Genuinely glad, Jill covered his hand. “It makes me feel better that if I take this job, you won’t be alone.”
“So what’s keepin’ ya from takin’ it?” Will went back to staring towards the kitchen.
“I am sorta back with Ivan.”
Will shook his head. “So you applied for a job while you’re broken up. What would you have done if you’d not slept with him and got back together?”
Jill looked up at the ceiling and waited for the server to slide the food in front of them. One plate, with two pancakes, eggs and side of bacon, was placed down for her. Will had a plate stacked high with pancakes and another with a double order of eggs and hash browns. Squirrels tended not to eat much meat.
“I didn’t sleep with Ivan last night. I sorta sobbed all over him.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. Now you see my predicament. Ivan moved here to be with me. After three years, I broke up with him thinking he’s not committed. Then we get back together and now I get a job offer on the other side of the country.” Jill put her head between her hands and stared down, just as the butter slipped off the side of her pancakes.
With a mouth full of food, Will could only nod in sympathetic understanding.
No use in wasting a perfectly good plate of food, so Jill decided to postpone her thoughts about the job until after her stomach was full.
After breakfast, they arrived at the garage. They went to the Johnson compound to talk to the guys. They’d not filmed in a couple days and she’d decided it was time to leave the filming to someone else. Right now, her time would be devoted to rebuilding her relationship with Ivan.
Once she entered the garage, the twins were nowhere to be seen, the only person banging away at some part was Gareth. She assumed Walter was in the back office yelling into the phone or at the twins.
“Hey. Where’s everyone?”
Will shrugged. “The twins are picking up a vehicle and Walter took Scootie to an outlet mall.”
Gareth stopped banging and sauntered to her. “We decided not to do the reality show after all.”
“Why?” Jill couldn’t help but be surprised. “You guys are gathering all kinds of fans.”
Men were interesting. When they didn’t have a good answer, they repeated the question back. “Why aren’t we doing it anymore?”
“Yes.” Jill gritted her teeth. “Will and I put a lot of work into it. You guys set up a time for us to be here today. I left work early.”
“Yeah, well,” Gareth said.
“We could make more money doing truck shows. And so we’re kinda going to keep filming, but it will be mostly us just doing it.”
“So you’re firing me?”
“Oh, hey, Jill.” Perfect time for the twins to show up. At least Mark. Clark wasn’t in sight.
“Son of a bitch.” Jill screamed and whirled to face Mark, who’s rounded eyes met Gareth in question.
“What did I do?”
“You guys are taking over the show and firing us? After all we did?”
It was a stupid point to argue, as she’d come to tell them she was quitting, but it was the principal of the thing.
“Not firing. Just letting you go,” Mark supplied with a sheepish grin. “I mean, we don’t really need you.” He pointed to a camera set up against the wall. “Daddy is threatening to kill us if we keep disrupting work for filming.”
“What’s...up,” Clark appeared and immediately stood behind his brother. “Jill.”
Her head spun. There was too much happening at once.
“Will, let’s go.” Jill stomped to the door. “I quit. Take that. I quit!” She turned to look at the trio who looked to one another as if waiting for someone to volunteer for the gas chamber. Finally, Clark came forward.
“I’m sorry. We planned to tell you slowly, but dumbass obviously spilled the beans. Thank you for everything. We’ll still split the money we make with ya.”
Jill couldn’t help but soften. Part of her heart would always belong to Clark. “It’s okay. Will got a new position at the Super-Mart, so he can’t be available as much and I might have other stuff going on, too. So it works out.” She allowed Clark to hug her and then was embraced by both Mark and Gareth.
“What the hell now?” Walter interrupted the hug fest. “Get your mamby-pamby asses back to work.” When the guys shuffled away, he winked at Jill. Obviously, he’d been listening in.
There was a sound of a horn honking and Walter frowned. “What now?”
Too curious for her own good, Jill followed him outside.
In the distance, Jill could make out the electric fence. It was still open, either that or closing, but it was hard to tell by the slow rate it moved. Nearing was a red truck with football team flags and a skull and crossbones front plate. From both sides, guys hung out and a female sat in the passenger seat.
