A hush fell over the bar. Marcus twisted round to see a tall, statuesque woman picking her way past the pool table. A few of the patrons headed for the door, others turning to huddle deeper in their conversations. The woman's face twisted in a superior expression, her lip raised in a sneer. The business suit she wore was cut to her figure, emphasizing wide hips and lush breasts. A string of pearls was around her neck and her hair was done in a high bun.
Lexa Holmes. Nobody knew quite all the pies she had her fingers in, but they knew what happened when people started to muscle in on her territory, or if the local police tried to investigate her. Not that the latter happened often, not when the majority of them were in her Chanel handbag. She stopped at the stool next to Marcus' and pulled a dainty handkerchief from her pocket, which she spread over the stool before sitting.
"How is my favorite bear doing?" she asked with a toothy grin, resting one arm on the bar while ignoring Alava and the bartender.
Marcus wished he hadn't drank his whiskey so fast. Now he didn't have anything to drink, plus the alcohol risked going straight to his head and making him do something stupid, like telling her to go screw herself. So, to ensure that he didn't say something he'd regret, he said nothing at all.
Apparently, that wasn't good enough for Lexa.
"Surprised that you got out of jail early?" she purred.
"I cut a deal with the DA and I was on good behavior, so, surprised?" Marcus snorted. "Not at all."
Well. There went his plan to be silent. He could feel the tension radiating off of Alava and tried to keep his own stance relaxed. Nothing provoked an attack like acting like prey. And if there was one thing he wasn't, it was prey.
"Perhaps not after all. Oh, bartender? I'd like a martini."
The bartender pulled the requisite ingredients and started to make her drink while not looking at her. It wasn't surprising; the last time she had been in a bar, the guy behind the bar had refused to serve her and ended up with his place burning down the next day. They said that she was feeling charitable, otherwise he would have been in it when it went up.
Lexa rolled her shoulders. "It's been such a long day. I tell you, sometimes being a woman in this business is more than it's worth. But, speaking of business, I have a proposal for you, Marcus."
"Not interested," he said.
"Oh, but you haven't even heard what I was going to say. I've got a little business I'd love for you to take care of… and after that, perhaps a bit of personal business as well."
Don't rise to her innuendos. "Not interested. After the fiasco I was involved in, I'm sticking to the straight and narrow. So, you can take your business somewhere else."
Lexa's eyes flashed. "Do you really believe that she will take you back, Marcus? Besides, she's a human. Humans don't last. She'll stab you in the back when you turn to get her ring."
"Go to hell."
Lexa's nostrils flared. Her hand tightened on the martini glass and stress fractures appeared in the delicate stem. Marcus glanced at it and turned around. There was nothing else he wanted to say to this woman, nothing else he wanted to hear from her.
"You'd better watch yourself," she hissed at him. "This club is all you have now, isn't it? It would be a shame if the police started poking into your affairs…"
Marcus yawned. There was nothing in his affairs for the police to find and even if there was, the club could take care of themselves. All of them were strong shifters and even Lexa would have a hard time coming after all of them. And if she just went after him? He trusted the others to have his back. They might be too nervous about taking her on when she walked into a club with her high heels clicking against the spit-stained floors, but when it really mattered, they'd be there.
She didn't like to be ignored. She hissed, sounding more like a snake than the bear shifter she was, and stalked out of there without a word. He rolled his shoulders as she left, then slapped down a few bills to pay for her drink. The bartender nodded at him in thanks and took them.
"That was either very stupid or…" Alava shrugged. "Very stupid. I'd like to see her taken down, though. I've had more cases of kids overdosing lately. She's moving new product into the territory. If the matriarch won't do something to take care of her…"
"Yeah, well, what's new in the world?" Marcus sipped at his refill. "The matriarch's so busy keeping the human government from gobbling up our land that she doesn't have time to deal with internal crises. And those internal crises fuel the human government's takeover plans. What we need is a caped crusader. Batman to come swooping in and save the day."
