Janelle followed him down the hallway, passing the living room, the dining room, hallways, and more, so quickly due to Jake’s pace that it was as though he was intentionally hiding the mansion from her. She thought he would have given her a tour or something but he didn’t stop walking.
Eventually, he led her to two large doors which he pushed open, stepping into a meeting room. Janelle was disappointed, having hoped to see a glimpse of this man to understand why he was unreadable. But it was clear Jake had no such plans. He sat down in one of the plush leather chairs and beckoned for her to follow.
Sitting across from him, Janelle pulled out her recorder, setting it in front of her. It had been a long time since she had done an interview. Usually one of the other reporters would go out and handle it. Her skin felt clammy and she realized that she was nervous.
“Wasn’t surprised when your boss called to set this up.” Jake said. “I knew that you would come around and realize how the paper needed to fix things.”
She had pulled down her careful shielding, blocking out nothing and yet Jake was completely out of reach. “We wanted to give your side of things. About why you came here, what you’re going to do for St. Neuri.”
“You mean…what you should have been doing in the first place.” His voice was blasé and he wasn’t even looking at her, glancing out the window instead.
It felt difficult to place him, to get Jake in one spot, to really get a feel for him. There had been a few people she ran into over the years that were murky or somewhat closed off. Janelle hadn’t thought much of it. Sure, they might not give her visions but she could still sense them in some regard.
But now she wondered if that was foolish; what if there was an entire group in St. Neuri like this and she just never sought them out?
She swept the thoughts away. Janelle knew she needed to focus not only on sensing him but also this interview. Eliza would be furious with her if she botched this.
“Why don’t we discuss what brought you to St. Neuri? We can start from there.” Janelle said. “And end with a tour of the mansion.” She added, keeping her tone even.
Jake gave a swift shake of his head. “I’m not a realtor. I don’t give tours of my home. This is my personal property not something for your little paper to spill out into the town.”
“I just thought –”
“Well, you thought wrong.” He cut her off swiftly. “This interview is to rectify what you guys fucked up. Nothing more.”
Janelle studied him. His tone had been frosty, no hint of irritation, but there was very slight tension around his mouth and his fingers were gripping the edge of the table. Curious, Janelle thought, clearly struggling to keep himself under control. But why? Jake’s expression was placid, almost serene, but the energy rolling off him indicated something else completely.
“Right. Okay, that’s fine.” She lied. “Well, I’ll turn on the recorder now and you can tell me what made you decide to come to St. Neuri.” Janelle flicked it on, repeated the question, her notebook in her hands in case she needed to scribble something down.
“This is incredibly outdated.” Jake replied instead, gesturing to the recorder and notebook. “Surely, the newspaper could have more current methods for conducting interviews.”
Janelle blinked. “This is my own personal preference.”
“Seems extremely old school.”
“It won’t affect the interview.” She felt a flicker of annoyance and shoved it down. “Anyway…about St. Neuri…”
Jake looked at her for a moment, studying her. His eyes were such a deep green that she found herself unable to look away. They were the brightest eyes she ever saw. He had long, delicate lashes framing them, at odds with the brute strength he seemed to possess. She realized with a solid thud in her chest that Jake was handsome – no, incredibly handsome. Janelle simply had been too caught up in the vision stuff that she hadn’t noticed.
Well, she was noticing now as he began to speak about St. Neuri, about wanting to move someplace quiet, away from the hustle and bustle of normal CEO life.
Janelle let her mind wander to her recently failed date and all the visions that crowded her. A man like Jake wouldn’t worry about things like that. He would have any woman he wanted on his arm, ready to go. There would be no complications besides worrying someone was in it for the money. She marveled inwardly at what that must be like –
“And I’m retiring.”
Those words caught her attention and she narrowed her eyes slightly in surprise. “Retiring?”
“Yes, that’s right. Your paper will be the first to report it. Trust me, it wasn’t planned that way originally. But since Eliza came to her senses, printed the retraction and now this article, you can use it to announce my retirement. Other news sources will pick up on it from there.” He said with a wave of his hand, leaning back in his chair.
“But you’re only thirty.” Janelle replied, confused. “Why retire already?”
“Why not? I inherited the company from my father who inherited it from my grandfather. You get the drill. Why hang around when I don’t want it? I have my money. Let someone else deal with the headache.”
Janelle blinked, knowing there was more to this that he wasn’t telling her but unsure what. In no position to push him, she struggled to find something to say.
“You’ll just be living here then? What about the property in St. Neuri that you bought up?”
“Your friend, Cheryl, seemed to believe I was going to do something insidious with it. Like start making a billionaire’s club. I wouldn’t worry about that. I tend to prefer to keep to myself. I have no interest in announcing what I will be doing with the land right now.” His tone made it clear not to push it.
It was strange talking to someone for this long and not get bowled over by a vision. The silence in her head was deafening and she simply wasn’t used to it. Janelle had come here to get answers but there were none to be found.
“Is it okay if I use your bathroom?” She asked suddenly, desperate to get out of this meeting room.
Jake stood up. “I’ll take you to it.”