“Boys!” Walter called and immediately Mark, Clark and Gareth appeared to stand beside the pack leader.
The unfamiliar wolves arrived and pulled the Jeep sideways, sending gravel flying before it came to a rocking stop.
A huge male climbed down and stood with both hands hanging to his sides. “I want the bastard who got my girl pregnant to fess up. I know it was one of them twins of yours.”
Jill looked to the twins. Both froze and had paled. So that wasn’t a good clue.
Walter walked toward the angry father. “I’m Walter Johnson, pack leader here. First of all, you don’t come into my compound without first asking permission. This is my territory and I have every right to shoot you.” His voice remained flat, but with enough of an edge to send chills down Jill’s spine.
“Secondly, if one of my boys fathered a child, neither would ever shirk their responsibility. Did your daughter inform you whoever it is?”
The brown wolf lost some of his bravado. “I’m A.J., From Burrings County. My leader is Gerald Brown. My daughter here is Lily Grace.” He was smart enough to look sheepish. “I apologize, but as a father, you can see how this is upsetting.”
The young woman fidgeted. She was pretty with long curly auburn hair and, currently, a bright red face. Jill felt bad for her. Sometimes, father wolves had a way of making things worse.
“Which one of you takes responsibility for this?” Walter looked to the twins.
Mark clenched his jaw and Clark cleared his throat. Finally, Mark lifted both hands as if in surrender. “If you’d told me, you know I’d be okay with it,” he said to Lily Grace, who began to cry.
The funny thing about all males, once tears burst, not one of them knew what to do. The guys in the Jeep got out and stood with hands in pockets, looking at the ground. Papa wolf stared at his daughter and Walter looked to Jill.
Finally, she walked to Mark and punched him. “Go. Hug her.”
Ensuring to keep a distance as he walked past her father, Mark went to Lily Grace and hugged her loosely while awkwardly patting her shoulders.
“What’s going on?” Scootie hurried over. Dressed in lemon yellow and lime green, she looked like a lemonade stand. “Who died?” She looked at the glum faces.
Since the men were still under tears freeze, Jill finally decided to explain. “Mark got Lily Grace pregnant. That’s her dad, he’s mad. Those, I assume, are her brothers who came to kick ass, but got schooled by Walter.”
The brothers gave her dirty looks and she grinned at them. Jill ignored them.
“Well slap Vaseline on a stick and ram it up a piñata’s ass. If that’s not the best news I’ve heard in a long time.” Scootie rushed to Lily Grace, shoved Mark out of the way and grabbed the girl’s hands. “Come on, honey, you don’t need to be around all these hooligans. Let’s go plan a baby shower.” Scootie led a calmer Lily Grace away as the men tried to figure out what to do next.
“I’ve seen your work. It’s great,” A.J. said and, before long, they were offered a grand tour. Jill wasn’t sure whether she was to follow Mark to his house or remain behind in case there was a fight. Fin
ally, she trailed after Mark, who by the many looks over his shoulder, would have preferred to go to the garage.
“You’re gonna be a daddy,” Jill bumped his shoulder with her head, since he was so much taller and she couldn’t do a shoulder bump. “Congrats.”
His smile was slow, but finally it broadened. “I’ll be damned. You’re right. I’m gonna have a pup.”
“Or six.” Jill couldn’t help it.
“One,” Mark said with conviction.
“Right.”
Chapter Thirteen
It was going to be a good evening. Jill decided she’d hold off what to do about the job in LA for a few days. After all, the people back in Los Angeles gave her over the weekend to think about it. For the moment, she wanted to enjoy time with Ivan. They’d planned a relatively normal date, including dinner and a walk in the park. So yes, if one was to be totally frank, the park was more of a cemetery, but hey, it was trimmed grass, benches and trees.
Jill studied her reflection. She wore a long, snug, pale blue dress with a side split and wedge heels so not to sink into the grass. She pushed back her long, brown hair with a matching pale blue hair band.
When the doorbell rang, her stomach flipped. How she loved that feeling, the nerves of seeing her handsome man for the first time that day.
Floating over the floor, she opened the door to find a drop dead gorgeous Ivan holding a dozen red roses.