Alava grunted. "Batman, huh?"
Marcus smirked. "Don't look at me. I don't do anything for anybody but me."
"And that's why you have a bullet in your heart."
"Stuff it." Marcus swung round. He spied a woman in a low-cut top wearing cutoff jeans and fishnet stockings eyeing him and flashed her a hundred. Her grin widened as she walked over to him.
Alava looked disgusted, but Marcus ignored the other bear. Instead, he grasped the woman around her waist and hoisted her up into his arms. He couldn't help but think about how much better Adela would feel against him. His bear snarled, beating hard against his chest. It wanted to go claim its mate. But that wasn't happening.
Marcus carried the woman he had into the bathroom and locked the door. Once he set her down, he tucked the money between her breasts, wondering if Adela's were still as soft and round as he remembered. When she reached for his belt, though, he grabbed her hands and stopped her. The woman arched a brow at him and he flashed her his most devastating smile.
"Make lots of noise and go back out in about an hour," he told her.
While she made a strangled noise of protest, he strode to the bathroom window. He opened it up and slipped out. Maybe he couldn't have Adela. But that didn't mean he was going to just take whatever woman was available. He had standards after all.
Chapter Three
One Week Later
The little bungalow was lit up warm and inviting as Adela pulled to a stop in the driveway. After a long day at her store, all she wanted to do was sink into a jetted hot tub with a glass of wine and her favorite music playing. This place didn't have a hot tub, though.
She sighed as she got out of her car. It hadn't been in the plan to get a place in town, but in the end, she decided that she didn't want to have to go through the hour commute every day that Isaias' house would take her. It was a bit of a risk, but she got the bungalow so she didn't have to stay so long in traffic every day.
Luckily the advertising that Isaias had advised her to do had really kicked off. In the week since the store had been opened, she had received a lot of customers. Enough that she was going to have to hire some extra help soon. Trying to help them all was working her off her feet. She loved it, though. It made the time fly by so she could get home to her baby girl sooner.
"What a day." Adela kicked off her shoes the moment she came into the door. She had made the right call by choosing to wear flats rather than heels. Her feet still ached, unused to being on them for such long periods of time, and she could only imagine how bad it would be in heels.
Her stomach growled as she caught a whiff of something delicious coming from the kitchen. Her mouth watered as she followed the scent to find Jasmine taking a lasagna out of the oven. Out of everybody she had interviewed, Adela was grateful that she had picked Jasmine. She went above and beyond what was needed and it made Adela's life much easier. If she was into girls, Adela would have asked her to marry her the first time she tasted Jasmine's cooking.
"Hope you're hungry." Jasmine smiled. "Luci went down really easily and I found myself with some spare time so I thought I'd make some stuff. You can freeze the leftovers."
"Pass me the fork, I'm starving," Adela said, only half-joking. "Luci is already sleeping, is she?"
Jasmine nodded as she served out a portion of food and handed it to Adela. "Careful, it's still hot. Luci was an angel today. She's a very conf
ident, well-adjusted girl. I know that might sound strange, but if half of what the papers say is true, then she's been through a lot in the past year. And so have you."
Adela managed to smile, but she wasn't going to be drawn into that conversation. Things had happened that she just wanted to forget about. Being kidnapped was traumatic. Being kidnapped by your ex, even if in the end he saved you, was worse.
"Do you have any plans for tomorrow?" The store was closed Sundays and she had managed to get all her paperwork done tonight. They had talked about her maybe stopping by to do some cleaning while Adela took Luci out, though.
"Nope. Do you need me to stop by?"
"Well, I do have a request. It's outside of your normal hours, though." Adela chewed her lip.
Jasmine poured herself a glass of milk–or rather, half and half cream. Adela didn't understand how she managed to keep her figure when she drank stuff like that, but Jasmine often proclaimed it was her guilty pleasure. Just the thought of gulping down cream like that made Adela gag.
