by Amelia Jade
Even Kailee.
Jet couldn’t admit it to anyone, but he hurt from being alone. It was a cold, unshakeable pain that never went away, constantly hounding him in his dreams. For a long time, he had expected to never be able to fully shake it off. But for a few brief, intense hours earlier that day, when he had been one with Kailee, Jet had been healed.
If only he could tell her that.
“Ready for me to unlock?”
He jumped at her voice, the chair slipping from his grip and landing on his toe. He swore and cursed under his breath, hopping on one foot for a moment.
“Are you okay?” Kailee asked, rushing over to his side, touching his shoulder as she grabbed his foot, holding it aloft.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he rumbled, taking a deep breath and shaking his head, pushing the pain into the back of his head. It was more of a nuisance pain than anything, it had just caught him completely off guard.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said meekly, her hand still resting on his shoulder. He was hunched over, resting his weight on a table, his head at the same height as hers.
Two sets of eyes met, and he inhaled sharply, his fingers tightening until the knuckles whitened, gripping the table as hard as he could to control himself from doing anything more. The pull of her attraction was undeniable, a physical entity that held sway over him as the planet did the moon. Jet didn’t want to do anything, but he felt his body sway closer to hers, their lips mere inches apart.
At the last moment, before the magnetism pulled them together for a second time that day, Kailee recovered her senses and pulled away reluctantly. She left her hand on his shoulder longer than was to be expected, as if she too were having problems keeping apart from him.
The banging of a fist on the door broke the silence, drawing the focus of both of them, providing an extremely convenient diversion that Jet was thankful for. He straightened abruptly and moved to the door, glancing up on the wall at the ancient clock that was mounted above the far wall. The minute hand was almost a quarter of the way past the hour.
“We’re late,” he growled, more at himself than anything as he moved to open the door.
Dylan, Tanner, and Devon walked in, giving Jet some good-natured grief for opening late. The three friends were regulars at the Quencher. They were power line workers and bear shifters as well, who spent their time ensuring the lines were in good working order and that there were no trees about to fall on them. They were also some of the few people in town he considered his friends.
He apologized and went to pour them their drinks and get started on their meals. The three had been coming every weekday that he was open for well over a year now, so Jet often had their drinks ready and waiting if he knew they were coming. Today, because of the wonderful distraction that was Kailee, he was running behind.
In the years he had owned the Quencher, Jet had never once opened late and it irked him that he had been fully able to open on time, but hadn’t. To counter this, he worked extra hard, aiming for perfect pours on his drink, and five-star quality food presentation on the meals he prepared. It was his little way of fixing the wrong that nobody but he seemed to care about.
The evening progressed well, better than he had expected even. He wasn’t sure what it was, but the Quencher was packed early, far more people than he had expected to see. Jet and Kailee were both kept busy for several hours with requests for drinks and food. He could only smile because it made him happy to see so many people enjoying themselves in his establishment. That was the best gift he could ask for.
For now.
He looked over at Kailee, a smile tugging at his cheeks as he watched her move from table to table, keeping up half a dozen different conversations all at one time with apparent ease. She seemed to be happy as well, sparking hope within him that she would choose to remain instead of finding some other workplace.
Jet was busy clearing off a table in the far corner when the door opened yet again to admit someone else. He didn’t give it a second thought until he heard Kailee’s voice, stiff and formal across the distance.
“Hello, Father, I’m glad you were able to stop by.”
It took every ounce of control Jet had not to swivel in place and stare. Instead, he waited, listening intently, letting his bear come to the surface, to augment his human abilities. Anything her father said in reply was drowned out as a nearby group of drinkers erupted into loud, boisterous laughter at some joke or another.
Forced to resort to his eyes, Jet slowly turned to face the direction of the door. Staring back at him was a face that was barely recognizable from when he last saw it. Beneath a pair of bushy eyebrows, however, was a set of eyes that he would never forget. They were the color of steel as they burned straight into him.
Jet glared back, reminding himself that he was no longer a little street boy, but, in fact, a full-grown bear shifter. The distance dimmed the effect of it, but up close he would tower over this man now. The years had aged him, though the more he took in, the more Jet began to wonder if it was more his own perception that was skewed than anything. Jack no longer had any facial hair, and the traditional ball cap was missing as well, revealing a bald head.
He was still powerful of frame, large for a normal human, but nothing compared to Jet’s massive size. The only thing he had to fear was the slight bulge beneath the Hawaiian themed button-up shirt he was wearing. It would hold a small caliber pistol, not enough to do harm to Jet, but he wasn’t worried about himself. The other human patrons in the bar could be seriously injured or killed if a gunfight erupted inside.
Jet tensed, waiting to see what Jack would do. When his hand drifted toward his side, Jet knew it was now or never. A hand shot out, ripping a chair out from beneath a patron next to him, tumbling them to the floor. The heavy wood flew through the air toward Jack before he could close on his gun.
Lunging forward, Jet’s keen eyes watched as Jack ducked the hurtling chair. He had purposefully thrown it to hit Jack in the side closest to Kailee, where it could smash safely against the wall if it missed the intended target. In addition, it also forced Jack to move away from his mate, so that Jet could ensure her safety.
