by Helena Shaw
With Dawn on his lap and his strong hands on her hips, he began to rock her body on top of his own. Slow, deliberate, and yet full of passion, his lips found hers again and kissed her as he claimed her.
It wasn’t long before Dawn could feel his breath speeding up against the bare skin of her neck. He was close, but she was so spent there was little she could do to aid him. She only let him take her as he needed, and she moaned deeply as she felt him spill himself inside her.
“Wow,” he breathed as he smoothed her sweat-soaked hair off her face. “You are incredible.”
“I know,” she said with a coy smile. “Although this time, maybe don’t leave in the middle of the night.”
“I won’t,” he assured her as his arms tightened around her. It was a comforting sentiment, but she didn’t know if he would be able to keep that promise. She could only wait and see what the morning brought.
Chapter Thirteen
Fear and anxiety crept over Dawn’s skin like a well-worn jacket as she let her eyes flutter open. She’d let Jase stay the night again, and now she felt that all-too-familiar regret.
He probably left in the middle of the night, her mind sneered as she stared at the exposed wood beams of her ceiling. Although maybe this time, he at least thought to leave a note.
The bed creaked beside her, and it startled her so much that she almost shrieked. Luckily, she kept her reaction internal, and when she glanced to her right, she saw she’d been wrong. Jase hadn’t left. He was still right beside her, the comforter of her bed resting haphazardly around his muscular stomach.
“Morning,” he said, smiling at her. It wasn’t a warm smile, or a comforting smile, but an uneasy one at best. Maybe he regretted staying, but at least he’d stayed, and she was thankful for that.
“Morning,” Dawn said as she forced a smile of her own. She tried to meet his eyes, but her gaze was locked on the exposed muscles of his chest as he stretched. The room was still dark from the curtains hanging in front of the window, but she could make out was enough to tempt her to ask for another go.
“How’d you sleep?” he asked.
“Good,” she said. “Actually, really good.”
Dawn had never been a sound sleeper. Years of waiting for the wrong sort of man to come to her bedroom each night had left her unable to achieve a deep sleep, and two more years on the run had only compounded that. Somehow, Jase erased all that. With him nearby, she found herself sleeping like she had as a child.
“Good,” he said as he rolled over and kissed her bare shoulder. “Thanks for letting me stay.”
“Thank you for staying,” she said as she blinked the last of the sleep out of her eyes. “How about I make some breakfast?”
“Now you’re speaking my language,” Jase said as he ran his fingertips down her arm. “And coffee?”
“Of course,” she said as she pushed the covers off herself. Like Jase, she’d slept in the nude, something she’d never done before. She wanted to feel him against her body while she slept, and pajamas just seemed an inconvenience.
Without the warmth of Jase and the covers, Dawn realized the cold was more invasive than she’d noticed when she first woke. Though it might not have been sexy or alluring, she grabbed a pair of fleece pajama pants, the ones with the penguins on them, and an old hoodie, pulling it over her head to keep herself warm while she left the room.
The breakfast offerings at her house were lacking, at best, but she had enough bits and pieces to come up with food for two people. A couple eggs, the remainders of some bacon she’d brought home from the bar, and the last of a stale loaf of bread were easy enough to turn into a palatable meal, and she got to work frying the meat before she cracked the eggs.
While the food began to sizzle on the stove, Dawn clicked on the coffee maker and added some fresh grounds to the pot. The offerings in Goosemont for coffee were nothing compared to what they’d been in New York, but Dawn would take the bitter flatness of store-bought beans over returning to that city any day.
“Mmm,” Jase’s voice broke through her concentration as he stepped out of her bedroom. “Smells delicious.”
He’d only put on his jeans, leaving his chest bare. Dawn could see the light purple of the bruises she’d seen the night before had bloomed into deep blue blotches that covered his chest and arms.
“Oh my God,” she said as she looked him over. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” he said as he walked over to her and put an arm around her waist. “Bruises heal. I’m just a little tender.”
