Bunny and the Bear: A Shifter Romance Novella

by Cassandra Johnson

  Frowning, Tiffany put aside breakfast and took a drink of her coffee before she slapped her hands together, dusting off the crumbs. “Well, since we bagged Mel, what’s next for us?” Smiling Tiffany looked at Margaret. None too eager to consider that, in a way, she was also living the same life style, that is, if things continued to progress with Zeke like she hoped they would.

  “I’ll go get the paperwork; I’ve drawn up your employment agreement as well as your salary agreement too. Let me go get them from the printer.” Margaret popped out of her seat like a cork as she went out to the office area where her computer was and hurried back with them and settled into a seat next to Tiffany. “Now, we thought, Gene and I, a starting salary of twenty-five thousand a year was very fair plus, you’ll also receive commissions for bringing in bounties as well.” Margaret explained.

  Tiffany felt herself nearly choke on her coffee.

  “That, that’s more than I make at the store.” Tiffany swallowed as she began to figure in her head. “That would be a little over two-thousand dollars a month!”

  “Plus, commissions.” Margaret added.

  Going over the paperwork, Tiffany happily signed her name on the dotted line, she would work fifteen to twenty-three hours a week just depending on what her schedule was at Tom’s but she already knew that Margaret and Gene were willing to work with her schedule at the store.

  “It looks like everything is settled, it will take about a week for the papers to officially be filed with the labor board, but I’m putting you on the payroll today and you will get your cut of the commission for bringing Mel in too.” Margaret said with a smile as they went to her computer and sat down in front of it together.

  Another hour passed and Margaret had her sitting at her computer, learning how to fill out reports as well as file them in the data base. Strangely, Tiffany glanced at the clock and noticed that it was well after eight and Nate still wasn’t there.

  “Did y’all already fire Nate?” She knew that Gene had said they were firing Nate today, but since he wasn’t there, maybe she misunderstood what Gene said. Maybe they’d called and let him go the night before. It seemed a little unprofessional, but maybe they just couldn’t wait.

  “No, he just isn’t here yet.” Gene said after he got off the phone, writing down information on a legal pad. “Another reason to add to the list of reasons why we’re letting him go.” He added as he nudged his reading glasses up the bridge of his nose.

  Tiffany felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, she’d never seen anyone get fired before and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to. Tiffany couldn’t imagine that anyone would react well to losing their job, she knew that she wouldn’t, but then she had never been fired from a job before. Tiffany did everything that she could to keep her job, no matter how badly she hated it –that was the job that was paying the bills and those never went away.

  At nine-thirty, Nate came breezing through the door in a pair of sunglasses, he didn’t say anything to anyone as he came into the office, he just went straight back to the conference room to make himself a cup of coffee and Tiffany felt as if you could cut the tension in the office with a knife.

  “I think I will step outside for a quick smoke break.” Tiffany told Margaret, looking at Gene a moment as the two of them both rose from their seats and followed Nate’s figure to the back of the office.

  “Nathan, we need to have a talk.” Tiffany heard Gene say as she slipped out of the door and went to her car to get a cigarette.

  Even though she wasn’t the one who was being fired, she couldn’t help the trimmer of nerves that were vibrating through her limbs as she brought the filter of her cigarette up to her lips and took a drag, smiling briefly to people who passed by on the sidewalk. Tiffany wasn’t sure how long she stood outside smoking, she finished one, and started another before Gene came to the door, though he had his hand wrapped around Nate’s bicep and was escorting him out of the office.

  “I can’t fucking believe your firing me for… for her!” Nate raged, looking back at Tiffany and thrusting his finger in her direction.

  “Keep it moving.” Gene rumbled. It was the type of sound that she never wanted to hear coming from him directed at her.

  “You’ll regret this, you hear me? You’ll fucking pay for this!” Nate shrieked as Gene shoved him off the curb towards his car and the young man yanked the door open and got inside. Staring daggers at Tiffany as she stood on the sidewalk before his tires peeled as he reversed and drove off at top speed.

