When she smiled her teeth were all pointed, like animal teeth even though she was in human form. That tended to happen when they stayed in their animal forms too long. Tara spent a lot of her time as a leopard – the animal she shifted into.
None of the others stayed in Williamsburg. Bruce wasn’t sure where they went. He suspected they stayed in the surrounding caves against the side of the mountain, but it was impossible to be sure.
The only reason they let him into the Family even though he mixed with humans was so that they had eyes and ears in the village.
Tara was strict about secrecy. They couldn’t afford for anyone who wasn’t a shifter to know what they were. If people knew, they were going to get killed. Tara would see to it herself. Bruce had thought it was inhumane to be like that about it, but then again, they weren’t human.
And he had fled from the city because the Assassins had found him and they’d been hot on his trail to kill him. That was what had happened to most of them. So he understood, even if he didn’t agree. And as long as he could be a part of a group of people that he could relate to in a way, he wasn’t going to break the rules.
He didn’t have a reason good enough to give up his security, a place where he could say he belonged.
Chapter 2
Jenna rinsed the scissors and the different fitting for the clippers in the basin at the back of the salon. It had been a long day and she was tired. She was used to spending long hours on her feet, but today she just felt drained.
She was the last in the salon. The others had all gone. They’d finished their clients earlier and left her to clean up.
She didn’t mind, but she was in a black mood. There was something in the air she couldn’t place, something she couldn’t talk about to the others. The town was backwards to say the least. They still lived with the same mentalities their ancestors had, and she didn’t feel like fingers pointing her way calling her a witch.
God knew that was the last thing she was. If there ever was an average person it was her, she was sure.
The bell above the door jingled when it pushed open and someone stepped into the salon. Jenna glanced up. Drew stood just inside the door, looking dirty and sweaty after a long day’s work. He worked with most of the town’s men down at the plant where he wrestled tree trunks all day.
“We’re closed already,” she said, but she knew he wasn’t there for a haircut.
“I know,” he said softly, and his voice was pleasant. Why didn’t Jenna like him? Maybe because she’d invested her feelings somewhere else.
She shook the excess water off the utensils and packed them in the plastic container on the counter where they belonged. She wiped her hands on a towel and took off the apron she usually wore when she worked with hair color.
“What is it?” Jenna asked, trying not to sound annoyed. She didn’t feel like being nice to Drew, letting him off gently when he just never gave up.
“I was heading out for a walk, and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me. The sun is just setting and the trail is magical this time of day,” he said.
Magical. Right. That was the last thing Jenna needed right now. She was already jumpy and she couldn’t explain why. And that annoyed her.
“Drew, I don’t think tonight’s a good night for me. I’ve had a long day and I just want to get home.”
He nodded, looking disappointed. But a moment later he replaced the look with a smile.
“Let me walk you home,” he offered. Jenna sighed and nodded. What could she say to someone being a gentleman? No?
He held open the door for her, let her walk first. There was nothing wrong with his manners. She walked through and waited for him to join her before she turned and locked the door. Locking it was just a formality. They could leave everything open in this town, and usually they did.
They walked side by side down the road that wound into the trees, leading to the cabins. She would still have to head over to her mother’s with cooked food before she could crawl into bed. With her mother sick in bed it doubled her work load, and she still had the salon to deal with.
“It’s a beautiful night,” Drew said, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“It is,” she said absently and only then looked around. It really was a beautiful night. She was aware of how close Drew was walking, and fought the urge to put a little distance between them. She didn’t want to be rude, but he had subtle ways of getting closer to her when she didn’t want it. His hands hung loosely by his side as he walked, an invitation for her to slip hers into it.
When last had she held a boy’s hand? The last time she’d thought any of the men in this town was worth her time. And that had faded about the time she’d finished school in Rhodestown.
Then of course there’d been Bruce, arriving five years ago and turning her life upside down. She still had trouble thinking when he was around. But he seemed about as uninterested as any man could be.
“I’m going to the Inn tomorrow night,” Drew spoke again. “Would you like to join me?”
The Inn was the place to be. Everyone in town who was old enough to think about a bottle of whiskey went there. But Jenna shook her head.
“I’m not one for drinking, Drew. You know that,” she said.
He nodded. He would know that. She knew that he knew everything about her. He’d been paying a lot of attention.
“I know,” he said. “We don’t have to go to the Inn if you don’t want to. We can go somewhere else.”
She sighed and turned to him. They were about three cabins away from the one that belonged to her.
“Drew, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You’re a sweet guy, and it’s very flattering that you keep trying. But I’m really not interested.”
His face fell and it almost made Jenna feel guilty about saying it to him. She felt that way every time she said it to him. But he didn’t give up, and she was getting tired of saying no.
“You know I’m just going to keep trying,” he said after a moment, his face lifting again. She groaned inwardly. Drew never gave up.
“I know,” she said. “I’ve seen.”
