Shifting Life (Skull Shifters MC Book 1)

by Tricia Wagner

  An hour flies by and the next thing I know Brantley is entering the room with an older man. I stand up from my work and start fussing with myself. “Mel, this is my dad, John.” I probably have a look of shock on my face. I was not expecting to meet the rents. “Hi Mr. Silverman. It’s so nice to meet you.” He takes my hand, “Please, call me John. It’s a pleasure to meet the girl who has captured all of my sons time lately.” I take my hand back from the shake and says, “Yeah, sorry about that.” “No trouble at all it’s just nice to finally meet you.” Finally? It’s been three days. I smile at him and he shakes my hand. I can’t get a read on him if he is happy about me or not. “I must say you aren’t what I was expecting. At all.” Uh. “Sorry to disappoint.” He shakes his head once in a negative, “Not a disappointment. Usually the women, and I use that term loosely, that he brings around aren’t like you.” “Well, I think I’ll take that as a compliment.” Brantley jumps in, “Dad. We have to go. It’s really been a pleasure talking with you though. Thanks for that.” His dad looks to him and says, “Come for dinner. Your mother will want you. Tonight.” I shoot my eyes to Brantley. Seriously? “We will be there. Tell her not to go all out. It’s just us.” He nods and exits. “I’m so sorry. He wasn’t even supposed to be here. He’s not the warmest guy.” That was an understatement, “Ya think?” “Sorry.” Ugh. “It’s not your fault. I was just caught off guard. Now your mom is going to hate me. I didn’t even have time to put on any kinda charm.” “My mom, is the complete opposite of my dad. She will love you. Please don’t worry about this. My dad, he’s a military guy. He’s retired and dabbles sometimes in my business. He wasn’t supposed to be here, but I’m sure he assumed I would take the call here, so he just showed up.” I try to calm the situation, “Brant, it’s fine. This is all good. I just need to figure out what to wear tonight.” He shakes his head at me and kisses me on the lips. We gather up my stuff and head out the door hand in hand. The rest of the afternoon flies and by the time I am ready for dinner I am starving. “Can I eat something before we go so I don’t look like an idiot?” He shakes his head, “No, listen Ma’s food is the best. You don’t want to go on a full stomach.” Ughhhh. “Fine.” He smiles at me and says “They will love you Melanie. I promise.” I usually don’t worry about meeting new people. I am a people person. I give him a nod and we head to his parent’s house.

