“I’m really sorry if it’s upsetting,” Eric said slowly. She didn’t seem upset per se. Or if she was, he couldn’t see it. It felt more like a business transaction and that was somehow even creepier. “But I know it’s the right thing to do. I know how I feel. Or rather, how I don’t feel. I wouldn’t want to lead you on when I’m already sure.”
“I see,” Michelle said. She blinked at him and pursed her lips, regarding him coolly. “It’s alright. I’ll make you see reason. I can be very persuasive.” She tossed him a playful wink, but it only made his stomach twist. “You’ll thank me when I’m done.”
That didn’t sound good. Eric winced and scratched his head. “Michelle… Don’t try to salvage this. It’s really-”
“Don’t worry.” She stood up from her chair. There was not one hair out of place. She hadn’t even had a chance to eat lunch. He felt a little guilty about that. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m just going to give you some time to think and we’ll talk again.”
Damnit.
“Michelle…”
“Goodbye, Eric. For now.”
I am in such deep shit, Eric thought.
14
Lydia
When Lydia closed her eyes, she saw Eric.
Except she hadn’t truly seen Eric in about five years. In her mind, he was still a teenager. Her first love and her best friend. Usually when she pictured him, he was always in his bear form, running through the woods in spring, his eyes wild as he looked at her over his shoulder.
But that wasn’t what she pictured now when she closed her eyes.
Now she saw Eric in his bear form, but he wasn’t looking happy as he scampered through the forest. Instead, he was being violently torn apart. The woods were dark. Lydia could hear him howl. It felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest…
“Stop,” she murmured. Lydia sat up straight in her seat on the bus as it barreled down the highway toward Black Bear Lake.
She’d dreamed of Eric being murdered before her eyes seven times now. After the third time, she’d started to worry. After the fourth time, she’d decided it meant something. She’d heard about repetitive dreams before. Most humans just took them to mean that a person’s mind was caught up in something and their subconscious was trying to sort through it. But magical folk knew better. When a dream repeated so many times, that meant the fates were trying to speak to you.
“Oh wow…” The mountains of Black Bear Lake came into view and Lydia smiled to herself. She’d forgotten how beautiful it was up here. She sat back in her seat and tapped the window with her blunt nails, impatient to get to the lodge. She hadn’t really spoken to Eric about her visit, much less her motivation for it. She had only texted and asked if it was a good time to come down and catch up.
Waiting for Eric’s response had been agony. A lot could happen in five years. Back then, she was surprised he hadn’t found a mate yet. But now… She had to think he was married, probably with a kid. He was too good of a catch, just like his brothers. The fates wouldn’t leave them single.
“Black Bear Lake stop!” The bus slowly pulled up to the station and Lydia took a deep breath, anxiety bubbling up inside her.
Eric had offered her a suite on the house. She hadn’t expected anything like that and it was sweet, especially given their rather unresolved history together. To say it was also more luxurious than she was used to was a gross understatement.
Lydia zipped up her worn out jacket. The trip down from Washington had seemed endless. She’d used up a chunk of her savings for it and that wasn’t counting that she had to quit her job. The scammy telemarketing company where she worked wasn’t the type to shell out for unexpected paid time off. C’est la vie, Lydia thought. If she needed to, she’d go back to the woods. She missed hunting anyway.
In another life, Lydia thought, she would be going back to school. It was something she often thought about and had never had the money for. What she would major in? She had no idea. Other people who had money could afford to go to school without knowing what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. Lydia had always envied them that luxury.
Lydia filed off the bus with the rest of the passengers and gasped at the wall of bracing cold outside. She was not equipped for this kind of weather. The Pacific Northwest could be plenty cold too but this felt sharper and she didn’t have the coat for it. She wrapped her scarf around her neck a second time and rubbed her bare hands together, blowing on them, and wishing she could shift as she waited to grab her luggage.
Even the bus station at Black Bear Lake seemed fancy compared to anything she was used to. The southwestern design of the station with its dark wood benches and statues of historical figures seemed more like a museum than a bus station.
Lydia was more than happy to huddle inside the station with a hot cup of complimentary cocoa while she waited for the shuttle to the lodge carrying a dozen other fresh guests. She tried not to think about her anxiety over seeing Eric for the first time in so long or to wonder if he had that mate and cub she suspected he had. All the while, she stared down at her cup and pretended she didn’t feel like a pariah in her dowdy threadbare clothes while sitting next to a shifter wearing a parka that probably cost as much as her rent.
Welcome to the other side, she thought wryly.
The shuttle was just pulling up to the lodge when Lydia’s heart started racing. She caught her own reflection in the window as she grabbed her backpack and heaved a sigh. Her thick black hair could fall in shiny, glossy waves with the right care, but just now it seemed lank and sad. Her skin felt greasy after her long trip. She looked completely out of place among these other women and though she was only twenty-six, she suspected she had a couple more stress wrinkles than the rich forty-year-olds just now disembarking from the bus with their kids.