He smiled. “For you.”
She wanted to throw herself at him, but figured the thorns would make it uncomfortable, so, instead, Jill reached for the roses. “You look great.”
“That’s my line,” Ivan said, leaning forward to press his lips over hers.
Once in a vase, the roses looked good on her counter. Jill took a step back to end up against Ivan’s chest. “I am so happy.” She turned and wrapped her arms around his waist.
His deep chuckle rumbled in her ear. “Then I’ll have to bring flowers more often.”
They planned for her to finish packing her things and moving back to Ivan’s place that weekend.
Dinner was good, even comical when Ivan tried to eat escargot. He wasn’t a fan. Laughing at his lack of elevated palate despite his age, they walked out hand in hand toward the cemetery park.
It was too beautiful a night to ruin, especially when her date looked so handsome in the moonlight. Maybe because it was a full moon or because he was, by nature, a night creature, but Ivan was breathtaking by moonlight. His hair seemed blacker, his face even more perfect.
“Can we sit down?” Jill tugged him toward a bench. Of course, being Ivan, he swooped her up in his arms and carried her to it. Once they settled with her on his lap, they kissed for longer than appropriate for being in public. Thank goodness not many people went for moonlight walks in the cemetery.
Her heart pounded against her breast, not just from the kiss, but because of what she was about to ask of him. “Ivan. I got an amazing job offer.”
“Oh?” His lips curved and his gaze moved from her lips to meet her eyes. “Tell me about it.”
Not able to stop herself, she kissed him first on the lips then trailed her mouth down from his jawline to his neck. “I want you so bad.”
“If you’re trying to distract me, it’s working.” He pulled her tight against him. “Now tell me.”
“Okay.” She leaned back and looked him straight in the eye. “It’s with a major network. I’ll be doing the local news for a suburb of Los Angeles and I want to ask you...”
“We’ll move then.”
Jill’s mouth fell open. At the same time, her heart threatened to explode with love for him. He would move across the country again for her. No hesitation.
“I think I’m going to start sobbing again.”
“You can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because I have a surprise.”
Her lips curved into a delighted grin. Jill loved surprises. “Ooh, tell me.” She practically bounced with excitement.
Ivan chuckled. “Okay, but you have to close your eyes and put your hands out.”
Obediently, she did as directed and waited until he took her left hand and turned it palm down. His hand smoothed over hers and she felt it. Something slipped onto her ring finger.
When she opened her eyes, the large diamond sparkled beautifully on her finger. It was a perfect round cut stone.
“Marry me, Jill.” Ivan held her face up to his. “Say yes.”
“Of course I’ll marry you.”
And yes, unlike the stupid women in movies that could blink away tears prettily, Jill dissolved into a puddle of goo and snot.
Later that night, Jill lay next to Ivan. It was the perfect place to be snuggled. Next to him all night. Although Ivan preferred being up all night and sleeping during the day, he’d always switched his schedule for her.
Ivan must have known she was deep in thought because he pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.
“Ivan?”
“Mmmm?”
“You’ve always been committed to us. Why didn’t you try to explain to me what a dumbass I was being?”
His shoulders moved. “You needed to figure out for yourself if I was the one for you.”
“There has never been anyone else since I met you. I let my mind ruin things.”
Lifting her face to him, he looked down into her eyes. “From now on, anytime you’re being a dumbass, I’ll stop you. Now, how about we do something besides just laying here naked?”
“But we just finished a bit ago.”
He took her hand and moved it to between his legs. “I need you.”
“Oh.” Yes, one day she’d learn the art of comebacks. At the moment, “Oh” was the perfect thing to say.
Over and over again.
The End.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hello, dear reader. Writing is my dream come true. There is nothing I love more than bringing my characters and stories to life and sharing them with you.
H.M. McQueen is my pen name for the paranormal side of Hildie McQueen, just so you know.
I live in a small town in Georgia with my husband and two unruly Chihuahuas.
I had fun writing this story. If you enjoyed Reality Shift, please recommend it to your friends and family. I would sincerely appreciate a review.
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H.M. McQueen
Magic and Mayhem: Reality Shift (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Southern Shift Book 2) Page 7