Shifting Minds (Skull Shifters MC Book 2)

by Tricia Wagner

  I really didn’t want to do this, but this morning apparently I put on my big girl pants. Jason stops me and swipes at my face. I’m sure I look like a hot mess because I haven’t even showered yet, but it is what it is. We head downstairs and I see Marshall standing in my living room. His eyes swing to mind and then to the hand that Jason is holding. I quickly drop it and walk into the living room. “Sophie. I’m really sorry. I never meant for all of this to happen like this.” I give him a funny look, “All of what?” He pats for me to sit down next to him, and I decide against it. I head over to the chair and sit there, so that no one can sit next to me. Jason stands beside my chair and he’s making me extremely nervous, “Sophie, I need to start from the beginning.” I nod because he stopped talking. “I want you to know, that everything I said to you and everything I ever felt for you was all the truth.” Great. Once again I don’t speak because I don’t know what to say. He continues with, “I am a businessman, but the business I am in is not something that you would want to associate yourself with. I’m the reason that you look the way you do right now.” My mouth pops open a little, and I look to Jason. I blamed him. I yelled at him. Jason isn’t looking at me, and I’m sure it’s because he knows what I’m thinking. “I’ve made some enemies, and in that process he’s tried to move into this area. My people, we had a club here, but we were run out of this state.” No. “Your club? You’re in a biker club?” He gives a slight nod and something clicks. “No. You cannot possibly be…” He nods, “I’m an Outlaw Rebel.” I feel my body start to shake, “I’ve recently become the President.” I shake my head. “I need you to leave.” I see him close his eyes as if that’s hurt him. “Did you come here to find me? Seek me out?” He starts to move closer, but Jason steps in front of me. “Sophie, we’ve met before.” I give him a weird look, “I’ve fed you food and water through a hole in a door. I pleaded with my father to let you live. Let you be free.” My mouth pops open.

  There was a little boy there. A little older than me. He held my hand through the door hole telling me that it was going to be okay. “My father was the President then.” My eyes get big, “So, your father killed my father.” He closes his eyes to that and nods. My father really was dead. I mean, I knew that already, but knowing that someone was there and knows for sure that he’s gone. The feeling is one I’m unsure of. I’ve never felt this before. “You came here for what? I mean, you obviously knew who I was. Is this some sort of game to you?” He stands up, “Sophie, it was never a game. I’ve been in love with you since I was seventeen.” I gasp at that, “You didn’t even know me. You definitely don’t know me now. I thought I knew who you were, but you’re the complete opposite of that. I mean, you’re in a club. Your club got me hurt. You hid half of your life from me and on top of that, your father killed mine. How did you think this was going to end?” He steps forward and Jason steps toward him saying, “That’s close enough.” The tears are streaming down my face and I can’t even stop them. This is all too much. I blamed Jason for something my “straight-laced” boyfriend caused. “I seriously need you to leave, I don’t know what you expected to come from this, but you’re insane if you think that I’m going to sit here and continue this conversation.” Marshall doesn’t say anything, he nods and heads toward the door. When he gets there he turns around one more time to say, “Sophie, I only ever tried to help you. The remorse I feel when I see your face and arm are indescribable. We will be sure that something like this doesn’t happen again. Retribution will be mine.” With that he’s out the door and Jason is locking it behind him.