  Chapter Seven

  We picked up my car so I would have access to it, and Brantley wanted to drive it so I said by all means. I think he just wanted to see how fast my merc can go. No joke he sped the whole way here. We pull in the driveway to a cute little ranch style home. We get out and start walking when I realize the windows must be open because you can hear his father speaking firmly. “He seems serious about this business woman. She probably thinks she’s better than everyone else and now we need to spend an entire evening pretending to be interested in what she does.” I gasp as I hear who must be Brantley’s mom say, “John, this is Brantley. He wouldn’t pick poorly to bring here.” He snarls, “He didn’t want to. I made him take me in there to introduce me to her. He was reluctant and now I see why. He was probably afraid she would look down on us.” Oh god. I think I might be sick. I look to Brantley who has a horrible look on his face. He turns to leave and I stop him. “No, Brant. They need to see that he is nothing short of wrong. If we’re going to be together then we need to do this. If you want to leave then fine, but that tells me you don’t have any confidence in me and my abilities to win them over.” He gives me a short nod and says a statement that leaves no room for argument. “Fine, but the second that he insults you we’re out of there. I don’t want to hear another word about it from you if I get up and walk out.” “Fine.” With that he knocks on the door. We wait patiently for his mom to get to the door. She opens the door still wearing her apron and the house smells like bread heaven. I picked jeans and a nice pink top, but didn’t go too over the top. I also put my hair down because that softens my face a bit. I am the complete opposite of the professional woman that his dad met this afternoon. “Ma, this is Melanie. Mel, this is my ma Lilly.” She smiles huge, “Mrs. Silverman, it is so nice to meet you. Brantley, has told me so much about you. One of those things is your cooking and I must say, your house smells like bread heaven right now.” She lets out a light laugh as she pulls me in for a hug. “Please call me Lilly. Mrs. Silverman was my mother in law.” I give her a smile and say, “Ok, Lilly.” “It’s so nice to meet you. Brantley has said wonderful things, and I can see they were all true.” I smile big at that. Who wouldn’t want to hear that this perfect male specimen was saying wonderful things about you? “Thank you for the invitation to dinner. I’m excited to get to know the parents who raised such a gentleman.” His dad jumps in with, “Well, now I know she’s lyin. Unless she’s here with another son that we don’t have.” I snap my head to the side and see Brantley’s dad standing there. I let out a little laugh trying to lighten what he said. “I assure you sir, Brantley has been nothing but a gentleman.” Except in the bedroom, but we won’t go there. I don’t need a gentleman in the bedroom. I bite back my laughter at my own thoughts and reach a hand out to shake Brantley’s dad’s hand. “John, it’s good to see you again. You have a lovely home.” “Nothin fancy.” What do you say to that? “Beautiful, all the same.” I’ve never been one to be snobby. I refuse to start now. I would never look down on anything that Brantley brought me to. Even if it were a shack. “It reminds me of home.” Lilly jumps in, “Where is home my dear?” I let out a nostalgic sigh, “Pennsylvania. I am from a little town about an hour away from Pittsburgh.” “Oh, how lovely.” “Yes, ma’am.” She puts out her arm and points us in, “Well, look at us barricading you at the door. Please come in and sit. We can chat while I finish up the food.” I nod and ask, “Sure, is there anything I can help with?” “Oh, we can find you something, although I hear I shouldn’t give you a knife.” To this my mouth drops open and my head swings to Brantley. “Seriously, one bad thing happens since you met me and you had to tell her that embarrassing story?” To this he laughs. Seriously? “Lilly, I swear I can use a knife. The events leading up to that had me in a bit of a fog.” She snickered as if she knew exactly what I meant. I shake my head as she pulls me from Brantley’s hand. “You boys go do your thing we will be in the kitchen.” I kid you not, Brantley’s dad looks at me and then to Brantley and mutters, “Where a woman belongs.” I see Brantley’s face get tight and I shake my head at him to not worry about it.

  I walk away with his mom and get settled in the kitchen. We talk about work and Brantley. She hands me two beers to take into the guys and I’m really hoping I don’t over hear anything that I don’t want to. Fat chance to that. I walk out of the kitchen and start my journey to find them. I was just coming to an opening in the hallway and I hear Brantley. “Yeah, well she heard everything you said as we were pulling up. Ya know, that woman might very well be the woman that I marry and spend the rest of my life with and look at the first impression you are giving her of our family. Is that what you want?” His dad’s tone is angry, “I only said the truth. You need someone who is at home and waiting for you at the end of the day. Not working just as many hours as you.” Oh no. What if that’s true? “You should see her work, dad. This is the 21st century. Come into the new millennium with me where women work just as much as men.” That made me smile, “Not my son’s woman. Say you do marry. Who will watch your children?” “Jesus, dad. Is this really something to be concerned about?” I let out a little sigh but Brantley continued, “And don’t think she didn’t hear your comment about where women belong. If this is how you want to behave I will have no problem continuing my relationship with Melanie and ending mine with you.” Ok this needed to stop. Men respect me in my business. I refuse to let this man take away anything that I have worked so hard for. I also refuse to be the person to come in between a father and a son. I walk into the room just as his dad goes to respond. “I brought drinks.” Sounds like Brantley will n
eed something stronger than a beer. “I left something in my car that I wanted to show your mom. Can I have my keys please?” He gives me a nod and pulls them from his pocket. He hands them over and pulls me into him as he bends to my ear. “Don’t even think about bailing on me. I will find you.” I don’t respond, because he totally knows my play, but at least he has a heads up that I’m leaving. I take the keys and walk out of the room. I head back into the kitchen. “Lilly, it was really nice meeting you, but I’m really not feeling well. Brantley gave me the keys I’m going to go ahead and go. He’s going to stay for dinner and y’all can catch up. Someone will be here to pick him up or drop off a vehicle for him.” Her smile drops, “Oh dear, what did John say?” I play dumb, but I was never a good liar. “John? Nothing. I really am just not feeling well. Probably just the side effects from the transfusion.” She gives me a nod, but I know she knows I’m lying. “Thank you again. I hope to see you again…soon.” “You too dear.”

