by Cassie Cole
Contents
Title
Copyright
Books by Cassie Cole
1 - Rachel
2 - Rachel
3 - Rachel
4 - Rachel
5 - Rachel
6 - David
7 - Rachel
8 - Rachel
9 - Jake
10 - Rachel
11 - Rachel
12 - Rachel
13 - Rachel
14 - Rachel
15 - Rachel
16 - Rachel
17 - David
18 - Rachel
19 - Rachel
20 - Anthony
21 - Rachel
22 - Rachel
23 - Rachel
24 - Rachel
25 - Rachel
26 - Rachel
27 - David
28 - Rachel
29 - Rachel
30 - Rachel
31 - Rachel
32 - Rachel
33 - Jake
34 - Rachel
35 - Rachel
36 - Anthony
37 - Rachel
38 - Rachel
39 - David
40 - Rachel
41 - Rachel
42 - Rachel
43 - Rachel
Epilogue
Bonus Chapter
Sneak Peek - The Study Group
About the Author
Tiger Queen
By Cassie Cole
Copyright © 2020 Juicy Gems Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without prior consent of the author.
Edited by Robin Morris
Follow me on social media to stay up-to-date on new releases, announcements, and prize giveaways!
www.cassiecoleromance.com
Books by Cassie Cole
Broken In
Drilled
Five Alarm Christmas
All In
Triple Team
Shared by her Bodyguards
Saved by the SEALs
The Proposition
Full Contact
Sealed With A Kiss
Smolder
The Naughty List
Christmas Package
Trained At The Gym
Undercover Action
The Study Group
Tiger Queen
1
Rachel
“Ugh,” I groaned. “I’m never going to find a job.”
I took a long pull from the bottle of chardonnay and leaned back on the carpet. The apartment was empty, the walls bare, and the air smelling faintly of lemon cleaning product. Ashley and I had already packed and loaded up our cars. Our lease ended tomorrow, making tonight the last night we would ever spend in Tallahassee. The only things left in the apartment were our laptops, some blankets and pillows, and the bottle of cheap wine we were sharing.
“Oh, there are plenty of jobs.” Ashley twisted her laptop around. “You just need to expand your horizons.”
I groaned again. “I did not get my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree just to work on some stupid farm.”
“Some of these look nice.” Ashley clicked on one of the job site links. “Here’s a cattle ranch out in Texas. Jameson Ranch. You don’t want to take care of cows?”
I searched around for something to throw at her. There was nothing suitable but my laptop. “I’d rather take care of animals that aren’t getting sent to slaughter.”
“You’re just holding out for a zoo. Or an animal sanctuary.”
“Yes! Exactly! I’d like to actually use the skills I’ve learned. Is that so much to ask?”
I was preaching to the choir. Ashley was sympathetic to my plight. Both of us had gotten bachelor degrees and then doctorates at Florida State and then passed our North American Veterinary Licensing Exam. We had both completed a two year residency program accredited by the American College of Zoological Medicine. We were qualified and dedicated and ready to unleash our knowledge on the world.
Unfortunately, veterinary jobs at animal sanctuaries or zoos were in high demand. There were too few jobs and too many applicants. Ashley was lucky enough to score a job at a horse breeding farm in Kentucky, but I was still striking out everywhere I tried.
I returned to the next job I had bookmarked. “Look at this place. Oregon Tiger Sanctuary. Their entry-level position requires ten years of hands-on experience with big cats. Ten years! How can I get the experience if I can’t get my foot in the door? It’s a catch twenty-two.”
“You should apply anyway,” Ashley suggested. “It couldn’t hurt. Maybe they’ll like your resume.”
“And maybe a tiger cub will jump out of the fridge right now.” I took another swig of wine and pointed it at the fridge. “Nope. No such luck.”
“You won’t know unless you try. You’ll get zero job offers if you don’t apply anywhere.”
I sighed “I know. I’m just not looking forward to the next few weeks with my parents.”
Ashley frowned. “Why? I thought you got along with them. I thought they were supportive.”
“I do, and they are. But… I’m going to sound like a bitch, but they’re too supportive. They’re going to be super positive about the job application process, constantly telling me that my dream job is right around the corner, encouraging me to keep trying and not lose hope, yada yada.”
“You’re right,” Ashley said with a laugh. “You do sound like a bitch. I wish my parents were that supportive!”
I laughed it off and didn’t say anything more. Ashley wouldn’t understand because her family was full of over-achievers. In my family, I was the first one to ever go to college. Let alone get a doctorate. My parents had worked three jobs between them to pay for my education, and they were delighted to do it for their only child. It put a tremendous amount of pressure on me. I was terrified of letting them down. Of being a disappointment.
“I’m sure I’ll find something,” I muttered as I stared at my screen.
Ashley laid flat on her belly in front of her laptop. “Here. I’ll help you search for places to apply.”
“I already bookmarked everything applicable last week.”