  My mind was reeling. The first thing I have to do is apologize to J. He turns and before he can completely come back into the room I’m in his arms. Of course my broken one is in between us so he doesn’t crush me too much. His arms are still tight around me and my one arm is gripping into his t-shirt. I pull away and he swipes at my tears, “I am so sorry. I blamed you. I yelled at you. You just took it. Why did you do that?” He swipes one more tear and bends down to my level, “At first, I didn’t know what was happening. When we met yesterday, we got the whole story. I knew Marshall was an Outlaw, but I had no idea that he had made an enemy outta the guys who are tryin to take over our club.” What a tangled web. “Why did he come here like this? Why start dating me like that?” He squeezes my body and says, “Honey, I don’t have those answers. I wish I did. All I know is, I had caught wind of Marshall after you told me you were seeing someone. At that point, obviously I didn’t know your history with the Outlaws. I wanted to tell you immediately, but I knew that I needed it to come from him. About you yelling at me, at that point I thought I deserved it. In a way, I still do. I should’ve never let my guys leave here that night. You wouldn’t look like this, and your arm wouldn’t be stuck in between us right now.” He was still feeling guilty, and all he had done since then was be sure I had everything I needed. I pull away, “Is that why you’re here?” He turns his head to the side in question, “Because you feel guilty?” He shakes his head, “Sophie, I may feel guilt, but the only reason I’m here is because this is where I’m supposed to be. Holding you when you need, making you eat when you need to, sneaking into your bed to hold you when you’re having a nightmare, and washing your hair when you need that too. All of it, that’s my job.” I sigh. He was so nice. “Um…about that. I think I need to shower.” I look up to him and he’s smiling huge, “Do you mind?” He laughs, “Not at all. Head on up, I’ll get the bag.” I do as I’m told and wait for him to meet me in the bathroom.

  Chapter Six

  Freshly clean, I step out of the shower and I feel like I’m ready to face the day. My whole body aches, but I guess that was going to be my normal for right now. J hands me a towel after wrapping my hair up in one for me and helps me dry off. I’m standing there staring at this shirtless man, who has done nothing but help me, and yet here I am still fighting with everything I have in me. I need to try and distance myself from him. “I think I need to do some work. I’m gonna get my hair dried and just be in the office if that’s okay.” He gives me a nod. I know he can tell by the tone in my voice that I need him to just let me be.

  He leaves the bathroom and I blow dry my hair as best I can. My right arm is seriously sore just from over use. I don’t know how people do this. I head downstairs without makeup because that would still be pointless. I head straight into the office without seeing Jason, so I have no idea where he is. I fire up my computer and dive into some of the extra work that I needed to catch up on. I try to pretend that during all of this I’m not thinking about Marshall, but I would be lying to myself if I said I wasn’t. His family held me hostage. I had my “perfect life” planned with him. I ran away from Jason and jumped both feet into a relationship that has gotten me a bruised face and a broken elbow. Who does stuff like this happen to? Apparently yours Sophie Marie.

  I click on the next webpage and realize that I put the company name in the wrong spot. I roll my eyes at myself and I hear, “What’s wrong?” I loop up from the computer and see that Jason is standing in the doorway with a plate. “I’m an idiot.” His eyebrows go up, “What do you mean?” I shake my head, “I was trying to do this work, but apparently my brain is elsewhere. I just put this company name over here, and it’s supposed to go up here. I should probably quit while I’m ahead.” He half smiles at me, “Soph, you’ve got a lot goin on. Work may help, but your work is also somethin that you need to be focused to do.” He was right about that. “Maybe take a little break and eat this sandwich I made you.” I look up on the plate and see a sandwich and some Chex Mix. My favorite. “Did you make me a…” He interrupts, “Peanut butter and banana. I thought it might not upset your stomach. I also brought you this pain pill. Do you want it cut in half?” Hmm. That was probably a good idea. “Can you do that?” He nods, “I’ll be right back with it.”

  He sets the plate down and I smile at the sandwich. I stupidly open it up and just like I figured, he put it in a smiley face. When he first saw me make this
sandwich for myself he made fun of my smiley face, but I explained to him that it was the best way to get a banana in every bite. At least the way I eat sandwiches. What are you doing to yourself Sophie? How does he remember stuff like this? Just then I remembered the condoms in his room at the clubhouse. He obviously wasn’t pining away for me during those three months. Every time I was with Marshall, every dinner, I had to fight with myself not to call him Jason. He was off doing God knows what with God knows who. My mood so clearly changes when he walks back into the room, “Here ya go, baby. I think this will help ease the pain, but you should still be able to function.” I keep my face flat as I say, “You can just leave it. I need to finish this stuff.” His smile drops and I hate to admit that I hate that more than anything. “Soph…” My mouth opens before I can stop it, “Jason. Just leave it.” He comes close and sets down my Diet Coke and the half of a pill. “I don’t know what just happened here, but I’m gonna leave this for you. Don’t burn yourself out in here.” With that he turned around and left. Not asking me what was wrong. Not caring. He just walked out the door. So unJasonlike.