  I walk out and make a break for my car. Maybe I can get out of the driveway before Lilly goes back to tell Brantley. Luckily I do and I call Kris. “Kris, listen I just left Brantley’s parent’s house. To say that went well would be a lie. His mom is awesome, but his dad is a piece of work.” She lets out a little laugh, “Whoa, girl slow down. Is Brantley with you?” Ugh. “No, I left him there. I need to make myself disappear for a couple of days. I need to get off the phone with you and call one of the guys to go and drop a vehicle off to him. Is that mean?” She sounds pissed, “Seriously? You just left him there with his parents?” I explain, “You didn’t hear everything that I did. I was coming in between Brantley and his dad, and I hadn’t even said but maybe two sentences. He doesn’t like women who work, except in the kitchen of course.” She scoffs, “You’re kidding?” I wish. “Nope. When we got there I could hear him talking about me to his wife about how he didn’t want me around. Guess what? I’m not around anymore. Can I stay with you? No one will look there first. Please?” She reluctantly says, “Yeah, although I don’t really agree with what you’re doing.” I ignore the second part, “Thanks, I’ll be there in probably thirty minutes. I have to go. Love ya.” I hang up before she can say anything else. I pick up the phone and call Trance. “Mel, where are you?” Uh oh, “That’s not important. I need you to go and either drop off a car for Brantley at his parents or go and pick him up. Can you do that?” He sounds baffled when he asks, “Aren’t you with him?” Hmmm… “Not exactly.” His voice gets louder, “Are you alone?” “Um.” “Melanie. There is a psycho after you and you’re driving around by yourself?” I let out a little sigh. “Please, Trance just do it? And when you see Brant tell him I’m sorry.” “Wait, sorry for wh-” I end the call and drive to Kris’s.

  I end up having to shut my phone off because Brantley keeps calling. This is so hard. How will I move forward knowing what the perfect life was like? Well, maybe not perfect, but perfect for me. The new me anyways. Now I was going to have to relocate my whole life just to be able to get him off my mind. Even then I doubt I would be able to stop thinking about him. Cue heavy sigh. “Kris, open up I’m here.” She opens the door and lets me in. I pull my car in the garage so no one can see it. Thank God for best friends. She doesn’t agree with what I’m doing, but she doesn’t fight me on it. “I think this is a mistake.” “I’m sure you’re right. But I love my dad. I would never want my dad to be upset the way Brantley’s was.” She shrugs and says, “Yeah, but your dad isn’t a dick.” Cue heavy sigh. “Your dad would never make Brantley feel like that in a million years.” This was true. I nod and take another shot of tequila. Yep, she’s definitely my best friend. She sets me up on the couch when it comes time to go to bed. I do that and fall into a deep sleep.