Janelle didn’t want to push it but in a stroke of good luck, his phone suddenly went off. Jake looked down and sighed. “I have to take this. The bathroom is to the right of this room, just down the hall.”
“Great, thank you.”
She hurried out before he could change his mind, hearing him answer the phone. Quickly, Janelle walked down the hallway and opened the bathroom door, stepping inside. The bathroom was huge. More marble floors, a changing area off to the side, and a separate toilet. No shower or tub down here but still everything looked modern and airy.
It also looked practically untouched. It felt more like a hotel bathroom than one in someone’s home. Janelle opened the cabinets, rummaging around inside, but didn’t find anything worth note. Most were empty.
So deeply impersonal. Everything so far felt that way. Was he okay living like this? It felt as though Jake was hiding behind his money, behind what he could buy with it, and tell people with it. That mixed with the inability to sense him was making Janelle feel as though something was incredibly off with this billionaire.
She poked her head out of the bathroom, still hearing Jake in the board room. Risking trouble, she went to the nearest door and opened it, peeking inside.
It appeared to be some sort of sitting area. There was a TV against the wall, a bar near the window, and plenty of chairs to lounge in. There was even a record player in the other corner with a tidy collection of albums.
What are you expecting? She thought to herself, Some room with a giant sign indicating what he is up to?
Feeling foolish, knowing that nothing personal would even be on this first floor, she closed the door and straightened herself. Just in time, as the meeting room door swung open. Janelle jumped over to the bathroom door to look as though she just left it.
“Everything alright?” Jake asked although his tone didn’t seem to actuall
y care.
“Yeah, great, thanks. Your place is lovely.”
“Let’s finish this up.” He said, ignoring her.
Janelle sighed, knowing this was a dead end. She trailed after him, back into the room, wishing she could figure out more about this strange man.
At the end of the interview, she attempted one final time to get a tour of the house and to ask a few personal questions. Jake swatted them away easily. The most he did was offer to make her coffee “to-go” which she decided to agree on just to linger.
Stepping into his kitchen, she marveled at the sheer size of it. At the same time, however, everything looked clean and unused. Jake had a fancy coffee machine in the corner. His back was to her and she traced the outline of his muscles.
“This is a lovely kitchen.” Janelle said, looking around.
“Thank you.”
She leaned against the counter, thinking about the interview. It was odd that he was retiring, strange he wouldn’t discuss why he came here or what he wanted with the land of St. Neuri. The interview formed basically what was his resignation announcement and not much else.
As they waited for the coffee to brew, Janelle tried again to find something to discuss. Yet it was Jake who spoke, turning to face her.
“The woman who wrote the first article on me. Cheryl. She seemed very angry.”
“Did that surprise you?”
“I’m not used to people disliking me for no reason.”
“Well, to her, she had reasons.” Janelle replied.
He fell into silence at this. It struck her suddenly just how handsome he was. His cheekbones, his bright eyes, his hair and skin tone, how in shape he was…how was he not crowded by women? Jake should be some billionaire playboy with a woman on each arm, coming into St. Neuri each night and making the town his.
Yet he did none of that. Get ahold of yourself, she thought, you aren’t going to start finding this man attractive now. Janelle couldn’t put her finger on it but he was trouble. She just knew it. Developing an interest in him would be a bad idea.
The coffee machine beeped and he turned around, pouring it into a to-go cup; it was the same as one she would get in a store. Taking it with a mumbled thanks, she knew it was time to leave now.
“I consider the unhappy business between the paper and I to be finished now.” Jake remarked as he moved past her to go to the entrance.
Janelle gripped the cup as his scent washed over her. No visions came but there were butterflies in her stomach as she picked up on his expensive cologne. It was a painful urging in how little she discovered today about Jake and yet how much she found herself intrigued by him. Nothing good could come of it.
Better to cut my losses and leave now, she thought, turning around to trail after him.
Walking by the staircase, she still took a chance and peered up the winding gold stairs, hoping for something – anything. Janelle could see the second story landing briefly. The wall was decorated in art. Unlike downstairs, where it was expensive and well known paintings scattered about, the second story wall seemed to have artifacts or something stuck to it.
She caught a piece in the middle – a mask. Some terrifying visage of an animal with its lips curled back and sharp teeth sticking out, fur bristling. Suddenly, Janelle felt a swooping feeling in her stomach as though being sucked forward. She gasped, the grip on her coffee slackened and fell, spilling out against the marble flooring, soaking through her ballet flats.
The images came all at once, garbled, out of order, overwhelming, crashing over her like a tsunami: of woods, as far as the eye can see, stretching out everywhere. Settlers coming, building the town from the ground up. Things in the trees, stalking prey. Civilization rolling in. The fog, covering everything. Dark shapes hidden inside, lurking and waiting to attack. Wolves, rolling across the woods, hidden by the pools, unknown to the town. Two men fighting as a woman watched. Fog lifting. The passing of time yet still the woods remained dangerous –
It spit her back out so quickly that Janelle gasped, her legs locking underneath her. She reached out to grab something to stop her fall –
Her hand curled around a t-shirt, yanking on it hard as powerful arms swooped underneath her, holding her upright. Jake had grabbed her, his bright green eyes widened in surprise as he looked at her. Janelle’s face flushed, her heart raced so quickly that it could pop, and her skin felt cold and clammy. Her mouth was dry, making it difficult to speak, and all she did was let out a small croaking noise.