"You said you had a request?" Jasmine prompted.
Adela shook her head. "Right. Yes, I do. I was wondering if you would be willing to watch Luci tomorrow night. From around seven to ten. I have… plans to go out."
Jasmine leaned over the table, her eyes sparkling. "Plans, huh? So, you've got a hot date? Spill! How hot is he? Scale one to ten, one being the ice burg that struck the Titanic and ten being the center of the sun."
"Those are quite extremes," Adela mumbled. She bent over her lasagna. "I haven't dated since before Luci was born."
"That's not an answer."
Adela ignored her nanny, instead going to the sink to get a glass of water. As she waited for the water to get cold, she glanced outside. A man stood in the park across the street, his hands in his pockets, leaning against his motorcycle. Adela's heart jumped to her throat.
What was Marcus doing standing outside her house? Was he staring in at her? The street lamps cast his face in shadow so she wouldn’t have even known it was him except that bike. She'd never forget that. The amount of times that they had gone zipping up and down the street, the wind in her hair, fire in her blood…
She yanked on the cord for the blinds, bringing them down at once. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she wished it wasn't from excitement. It should have been creepy to find him standing across the street like that, but it wasn't. On the contrary, a large part of her wanted to tell Jasmine to watch Luci and run out to him and jump on the back of his bike and roar through town like they didn't have a care in the world.
"What is it?" Jasmine asked. She joined Adela at the window and peered out. "Is that someone you know?"
"Has he been there all day?"
Jasmine shook his head. "Nope. I haven't seen him before. Looks like a bit of a rough character… ooooh, but look at those tattoos. I wonder if he has a flag on his bicep that he can make look like it's waving in the wind. That stuff is so sexy. Who is he?"
"He's… an ex," Adela finally managed. "Marcus Haught."
"Haught? He's certainly that." Jasmine peered for another few moments before she stepped back. A frown fell over her face. "Is he harassing you? I don't care how hot he is, if he's harassing you I will go out there and kick his ass."
Adela glanced at Jasmine doubtfully. She was tall, that was for certain, but where Adela's curves stopped, Jasmine's began. She wasn't exactly chubby like Adela was, but she was certainly round, especially in the butt and thighs. How much of that was muscle Adela didn't know, but Jasmine certainly didn't look like the type of woman who could go around kicking the asses of men Marcus' size.
"I know karate," Jasmine added. "Or we could call the cops."
Adela shook her head. She didn't want to be responsible for Marcus going back to jail. True, he had been part of a plot to kidnap her, but he had also almost died to protect them. In her opinion, he shouldn’t have ended up in jail in the first place. Not that she was going to tell Jasmine all that.
"That won't be necessary. Thanks, though. If anybody I'm actually scared of shows up, I'll let you know." Adela pried apart the blinds to gaze out at her ex again. "Marcus… Marcus would never hurt anybody. Well, not unless they had it coming. Like, beat their kids or liked to kick puppies sort of 'have it coming'. He always did like his tough guy image, but he's not… he's not a bad man. Just a dumb one."
Jasmine grunted. "Definitely a story there. But I think I'll stick around a while longer, just until Mr. McHottie over there leaves. I can practically hear your heart jumping out of your chest from here."
Adela placed her hand over her chest. Her heart was pounding pretty hard. She bit her lip and shook her head. "It's okay. This isn't fear. Just surprised to see him."
It was close enough to the truth. Her eyes briefly slid shut as she remembered when they had first met. She was still a shy, withdrawn girl who couldn't stand to be around large numbers of people. It had been a Sunday, and she had gone to her parents' grave. They had been murdered when she was young, and she still hadn't gotten over their deaths. Marcus had been there, at a fresh grave. His grandmother's. They had started talking, and one thing led to another…
What she had thought would be a one-night stand was more explosive than anything she had ever known. She had given him her virginity that day, after knowing him for only a few hours. Later she would wonder why she had done it, but every time she was with him, a bit of the fear she held onto slipped away. He had given her more than Luci, in the end. He had given her freedom.