  I don’t wake until it feels like I am floating on a cloud. A hard cloud. What is happening? “Try to run from me and I told you I would find you.” Brantley. Carrying me through Kris’s house. Kris just standing by as if this is normal. “You betrayed me.” She puts her hands up, “You should’ve heard his speech.” I scoff, “I don’t care about a damn speech. You’re my best friend. Or you were.” Brantley jumps in, “Don’t blame her. You put her in the middle of this when you came here. As if I wasn’t going to come and get you.” I roll my eyes. “I can walk.” “Yeah, and I see you can run too. But, you can’t hide.” I shake my head at him again. Seriously? “Brantley, put me down. I am not going with you.” His voice raises, “Yeah, you fuckin are.” Now I’m pissed. “No, I’m fuckin not!” He sets me down on my feet and says “How did you get this one all twisted around in your head? How are you going to use this situation to push me away this time?” What? “I’m not. I just refuse to be the brick wall in between a son and a father. I heard everything he said. You can now go find a woman who will be sitting at home every night waiting for you to get there. I will be moving back to Pennsylvania and starting up a firm there.” “You aren’t goin anywhere.” “You aren’t the boss of me. I can do what I damn well please. You can’t stop me.” I almost forgot where we were until Kris says, “Hey, can you take this somewhere else please? My neighbors are not afraid to call the cops.” She was so right. Last year we had a girl’s night that got a little rowdy and the cops showed up to us reenacting a pillow fight. Don’t ask. You really don’t want to know. “Yea, I just have to get my keys and I’ll go home.” Brantley cuts me off, “To my house with me. And we can get your car tomorrow.” What’s the point in even speaking? He just does what he wants anyways. I don’t say anything I just grab my purse and walk to his truck. I hop in myself (not very gracefully) but I’ll be damned if he helps me into this truck. The tequila is still in me so I’m still feeling pretty buzzed. “Babe, look at me.” I snap my angry eyes on and look at him. “What?” “If there is an issue we talk it through. You do not go runnin all over God’s creation.” I mutter, “Apparently, I do.” He reaches over toward me, “Yeah, well never again. You got me?” “No.” I look out the window and don’t say another word the rest of the way to his house. We pull up and I get out of the truck. I get to the door and stand there and wait for him to open it for me. He opens it and I go straight to the couch and lay down. I will not be sleeping with him in that bedroom. Not happening. Of course until I am up over his shoulder and on my way back down the hallway. “Brantley, put me down.” Yes I’m screaming, “Not a chance, babe.” I sigh heavily and dramatically. He flops me onto the bed and says “If you aren’t there when I get out of the bathroom I will find you and bring you back here. You might as well save us all the effort.” With that he closes the bathroom door. I curl into the smallest ball I can in the very corner of the bed so he gets the point I don’t want him to touch me. He comes out of the bathroom and I see him walk around to his side of the bed. He slides in and hauls me back into his body. “Did you think that was going to stop me from doing this?” I sigh, “A girl can hope.” I feel him shake his head. “Baby, I need you to know that my dad is wrong. I don’t want you to be anyone, but who you are. I love your work and I love your work ethic. I want nothing, but the best for you and that means I want nothing but the best for your career as well.” Why was he making this so hard, “That’s really nice Brant, but your dad hates me. How do you get passed something like that? I heard you tell him you would continue your relationship with me and end it with him. I refuse to be the woman behind the rift in a father, son dispute. Think of your mom. She’s so sweet and precious. How would she handle something like that?” He squeezes my side, “We will deal with my dad. He would never let a woman come between our relationship. I promise. This is just a little speed bump. Today though, when you left, I have never seen my mom yell the way she did. She was so upset that my dad caused you to leave. This is another reason I know that my dad is going to make an effort to make this work, because he doesn’t like my mom to be upset.” Oh no. “I didn’t want to upset your mom, but when I heard you say you would choose me over him I couldn’t be the reason that this happened.” He sighs, “I get what you’re saying, but I
need you to trust me to make the right decision. You running, said you didn’t think I could handle all of this.” I quickly explain, “That wasn’t my intentions.” “I know, but it doesn’t change how it felt.” I sigh because he’s right. “Brant.” “Yeah?” “I’m really sorry, but I can’t do this.” “Yeah, you can, and you will.” I shake my head. “I’m leaving for Pittsburgh tomorrow.” He sounds mad, “Tomorrow? When did that happen?” “I have a big client there I told you that. The trip just came up this afternoon while you were on the conference call. Everything went so fast this evening I didn’t have a chance to tell you.” He gives me a squeeze. “I don’t want you to go alone. If Jack finds out you’re leaving the state, he may follow you.” I don’t think he should come with me so I explain, “He won’t. It’s a private plane.” “Whose?” “Mine.” Yeah, I’m that rich. “You have your own plane?” “Yeah, it became necessary with all the traveling I was doing when I got myself started.” I feel him shaking his head. “My woman is loaded.” “Yeah, except I don’t know if I’m your woman.” Did I say that out loud? “Are you kiddin me with this shit?” Yeah I did say it out loud. “Sorry. It’s just been a long night.” “I have to say darlin, I think you’ve had worse.” Isn’t that the truth? “I need to go to sleep so I can get up early and catch my flight.” He asks, “Your plane, can’t you catch it when you want?” “Yeah, I just want to get there and get the flight out of the way.” “Do I need to invite myself?” “What?” “I thought maybe you’d ask me to come with you. I could meet your parents.” Oh, Lord. Should he come with me? “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” “Why not?” Cue heavy sigh. “Fine you can come.” He lets out a laugh. “Well, thank you.” “Can I sleep now?” “Yes, sleep.” And I did.