  “Do you think he meant what he said?” Tiffany asked Gene as they stepped back inside the office together. “Is he dangerous?”

  “Nah, I’ve seen plenty of people say a lot worse when they lost their job in my time.” Gene replied going to his desk. “I wouldn’t take him too seriously, Tiffany. He’s full of hot air.”

  Now that Nate was gone, Tiffany could take his desk, though, as she sat down and Margaret continued to shadow her for the rest of the day until noon, she couldn’t help feeling so unsettled by what he’d said. The last thing she needed was someone coming after her for revenge because she’d done a better job than him. Really, it was Nathan’s own fault that he’d been fired. Hopefully once he cooled down, he would see that.

  “Well, I guess I am out for the day.” Tiffany said as she put Brody on his leash. She would most definitely need to get him a little dog bed and some water and food dishes. Tiffany loved bringing him with her, and it seemed that his sweet, friendly personality helped to improve the atmosphere in the bond’s office. Everyone who came into the office wanted to pet him or commented on what a handsome little man he was. Hardened criminals, there was just something about the charming little Chug that people loved.

  “We’ll see you tomorrow honey, and don’t you worry about Nate. He’s just sore that someone came in and did his job for him –not that he was doing much of a job to begin with.” Margaret said with a smile.

  “I hope so.” Tiffany replied halfheartedly. Before she left the office, she made sure that her work area was cleaned and neat and she took the trash out on her way to her car. Brody needed a walk so on their way home, she stopped by the park and found that there was a big black Harley parked in the parking lot. Tiffany could very clearly define Zeke’s body leaning in the shade of a tree watching to see if her car showed up there.

  “Hey.” Tiffany smiled as soon as she was close enough for him to hear her, though she didn’t imagine he would have any trouble. Standing up on her toes, she kissed him quickly before they began to walk around the park as Brody tugged against his leash sniffing every single blade of grass that was within a foot of his nose.

  “How was work?” Zeke asked, pushing his hands into his pockets as they walked along at a leisurely pace.

  Tiffany began to explain all the finer nuances of bonds work before she asked him about Mel and if they had figured out where the truck was yet. Josh hadn’t been able to turn up much news on his end, but Mel was still heavily sedated, only going in and out of consciousness every couple of hours and Josh wasn’t able to get much out of him.

  “It’s too bad we can’t find the truck the same way that we found Mel. You wouldn’t happen to have any cops in your pocket who could be on the lookout for the license plate number do you?” Tiffany asked.

  “I used to have a guy.” Zeke replied and fell silent. Tiffany wasn’t sure she liked the way he said that he used to have a guy.

  “What happened to him?” Tiffany asked, feeling cautious.

  “He moved away, good guy. Decent cop, usually gave me a head’s up occasionally and I slid a little extra cash his way.” Zeke replied. “If I’d known that he was saving all that money to retire early and take his family to Florida I might not have been so generous with pay offs.” Chuckling somewhat he shook his head. “Anyway, good idea, but not plausible. Looks like we’re stuck waiting for Mel to come around to tell us who jumped him.”

  “Right? Maybe next time you need to have like a payoff
contract. You’re not allowed to leave town and retire until I don’t need you anymore.” Tiffany said with a laugh. “Like a bond for your contacts.” She snorted, suddenly covering her mouth with her hand, looking up at Zeke who was watching her closely. “I didn’t just snort. You heard nothing.”

  “Mhm.” Zeke smirked, grinning that kind of crooked grin he had. “So, about this Nate guy. You scared of him?” Zeke asked. Tiffany mentioned the scene that he made and how uncomfortable she’d felt after his verbal threat.

  “I’m sure Margaret and Gene are right; it was just a very tense situation.” Tiffany replied, taking a baggy from her pocket to clean up Brody’s doggy bomb.

  “Right.” Zeke said, his eyes speaking volumes of how skeptical he was.

  20.

  Mel was moved to a room on the seventh floor around two in the morning, without anything else important in his life, Josh hung by his side. That and Zeke told him not to leave Mel until he woke up and Josh told him what was going on and to keep his mouth shut.