"Looks like he's leaving,"
Adela's eyes snapped open in time for her to see Marcus drive off on his bike. Her eyes tracked his movement until he was out of sight, then she slumped against the sink and sighed. "So he is. Gone to wherever the stars lead him next, whether the deep desert or flat ocean."
From her bedroom, Luci started to cry. Not really upset crying, more like whining. The kind she got when she wanted attention and snuggles.
Jasmine glanced at Adela. "Want me to go get her?"
Adela shook her head. "Thanks for the lasagna. I've got it from here, though. We'll be fine."
Jasmine looked at her doubtfully for a moment but nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow at seven, then."
She almost asked the other woman what she was talking about. Almost. The sight of Marcus had nearly driven Greg, the quiet man who had helped her procure most of her items for the store, out of her mind. He had been red as a beet when he asked her out for dinner on Sunday night. He was sweet and she had accepted without much hesitation. Even if it was mixing work and personal life, he didn't seem like the kind of guy who would take it out on her if things didn't go well.
Once more shaking her head, Adela hurried to Luci's room. The toddler was standing in her crib, crying, but she stopped and broke into a smile the moment she saw her mother. Adela picked her up and cradled her against her chest, grabbing a blanket to wrap around them both.
"Did you just need to say goodnight to mommy?" Adela crooned as Luci laid her head down on her shoulder. "Such a sleepy girl."
She returned to the kitchen and waved to Jasmine as she left. With one hand she tossed a lid over her piece of lasagna to keep it warm and took Luci to the living room, where she settled down in a rocking chair.
The months of her pregnancy had been very difficult to get through. Not only was it physically uncomfortable, but it had been emotionally trying, too. Every time Luci moved inside her, Adela was reminded of Marcus, and what an utter idiot he had been. Several times she had almost broken down and told him that he was the father. But she was too stubborn and angry for that, and so she had leaned on Isaias for support.
Isaias, as close as they were, had had no idea what he was doing. But he had stayed with her. Unfortunately, he held on to more anger towards Marcus than Adela did. It made working through her own feelings rather difficult. In time she had stopped talking about him.
And then Luci was there, and she was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Her baby
was her world. But didn't she deserve to grow up knowing her father? Adela had no answers.
Chapter Four
Bears did not get drunk.
At least, not the same way non-shifters did. Their advanced healing meant that their bodies processed alcohol much quicker, and so it took a hell of a lot more to get even a buzz going on, and it didn't last as long as it would in a non-shifter body.
That didn't stop Marcus from trying. A couple shots of whiskey on an empty stomach was enough to get him saying things he probably shouldn't have, but after going to Adela's home–why had he done that again? He was going to be arrested for stalking–he needed something to take the edge off. That had meant going to the bar and downing a full bottle.
Now he stood outside the bar, grunting as he tried to decide which bike was his. He wasn't going to drive it, that would be too stupid, but he was strong and could carry it. Provided that he could find the damned thing. Had someone stolen it?
Ah. Over there. On the other side of the parking lot.
He hummed to himself as he strode toward it. The door to the bar slammed open and a few of the younger patrons came out, jostling each other and making jokes. They went silent when they saw him. He recognized them, some new comers to the club who were going to get themselves kicked out by being public nuisances. They muttered to each other and then came over to surround him.
Marcus almost rolled his eyes. How cliché. They had clearly been watching too many biker movies. "You don't want to do this, boys."
They all wore club jackets. Jackets that this little stunt was going strip from them, no matter the outcome. One of them sneered at him. "You betrayed us all when you handed Phil and the others over to the cops."
"Phil and the others were stupid. They should have known that going around kidnapping non-shifters would only make it worse for the rest of us. It's men like them who are the reason why so many of us think they have to hide. We want shifter pride? Then we can damned well stop acting like a bunch of criminals."
The Bear Shifter's Second Chance Page 2