and lanky like most tall guys I’ve seen before. No, what makes this guy huge is that he’s not only tall he’s built like a freight train. He is huge. I didn’t even know they made clothes big enough to fit over so much muscle. I looked up, up and further up. Unlike the jackass beside me this guy was handsome. He has black hair, beautiful emerald green eyes, a nice strong jaw with a five o’ clock shadow, high cheekbones, and a beautiful smile. He was definitely an older man, probably closer to fifty. Nevertheless, that did not take away from his looks one bit.
With my head completely craned back as far as it would go I stared up at him. Not sure what else to do, so I just kept my mouth shut and stared. I can usually take care of myself, but there is no way in hell I want to piss this guy off.
“I’m sorry Alpha we just had a small misunderstanding,” Tucker said sheepishly while hanging his head low to avoid eye contact with the man in front of us.
“A small misunderstand you say?” the alpha asked Tucker crossing his arms over his chest.
“Yes Alpha.” Tucker replied.
“Well it seems to be more than a little misunderstanding when you accost two wee little women.” He growls.
Tucker steps towards his alpha, “but Alpha you don’t understand,” Tucker pleads.
“Actually I understand quite well. Instead of simply asking,” The alpha points towards me, “this woman what she is. You decided to act like a…” he trails off.
“Arrogant egotistical bastard,” I chime in.
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The alpha looks down at me, smiles and says, “Yes that will do.” He looks back at Tucker and steps closer to him. “You acted like an arrogant egotistical bastard!” he roars in Tuckers face.
Tucker flinched. Even I took a step back from him. One thing you do not do and that is piss of an Alpha werewolf. Werecats are not so bad because they tend to be more laid back and a little on the lazy side. Werewolves seem to be territorial and dominant over everything, making them naturally aggressive.
The alpha leaned away from Tucker and turned towards me. I started to step backwards but realized what I was doing and stood my ground. I may be little and he may be the size of a mountain but if he comes after me I’ll climb this bastard like a jungle monkey and poke his damn eyeballs out.
“So little one what’s your name?” he asks me gently laughing.
“Jessi. Well, actually it’s Jessica Barnes but everyone calls me Jessi.” I say smiling at him. A look of realization crosses his face before it was replaced by pure raw rage. He snaps his head around back to Tucker and lets out a ferocious growl. Tucker was shocked and scared shitless. He dropped to his knees with his head held low.
“I’m sorry Alpha I had no idea who she was,” pleads Tucker like he was begging for his life.
I look between the two men completely and utterly confused. “So, am I missing something here? How do you both know who I am?” I demanded and placed my hands on my hips waiting for one of them to answer me.
The alpha stepped towards me again but this time I didn’t even attempt to move back. I stood my ground and stared at both of them. The alpha threw his head back and let out a deep full belly laugh. “Don’t worry dear, Sam called after you retired for the evening last night and filled me in. She said you planned on staying for a while and that you were looking for a job.”
“Oh,” is all I could say back. Speaking of Sam I stepped around the alpha to look for Sam. The last time I saw her she was sliding across the floor hitting a desk. Sam was sitting on the floor with her back propped up against the desk she flew into holding Mathew in her lap. Both of them looked up at me when they noticed I was walking towards them. I squatted down next to them hoping Sam didn’t kill me for that display in front of Mathew.
Lover Betrayed (Betrayed #2) Page 2
