Bunny and the Bear: A Shifter Romance Novella

by Cassandra Johnson

  “Ok. I’ll head back to your place and wait.” Zeke said. “You’ve got my number in your phone in case you need me. Here are your keys.” Zeke placed Tiffany’s keys in her hand before he leaned down and kissed her lips quickly before disappearing back to the dark parking lot next door just as the ambulance came into view.

  “Here! He’s over here!” Tiffany shouted, waving to the ambulance driver.

  18.

  “Margaret?” Tiffany’s voice sounded strained as she drove, following the ambulance to the hospital.

  “Is that you Tiffany?” Margaret couldn’t have been asleep, at least she hoped, her voice didn’t sound sleepy, but maybe the woman just had an amazing talent for making it sound like she was always awake and alert.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Listen, I found Mel. I’m on the way to the hospital. He’s been beaten up pretty bad, but I don’t have any cuffs or anything and I don’t know about what bondsmen do when they find someone, so I need your help.” Tiffany explained, her voice coming out panicked.

  “Wait! You found him? How? Never mind, what hospital is he going to?” Margaret asked, sounding speedy even over the phone.

  “Saint Anne’s, I’m following the ambulance there so if by some miracle he can walk or manages to get out of that hospital bed, I can be there to stop him.” Tiffany flipped her blinker on, turning into the hospital emergency room entrance. “What do I say? Are they going to let me go in with him? I don’t know what to do, Margaret and I am freaking out.”

  “Ok. Take a deep breath, honey. You are doing great. You found him and you are following him to the hospital. I can be there in less than five minutes. If he’s busted up as bad as you say, they won’t let him walk out of the hospital, but when I get there, I can use my credentials to get us back there in the room with him.” Margaret told her as Tiffany found a parking spot at the very back of the emergency room parking lot, as was always the case, and shut her car off, hurrying up to the sidewalk as they were unloading Mel. “I’m so proud of you, Tiffany. You got him, I wish he wasn’t hurt, but you got him. Hang in there and I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Margaret said before she ended the call and Tiffany followed Mel into the emergency room, giving them as much information about him as she could though she didn’t really know anything about Mel.

  Falling into a chair in the waiting room, she looked around. Here she was, in her pajamas without her bra on, and she had some scuzz on her from crawl around on the ground behind the dumpster. Tiffany felt like a mess, but she was elated and hopeful that Mel had come to just enough to understand what she told him.

  Crossing her legs, she took out her phone and texted Zeke that she was at the hospital with Mel. Tiffany didn’t like the idea of him just sitting on her stoop waiting for her to come back, right now she had no idea when she would get home –probably once Margaret got to the hospital to take over for her. On the way to the hospital Tiffany had already contrived her cover story for being at the gas station in her PJ’s when she should have been at work at Tom’s. It was all plausible. She’d been sick earlier that day and she had gone there to get medicine, if she had only looked behind that dumpster earlier, they would have found Mel a lot sooner, but she also wouldn’t know everything she needed to know about Zeke either. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise.

  Tapping the send button on her phone, she sat her phone down in her lap for a second or two before she found herself gravitating back to the screen to check her messages, of course Zeke hadn’t responded to her in that short window of time.

  Before Tiffany could tap out another rambling text to her would-be, could-be boyfriend and make a fool of herself, Margaret caught her attention as she walked in through the entrance doors shortly followed by Josh. Margaret must have called him, either that or Zeke did, but it wouldn’t make any sense, only she was supposed to know about Mel’s accident.

  “Have you heard anything yet?” Margaret asked her even though she’d only gotten off the phone with her just a few minutes ago.

  “No, not yet. He’s only been back there a few minutes.” Tiffany said, standing up and rubbing her hands off on her T-shirt. “You must be Josh, Mel’s cousin. Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” Tiffany smiled, taking his head and shaking it briefly.