  Why is that bothering me so much? I was a bitch to him, what did I expect him to do? Fight. Fight for us. Maybe he really is just here out of obligation. He hasn’t left to go meet any girls though. Everything that he’s done has been very “we’re together” and I would know since we’ve been together before. I bite into the sandwich and suddenly have lost my appetite completely. I swallow down the pill and gulp some diet coke. I bite at the Chex Mix a little bit and try to focus on my work. I’m ahead on all of my other projects, so this is all just extra as I sit here staring at the computer screen. I know, ultimately, that I’m avoiding the inevitable. I grab the plate and take everything back into the kitchen.

  I throw the food in the garbage and rinse off my plate setting it in the dishwasher. As soon as I close that I see one arm on one side of me on the counter and when I turn around there is another arm on the other side of me. Apparently, Jason wasn’t happy. “Um…can I help you?” He nods, “Yeah, you didn’t eat enough. That’s your favorite, so what’s goin on?” I fight to not roll my eyes at him, “Nothing. I just don’t have an appetite. I ate enough to take the medicine. Isn’t that good enough for you?” He lightly laughs, “No. It’s definitely not. What happened?” I give him a weird look, “What do you mean?” He scoffs, “You know exactly what I mean. I walked in there with a plate of food and you were all smiles, I come back with the pill cut in half for your liking, and you are actin like a bitch.” My mouth drops, “Did you just call me a bitch?” I mean I was acting like a bitch, but you don’t say that to a girl! “Yeah, I did. You know what you were doing.” I start to talk, but find myself not knowing what to say so I blurt out, “I saw the condoms in your nightstand. You sit here and do all this stuff like you were sitting over there pining away for me, when I know different. So let’s drop the act, and just get through this situation. A situation, I will note, that now we know you aren’t involved, it isn’t your responsibility to take care of. Realistically, you can leave.” Then I realize I meant that. “Yeah. You can leave, and you can do it now.” To this, I kid you not, he laughs. Hard. Like head thrown back, boisterous noise, laughing. The neighbors probably heard him.

  When he finally stops I tried to get out of his hold. Although he wasn’t touching me, he was completely blocking me in. When I tried to move his face got serious again. “That’s hilarious.” I raise an eyebrow at him, “None of what I just said, was even remotely funny.” He smiles, “All of it was. I haven’t stayed at the clubhouse. Since we broke up, I kept myself at home. I only went there for business, and stayed away from the parties. I couldn’t do it without you there. I thought your girls would’ve told you that.” My mouth dropped. “We…um…had a “don’t talk about Jason and Sophie” pact. You…you stayed away from the parties?” He nods, “Everywhere I turned, you were there. Figuratively since you were never around according to Trance.” Seriously? “We did not have a “don’t talk about Jason and Sophie” pact. The guys reported to me everything they supposedly knew. Although, no one mentioned Marshall. Speaking of, I just want to point out, you were dating someone for three months. Yet, you’re pissed because you thought I was hookin up with someone?” I didn’t have anything to say to that either. That’s why I said, “Well…I…it…” He lightly chuckles, “While you were off doin God knows what with that tool, I was actually pining for you. You can ask any of the guys.” I shake my head; I didn’t want to know. “I wasn’t doing anything with him.” He squints his eyes, “I don’t want to know.” I shake my head again, “No. I mean we literally did nothing. We kissed, but that’s it. Every time I was with him, I had to fight with myself not to call him Jason. Are you happy?” Thinking that he would respond in words was my first mistake.

  Instead, his mouth was on mine. This wasn’t just a kiss. This was a kiss. Jason’s kisses always went with his mood, and his mood was apparently extremely passionate. Usually, mad was the one I found myself preferring, but because it had been over three months since I experienced this, I was taking in every second. His tongue hits my lips and I instantly melt into him, and open my mouth. His tongue swipes into my mouth powerfully taking over all of my senses. He picks me up and I’m now sitting on the counter. He moves in and the full body contact is amazing. As soon as I start to indicate that we needed to move this forward his phone rings. He pulls away for a split second to say, “Ignore it.” I don’t answer, but I do keep kissing him. Then my phone starts ringing. Is this a joke? I don’t even pull away to say ignore it. I just push the kiss and hit the ignore button on my phone. He picks me up and we leave all of our phones downstairs as he carries us up the stairs. Yum.

