Jane

by Becca Fanning

  “Yes.”

  “Is it romantic?”

  “Yes, but I don’t know how serious. I haven’t told him yet but I’m planning to, sometime soon. I’m just waiting to see if this is all going to crash and burn on me or not. I haven’t had a relationship last more than a month or two so …” she shrugged.

  “Let me know if you want to do a controlled shift.”

  “I will.”

  “Anything unusual on your social media?”

  She shook her head. “I’m barely active anyway but no, nothing. More Human Order stuff?”

  “Some of the pack are getting odd friend requests. They think it’s people fishing for information. Keep an eye out.”

  “I will.” She already did. She didn’t want anyone from back home locating her. Not that it had worked. Etienne had found her just fine. She glanced at Remy, just the thought of Etienne making her keenly aware of the lies she’d told earlier this evening.

  “Then I’ll give you a lift home.”

  She nodded, knowing better than to argue. Please beat us back to the apartment, she thought over and over again. If her car was missing from the lo,t there’d be a lot of explaining to do.

  She was lucky. Her car was right where it was supposed to be and there was no sign of Etienne anywhere. She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Remy. “Thanks for the ride. Is there a meeting this month?”

  “No, I haven’t scheduled one, but I’ll let you know if that changes.”

  “Okay. Good night.”

  She tried to act casual but as soon as Remy was gone, she bolted up to her apartment and burst through the door. “Well?”

  Etienne glanced up from the newspaper he was reading. “Well what? It was all just fine. No one saw me. You can relax, okay? You don’t need to get this worked up, Jane.”

  “My ass is on the line here, okay? I should have brought you with me to the warehouse today. If Remy finds out I will be in a lot of trouble, so don’t tell me to calm the fuck down.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry. You’ve got work tomorrow so why don’t you head for bed. I’m pretty tired too.”

  She glared at him and then marched off to her room.

  * * *

  She got ready for work as quietly as she could and slipped out of the apartment without waking Etienne, planning to catch breakfast on the way. She was tired, as per usual after the full moon, but it was Friday which meant she’d be getting together with Bryce tonight. Her thoughts were pleasantly occupied with her coming plans but she still noticed the car pull away from the curb as she turned out of the apartment parking lot.

  She didn’t think anything of it until she shoulder checked at a turn and saw the same car still following her. She pulled into the drive thru and breathed a sigh of relief. The car didn’t follow.

  Her relief was short lived, however, as the car picked up her tail as she exited the parking lot with her breakfast. It followed her until she turned in at work and then followed traffic down the road. She waited in her car until she was almost late for work, but she didn’t see it circle around.

  “So weird,” she muttered under her breath and she went inside.

  Bryce spotted her and quickly noted the extra-large coffee and the circles under her eyes and glared. “Out with your boyfriend last night?” he said. His tone did not match the harshness of his expression at all.

  “Jealous?”

  “A little.”

  “Just out with friends. Things just went a little late. We still on for tonight?”

  “You’re not going to fall asleep on me, are you?”

  “I dunno. You’re a comfortable pillow.”

  He grinned. “Well, you’ve still got a sense of humor I see.”

  “Who’s joking?” She gave him a light shove and went to toss the empty cup in the garbage.

  They worked together stripping beds and replacing linens. The last few weeks it had been a lot easier for Jane to keep her mood lighter and the cuss words silent. She didn’t stop thinking them though.

  “Where’s your lunch?” Bryce asked as they retreated to the staff room on their first break.

  She shrugged. “I was running late and I didn’t have time to pack one. I’ll be fine until lunch and then I’ll go out and grab something.”

  “Wow. A really rough night then.”

  “Just later than usual.”

  By lunch she was starving and even working with Bryce didn’t keep her mood cheerful. She was back to muttering curse words under her breath every few minutes and it was only luck that Carter didn’t catch her.

  As soon as she was free for lunch, she grabbed her purse and headed for the door. “Hey,” Bryce called. “Aren’t you going to wait for me?”

  “I didn’t realize you wanted to come.”

  “I could use a real break, so yeah, I’ll at least come for the walk.”

  They stepped out of the building and Jane immediately spotted the car. She hadn’t gotten a look at the plates that morning so it could have been a different car of the same make and model. Car companies sold thousands of cars every year, right? And yet something told her it was the same one. There was no one in it but that didn’t stop her from feeling like she was being followed. She shivered.

  “What is it?”

  “Lately I’ve been feeling like I’m being watched all the time. It’s like every time we go for a walk or every time I go out in the evening for a jog, someone is watching me. Of course when I look around there’s no one there.”

  “Odd. Maybe it’s this family emergency. It’s got you thinking about home and now you’re scared your past is catching up with you.”

  “Maybe. You’re probably right.” Considering that it was probably Etienne watching her when she was out jogging, Bryce was probably more right than he knew. But Etienne wasn’t going to follow her to work. Was he? No. How would he get back into the apartment? Why would he need to follow me when he knows where I am?

  No, she was sure it was someone else, if there was anyone there at all.