“What about your eye?” she asked as she looked at her mishmash of a stitch job.
“Also fine,” he said. “Although, I should probably throw some more whiskey on it.”
“Enough with that,” she said as she shrugged off his embrace. “I’ve got some rubbing alcohol in the bathroom, and some antibiotic cream, too. Use those. They’re bound to be a little more sterile.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jase said with a playful smile.
As much as she was trying to resist it, maybe even trying to find something wrong with their domestic morning, Jase seemed genuinely happy to be there, and she couldn’t help but realize she was too. He was nothing she ever thought she wanted, but having him in her home just felt so right.
As Jase moved to the bathroom, Dawn began to pour the percolated coffee into two mismatched mugs. For a second, she debated grabbing the bottle of Johnnie Walker out of the cupboard below the sink, but she thought better of it. It’s only ten in the morning, a voice reminded her, and then added, and when did you start drinking so much, anyway?
That last thought was what stilled her hand, and instead she grabbed a carton of milk that was nearing its expiry out of the fridge. She didn’t know if Jase took milk in his coffee, but she poured it anyway. Something told her he wasn’t picky when it came to caffeinated beverages.
“Much better,” Jase said as he left her bathroom. “It’ll make for a great addition to my already impression collection.”
She knew it was a joke, but she couldn’t help but worry. She couldn’t deny that the bruises and faded scars added to his bad boy sex appeal, but at the same time, it troubled her, especially when he seemed so nonchalant about it.
The worst of his collection were three faded white lines that stretched across the right side of his lower ribs. A new bruise had brought them to life, and her eyes stayed fixed on the scars she’d only just noticed.
“How did you get those three?” she asked as she handed him his mug.
“These ones?” he asked as he raised his right arm and twisted. “I was young and green, didn’t know what I was up against when I took on a changeling.”
“A what?” Dawn asked. “Is that like a werewolf?”
“Nah, you wish,” Jase said as he flashed her a smile. “They’re horrible little bastards. They kill kids and take their shape. They look innocent until you catch one in a mirror, but then they’re all teeth and claws. I guess I got a little too close to the claws.”
“Jesus,” Dawn gasped. “I’ve never even heard of that before.”
“Most people haven’t,” Jase said, shrugging as he took a sip of his coffee. “Most people only know the big ones: werewolves, vampires, demons, you get the drill. Stuff like changelings fly under the radar because really, they aren’t the sexy ones.”
As he said “sexy,” Jase raised his left hand and made an air quotes sign with his fingers. The way he was so casual about such horrible things put Dawn at a weird sense of unease, but she didn’t stop him.
“Really, most of what I end up seeing is ghosts,” he said as he drank his coffee. “People call all sorts of mediums and phonies, but we hear about it and take the case. Sometimes it turns out to be something a little more sinister.”
“Ghosts are real, too?” Dawn asked as she divvied up the breakfast she’d made on to two plates. “God, I don’t know if I can keep believing all this.”
“You don’t have to,” Jase said as Dawn put the plates
on the table and he took a seat in front of one of them. “Most people don’t. It’s easier that way. Better for us hunters, I mean. It keeps people out of our way while we take care of business.”
“It’s just…” Dawn sighed. “It’s almost too believable, I guess,” she said as she took her own seat. “You see this stuff in movies and it sometimes seems plausible, but the realer it gets, it somehow seems easier to deny.”
“Well, it can get a little weird,” Jase said as he dug into his breakfast. “Now, what about you?”
“Sorry?” Dawn asked.
“Don’t be,” Jase said as he mushed a strip of bacon into his eggs. “I tried to ask you last night, but then we got a little distracted.” With that, he gave her a soft waggle of his eyebrows, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“There isn’t much to tell,” Dawn lied to him again.
“Cut the crap,” Jase said, his attitude shifting. “You live in a barely-furnished house in the middle of nowhere. You dye your hair, you wear colored contacts… Come on. What’s going on?”