“Maybe I’ll find something you missed. What location criteria did you specify?”
“None,” I replied. “I’ll go anywhere in the country if I have to.”
Ashley typed away on her laptop while I tweaked my resume for the Oregon Tiger Sanctuary job. My resume looked so boring and inadequate. All of this felt like a waste of time.
“What the—” Ashley did a double-take at her screen. “Holy shit! Crazy Carl’s Zoo posted a job!”
“Crazy Carl’s?” I chuckled. “I must have missed that. You’ve heard of it?”
She pointed at the screen. “You missed it because they posted the job this morning. And of course I’ve heard of it—you haven’t?”
I shook my head.
“Are you serious? You spent the last four years in the Florida State Veterinary Medicine program and never heard of Crazy Carl’s Zoo? Rachel, this place is awful. It’s a poorly-maintained dump. They illegally breed and sell tigers to private buyers, they abuse their animals. And the owner—Crazy Carl Haines—is more insane than anyone on Tiger King.”
“On what?”
She gawked at me. “Tiger King. The Netflix show. Didn’t you watch it during the pandemic last spring? With Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin and all the other psychos?”
“You know I don’t watch much TV,” I replied. “And I especially hate documentaries where the animals are abused.”
Ashley’s fingers were a blur on the keyboard as she pulled up You
Tube. “Rumor has it they wouldn’t show Crazy Carl on the show because he was too crazy. And trust me—that’s saying something. Check this out.”
A video began to play. It had the production quality of something filmed in the nineties, showing a jungle landscape. A pixelated tiger ran across the screen, accompanied by a roar. The tiger ran across the screen in the other direction, with another roar.
Suddenly a man jumped into frame. The first thing I noticed was that he was very clearly in front of a green screen. The second thing I noticed was that he was indeed as crazy as his name implied. The sides of his head were shaved, and in the middle was a red mohawk that looked like the curved head of a broom. He had on a leather biker vest that was covered in military valor and small silver spikes. He wore nothing under the vest, revealing a chest and arms filled with tattoos. Completing the image were a pair of jeans shorts and big black combat boots.
“I’m Crazy Carl!” he happily announced to the camera. “And down here at Crazy Carl’s Zoo, we’ve got all the big cats you’ve ever wanted to see! Lions, panthers, cheetahs… and of course, tigers! YEAH BABY!”
“What the…”
Ashley looked up at me. “Right?”
Crazy Carl pointed at the camera. “For just fifty dollars, you and your whole family can come on down and have your photo taken with the tigers. That’s right—get the perfect Facebook or Instagram or Tinder photo to make your friends jealous.”
“Tinder?” I said. “I assumed this video was twenty years old!”
Two assault rifles flew into frame. Crazy Carl caught one in each hand. “We’ve got food, we’ve got fun. Come on down to Crazy Carl’s Zoo and have yourself a good time. YEAH BABY!”
He fired both assault rifles into the air, and then the zoo logo rolled into the middle of the screen like a bad PowerPoint presentation. There was a final fake tiger roar sound, and then the video ended.
I chuckled. “That was something. I’m not sure what, but it was something. So this guy is hiring?”
“Yeah!” Ashley switched tabs to the job posting. “They’re looking for a zoo vet for a three-month contract. I can’t believe it.”
“What can’t you believe?”
“This guy’s famous for locking down his zoo like a fortress,” Ashley explained. “They never hire outside people. Nobody has ever gotten in to see the quality of animal care they really have. So to post a job like this…” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“They must be desperate,” I said. “Most self-respecting vets would never work at a place like that if it’s as bad as you say.”
I got up to pee. It felt weird seeing everything gone in our bathroom—no towels or makeup or the fifteen bottles of hair product Ashley usually had out. Just a small bag of toiletries I could easily grab in the morning. When I came back to the living room I found Ashley using my laptop.
“What are you doing?”
She emphatically hit enter on the keyboard. “I just applied to the job.”
“What job?”
“The job. Crazy Carl’s.”
“What! You’re joking!” I snatched my laptop and checked the Sent folder. Sure enough there was a single email sent to [email protected] with my resume attached.
“Why would you do that!”
“It’ll be funny to see what this dude says!” Ashley insisted. “It couldn’t hurt, and it’ll give us some laughs.”
“Then why not apply yourself?”
“Are you crazy? I don’t want that psychopath having my email!”
“But it’s fine for me to be the guinea pig?”
“Exactly!” Ashley laughed. “I’ve already got a job waiting for me, and I didn’t want them thinking I was applying elsewhere—even as a joke. Come on, it’ll be harmless. Let’s order take-out.”
We opened another bottle of wine and got Chinese food. I wasn’t in the mood to send out more applications so instead we reminisced about our time together at Florida State. It felt like we had been here forever, and it felt like it had flown by.
“Do you regret anything?” Ashley asked.
“Like what?”
“Stuff you wish you had done. Like, dated more guys. I wish I had more fun.”