  At the top of the stairs he sets me down and whips my shirt over my head. Keeping close care to my arm. I tug at his shirt with one arm and he takes pity on me and pulls his own shirt over his head. We shove ourselves into the bedroom and he’s kissing down my neck. I was finally going to have Jason again. He sets me gently down onto the bed and just as he gets my pants off the doorbell rings. I snap my eyes open because he stopped moving. This can’t be real. “Babe. Obviously something is going on.” I nod. “Get rid of them!” He smiles and kisses me quickly standing up. I take in the show as he puts his shirt back on. “I’ll get rid of them. You don’t lose that look.” No way I could. Except, as he walked away I felt extremely comfortable in bed. That’s why before he could even come back upstairs, I found myself falling fast asleep. Darn pills.

  “Shit.” What was that? I open my groggy eyes and see Jason standing there. “Hey. Who was at the door?” He smiles and sits down on the bed with my shirt in his hands as he picks up my pants from the floor. “How about we get your clothes back on and I explain what happened for the last three hours.” My mouth drops. Three hours? “I fell asleep for three hours and you never came to check on me?” He closes his eyes, “I yelled up to you that I was steppin outside with Brantley and you murmured something. I thought you were just pissed.” Well, that makes sense. “What did you have to talk to Brantley about for the last three hours?” He sighs. It must not be good. “Mel had to go to the hospital.” I sit up immediately. “What’s wrong?” He shakes his head, “She’s fine now. It was a false alarm, but her blood pressure is really high. Brant’s goin out of his mind, so we were just having a man chat. We should be all good now.” I let out a breath. Thank God she’s okay. “Is she home now? He just left her for three hours?” He smiles, “She was on the phone with her mom and then taking a nap. The guys were all there to make sure all was quiet for her to sleep. All of this goin on with you, she’s worried. We need to try and keep her calm.” I nod immediately. “Do we have to tell her anything?” He sighs again, “How do you think she’ll feel if we don’t tell her what’s goin on?” Instantly I say, “I wouldn’t be happy if it were me. She doesn’t know the details though. I mean, I haven’t opened up to her about my dad. She knows I’m shy around the guys, but that’s usually my norm
around most guys anyways. She probably just wrote it off as that.” He nods, “Well, we have some options. Wanna know my opinion?” Did I? “I don’t know.” He chuckles, “I’m gonna tell you anyways.” Figures. I nod and he continues, “I think that you should trust your friend. I’m not sure if you’re worried that she’ll judge you? This is Mel we’re talkin about. On top of that, this isn’t anything that anyone can judge you for. None of these are your actions.” I close my eyes not wanting to think about any of this, but knowing that I have to. “I just don’t want anyone to pity me. Look at what my situation has done to you. You look at me and pity me because of all of this.” He gets close and lifts my chin so that my eyes have to look at him, “Babe, I got news for you. When I look at you, I don’t pity you. I admire you. It may not be somethin you’re used to seeing, but I definitely don’t pity you. I care about you so you may see concern in there as well. Never pity.” That was so nice. He sealed with a light kiss on my lips and a brush over the sore spot on my cheek with his finger. Times like this, I wanted to cry. I refuse to do that though. What does that accomplish? “Do I have to decide now?” He shakes his head, “No, you have time to think about it.” I give him a nod. “I just don’t want them to hate me for not being honest. How don’t you hate me?” He gets close and kisses my forehead, “I could never hate you, Soph. You’ve done nothing wrong. Reacting to your feelings is not doing something wrong. Are you hungry?” I shake my head, “Tired?” I nod at that. I really was. He nods, “Sleep, baby. I’ll be right here.” I nod and lay back down as he pulls me into his arms. From there I don’t remember anything else.