When he ended the kiss and pushed her away from him, Bella felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. But when he picked her up and moved back further into the dark area, she was ready to beg him to take her when he lifted her blouse up and over her head.
It was going to be a quick coupling. It was what she needed. Bella thought that Dean did as well. She’d barely had her pants down around her thighs when he picked her up again and ripped them off her. As soon as she was naked, Dean pushed her against the cold concrete and filled her.
“Yes.” The harder he took her, the more she needed. Wrapping her ankles tightly around his hips, she rolled her body to fit with his. Each stroke was taking her up higher and higher. Everywhere he touched her, she could feel the burn of his fingers. When he licked along the path of her throat, Bella leaned her head back and gave him her all. “Please, Dean. Bite me. I need it.”
Not only did he bite her, fucking her while he was taking her, but his low growl that of his jaguar rolled over her skin like he was touching her as well. His teeth breaking her skin took them over the edge. It didn’t just roll them over it but seemed to suspend them out there for several seconds before it dropped them both while clinging to each other, over a vast opening. Bella wasn’t worried about being dropped either. For the first time in her life, she knew that she could depend on someone that would never ever harm her.
Bella cried out against his shoulder. Dean held her, telling her that he was sorry and that he’d make it up to her. Whatever he was going to do, he kept telling her that he was going to make it up to her. Looking at him, she asked him what he’d done.
“Done? I don’t know, really. But you’re crying, and I need to fix whatever made you cry.” She told him why she was crying. “Oh. You’re happy. I guess after our start with me knocking you around a little, it didn’t occur to me that I’d finally done something right.”
“You are a dork.” Bella kissed him this time, and he laughed with her. “I need to get dressed again, and then you’re going to tell me how Hunter pissed you off. I know he did. You should also know that you’re very sexy when you’re pissy. Don’t try that on me, but I wanted you to know that about yourself.”
“You do know what this means now that we’ve had the most fantastic sex I’ve ever had, don’t you?” She grinned and asked him if it really was fantastic. “Yes. Holy shit, woman. When you brought me out here, I thought for sure you were going to brain me for something. All the way out here, I was running through all the things that I’d done so that I’d know how to make it up to you.”
“You’re very keen on making things up to me, aren’t you?” He grinned, and it was the most boyish thing she’d ever seen. Then she looked down his amazing body. “Dean, you have no idea how much I’d like to take you again, right here. But I think we need to talk first.”
“I know. Hunter is on his way in. As we were told by Harris, he got a bail bondsman to put out the money for him. I hope they know they’ll never get that money back.” She pulled her blouse up and over her head again. “As you might have guessed, he’s pissed off. Not about the situation, but what you might be doing to his father. When I pointed out that he was your dad as well, he said he’d see about that. I don’t know what that meant either, but I’d be happy if you never left my side when he’s around. Not that you couldn’t take him, but my jaguar needs to protect his mate.”
“I want you around too.” She finished dressing and waited on him. “The next time we do something like this, I’d like it to be someplace warm. Do you have a bed at your house? That would be much better than a wall.”
As she walked away, she glanced back at Dean. He was standing there with his jeans undone, no belt, if he ever had one, and his mouth open. The need to close it for him was huge, but walking away from him with his shocked expression was better. Giggling, she wondered how much fun she could have keeping him on his toes. A great deal, she thought.
~*~
Hunter had to take a cab to the hospital. His dad must have taken the car out and had left him in a lurch by having some sort of break down. Then there was the auto insurance company. They said that they weren’t covering his car from the accident he’d had because he’d lied on the report.
Everyone lied on those things, he’d tried to tell her. But she said that Mr. Marshall had filed his claim first with the detailed recording of the incident, and his version was completely opposite of Hunter’s. Besides, she told him, Mr. Marshall had never made a fraudulent claim in all the years they’d been covering him.
He had no idea why that should make a difference, but apparently, it did. So now he was without a car or any way to get around. Hunter hated people right now. All of them. As far as he was concerned, they could all just dry up and die. It cost him the last of his twenty bucks to make this trip to see what sort of shit his dad was pulling.
As he made his way into the emergency room, the smell of the place hit him hard. Gagging a little, he wondered how anyone could work here day in day out and not be sickened by all the sickness. He asked about his dad.
“I don’t know you, so it’s safe to assume that I don’t know him either. Perhaps you can come back when you have his name.” Hunter wanted to hit the nurse. Just draw back and punch her right in the face. “Look, buddy. I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but we’re packed. There are at least fifty other people here looking for family members. But they know enough to start off with their name. What’s his name?”
“Fletcher Booth.” Hunter expected her to be in awe of that. But she wasn’t, and he was sadly disappointed. “Did you hear me? I said his name was Fletcher Booth. I’m his son, Hunter Booth. I own and operate Fletcher Lawns.”
“My name is Nurse Ann, and I run this emergency department. No one is any more in awe about that than I am about your being his son. He’s in room four-sixty-three.” She handed him a card. “He’s on the fourth floor. You don’t wear this, you don’t get off on that floor. You don’t have it when you’re ready to leave, then you become a resident of that floor until someone comes to release you. Keep it with you.”