  Zeke wasn’t entirely sure that Mel understood everything Tiffany told him when she called for the ambulance or that he would even remember it.

  They were in the home stretch and they didn’t need Mel going and fucking it up for all of them. Josh had to agree, and while Zeke didn’t seem to be angry with him anymore after his advice on how to get Tiffany to talk to him worked out, Josh wasn’t about to walk away from his cousin for longer than a bathroom break and have him wake up and start spilling his guts. Most importantly, they needed to know the identity of the asshole who beat him up because it didn’t take a genius to figure out that was who stole the truck.

  Josh was pretty sure Mel had been running his mouth to people he shouldn’t have, when he thought about to all the trouble they got into because of Mel, talking big and acting like he had a few extra dollars in his pocket, Josh could kick himself. The truth was, Mel had hounded him to get him a job at the club, he wanted to work security –he wanted to stand around with a rent a badge watching a pair of tits dance all night long and collect a paycheck from it. Him and that guy who called himself Axel, were as thick as thieves before Josh fired him for harassing the girls when they were in the dressing room. The policy was look, don’t touch. Axel was one of those dudes that no matter what you told him or how often you reminded him of his duties, thought he could do whatever he wanted because he looked good in the uniform. Eventually, after the girls kept complaining that he was making them uncomfortable, asking them private questions, asking for their phone numbers and shit like that Josh had enough.

  The girls brought in the business, plain and simple, and if someone was making them feel uncomfortable at work, Josh had a big problem with that. So, Axel was stripped of his employee badge and walked off the property. Lucky for them, not everyone who worked at the Sin-Titty knew about the owner’s side business, some of them were there to work a job that was completely legit –of course there were rumors that went around, but they were still nothing but rumors. No one knew anything for sure, except for Mel. Josh talked to Zeke about Mel working transport, the way that he figured, how much trouble could Mel get into if all he was doing was driving the truck?

  Of course, Josh forgot that Mel could find trouble no matter what he was doing and now it was up to Josh to make sure that they didn’t all go down the hill because Mel copped a plea deal of some kind with the cops.

  Returning from the bathroom, Josh tossed a napkin into the trash and looked at his cousin in the bed, noticing that he was slowly blinking and looking around the room with a mask of confusion all over his features.

  “Hey, man.” Josh spoke soft, calm as he stepped up to the side of the bed, looking at his cousin.

  “H-how did I get here?” Mel croaked out the question, wincing as he moved his mouth.

  “Bondsman found you behind a dumpster. We were scared you were a goner; someone got the drop on you pretty good. Don’t you remember?” Josh asked.

  Mel shook his head somewhat. “Am I going to jail?” He asked.

  “Nah, bondsman figures you’d been back there a couple of days by the smell of it. They got your court date re-arranged for some time next week, once you’re out of the hospital.” Josh explained.

  “Th-that’s good.” Mel said, swallowing. “Can I get something to drink?”

  “Sure, hang on.” Pouring some water into a cup, he pealed the paper seal off a bendy straw and stuck it inside the cup, holding it up to Mel’s chapped and busted lips.

  Drinking deeply, Mel let out a slight cough, his face twisted in pain as he wrapped his arm around his ribs to stabilize them, pain radiating throughout his core.

  “Fucking, Axel man. I should have known when I saw him there in that bond’s office. What’d he do, beat me up and then act like he found me, so he’d get a big pat on the back to look good in front of his new boss?” Mel asked, trying to sit up in the bed, but it was useless, his ribs were just too sore.

  “Axel?” Josh’s brows rose up in concern for a second. “Axel did this to you?”

  “Yeah, can you believe it? What a pal that guy is. The last thing I can clearly remember, is going into the gas station to pay for gas and I was just about to start pumping when someone pulled up beside me and started wailing on my back. He must’ve hit me in the head a lot because after that it’s all black, then I remember waking up and crawling out of that dumpster… but the rest is all black.” Mel finished the water in the cup, setting it aside. “When I saw him at the bond’s office, when I went down to get my papers on when I was supposed to show up in court, he was there, working as a bounty hunter. You believe that bullshit? He’s the real fucking criminal.”