  “I’ll go flash around my credentials so that we can go back.” Margaret said, hurrying up to the nurse’s desk as Josh seemed to be giving Tiffany a once over and assessing her for what reason she wasn’t entirely sure.

  “Nice to meet you too.” Josh finally said, taking a seat beside her on the uncomfortable metal chairs. “Zeke told me what you did, he called me as soon as he left you there at the gas station and then I got the call from Margaret. Thank you. Mel isn’t exactly the best guy on earth, but he is still family.” Josh told Tiffany in a hushed tone.

  “Oh, uh… you’re welcome.” Tiffany replied as the door buzzed and Margaret waved them over. Tiffany didn’t know why, but she felt like Josh’s thank you was unwarranted. Tiffany really hadn’t done anything and if she hadn’t called Zeke when she had, he probably would have already found Mel. She just didn’t feel like she deserved his gratitude.

  Following Margaret back, Josh came with them and quickly found the cubicle where the nurses were working on Mel, they already had him hooked up to I.V.’s and they were getting him as cleaned up as they could. Now that she could see him, Tiffany knew he’d been beaten within an inch of his life and she was pretty sure it was someone who knew about the drugs, it had to be. The truck was gone and so were the drugs. Mel had never skipped town; he’d been back there for days. Tiffany didn’t even know how he’d survived.

  It was a formality, but no matter how badly Mel was injured, Margaret still had to cuff him to the bed, just momentarily while she got on the phone with the judge. It was still early and if she worked fast, she could get his bond re-instated with the court and there would be no need for the cuffs.

  With the situation in hand, Tiffany figured she would be able to go home soon since Gene showed up to give Margaret some back up there at the hospital and Josh said that he wouldn’t be leaving until Mel woke up. Tiffany had a feeling that Zeke had talked to Josh and told him about what else was going on, she knew that Zeke had called him –she just didn’t know all the details.

  “So, how did you find him?” Margaret asked, walking Tiffany out to her car while Gene and Josh stayed behind with Mel.

  “I got sent home from work because I wasn’t feeling well, but when I got home, I realized that I didn’t have any medicine so I decided to run over to the Kum and Go just to grab some Pepto, but I thought I heard something coming from the bathrooms.” Tiffany explained. “Anyway, when I got closer to the bathrooms, I heard mumbling from behind the dumpster, so I looked back there. It was a complete fluke of course, but I couldn’t believe it. I called 911 and then I called you once we were on our way.” Tiffany told Margaret recounting the store the best that she could, for the most part, it was all true except for a few key points that she left out. “Should I have called you first? I’m so sorry, it’s just that when I saw him and realized who he was, the first thing that came to my mind was to call 911 and get him to the hospital.” Tiffany said.

  “No, you did the right thing.” Margaret said quickly, shaking her head. “You saved us, Tiffany. You really did. Listen, I wanted to talk to you tomorrow, but I just can’t wait.” Margaret said, her voice filled with excitement. “I want to offer you a position at the office. We can take it slow at first, you can start out part time and we’ll work around your schedule at Tom’s, but Gene and I have discussed it and we really want you working for us. Also, we’re firing Nate.” Margaret smiled, looking like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.

  Tiffany couldn’t help herself, she hugged Margaret quickly, squeezing her for a moment before she released her. “Sorry.” Tiffany laughed, apologizing quickly. “I just, I would absolutely love to come work at the office part time and who knows, maybe if things work out really well and
I do a good job we can talk about full time and I quit Tom’s but I know, I know. That’s kind of in the future, but yes. I accept.” Tiffany replied, giddy.

  “Good, if you have time tomorrow, come by in the morning and we’ll fill out all of your paperwork and get you on the payroll.” Margaret beamed as she hugged Tiffany in return before she waved her off as she drove back to her apartment.

  When she got there, Zeke’s bike was parked on the side of the street out of the way of traffic. Tiffany was surprised when she didn’t see him anywhere outside.