“Why do you need to know?” Dawn shot back at him.
“Because maybe I can help,” Jase said, turning serious. “I’ve already told you more about myself than I’ve probably told anyone, and I think you could offer me the same courtesy. Honestly, I can’t help but be concerned about what the hell is going on with you.”
“It’s nothing,” Dawn said. “Besides, you’ll just think I’m some poor little rich girl like everyone else.”
“See, now we’re on to something,” Jase said as he munched on some toast. “A rich girl, huh?”
“Fine,” Dawn relented a little. “I left home at eighteen. I grew up pretty well off, but my stepdad really wasn’t good people. Is that enough for you?”
“Depends,” Jase said. “How not good are we talking?”
“Really not good,” Dawn answered. “The kind of man who has the wrong sorts of people tucked in his pockets. The kind of people who would have no problem with making sure a girl who knew too much stayed gone, if you know what I mean.”
“I think I can figure it out,” Jase said. “So you just left?”
“I couldn’t take it anymore,” Dawn said. “He, uh… he did stuff to me. Stuff I really don’t want to talk about.”
Sympathy flashed in Jase’s eyes as he reached for her hand, but she stopped him cold.
“That’s why I don’t want to talk about it,” she told him. “I don’t need sympathy, and I don’t need pity. Got that?”
“Fine,” Jase said as he brought his hand back to his plate.
“Good,” she said before she continued. “So I left, but stupidly, I took his credit card. I figured I’d need money, and I guess I wanted to stick it to him a bit by stealing from him. So now I’ve got a warrant in addition to everything else.
“I got rid of the card after about three months, and I haven’t used anything but cash since then. I rolled into Goosemont about six months ago. Jim was hiring, he paid cash, I pay my rent in cash, and this place has about nothing going on. Well, had.”
“Jeez,” Jase sighed. “I assume then that Dawn isn’t your real name?”
“It is now,” she said. “I like it. It feels more real to me than the name my mother gave me. It’s who I am now, not who I use to be.”
“Well,” Jase said as he leaned back in his chair. “Maybe there is something we can do about this.”
“Excuse me?” Dawn said. “I just told you, my stepfather is not the kind of man you want to mess around with.”
“I’ve dealt with demons,” Jase said. “I think I could take on some crooked rich bastard.”
“Don’t,” Dawn demanded. “Don’t you even think about it.”
“I just want to help you,” he insisted.
“I don’t need your help,” Dawn insisted. “I was doing just fine here in Goosemont until all this shit happened, and once you do whatever you need to do, it can go back to being a boring-ass town that no one has ever heard of before.”
“And what if it doesn’t?” Jase asked. “What are you going to do then?”
Dawn shrugged. “Move on. Get back on the road.”
“That’s it?” Jase asked. “Just pick up and run?”
“So?” Dawn shot at him, her defenses raising again. “What are you going to do after you kill whatever it is you’re chasing? Just take off again, right?”
“That’s different,” Jase argued, but Dawn cut him off.
“Like hell it is.”
“Hey, calm down,” Jase said, his deep voice growing louder.
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Dawn snapped, her own voice raising to meet his.
She didn’t know why she was picking a fight with him, but she couldn’t stop herself. He was picking at a wound she wanted left alone to fester, and now he had broken the scab. All her rage was coming out, and she knew she was going to direct it at him and ruin what had been, up to that point, a decent morning.
“I think you should go,” she whispered, stopping herself before she could do something she’d really regret.
“Excuse me?” Jase asked.
“Just…” Dawn sighed. “I know I’m not thinking rationally right now, and I know I’m just going to fight you. Before that happens, I think it best if you just leave. I know you’re just trying to help.” Her voice had begun to shake as she spoke. Angry tears were forming at the corners of her eyes and her rage was barely contained by the last thread of patience she had.
“Seriously?” Jase asked again.