Then the headache rolled in. One intense throb and it felt as though her entire head was being squeezed. She winced. Jake didn’t let go of her. His hold was steady, almost comforting, as though she could fall no further. Time felt distorted but slowly rearranging itself back to where it would make sense again.
Jake studied her. Up this close, she could make out the small dark circles under his eyes, the flicker of worry in them, the warmth of his body as if he was running a fever. Her heart skipped a beat but it was difficult to tell if it was from what just occurred or Jake’s presence.
And then the moment ended and she felt exposed, vulnerable, confused, pushing away from Jake and trying to get to her feet.
“Should I call for an ambulance?” He asked, one arm still slung around her waist, clearly afraid she would topple over at any moment.
“No. No, I’m fine.” Janelle said swiftly although she wondered if that was actually a lie – she actually wasn’t feeling well at all and her head ached so badly that she thought she might vomit.
But the last thing she would do would be sick all over the feet of a billionaire. She brushed his concern off.
“Are you sure?” Jake asked, alarm still laced in his tone.
“Yes, thank you. I am so sorry for the mess.” She gestured to the spilled coffee while inching towards the door. “You’ll see the announcement in tomorrow’s paper. Thank you for having me.”
And then Janelle turned around, pushing the doors open, stepping out into the cold air. The valet was waiting, having already pulled her car forward. Jake must have paged him at some point. She hurried past him, into the car, anxious to get out and away from the mansion before she became ill.
As Janelle yanked her seatbelt on, she glanced at the front doors. Jake stood there, his face a complete mask, watching her. She shivered, and drove off, wanting to put as much distance between her and this place as possible.
Chapter Four
Janelle had been unable to return to work, going straight home instead and e-mailing Eliza the information that Jake wanted to be announced in the paper. Then she curled up in a ball in bed and fell asleep, her mind aching and her body feeling as if she had run a marathon.
There were no dreams when Janelle slept. When she jolted awake, hours later, it was dark outside although the clock showed it was only 6:30. Winter made the days feel like five minutes and the nights like five hours.
The knocking didn’t stop, making her head throb. She kicked the covers off and slid out of bed, feeling dizzy when she stood up. Before Janelle answered the door, she took something for her migraine, hoping that whatever this was about, it was something important.
Cheryl’s hand was raised, about to knock again. Upon seeing Janelle, she straightened out and cleared her throat.
“You didn’t answer your phone.” She said, her tone fixed.
“I’m not feeling well.”
“Is that true or are you just ashamed?” Cheryl asked, pushing past her into the living room.
“Excuse me?”
“Eliza told me about the interview you did with Jake today. Letting him say his side of the story. Going over there to talk to him after you just stood there in silence while he yelled at us as like we were kids.” There were two bright red patches, one on each cheek, and she looked angry and…hurt.
Janelle, feeling too ill to remain standing, sat on the couch and looked up at her friend. She knew exactly how it looked. How could she even begin to explain what the pull to Jake w
as?
“You’re right. I should have said something when he came in and started yelling. I froze and I’m embarrassed about it.” She replied honestly.
Cheryl crossed her arms although her gaze flickered just a little. “And the article?”
“It’s just him announcing his retirement from his company. That’s it. It isn’t painting him to be some sort of St. Neuri savior. I was worried about the paper and Eliza was going to ask me to try to interview him anyway. I know how it looks. But I didn’t mean to make you feel that way so I really am sorry.”
Cheryl sat down across from her, her gaze softening a little as she took a long look at Janelle. “You look like shit.”
“Feel like it too. Do you forgive me?”
“Yes. I mean, you still should have defended Eliza and me. But I’ll let it slide because you look like hell today. Jake’s mansion made you that sick, huh?”
She thought about the mask on the second floor and the visions that came to her, giving a small shake of her head. “I had a migraine hit me out of nowhere. At the very end. I left quickly, probably looked like a psycho.” Janelle decided to leave out the fact she almost fell and Jake had caught her.
“What was his house like?”
She frowned. “It was…lonely. It felt as though no one truly lived there. I mean, I only saw the first floor. He refused to give me a tour.”
“A billionaire not wanting to show off his house? That’s surprising.” Cheryl tilted her head to the side. “Wonder what he is hiding.”
“You think he’s hiding something?”
“For sure. Bet there are all sorts of secrets in that weird mansion of his.” She leaned back. “Retiring, huh? He’s only like, thirty. Lives alone in the mansion in a place like St. Neuri. What’s he up to?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Janelle said, standing up weakly.
Cheryl stood up instead, gently nudging her back into place. “What do you need? I’ll get it for you.”
The Billionaire Werewolf (Werewolves of St. Neuri Book 3) Page 3