  Stepping inside, the door was unlocked and there were sounds coming from the kitchen. Brody was laying on the couch gnawing on a brand-new rawhide bone, curiously looking through the dining room, his ears twitching from the noises.

  “Zeke?” Tiffany called as she closed and locked the door, taking her sandals off.

  “How do you do anything in this kitchen? It’s so small!” Zeke almost roared, he sounded a little frustrated, but also determined.

  Laughing softly, Tiffany walked through the dining room and looked at the large man in her tiny kitchen, she couldn’t help herself. She busted out laughing hysterically as she looked at him trying to cook in the small space. There wasn’t a surface on her counter tops that weren’t covered in shopping bags, there were even bags from Tom’s sitting on top of her refrigerator.

  “W-what are you trying to do?” Tiffany asked, taking a breath, feeling like her laughing fit was over.

  “I’m trying to cook dinner for you, I came back here, but when I looked in your fridge, you didn’t have a lot and the pizza looked like it was on its last leg anyway so I tossed it out and went to the store and picked up some things, but this room is the size of a closet and I keep bumping my head and if I want to check the oven, I have to step out to swing the door open.” Zeke explained, turning towards her and stepping out of the little room, wiping his hands on a dish towel.

  “How did you get inside? I thought that I locked the doors before we left.” Tiffany glanced at the door once more, it didn’t look as if it had been tampered with.

  “I picked the lock, no biggie.” Zeke shrugged and smiled at her. “Oh, I also have this waiting for you.” Grabbing her hand, Zeke lead her down the hall to her bathroom, the curtain was draped back over the back of the toilet and there was a tub filled with bubbles. “I figured that maybe you might want to take a bath since you were crawling around on the ground behind that dumpster.” Zeke said, placing his hands against Tiffany’s shoulders as he ushered her into the bathroom.

  “Is this your polite way of saying that I stink?” Tiffany asked, oh, she was very aware that she was smelly, there was no denying it.

  “Perhaps, but I also thought that you would enjoy it too. Why don’t you go sink into that tub and I will go back to your insufferably small kitchen and finish cooking dinner. Also, I will still take you out for a real date later.” His large incisors peaked at her through his lips as he smiled.

  Tiffany didn’t know what to say, she was used to taking care of herself –even with her parents, there were dinners, but no one did things like run a bath for her. Stripping her clothes off, she sunk into the tub, wondering how long-ago Zeke ran the water because it was still scalding hot and the bubbles just as vibrant as if they had just come to life in the water. Josh must have called him and tipped him off the second she walked out of the emergency room.

  She stopped trying to figure out how he knew, and just enjoyed the fact that he did and relaxed in the hot water, cleansing herself of the stink of dumpster trash while the aroma of dinner began to waft into the bathroom teasing her senses. Smelled like pork chops, Tiffany loved pork chops, perhaps there was some sort of veggie situation because she was sure that she could smell sweet carrots, maybe even some potatoes and apple sauce?

  Stepping out of the bathtub, Tiffany wrapped herself in a towel and went to her bedroom to change, but what she found there surprised her again. The bear had been moved from the dining room to the center of her bed and there was a bouquet of flowers there with him. Smiling, she closed the door behind her and went to pick them up, smelling them. Pink roses that were slowly filling up her bedroom with their sweet scent as she sat them on her dresser. Just the kind of thing that a bunny would love. It occurred to her; she didn’t know what they were doing after dinner. Would Zeke go home, would he spend the night, would there be sex? Tiffany didn’t feel prepared. Yes, she had sex with him before –but this was different, it was more intimate and purposeful.

  Instead of stressing over the matter, Tiffany would just let things happen the way they were supposed to. If Zeke spent the night and they had sex again, it was just something that happened –she wouldn’t force it or have any expectations.

  19.