Lydia hitched her backpack up to her shoulder and her brain seemed to short out and go numb as she found her big ugly suitcase among the nicer, newer luggage and dragged it behind her, shivering from a chilling gust of wind as she followed the other guests into the lodge. The doorman grinned at them all and Lydia smiled tightly, feeling horribly out of place.
She stood in line behind everyone else in the lobby, ducking her head, half hoping she would somehow go unnoticed by the very man she had come to see. Her stomach was in knots and her hands felt clammy and then…
There he was.
Eric had always had startling blue eyes, but they seemed to blaze as the tall man in front of Lydia in the line stepped away and Eric appeared. He was clean shaven and that was new. He had always worn a little bit of stubble on his chin before. His chestnut brown hair was cut just a little long, just enough that a loose lock fell attractively over his forehead. His jawline was sharp as glass and when he smiled briefly at her she saw the neat rows of white teeth.
Eric had always had pretty teeth. He’d laughed when she told him that once.
“Lydia.” Eric said her name and she breathed in, her heart thumping in her chest. He looked older, but he looked good. He looked about a hundred times better than she did, she was sure.
“Hey,” Lydia said. “I didn’t know if you would be working the desk. I don’t know. I feel like you’d be doing something more important or-”
“I don’t always check people in,” he said quickly. “But I knew you were coming. I wanted to see you. Take you up to your room…”
This already feels awkward, Lydia thought. They should have been hugging and gleefully laughing about how they hadn’t seen each other in so long and oh, how time flies. There had been a time when Eric would tell Lydia his deepest most secret thoughts, often with his head in her lap. Now, they looked at each other as if they were strangers.
Everything felt stiff and wrong and she already had a lump in her throat, but she swallowed it down and forced an artificial smile on her face.
“Thank you so much for the suite,” Lydia said. Eric was glaring at his computer screen as other desk clerks helped the rest of the guests in l
ine. “You really didn’t have to…”
“No, it’s fine,” Eric muttered, not so much as sparing her a glance. He waved two key cards. “Here we go. Follow me. Let me get your suitcase...”
Eric came around the desk and because he wasn’t watching her, Lydia treated herself to a long look. He was wearing a flawlessly fitted charcoal suit with a powder blue tie. When she visited five years ago, he’d worn sweaters and jeans, still figuring out his role of concierge of the Strauss brothers’ new business venture. Now he looked like a man in charge. He also looked…
Yummy, Lydia thought. Her mouth actually watered and she shook her head at herself.
She’d dated men here and there. There were a few flings. She was always determined to find someone who would fill that hole that Eric had made for her, through no fault of his own. But no one had stuck and nobody else had ever compared.
“I’m giving you the spa suite,” Eric said, as she followed him up the wide flight of stairs to the west wing of the lodge. “If you take the small staircase just to the left of it, it will take you right to the spa and then right beyond that is the shopping promenade. The suite also has a double jacuzzi which is practically a pool and a small private sauna.”
“Whoa.” Lydia managed a smile and glanced at Eric as they strode down the hall side by side. “You didn’t have to do all that. Thank you.”
She hadn’t counted on him spotting her the room to begin with. She’d been hoping for a discount on the cheapest room and even that would be brutal on the pocketbook. But a free suite was something else. She almost wondered if he was trying to say that she should have visited a long time ago.
“You sounded a little stressed out,” Eric said, casting her a wary look. “Thought maybe you could use some R and R.”
“I sounded stressed out in my texts?” Lydia said.
Eric stopped cold in the middle of the hallway as guests bustled around them, small children shrieking as they were scolded by their parents. Outside the snow fell in flurries.
“Yeah,” Eric said. “Don’t forget how well I know you, Liddy. I can totally sense stress in your texts.”
“Right.” She nodded, and shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable under his penetrating gaze.
Those eyes had become bluer somehow. She was sure of it.
“Well, it’s really sweet of you,” she said, still feeling oddly stiff. “I really didn’t come for that. I mean I didn’t come just for a free room. Actually, I…” She swallowed her words, her cheeks burning. She’d been about to tell him that she’d had to quit her much needed job just to make the visit. But it all felt so pathetic.
“You what?” Eric said. He took a step closer and her heart thudded uncomfortably.
“Nothing,” Lydia said quickly. “I’m just, I mean I came to visit you. But I didn’t come for, you know… amenities.”
Eric didn’t look at her. His expression was dark and he glowered as he slipped the key card into its slot and let Lydia in. She wondered if she had already fucked up. Did he not believe her? Did he really think she’d come to visit after five long years away just to stay in a fancy hotel room?
“Whoa.” She was distracted from her worry momentarily as he let her in, and she took a look around.
The room was ostentatiously luxurious. The design was tastefully classical with modern touches. Everything looked new and expensive, a plush taupe couch decorated with tapestry throw pillows, plush rugs, oil paintings on the walls, a huge flatscreen…
Eric was making himself busy showing her the cable remote and the dimmer switch for the lights before leading her into the massive master bedroom and bathroom with its double jacuzzi and sauna and fancy soaps and robes. It was all a bit overwhelming, especially considering she’d been staying in a tiny rented room with roaches for friends for the last couple of years.