  The feeling returned when she left work for the day, headed for home to pick up the groceries she’d bought for dinner, and stuck with her all the way home. That car appeared in her rear view mirror more than once on the way home and something about it was familiar, not just because she’d seen it around all day, either. She was sure she’d seen it before and the more she thought about it, the more sure she became.

  She parked and got out of the car in time to see the mystery car drive by. She didn’t get a good look at the drive,r but whoever it was filled the space between steering wheel and seat. She raced up to her apartment and let herself in without knocking.

  Etienne glanced up from the computer, startled. “Oh, hey, you’re home.”

  “Just in and out. Making any progress?”

  “Yeah, I think so. But I can take a break if …”

  “No need. I’m not hanging around.”

  “Will you be home tonight?”

  “I don’t know yet.” She grabbed the bag out of the fridge and examined the contents. “You didn’t take anything out of here, did you?”

  “No, why?”

  “Good, it’s for dinner tonight.”

  “What are you making?”

  “Okay, I need to run. There’s tinned meat in the cupboard and some stuff in the freezer. If you’re going to order pizza remember to meet the guy down in the lobby and don’t tell anyone you’re staying in my apartment.”

  “Uh – okay. Bye?”

  “Bye.” She rushed out again, taking the elevator so she could text Bryce and let him know she was on her way. She loaded her bags into the car and looked around. The car was parked across the street but it was empty. She locked her doors and walked across the street. Almost instantly she could feel eyes on her back.

  She kept walking and the feeling stuck with her. She made a lazy loop, texting Bryce as she walked to let him know she’d be a few minutes later than she thought. When his reply came through telling her not to
worry, he’d be waiting, she tucked the phone away and ducked into the park.

  Anyone could be walking anywhere on the street and not actually be following her, but there was no reason to follow the same lazy path she’d taken and then duck into the park too, not unless they were trying not to lose sight of her.

  The park was quiet, only a few people scattered about. She walked off the path and wandered a short way into the trees. Behind her someone cursed. She moved quickly, coming out of the bushes at a random spot and doubling back up the path.

  There was a man there, tall, broad shouldered, wearing a black t-shirt and black jeans. He had his cellphone to his ear but wasn’t speaking. He was glancing about and turned just as Jane reached him.

  Philippe.

  He looked startled when he saw her and hung up the phone, shoving it in his pocket. “Jane.”

  “You’re following me.”

  “Remy was worried about you, he asked me to …”

  “Follow me. He doesn’t trust me.”

  “You’ve never missed a meeting before.”

  “And you’ve never missed a meeting?”

  “Of course I have. I’m not perfect.”

  “Did he send someone to follow you?”

  She took the uncomfortable silence to be a ‘no’.

  “You want to know where I’m going tonight? I’m going to my friend’s apartment. We’re having dinner. The food is sitting in my car. I’m cooking. And we’re sitting through a documentary because that’s what he likes. And we’ll probably have sex tonight. Is that a problem?”

  Philippe shook his head. “That’s not what …”

  “No? It’s not about me suddenly being interested in someone who isn’t clan? This isn’t about me having friends and a life? Because Brock married a human. And Jules is planning on doing the same. So if anyone has a problem with me sleeping with a normal man they’d better keep it to themselves. I do not have to marry a werebear just because I’m the only female in the clan, you hear me?”

  “Yeah, I hear you. And if you’re not careful someone else will hear you and we’ll both be out.”

  “Maybe you should have thought of that before following me. That’s not your car.”

  “No. I knew you’d recognize my car so I swapped with Patrick.”

  “Now I know both cars. You follow me again and you’ll be following me to Timbuktu and back, got it?”

  “Remy said …”

  “Then you tell Remy that he has no right to control who I date or spend time with.”

  “Shouldn’t you …”

  “No. You tell him. So he knows just how pissed off I am. And if he has a problem with it he can tell me at the next full moon. Or he can call me. But you’re going to stop following me.”

  He stood up straighter, showing off just how tall he really was. “You know I’m more dominant than you are.”

  “I don’t fucking care. Dominant or not I don’t want you following me. I’m late. Goodbye.”

  She didn’t even look back. She knew that if Remy had given an official order nothing she did or said would shake Philippe off her tail, but if Remy hadn’t put any power in the order then Philippe would respect her and back off, even if she had been a bitch.

  From the safety and relative privacy of her car, she called Etienne. “They suspect something. You have to find what you’re looking for and get out soon, before you get me in trouble.”

  “I’m doing the best I can,” he said.

  “Do better.” She hung up and drove to Bryce’s house.

  * * *

  Bryce could tell something was wrong from the moment Jane set foot in his kitchen. She was single-minded in her actions and resistant to any help he offered. He quickly settled for sitting at the counter with his beer and filling the air with idle chatter which remained mostly one-sided.

  Her mood improved marginally over dinner and she kept up her end of the conversation but her replies were short and often cynical. Bryce took the dirty dishes to the kitchen to clean up. While rinsing plates he said, “You seem distracted today.”