“Please,” she whispered, fighting back her own demons. “We can talk later once I’ve had a chance to think about things. I’m trying to be rational, here. Please don’t fight me on it.”
“Fine,” Jase said as he threw his fork down. “If that’s what you want, fine. Just don’t expect me to come running. All I wanted to do was help.”
“I know,” Dawn whispered as Jase pushed himself up from the table.
She didn’t watch him as he went to the bedroom to get his stuff. Nor did she watch as he walked out the door. She just couldn’t. If she did, she knew she’d stop him, and then she didn’t know what would happen. She didn’t want to push him away by picking a fight with him, but somehow she’d managed to do just that. There was no winning, but at least she hadn’t said something she’d regret later.
Once Jase slammed the door, Dawn let herself give into her emotions. With a strong sweep of her arm, she send her mug flying, and it shattered against a cupboard door.
“Fuck!” she screamed loud enough that she was certain Jase would be able to hear it from the other side of the door. Telling him to go was the right choice at that moment, she was in no state to talk about the things she’d kept silent for so long, but she still couldn’t help but question if pushing him away was the right choice.
“No,” she said as her hands shook. “I can’t. I just can’t.”
As she cleaned up the mess she had made, Dawn tried to figure out just what was keeping her from opening up to Jase. She knew she didn’t want to tell him more, but was that for his protection, or hers?
She’d never admitted to anyone what her stepfather had done to her for five years. She’d tried once with her mother, but that had gotten her nowhere because she couldn’t admit the full truth. Even thinking it made her stomach ache, and she couldn’t imagine saying the words aloud.
And what would happen if she told Jase? She had no idea what they even were, but she could only picture him running away if she did tell him the dirty details. Though she’d read enough about victim shaming and how what had happened wasn’t her fault, it was still too much for her to even attempt to get past the idea that she was damaged goods.
Will he want you after he knows? a dark voice in her mind hissed at her. What man would? He’s just going to leave anyway, so let him go.
Dawn hated that voice, the one that only came to call when she was at her lowest. Yet the voice had a point. Jase was only sticking around until he k
illed whatever it was that had killed the hikers. After that, he was gone, and Dawn was starting to think maybe she should be, too. Jase was only more trouble that she didn’t need.
But oh, how she wanted him. Just thinking of his lips on her skin, how safe she felt in his arms; it was like a fantasy come to life, and she couldn’t just toss that aside. Not yet, at least.
A quick glance at the clock above the stove let Dawn know she was running out of time if she wanted to get to Jim’s to open. She quickly tossed the broken glass in the trash before she hopped in the shower to rinse off the remaining hints of the night she’d spent with Jase.
The cold was a little much on her still damp hair as she stepped out into the chill of the day. Hints of snow were in the air, and she knew it would be falling soon.
Maybe I should take off before it snows, she thought to herself as she made her way toward Jim’s.
Dawn had never spent a winter out of the snow, and she was starting to wonder if this was the year to do it. Maybe she could head toward New Orleans, or Mississippi, or something. Living on the road in the winter was a harsh reality she’d faced twice now, and she wasn’t keen on a third go of it.
“Hey,” a familiar voice broke through her train of thought as she walked. Behind her, Gavin Mosley was jogging to catch up. Despite the drop in temperature, he was only wearing a t-shirt, and she could see the tension bandage wrapped around his bicep.
“Aren’t you cold?” she remarked.
“Nah, I run hot,” he said, smiling at her. There was something about the way his hair flopped over his big brown eyes that reminded her of an overly friendly puppy, and she couldn’t help but smile back at him.
“Haven’t seen you lately,” she said as he walked alongside her.
“Been busy prepping the house for snow,” Gavin said. “It’s taking a little longer than expected with a bum shoulder.”
“I’m not looking forward to that,” Dawn said as she shivered for effect.
“Are you kiddin’?” Gavin said. “I can’t wait for snow! I spent the last few years in Miami. It’ll be nice to throw some snowballs and build a fort again.”