“Eric...this is amazing.” She felt completely out of place, but on the other hand, there was a double jacuzzi. She was hardly going to turn it down.
“I’m glad it’s satisfactory.”
She whipped around to face him. His tone sounded so cold, but just then he cracked a smile, wryly shaking his head.
“That’s my concierge voice,” Eric said with a snort. “It’s just… This feels weird. Doesn’t this feel weird?”
“Yes,” Lydia whispered. She took a step closer. She had a strong urge to throw her arms around him and not for any romantic reason.
She just missed her old friend.
“I don’t want it to feel weird,” Eric said. “Look… I don’t really know why you came here. But I hope you want to talk. Really talk. I…”
“Yeah?”
That lump in her throat was back. Lydia clasped her hands together and valiantly attempted to keep it down.
“I’ve missed you,” Eric said. “I’ve missed you a lot. And I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m glad I’m here too,” Lydia whispered.
“Jesus, Liddy.” Eric lunged and abruptly there were strong arms wrapped around Lydia and she sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder, not caring if her hair was too lank or her clothes were too threadbare as he gave her the all encompassing hug that was as familiar to her as her own pair of arms. “It’s really good to see you.”
Lydia felt like she could have stayed there in Eric’s embrace all night, but too soon he was pulling away again and her sensitive bear shifter’s ears heard his phone vibrating in his pocket.
“Oh…” Eric whipped out his phone and a dark expression came over him. “Shit.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing… Nothing, I just have to take care of something.” He clapped a hand to her shoulder and she liked to think he was reluctant to move it away again. “Go ahead and get settled in.” He took a few plastic cards out of his pocket and handed them to her, pressing them into her palm. “This is complimentary use of full spa days downstairs and meals. You don’t pay for a thing at the Black Bear Lake Lodge, Liddy. So don’t argue. In the dining hall and the lounge, just tell them to charge it to the room and we’ll take care of it. I’m talking about queen treatment at the spa too. Mud baths, massage, the fancy cucumber water, the mimosas, the whole bit-”
“Eric,” Lydia said, chuckling. “You really didn’t have to-”
“I’m also going to give you a few gift cards to the shops downstairs, just in case you need anything.” He shrugged. “Honestly, it’s chump change. We get VIP guests on occasion, they get comped. You are beyond VIP. I promise you. Go on a spree. Treat yourself. Okay?”
The thought of new clothes sounded like cold water in the middle of a hot desert. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d worn a set of new clothes. She nodded dumbly and pocketed the cards and couldn’t help but wonder if he would have been as generous if she’d shown up looking more put together. She hated the thought of pity, but resisting the gesture would only make her look like she actually needed it.
Instead she tried to seem casual. “Chump change,” she said, shrugging. “Sure. Thanks. That’s very sweet.”
“Can we go to dinner tomorrow?” Eric said. “We could go on a run too.”
“Oh…” Lydia felt the tension leave her shoulders at the very idea of going on a run with Eric Strauss, just like when they were kids - wild-eyed Eric glancing over his haunches, his thick dark fur ruffled in a breeze. “Yes. That would be great.”
“Okay.” Eric nodded curtly. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
Eric took his leave and Lydia sighed, though she felt marginally better about things.
She left her backpack and suitcase on the floor and wandered into the huge master bedroom. She knew she shouldn’t lie down. She’d never want to get up again, but she wanted to get a shower in before trying out that spa. She finally gave in and plopped down on the bed, groaning in contentment. It was like lying on a cloud.
“Girl could get used to this,” she mumbled. “Thanks, Ricky.”
15
Michelle
M
ichelle had never been traditionally great at controlling her anger when she was upset.
But after Eric Strauss had the gall to break up with her, she’d seen red.
She thought she’d done very well at that table when he had dumped her like she was nobody. She hadn’t shifted and ripped his throat out. She hadn’t even punched him in the face. She’d played it cool and left the door open, at least on her end. She had tried her best to come across as the devoted girlfriend. She was somebody for whom a little break-up was just a stepping stone to better things.
But once she’d returned to her suite on the east end of the lodge, she’d slammed the door so hard the walls had rattled.
The walls had rattled again as she shut her eyes and felt magic coursing through her. She was always more powerful when she was angry.
And just now, she was angry.
“Son of a bitch!” Michelle shrieked and her hand shot out, magic shooting from her fingertips and sending a side table slamming into the wall. Impressively, it was high quality enough not to shatter.
James poked his head out of the bathroom. He was wearing one of those fluffy white resort robes and his brows knit together in concern.
“Honey?” James said. “Something happen?”
James liked to think of himself as Michelle’s real mate, the one she returned to when she was done scamming other shifters for everything they were worth, often leaving a bloody mess behind. In reality, he was more like her lackey. That was how she liked things.
“The asshole broke up with me!” Michelle screamed, and in lieu of destroying the lodge suite with the force of her magic and drawing unwanted attention to the room, she shifted into her bear form. The bear was primal, in some ways more emotional. But that body and mind were also grounding. Michelle opened up her big maw and roared, and James tentatively crept out. His hair was wet and he was drying it with a bath towel.
Billionaire Bear Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset Page 13