I laughed. “I had two serious boyfriends while I was here. That feels like plenty.”
“So there’s nothing you regret?”
I hesitated. Being my best friend, Ashley recognized it immediately.
“You’re holding out on me! What is it?”
I smirked and took a long pull from the wine bottle. It was almost empty. “There was one time, two years ago…”
“Yeah?”
“I almost had a threesome.”
Ashley gasped. “What! With whom?”
“It was before Alex and I started dating,” I explained. “Me, Alex, and his friend Jon were all studying at his place. We had had a few beers, and were comfy on the couch, and Jon suggested it as a joke. We all sort of laughed… But there was a moment where we were all considering it. And I realized I really wanted to.”
Ashley playfully slapped me on the knee. “You dirty skank!”
I laughed. “I chickened out and didn’t go through with it. And then Alex and I started dating for real, and things were too serious to try that. But I’ve always kind of wondered what it would have been like.”
Ashley made a giddy noise. “I can’t believe you waited until our last night here to tell me that!”
I started to shrug, but then my laptop made a noise. An email popped into my inbox.
“It’s Crazy Carl’s…” I said, surprised. “That was a fast reply.”
“Well?” Ashley slid over to me. “What’s it say? Did they tell you to screw off?”
“Worse.” I showed her my laptop:
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: JOB APPLICATION
Hi there Rachel, thank you for applying. Your resume looks good. When can you start? We need someone ASAP.
“Are you kidding me?” Ashley said. “You got an interview? Just like that?”
“I don’t think they want to interview me. I think they’re offering me the job.”
Ashley let out a cackle of a laugh. “Oh my God. This is perfect!”
“Yeah yeah, very funny. The crazy place actually wants me to work for them. What should I send back? Should I tell him off?”
A clever look crossed Ashley’s face. “What if you accepted?”
“What if I what?”
“Think about it! You could accept the position. Go in and check the place out. Like I said, Crazy Carl keeps that place locked up tighter than a fortress. If you got in and took some behind-the-scenes photos of how bad the conditions are? You could blow the lid on the whole place!”
“This started off as a gag application, and now you want me to act like a spy?”
“Just for, like, a day,” she replied. “See the facilities, take some secret photos, and then leave.”
“Are you forgetting about the psycho owner who has crazy in his name? He didn’t look stable in the commercial, shooting assault rifles into the air like a maniac. What do you think he would do if he caught someone taking photos of the facilities?” I waved a hand. “And even if I made it out safely with the photos, he would probably make me sign a bunch of non-disclosure agreements before I set foot in the place. If I took photos and posted them on the internet, he would probably sue me.”
“Totally!” Ashley said excitedly. “Getting sued by Crazy Carl would really make your resume stand out. The girl that blew the lid on that sleazy place? Legitimate zoos and animal sanctuaries would be blowing up your phone trying to hire you.”
That sent a tingle of excitement up my spine. Doing it as a joke was one thing, but if it actually advanced my career…
“I have a long drive tomorrow,” I said. “Twelve hours from here to Fredericksburg, Virginia.”
Ashley pulled up Google Maps on her lapto
p. “Here’s Crazy Carl’s Zoo, in Blue Lake, North Carolina. It’s only like fifteen miles out of your way. You’ll be back on the road in no time!”
I groaned. Deep down I really didn’t want to do this. But I knew Ashley wouldn’t stop bugging me about it, and then she would never let me live it down. This was our last night together at school. I didn’t want it to end on an argument.
I replied to the email, told them I would swing by tomorrow afternoon, and hit send before I could change my mind. “There. Are you happy?”
Ashley squealed with excitement. “I wish I could go with you! You need to take as many photos as possible. Videos, if you can! I’ll call you tomorrow night so I can get all the juicy details.”
With no intention of actually visiting, I downed the remainder of our bottle of wine.
2
Rachel
Leaving Tallahassee the next morning felt weird. Florida State University had been home for the last eight years of my life. I took the long way to the interstate so I could drive by the campus one last time. The huge brick facade of Doak Campbell Stadium rose up on my right, topped with castle-like towers and white stone crenelations. It made me sad that I would never see another football game there.
I’ll come back to visit, I thought to myself as I drove out of town.
The long drive home gave me plenty of time to think about my career and future. I wanted to work with animals, but big cats especially. Ashley and I spent three months tracking lion migrations in Kruger National Park when we were undergrads. I was hooked on big cats ever since. Lions, tigers, panthers. Cheetahs, even though they technically weren’t big cats. Working with all of them thrilled me in a way that no other animal did.
Jobs in the industry were few, and competition was fierce. I had already applied to eight places and had written individual cover letters for each one. I still had twenty other jobs in my top tier list. I considered myself a positive person, but the harsh truth was that my chance of getting accepted to any of them was practically zero. Those twenty-eight prime jobs probably had somewhere close to ten thousand applicants, most of whom had more experience than just a college graduate with only a local residency as experience.