He smiled and leaned forward, kissing her on the cheek. The movement was so quick she didn’t have a chance to duck away from it.
“I’ll see you around, Jen,” he said and jammed his hands into his pockets and walked away, whistling like nothing was wrong with the world.
“I’m sure you will,” she said with a sigh after he’d left, so he wouldn’t hear her. She took care of supper and took a plate over to her mother who lived just opposite. She was sleeping so Jenna left it on the table and returned to her own place. The road was dark, with the streetlamps so dim against the night sky it was almost pointless that they were on. When she reached her cabin, a shadow moved and she jumped.
Bruce stepped forward, the light falling on him to highlight the planes of his face enough to recognize who it was.
“Bruce,” she said. “You scared me.”
“Sorry,” he said, shrugging.
“Is everything alright?” Bruce didn’t usually look her up after dark. He disappeared as soon as the sun went down. He just wasn’t an evening person.
“I just needed someone to talk to,” he said. She opened the door to her cabin and he followed her in. The lights inside made the lounge look warm and cozy. She had two couches that formed something resembling a half-circle around a fireplace. It was too hot for a fire, but she put on the kettle.
“Coffee?” she asked.
He hesitated for a moment before he said, “Sure”.
She took out two cups and leaned with her hip against the counter while she waited for the water to boil.
“What’s bothering you?” she asked.
He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, but he closed it again without saying anything. It was like he was choosing the words to say. He had three-day stubble on his chin and his dark hair was messy. It made him look like he’d just woken up, and it was so attractive.<
br />
Jenna forced herself to look away. There were a lot of men with good bodies around town. The hard physical worked gave them muscles and little to no fat. The only fat person in the town was Murphy, and that was because he spent most of his time with the alcohol.
But Bruce’s frame was bigger than any of the others’, and he had a build that oozed raw power. The shirts he bought in Rhodestown – because the shirts here had been too small – strained against his chest and arms. He’d bought the biggest size and it still hadn’t been enough.
“I met a girl,” he finally said, and Jenna lost her train of thought. She looked up at him, into his dark eyes, and she felt suddenly empty.
“A girl?”
“Well, a woman, I should say.” He took a deep breath like this was hard for him. Jenna couldn’t feel her fingers. She turned her back to Bruce, fiddling with the coffee container so that he wouldn’t see her face. She was upset. Very upset.
And that wasn’t fair. Why shouldn’t he be with someone? Just because it wasn’t her… She cleared her throat.
“Where did you meet her?” she asked and tried to keep her voice light.
“Uh… Rhodestown,” he said. When she glanced at him he was fiddling with his shirt, like this was hard for him to talk about. Jenna couldn’t imagine why. They were friends, after all.
“So…?” she asked, prodding him to say more.
“I guess this is almost the same as you and Drew,” he finally said. “I don’t know if I should be with her. It seems like a good idea, but I’m not a hundred percent sure.”
She turned to him, faced him, and hoped her face didn’t betray anything. When she spoke her voice was under control. Good.
“Well, just follow what you always tell me. If you don’t feel something for her, then you shouldn’t be with her.”
He nodded and gave her a half a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes the way it usually did.
“So, do you feel something for her?” Jenna asked. The answer to that question could wreck her, but she had to know. She had to know that if he couldn’t feel something for anyone in this town, for her, that he still felt something for someone. It would just show that she wasn’t the girl he wanted. Not as more than a friend.
“It’s complicated,” he answered.
“How?”
He shook his head. He wasn’t going to tell her. She felt offended. If he’d come here for her advice, why wasn’t he going to tell her everything she needed to know to be able to give him her advice?
Maybe he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Maybe this woman was all that, everything Jenna could never be, and he didn’t want her to feel like she paled in comparison.
“Well,” she said, forcing her voice bright. “You’ll know what you want. You’ve never been the kind of person to wonder, right?”
He nodded and she knew she was right. Since Bruce had arrived he’d been straight forward. That night, after the bear had nearly attacked her and by some miracle knocked the log off instead, it had been Bruce that had found her in the trees.
That was where her affection for him had been born. Being friends after that had been natural. Being more than that would be natural too, she thought, but he had his sights set on someone else now.
“You think I should do it?” Bruce asked.
Jenna poured the hot water into the cups and stirred in sugar and milk. The smell of coffee filled the small cabin and it reminded her of good times.
“Why do you want to know what I think about it?” she asked, handing him his coffee. He took it and sipped the hot liquid, his eyes on hers. She tried not to read more into it. Every look he’d given her that had made her knees melt had only been friendship. She’d known it all along, but somehow it was enforced now.
“Because you’re my best friend, Jen,” he said. “I trust your judgment far more than I trust my own.”
It was a great compliment. It would have been great if she didn’t feel like her heart was breaking. And if that was true, she thought, why didn’t he tell her everything? She knew he was hiding something. But she wasn’t going to ask. He knew he could talk to her about anything.