“What’s the fourth floor?” Nurse Ann told him it was the psych ward. “Wait. What? I was told that he was in emergency and that I had to come here to talk to him. Why the hell is he on the psych floor?”
“Did I tell you my name was Doctor Ann? Nope, I didn’t. Do I look like I can read minds? Honey, if I could do that, I surely wouldn’t be here listening to people like you asking me questions I have no answer for. He’s on the psych floor because someone who has a better education and more money than me said he was to go there. Now, get your butt away from me so that I can help someone that has a better understanding of ‘crap happens’ than you seem to.” Hunter told her that she was rude. “You have no idea how rude I can be, buddy. Now, you want that card to say visitor, or do you want me to wrap it around your toe and put you someplace nice and quiet?”
He went to wait his turn to use the elevator. Hunter couldn’t believe that people were actually treating him this way. She should have known these things, not just for him but anyone that came in to ask questions. She was rude, and he was going to tell her boss. Today, Hunter thought, was just not his day.
A man had shown up at the house today, claiming that he represented his sister. Hunter told the man that he didn’t care, and that seemed to have pissed him off. The man, Mr. West, said that he’d better care.
“I’m informing you that as of eight this morning, Isabella Marshall purchased the outstanding debt of Fletcher Lawns. Taxes have been paid up to date, as well as there is enough money in the account of the firm to pay this week’s payroll.” Hunter had liked the sound of that. So his sister was going to be his partner after all. He might not have to resort to making her take him on. “The money is not available to you to use for anything other than the payroll. It will not be released by a check from you or cash withdrawal. The accounts
for Fletcher Lawns has been frozen.”
The man wouldn’t answer any of his questions when asked, like how come he couldn’t touch the money if she put it in there. Why did she pay the taxes and not leave a little extra for him? What the hell did that mean for her to have frozen the accounts? How the hell could she do shit like that and get away with it?
Now here he was, going up in the elevator with some nasty smelling person and a man who looked like he was bored shitless. He actually fell asleep leaning against the wall and had to be woken up when they hit his floor. Damn, whatever he did for a living, he needed to rethink his priorities. Hunter couldn’t function unless he was allowed to get at the very minimum of ten hours of sleep nightly. That didn’t include his nap of a couple of hours every day.
Getting off at the floor, he understood why she’d told him to keep the card. The armed guard at the elevator doors asked him for it, and he nearly wet himself when the man poked the gun in his chest and told him to get back on the elevator. Finally, he found it and was released to go to his father’s room.
Going down the hall, he was stopped no less than four times when the inmates—he didn’t have any idea what else to call them—asked him questions. Finally, he just moved into four-sixty-three and hoped that he was in the right room.
The first person he saw was his sister. She was sitting on the bed, talking to someone in one of the two chairs in the room. The other chair was occupied by an old man who looked like a mad scientist. The tall man in the corner just said his name in way of greeting.
“What the hell was the big emergency? Where is Dad?” Bella nodded to the old man in the chair, and Hunter just noticed the man was tied to it at his wrists and ankles. “I don’t have time for this shit, Bella. Where is my father?”
“He’s my dad too, you uppity prick. That’s him right there in the chair. He’s had a little bit of a breakdown, but they’ve put him on medication. They think that in the next few hours, he should return to his usual self.” Hunter rolled his eyes at Bella and told her that Dad was never himself anymore. “So I’ve heard. If you had done something about this sooner, Hunter, he might have had a little longer to go before he has to have constant care.”
“I didn’t do anything to him.” He looked at Bella. “They told me that you put money in my account but won’t let me touch it. Why? It’s not like you can’t afford it. Tell the bank that you’re allowing me to take some of the cash so I can get around. And where is the car that Dad left the house in? For that matter, why are you here, anyway? Dad hates you.”
“No, he loves me. But come to find out, you’ve been fucking around in our lives and pulling us apart. Us not talking for years is solely your fault.” Hunter told her that he’d done nothing. Then he looked at the man again. “It is Dad. He’s been ill for a long time. They told us that he has vascular dementia.”
Hunter stared at the man for a few minutes while Bella went on and on about something. He could see the resemblance to his father, but the wild hair and the darting eyes were hard to match with his ever neat and smart dad. When he smiled at him, it hit him who he was.
“It’s Dad.” Bella said something like I told you so, but he was too busy trying to figure out what else about his dad was different. “He looks insane if you ask me. They’re not going to allow him out around other people, are they? That might make me look bad to have people thinking I have a crazy dad.”
“Yes, because it’s all about you, isn’t it, Hunter?” Hunter glared at the man in the corner. “When I called you earlier and told you that he was here, you told me that you weren’t coming here. That it wasn’t worth your time if he was just going to be released in an hour. How could you say that about your own father?”