Before Jack could recover, Jet was on him, his strong arms pinning him to the ground as he planted a knee in his back. He pulled the gun out from its holster and slid it across the room, away from everyone.
“I’m going to kill you, you little shit!” Jack was screaming, frothing at the mouth in his rage.
The intensity of it caught Jet off-guard, but he didn’t relax his hold. Jack continued to yell and shout, his words making less and less sense.
“What the hell, Jet?” Kailee came running toward him, intent on rescuing her father.
“Not now,” he growled at her, loud enough to cut through her mild hysteria. She stopped midstride, blinking in surprise.
Grabbing Jack’s wrists in one massive hand, he wrapped the other around his neck and hauled him to his feet. They proceeded outdoors, where Jet was determined to get everything out into the open amongst the three of them.
Part of him was scared of what he might learn about Kailee and her motives for moving to the Bluffs. He desperately wanted to trust her, to believe that she had simply picked it at random, or that perhaps she had been pushed at her father’s urging. It would make any decisions he had to make easier, but deep in the pit of his stomach, he had a sneaking suspicion that she knew more than she was letting on.
“Jet, what the hell is going on? Let go of my father!” They were outside now, and he had Jack up against her truck.
“Go on, tell her everything, boy."
“My name is Jet,” he growled, cutting the older man off as he pushed him farther into the side of the truck. His bear was angry that Jack had threatened his mate by bringing a gun into his business. It was a struggle not to give in and give him a beating. After all the torment Jet had received at his hands years ago, it only seemed fair. It wasn’t something he was prepared to do in front of Kailee
, however, so he shunted the anger aside for the time being.
“Let go of my father!” Kailee screamed at him again, lunging into his side. She was a big bear shifter woman and when she put her strength into it, it was considerable. He lost his balance, releasing his hold on Jack so that he could steady himself.
It was at that moment that Jack pulled a knife from a hidden sheath and whirled, slashing wildly. He barely missed Kailee, who shrieked and scrambled back out of range. Jet watched, his eyes focused intently as the old hitman stalked toward him. His bear roared with anger at the danger to his mate, demanding retribution.
The crazed look in his eye spoke to some sort of malady. He was very clearly not the same man Jet had known. Something had happened to him, something that had made him fixate on Jet to the point that he would do anything to try and harm him. The conflict needed to end, and swiftly.
With a wild cry, Jack overextended himself on a lunge, leaving himself off balance. Jet’s elbow came down solidly on the outstretched arm, numbing the grip so that the knife fell to the ground with a clatter. He then grabbed Jack and threw him across the parking lot until he landed roughly on the grass and slid up against a tree. Jet began to walk toward him, but Kailee recovered from her shock and grabbed his arm, yanking him to a stop.
***
Chapter Ten
Kailee
“Jet, listen to me. You have to tell me what’s going on, why are you attacking my father? Why is he so desperate to kill you?”
“You know exactly why,” he rumbled in response, before breaking her grip and continuing to advance upon her father, who was beginning to stir.
Kailee’s temper flared at the dismissal by the man she had thought she was coming to care for. Not one to let such an insult pass, she increased the length of her strides until she got ahead of Jet, placing herself between him and his target. She had to walk backward, for he did not stop.
“Don’t you ever do that to me again,” she roared, her eyes narrowed as she glared at him. With all the strength she could muster, Kailee lowered her shoulder and drove it into Jet’s midsection.
He let out a noise and stopped. It angered her that he was so much stronger than her, that the best she could do was to cause him a bit of discomfort and slow him down. Still, it had worked and for the moment he was no longer focused on her father. Perhaps she could get him to explain some of what was going on now.
“Jet, I have no idea what you are talking about. All I know is as soon as you saw my father, you threw him out of the bar and then across the parking lot. Please, please make some sense now.”
He paused, considering her words as he focused on her. She stared up at him, desperation evident on her face, trying to get him to see the truth of it. Kailee hated violence and was terrified of what had just played out in front of her. None of it made any sense to her.
“I’ll explain everything in a moment. First, I have to make sure that you are out of danger.”
He moved around her then, swifter than she thought he could be. In the blink of an eye, he was upon her father, hoisting him up by the collar of his shirt and a good bit of skin. Jack cried out in pain as Jet gave him a not-so-gentle shake.
“Get the hell out of here, and don’t let me ever see you again. I’m done with that life, with the past, and with you. I’ve started a new life here, and if I see you or any others, I won’t be so gentle next time.”
He opened his fist and Jack fell into a heap on the ground at his feet. Jet backed up and she watched as he let her father go. Jack got up, giving Jet a very odd look before turning and running to his car, shouting obscenities as he went. She couldn’t understand much of it, but she picked up something about stolen money and a mission of her fathers. Then, with the squealing of rubber on pavement, he was gone in a cloud of smoke.
“I’m sorry you had to witness that,” Jet said as the car faded into the distance.
“You still haven’t told me why,” she replied, still shaken at the entire events.