“Is she pretty?” she finally asked. She just had to know. She knew her own hair wasn’t great – it was a shade too red – and the freckles on her nose could have stayed for all she cared.
“She is,” he said absently. “But she has a strong personality.”
Jenna looked at him, her fingers wrapped around the warm cup.
“Personality is really what it’s all about. If you want to be with her, then you should do it. Just don’t be with someone you don’t like.”
Bruce nodded. Jenna wasn’t sure what that meant, if he confirmed that he’d heard what she was saying, or if he was nodding because he’d decided he was going to be with her. Again Jenna didn’t want to ask. This time not because she respected Bruce’s privacy and trusted he would talk to her when he was ready, but because this time she really didn’t want to know the answer.
Bruce changed the topic and the conversation got lighter. Jenna felt like she could breathe easier again. It was good spending time with Bruce. She liked being with him. He was easy to talk to, and his manner was different from the rest of the town folk. It was almost like he wasn’t sure where he fit in. Like he really belonged somewhere else, but he made it work.
He was mysterious, and that was part of the reason why she was attracted to him. It was like he had a magnetic field around him, and whenever she was with him it drew her.
“The season is turning,” Bruce said after a while. “It will be fall soon.”
Jenna nodded. “I feel it too. It smells different. The mountain air betrays so much.”
“It’s not just the air though,” Bruce said, and then he rolled his eyes up to glance at her even though his face was turned down still. It was almost like he’d said something he hadn’t meant to. But Jenna nodded again.
“I know,” she said softly. “It’s almost as if the air is loaded with the promise of change. And something else, but I don’t know what.”
Bruce frowned and looked at her, facing her full on now. She immediately felt like an idiot for saying that. In the years they’d been friends she’d never mentioned how she felt about the nature around them, how it felt like it could speak to her.
“What do you mean?” he asked and narrowed his eyes slightly at her.
She shrugged. “Nothing,” she said. “It sounds dumb, doesn’t it?” She forced a laugh.
“Not dumb,” he said and his voice, his dark eyes, were intense. “Just different.”
“Different isn’t good, not around these parts,” Jenna said and stared into her half-empty cup.
“No, not around these parts it’s not. But it’s not bad. There are places were different fits in.”
Jenna glanced up at him. The atmosphere around them was loaded, and she struggled to breathe. Bruce suddenly smiled and the intensity evaporated like it had never been there to start off with.
“Listen to us, getting all deep and dramatic,” he said and laughed. Jenna laughed too, relieved that he hadn’t taken it seriously. That he hadn’t thought she was strange.
“I know. I think it’s the night air and the coffee. Coffee always reminds me of bonfires and tall tales.”
Bruce looked at her, urging her to keep talking.
“We were a lot more primitive when I was younger, if you would believe that’s possible. Williamsburg just doesn’t keep up with the times. When I was little, my dad used to make a big bonfire in the square, right in front of Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt’s Butchery. They used to be furious. But all the kids came and sat around the fire, and he used to tell us stories about animals that lived in the mountains that could change shape. They came out of their caves when the moon was full and sang a song to her – the full moon – until she accepted them and gave them their blood.”
Bruce’s face had changed while she told him the story, and afterward she chuckled.
“It s
ounds crazy, I know. My dad had an imagination on him, and living on the edge of the forest like we do didn’t help tame it. Now that he’s gone the stories have gone with him.”
Bruce’s face was haunted, his eyes were darker and they seemed sunken into his skull.
“I’m very sorry to ask, but how did your father die?” Bruce asked. That was one thing they’d never discussed. Jenna didn’t often speak of her father, it hurt to talk about it, and everyone already knew. Everyone except Bruce, who had come years after he’d gone.
“He was killed by wild animals up in the mountains. He was so used to the woods, and he could handle a gun. But it wasn’t enough.” Jenna’s eyes burned with tears but she swallowed them down. “Living this close to nature always has its risks.”
Bruce nodded, but that haunted look stayed with him. Thinking about her father was always bitter-sweet. Jenna had loved him, he’d been the light of their lives, the light of the town. Every childhood memory was colored with his presence. But his death had been too soon, and the town had mourned his death for months. It had been difficult to come to terms with, and her mother had never been the same.
She’d often been ill afterward.
“I have to get going,” Bruce said, glancing toward the window. The curtains were drawn so there was nothing to see, but he cocked his head like he was listening.
Jenna strained her ears but she couldn’t hear anything. These were the small things that made Bruce different. The look in his eyes when a squirrel ran across their path. The way he listened as if he heard things no one else could. The way he got so intense sometimes, and then it washed away like it had never been there.
“I’ll see you around,” Jenna said and she was aware how much she sounded like Drew had a bit earlier. They all had their obsessions, she thought. But unlike her stiff reaction to Drew when he’d said it, Bruce smiled at her and it warmed her entire body.
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 73