  “Is it noticeable?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’m coming to love all your moods, even the bad ones. It’s that family thing looming over you, isn’t it?”

  “Yes and no. That’s the root of everything right now but this was a disagreement with a friend. I had to put my foot down about something and I never thought I’d have to – except I wouldn’t have had to if it wasn’t for this damn emergency.”

  “Because that wasn’t cryptic at all,” Bryce muttered. He loaded the dishwasher. When he came back, he started giving her a shoulder rub. “It’s a good thing I know something that will help you relax,” he said.

  “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “A hot shower with someone to scrub your back, and then some snuggles, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

  She looked up at him and he kissed her. “Okay,” she said. “It sounds nice.”

  She felt bad for fibbing to him but she didn’t want to ruin his evening. Really, all she wanted was to go home and hound Etienne until he got the hell out of her apartment. She was tired of lying for him, and tired of talking to him. And tonight, after facing off with Philippe, she was just tired. But none of that was Bryce’s fault so she stripped down and hopped in the shower with him.

  The water and the back scrub did feel nice but she just couldn’t shake the weight of everything that was going on. After the shower, they crawled under the covers together and Bryce wrapped his arms around her.

  He was patient but persistent, nuzzling her neck, kissing her, running his hands up and down her back and sides. At first, she just snuggled, letting him touch and kiss. She pushed Etienne and her problems out of her mind and tried to focus on Bryce.

  When Jane started kissing him back and running her fingers over his chest Bryce, stepped up his attentions from intimate, but mostly innocent, to full on romantic.

  It was easy to forget when Bryce was kissing her in all the right places. She rolled with him, letting him lean over her, letting him settle between her legs. This felt good, this felt right, and she wrapped her legs around him, holding him close.

  As soon as they were done, the emotions and stress of everything flooded her mind again and she rolled away from him.

  “Hey, is everything okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said. She kissed him. “Yeah, everything’s okay. I’m just tired, you know?”

  “Did you want to tuck in and get some sleep?”

  “I think I’m going to head home tonight. I have some stuff to take care of tomorrow and I want to get an early start. If I stay here, it’ll be too easy to stay in bed all morning.”

  “Good point. I’ll miss you.”

  “Are you busy Sunday?”

  “I’m supposed to work on the house but for you, I’ll cancel. We can go enjoy the park or something.”

  “I’d like that. I’m feeling cooped up lately.”

  “Then it’s a date.” He kissed her. “If you ever need to talk …”

  “I know. It’s fine.” She wandered to the bathroom to retrieve her clothes. When she came out, he was in a pair of sweats and puttering around the kitchen. He walked her to the door.

  “Thanks for cooking dinner,” he said.

  “Next week is one you,” she replied. She went up on tip-toe to kiss him. “Good night, Bryce.”

  “Good night, Jane. I love you.”

  All she could do was smile at him before walking out the door.

  Chapter 9

  It was strange meeting up on a Sunday afternoon. They had planned to go for a walk but it was pouring rain so he took her to a museum instead. Jane tried to pay attention to the displays; she’d never been here before. Her mind kept wandering back to Etienne and his story. Black mail, betrayal, was it possible?

  “You seem distracted, or bored,” Bryce said as they left one display.

  “I’m s
orry,” she said. “I guess I don’t really want to be here.”

  “You don’t want to be here? Or you don’t want to be with me?”

  That stopped her. “Oh Bryce. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I just meant there’s so much going on right now, I have so much in my head, I just can’t focus on all this.” She waved a hand at the displays.

  “Yeah, you’ve been distracted at work too. What’s going on? I’m worried about you, about us.”

  “Look, this isn’t really the place to talk about it, trust me. I don’t want to wreck your day so if you want to finish looking at the displays, I will try to focus and then we can go somewhere and talk. Deal?”

  “We can go now,” he said. “Is this a coffee shop talk or an apartment talk?”

  “Apartment, please. Your apartment.”

  “I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse.”

  “If I was going to break up with you, I’d do it in a coffee shop so you couldn’t throw things at me.”

  He stared at her. “Was that a joke?”

  She grimaced a little. “Inappropriate?”

  “No. In fact, well played. Come on. We’ll grab take-out for lunch along the way.”

  When they got to his apartment, he set the bags of food on the counter and turned to her. “Okay, we’re here. Talk.”

  She wasn’t used to blunt Bryce, or upset Bryce. She was used to rambling happy-go-lucky Bryce. Of course this was her fault entirely. She sighed. “You’re going to want to sit down for this.”

  He pulled a kitchen chair out and sat.

  She tugged at her fingers. “Okay, so you know our mayor is a werebear, right?”

  Bryce nodded. “You’re one too?”

  She nodded.

  “Seriously.”

  She nodded again. “I belong to the same clan as Brock. Well, now I do. I grew up in a clan in rural Quebec and came here after I graduated high school because, well, my parents died when I was little and the Clan Chief raised me and I didn’t agree with his vision of my future.”

  “Which is why you show up exhausted once a month.”