  “I’ve talked to the bondsmen, that Margaret lady and the other woman that’s working with them. Tiffany, she’s the one who found you.” Josh informed him.

  “Heh, probably going by his real name there.” Mel shrugged. “Nathan O’Donnell. Probably pissed I wouldn’t sell to him anymore.”

  Josh folded his arms over his chest slowly. “You were selling?”

  “Whenever a big crop came in, I’d skim just a little off the top for myself for personal use, no one ever noticed unless it was the pills. Nate wanted Oxy and I couldn’t get it for him anymore.” Mel said, looking up at his cousin. “Are you going to tell Zeke?”

  “Not now. But I will. We got bigger problems. Nate probably thought you were dead when he stashed your body in that dumpster, it’s a miracle you woke up long enough to crawl out, you now that? He also took the truck, Mel.” Josh told him, getting his phone from his pocket and hitting his contact list. “You know where that asshole lives?” Placing the phone to his ear, Josh waited for Zeke to pick up on the other end.

  21.

  Tiffany’s sneakers scraped against the pavement as she walked through the parking lot of Tom’s on her way back to her car at the back of the parking lot. When she arrived for her shift at three o’clock the parking lot was slammed and so was the store. Her feet were already aching when Ryland closed her register for her to go take her lunch break. Tiffany grabbed herself a sandwich from the deli and paid at the u-scan before she slipped out the door to go to her car. While she loved it when the store was busy because it made the time just fly by –it also sucked because she had to park so far away. Even the area that was supposed to be designated for employees had been taken up by shoppers. Eventually, on her way to her car, her eyes started to adjust to the slightly dimmer lighting at the back of the parking lot. Tiffany took a second to check around the side of the store hoping a parking spot might have opened, but no luck so it looked like she would be hoofing it to the back of the parking lot when her shift ended.

  About an hour ago, she felt her phone begin to buzz like crazy in her back pocket, causing her left butt-cheek to vibrate as someone repeatedly called or text her but she’d never had a chance to look at it.

  Holding her sandwich and her drink in the crook of her elbow, Tiffany dug her phone out to see what all the fuss was about w
hen someone grabbed her, knocking things from her grasp including her phone.

  “Don’t fucking move.” An angry voice said from her ear. “You are going to turn around and walk exactly where I tell you and pretend that everything is normal.” The voice added.

  There was something familiar about the voice, but in her fright, Tiffany couldn’t place where she heard it before. Nodding up and down quickly, she turned around slowly, following the directions of her captor. Tiffany knew that she could fight, but she felt that she was too far away from the public for anyone to hear her. Tiffany needed to bid her time and get closer, but when she thought that they were close enough to the groups of people filtering into the store, the arm that was wrapped around her pulled her towards the other side of the store where the trucks made deliveries, it was dark there, and no one was around.

  Tiffany took a deep breath; she’d never taken any self-defense classes, but she knew better than some that she wasn’t helpless either. She was just waiting for her opportunity to turn around and nail this son of a bitch in the balls.

  “Listen, I don’t have any cash on me, but you can have my debit card,” Tiffany began to explain when a sudden roar from behind her erupted and she was thrown forward, catching herself on her hands and knees.

  From her peripheral she saw her kidnapper fall to the ground on his side, he looked dazed as if he had been hit by a two-by-four. Scrambling, Tiffany stood up, turning to look behind her and she would have known that figure anywhere.

  “Zeke?” Tiffany looked at him, then at the body of the man who was leading her, presumably to her death or eventual rape possibly? “Is that Nate?” Tiffany’s voice went up an octave before she walked over and lifted her leg, kicking him in the gut, forcing a pained moan from his lips.

  “You still on shift?” Zeke asked, his voice sounded gruff and abrupt as he stepped deeper into the shadows and a truck pulled into the loading dock, lights shutting off so that anyone passed by wouldn’t see the scene that was taking place.