  Zeke was a good cook, which was surprising, again. Bears could cook. After dinner, Tiffany cleaned up the kitchen herself since there wasn’t enough room in there for the two of them, then they cuddled up together on her couch and watched television, the talk was casual and when Tiffany began to fall asleep on his chest, he kissed her forehead and excused himself to go home for the night. Maybe some wouldn’t have thought of that as a romantic evening –but Tiffany did. That was all that mattered.

  When she woke up in the morning, it was almost eight and she realized that she had overslept, she wanted to get down to Jail-bird Bail Bonds first thing in the morning to talk to Margaret. Jumping out of bed, Tiffany hurried into her clothes and put Brody’s leash on as they ran out the room. Today was a big day, a very big day for her and she couldn’t help the excitement that was making her heart race as she drove over to the office and parked next to Margaret’s car.

  It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet. She’d made it, and she wasn’t late. Getting out of her car, Gene’s vehicle pulled up on the other side of Margaret’s.

  “Good morning!” Gene smiled, his voice booming with cheer as he got out of the car, he was holding a box of donuts in one hand and a sack in the other.

  “Good morning, Gene. Here, let me help you with that.” Tiffany said with a smile as she came and took the box from his arms quickly.

  “I heard all about your big catch last night, I feel like I hardly got to say hello to you at the hospital. Congratulations, Margaret couldn’t stop talking about it. It looks like Mel will make a full recovery and we got him a new court date set up for next week. It will give him time to get out of the hospital and healed up a bit. I went down to the hospital to see him this morning while his cousin was with him.” Gene unlocked the door to the shop and held the door open for Tiffany as she and Brody stepped inside.

  “I’m just glad that I could help.” Even if she had found Mel without Zeke’s help –which she could have. If Tiffany had only followed her instinct earlier in the day, the situation would have worked out the same. Well, maybe not quite the same, but close.

  “You did more than help, Tiffany. One, you saved our asses, and two you might have saved a man’s life in the process. And we get to fire Nate.” Gene looked like he was really going to enjoy giving Nate the boot.

  “I guess it is a big day for all of us.” Tiffany laughed.

  “I got donuts and bagels for us to celebrate your big bust, plus the other thing.” Gene chuckled to himself as he went back to the conference room and Tiffany followed, finding Margaret making the morning coffee.

  “There she is!” Margaret said, catching sight of Tiffany with a broad smile. “The big bad bounty hunter.” Margaret teased her as she brought three mugs of coffee to the table. “Did Gene tell you we got Mel’s court dated re-arranged? The judge was very understanding since Mel had a legitimate reason for not showing up in court that day. One thing that does keep bugging me is that, when we went to his apartment, there were clothes missing from his closet.” Margaret said as she took a bagel from the sack Gene brought in and began to spread the one of the three different cream cheeses, he’d bought along with them.

  “You know, I was thinking about that last night,” Tiffa
ny began, she hadn’t been thinking about it at all, but as Margaret brought it up, Tiffany had a thought. “Maybe he was planning on skipping town, but before he had the chance, someone jumped him?”

  Margaret took a bite from her bagel and tipped her head from side to side while she chewed. “I could get on board with that idea. Guess it’s a good thing someone beat him up. Either way, I’m just glad that we caught him.”

  “Agreed.” Gene said. “I don’t sweat the details too much, whatever he was planning on doing, Mel didn’t get the chance to pull it off.” He grinned to himself as he bit into a donut and got chocolate all over his mustache.

  “Still think it’s awful he got the snot beat out of him.” Tiffany said sadly as she made herself a bagel. “Dangerous the kind of lives some people live. I wonder when he will be out of the hospital?” Tiffany bit into her bagel and tilted her head softly, thinking about Mel. He was in the same kind of lifestyle as Zeke, but the two men seemed to be completely different altogether, even his cousin Josh seemed like a very normal person. He had to know about the business, otherwise what did he think Mel was doing for Zeke? How were they so different from Mel?

  “You would be surprised how often we have seen this kind of thing happen.” Margaret mumbled from her coffee cup. “I mean, when you run with a certain crowd, it’s hard to avoid.”