“I want to show you something.” He grabbed her hand, gently this time, and pulled her after him as he walked back toward where her truck was parked at the side of the building.
“Do you see these?” he said, putting a finger into a hole on the wall, then removing it and poking it into another.
“Yes, but?” She started to say, but he cut her off before she could go any further.
“Those are bullet holes. They were not there at this time yesterday.”
She gasped in surprise. Somebody had tried to shoot at Jet! A sinking sensation in her stomach told her she knew who it had been before she even asked herself the question. The image of a gun sliding across the floor of the Quencher was still fresh in her mind.
“Jack…” she whispered, using his name instead of calling him her father. At that moment, she felt sick to her stomach at the notion Jack may have tried to kill the man she thought might someday be her mate.
“I wasn’t completely sure until he walked in earlier. The shots were fired from over there,” he said pointing across the street at a small copse of trees with enough room under them for Jack’s small sports car.
“When my bear smelled him, however, I knew for certain that it was him. I couldn’t let him endanger you because I don’t know what I would have done if he had hurt you. It’s my job to protect you and I don’t like to fail.”
She was appreciative of his desire to keep her safe, but that still did not lend any coherence to the set of events. Kailee could read the clues and she wasn’t an idiot, it was clear her father had shot at Jet last night and tried again today to kill him. What she didn’t understand, as she now told Jet, was what had prompted him to do so?
“That’s a bit harder to explain, and would be done best if we sat down. It might take some time.”
She gave him a puzzled glance, but he was already headed for the door inside. Kailee followed, trying to understand the tone that had entered into his voice. It seemed to her that he was suddenly full of resignation as if he expected nothing but bad to come from the situation. Her heart began to beat faster as she grew nervous of what he was about to say.
“Okay folks, I know this sounds hard to believe, but the show’s over. I’m closing down early for the night.”
She gasped in surprise at that. Jet had never shut the bar down early before. It was one of the things he was proudest of, that it had opened and closed on time each and every day since he had taken over control. For him to now say that he was closing extremely early was unheard of. There were some unhappy rumblings from the crowd, but Jet knew just how to silence that, she saw.
“Don’t worry, everything is on the house tonight, but I do have to insist that you please depart immediately.”
The rumblings died immediately, and most folks even cheered Jet as they downed the last of their beers before filing out the front door. The three line boys, Dylan, Tanner & Devon stopped to whisper in Jet’s ear as they left. She overheard them mutter offers of help if he ever needed any. He gave his thanks but assured them that it hopefully would not come down to that.
“Grab a drink and one of the comfortable chairs in the back,” he told her as the last patrons filed out. He hung a hand-printed sign that simply read ‘Closed Early’ on the front door before locking it. She sat down with a cold glass of water, not trusting herself to any alcohol at the moment. Jet grabbed a mug and poured a glass of golden-amber liquid perfectly before joining her.
“So as you can probably tell, there’s some history between your father and I,” he began without preamble. “What I need to know, before we continue on, is whether or not you moved here on your own, or if you did so to help your father out, so that he had an easy way to get closer to me?”
Kailee sat in stunned silence, unable to answer. She thought back to the conversations she had with her father about where to live. From the very beginning, he had suggested Bear Bluffs, making point after rational point about how it would suit her needs.
Sh
e hadn’t wanted to move here, in fact, she had argued vehemently against it. But when he had offered to pay for half the house she bought, it had been an opportunity that Kailee couldn’t pass up. So, reluctantly, she had packed up her life and moved to Bear Bluffs, where she had conveniently gotten a job working for Jet, and told her father everything he had wanted to know about the man and his workplace. She had practically set up the attempts on Jet’s life.
“I see,” he said angrily as she opened her mouth but couldn’t speak, couldn’t tell him what she wanted to. It hurt her, more than she was willing to admit, that his trust in her had been cracked, or possibly even shattered as he came to grips with what was going on.
She longed to tell him it was all a misunderstanding on his part, that she had no idea what was going on, but it seemed pointless now. He believed she had been a willing, if uninformed, accomplice to her father’s plans. The feeling of betrayal he exuded now was almost too much for her to bear, but she needed to know why her father hated him badly enough to try and kill him.
“A lot of what you’re about to hear is going to color your opinion of me. Before I begin, I want you to understand that I am no longer that person. I was at the time, but I have changed for what I hope is the better.”
She nodded her understanding after he shot her an expectant look. Then Jet began to speak, recanting to her his youth, growing up without a family in a series of foster homes, slowly turning to a life of crime. The picture he painted was a grim one, designed to evoke feelings of sympathy and passion for him. Instead, Kailee found herself becoming more and more horrified as she realized just who the man she had slept with was in reality.
He was a criminal, the worst type of sorts. He used his words, sweet, sweet words to seduce people into giving him what he wanted. Her stomach began to roil and she almost lost her dinner to the thoughts of what he had said to her. She had been manipulated by him into giving herself up for his needs. Part of her spoke to thinking rationally, that he clearly wasn’t the same person as he described in his story. Those words were quickly drowned out by his next sentence.