“And who the hell are you again?” He told him he was Bella’s husband. “Husband? No way. There is no way in hell that my sister would lower herself to someone like you. I mean, just look how you’re dressed. Why would you even leave the house dressed that way? Respectable men do not wear old jeans and whatever kind of boots those are you have on. I mean, you don’t even have on a decent flannel shirt.”
“They’re called work boots, a concept I’m sure you don’t get. Also, this might shock you, but I didn’t care what I had on when I left my brother’s home when Bella and her father needed me. I’m assuming the reason that you’re so late is because you had to pick out the perfect outfit to go with those shoes. Did you pay a lot for them?” He told him how much he’d paid for his shoes like that was a big deal. “Six hundred dollars for a pair of loafers? Christ man, do they have gold on them someplace? For that kind of money, I could have gotten me several pairs of pants, shirts, and a couple of pairs of boots. I can’t believe anyone would pay that much for a single pair of shoes. Especially when they’re in as much debt as you are.”
“I’m not in debt.” He looked at his sister, then back at the man. “Did your little wifey tell you that she paid off everything that I owed? I’m as flush as you are right now, big guy.”
“You also don’t own Fletchers anymore.” They all three turned to look at dad. “I’m feeling a little better now, Bella. I didn’t hurt you, did I? Dean? Did I hurt you? I remember a gun going off. Not much more after that.”
“What do you mean, I don’t own Fletchers anymore? Of course, I do. You signed it over to me a while back. Don’t you remember, Dad? Are you having a brain fart or something? I own and operate it just like you did.” Dad just kept staring at Bella. Snapping his fingers in front of his dad’s face, Hunter spoke again. “Hello? Are you in there, Dad? Hello? I think there is something wrong with him. Maybe he needs to be put away.”
“Bella, honey, I’m so sorry.” Bella took his dad’s hand into hers, and a surge of animosity raced over Hunter so quickly that he only just barely caught himself from slapping her away. “I’ve been getting worse for some time now, and I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
“Find out what?” They were both ignoring him, and Hunter wanted more than anything to order Dean—or whatever his name was—and Bella out of the room so that he could get some answers. “What did you mean I don’t own Fletchers anymore? Dad, you signed it over to me. Are you stupid? You have to remember that.”
“I’m not nearly as stupid as you are, Hunter.” The look his dad gave to him sent shivers down his spine. He was pissed about something. “I’ve been keeping up with the sales and other business things that you should have been taking care of. You signed off on the contract that gave you temporary control, not ownership, of Fletchers, so long as you showed a profit. As of...I’m not sure what day it was, but you aren’t even going to meet payroll. Not to mention, you’re not paying into the retirement funds that were promised to the people that worked for me.”
“Like anyone that worked for me ever thought about their retirement funds. Dad, I don’t know what to say to you other than you’re not taking it back from me. You handed it over without those stipulations. And now that Bella is my partner in this business, I’ll be—”
“I’m not going to be your partner, Hunter. Where on earth would you have gotten that idea?” Hunter pointed out that she’d caught him up on things, and that was what partners did. “No, I did this not for you, but the people who work there. Not that it matters, but you couldn’t get someone to sign on with you as a partner ever. Not the way you’ve run the company into the ground.” She shook her head, and he wanted to strangle her. “I own the company as of right now because my name is on the deed. You should have checked on who owns the land that you’re sitting on before you thought about what to use the money on for yourself. The land was in arrears, and by paying it off, the property became mine. So unless you pay me back for that, not to mention the payroll and other things I’ve paid up, you’re not getting back there to do anything. You could, I suppose, sue me for the equipment that was left behind, but you’d need an attorney for that. Which I doubt at this time you can afford.”
Dad started laughing, hard, and long. As he sat there with his arms and legs buckled up, he looked more insane than he had before. Hunter decided that his father needed to understand him and drew back to slap some sense into him. Just as he was coming forward to do that, his arm was pulled up behind his back until he was sick with the pain.
“You touch him, and I will rip your arm out of your socket and beat you to death with it. You can bet on that.” Screaming at how much pain he was causing him only made his dad laugh harder. Bella was laughing too. “I think it’s time you told everyone goodbye and left, Hunter, before I make good on the promise to beat you to death.”
Chapter 5
Dean kept an eye on Fletcher. He was doing fine now, but that didn’t mean that at any moment, he couldn’t slip away again. Bella had been using Ricky West, Harris and Shep’s attorney, for the last few days, since her dad had had an episode. That’s what the doctors called what had happened at the house. Something had triggered Fletcher into slipping away because that was what someone with his condition did when he was stressed. After reading over everything that Fletcher had been going through at home, it was small wonder that it hadn’t happened there, where no one would have been there to help him through it.
They were sitting in a conference room now, at the hospital, so that everything Fletcher had been dealing with could go to himself and Bella. Stress was something that the older man had to try and avoid right now. Not that he might not have another episode—he would have them more and more the worse his condition got. But for now, they could help him by taking over some of the things that he’d been trying to do on his own.
Dean: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (Marshall's Shadow Book 2) Page 6