by Lauren Dawes
Rhett’s bulk took up more space in the small room than Jerry thought was possible. He took a step back from him and began pacing. Rhett’s heterochromous eyes were patient and calm, watching him and his pissed off attitude wearing a hole in the lino under his feet.
‘I want to know what the hell happened out there. I don’t want the edited version. I want to hear it all. I know that you lied to me before. If you don’t tell me what I need to know right now, I get to fire your ass. You got me?’ Jerry’s voice ended up in a growl.
Rhett swallowed and nodded. ‘Alright. I’d been keeping an eye on them after I noticed how she reacted to him the first time. When I saw him grab her wrist, I started making my way over to them. She had her knife on his throat when I got there.’
‘My God,’ he breathed.
‘I managed to get her to back down, but just as she was about to leave, the guy mouthed off and she cold-cocked him.’
Jerry’s thoughts were a tangled snarl. It had happened to her again and under his watch too. He felt physically sick. ‘Did you see him touch her again at all?’ he eventually asked.
Rhett shook his head. ‘No, but judging by her reaction to him, I’d say that he had.’
Jerry swallowed thickly. He’d let it happen again. ‘Why did you lie about what happened then?’
‘Indi can’t afford to lose her job.’
‘But you were willing to risk your own job to protect her.’ Statement—not question.
He shrugged. ‘She needs this more than I do.’
Jerry asked, ‘Do you care about her that much? You hardly know her.’ He was speaking from experience. Indi hadn’t truly opened up to him until she’d lived in the same house as him for two years, and even when she did talk about herself. Jerry could tell she was holding back.
He shrugged his broad shoulders again. ‘I know her enough. Besides, I can’t stand by and let a woman get manhandled. I did what any man would have done in my situation.’
As far as Jerry was concerned, that earned Rhett some big brownie points in his book. He put his hand out to the guy. ‘Thanks,’ he said. They clapped palms and did the manly chest-to-shoulder hug. ‘I mean it Rhett. Thanks. I feel so much better knowing that someone else is looking out for her. I had no idea that was what was going on. I took my eyes off her for a second, just a second.’
He shrugged. ‘Don’t worry about it.’
Jerry and Rhett left the storeroom in time to start the final clean up. Indi was just closing up the café, flipping the sign on the door to “closed”. Jerry studied her face, finding that she had shut down her emotions. She was retreating in on herself so much that Jerry couldn’t tell what she was thinking anymore.
‘I’m ready to go when you are, Jer,’ Indi said to him softly fifteen minutes
later.
‘Okay,’ he replied before his phone beeped. He pulled it out and looked at the reminder flashing on the screen.
‘Dammit,’ he hissed, roughly putting his phone back in his pocket.
Indi asked, ‘What is it?’
‘I forgot that I had to meet someone over at the apartment in fifteen minutes.’ He stared at Indi’s doleful expression. ‘I’ll call him and tell him that I can’t get there for another half an hour.’
‘Wait. Don’t do that. Was this a date?’
Jerry laughed. ‘No. He’s my squash partner. We had to reschedule a match to tonight.’
‘You should go. I can get home by myself for once,’ Indi said shrugging. Jerry shook his head. He had started walking Indi home of an evening ever since a maniac rapist had started terrorising women in Buxton. And there was no way in hell that he’d let her walk home alone tonight.
‘Would you like me to walk her home tonight?’ Rhett asked Jerry softly.
‘Are you sure?’
‘It’s no problem at all.’ Rhett replied.
Jerry gave him a sharp nod. ‘Thanks. I owe you.’
Chapter 3
Rhett had had a hard time keeping his cool that afternoon. He had felt his “human” face slipping; the face and persona he used when he was away from the pack. First it was the problem with Indi, and then Jerry getting up in his face about what had happened between them. He’d had it under control until the asshole mouthed off at her. He looked over at the girl he’d been charged with taking care of, mentally reaffirming to himself what he was meant to be doing. Jerry said that he owed him for walking her back, but the reality was he’d wanted to take her home. He’d give up a limb for Indi if it meant she’d be safe.
‘You didn’t have to do it, you know,’ Indi said, breaking the silence for the first time.
‘Walk you home?’
‘Lie for me. Jerry knows I have a short fuse.’
‘He was …’ Rhett bristled over the thought, ‘touching you. Nobody gets to touch you without your permission first.’
She shrugged. ‘I had it under control. Besides, I’m not worth losing your job over.’
Rhett gave her a look that set her pulse pounding. ‘Of course you’re worth it Indi,’ he replied seriously. She held his gaze for a long, slow minute before walking again. She thought she was worthless, but to him, she was priceless and he would do whatever he had to do to make sure she knew that. He glanced over at her again, noticing she was shivering which wasn’t a surprise. The coat she was wearing was threadbare at best.
‘Are you cold?’ he asked, already pulling off his jacket to give to her.
Stubbornly, she shook her head. ‘I’m fine,’ she replied through gritted teeth. She tried to shove her nearly-blue hands into her pockets before he could see them.
‘You’re not fine,’ he grunted. ‘Here. Take mine,’ he said, pulling his jacket from his arms and draping it over her shoulders. His hand accidently dragged softly over the nape of her neck as he positioned the jacket. She didn’t seem to notice as she pulled the edges closer to her body and inhaled the scent of him from the collar when she thought he wasn’t looking. A flare of possession burned through his body, but he tamped it down before it could ignite properly. He was her Guardian. His job was to keep her alive. He had no other part to play in her life.
Exhaling a frustrated breath, he tipped his head back until he could see the stars without the interruption of buildings. It seemed endless to him—the night sky—stretching out for miles; nothing but a blank canvas ready to be painted on. When he looked back down, Indi was doing the same thing. The angle she tilted her head back at exposed her long neck to him, sending the desire to have her under his body right that moment through his veins, heating his blood and sending it shooting around his body. He looked away and ran a hand roughly through his hair.
‘So how did you end up living in Hell?’ he asked, trying to distract himself and his body from her, but his pounding erection pressing against the fly of his pants wasn’t interested in anything else but her.
‘Bad fucking luck,’ she drawled slowly, giving him a haunted smile. ‘I got kicked out of my last foster home,’ she added, looking down at her feet rather than in his eyes.
His heart ached for her. So she was a foster kid. That explained why she kept her cards so close to her chest. But if she was a foster kid that would mean …
‘Your last foster home was Jerry’s parents’ place, wasn’t it?’ Pain flashed in her eyes, but she didn’t answer. ‘How long has it been since you were kicked out?’
‘Six months,’ she replied, threading her hands through the arms of his jacket as another gust of winter wind careened towards them. ‘Do you want your coat back?’ she asked, her teeth still chattering a little. He could see the line of goose bumps on the skin of her neck, and wanted nothing more than to run his tongue along them and taste her skin. He shook his head, remembering that he hadn’t answered her question.
‘No. I’m fine,’ he replied hastily. His body ran at a healthy one hundred and five in both of his skins. There were definitely some perks to being a werewolf. ‘You like living here?’ he asked.
‘Not really. No. But it was all that I could afford that wasn’t in Hicksville.’
‘Where are your parents?’
She didn’t answer for a long time, but Rhett didn’t push her. She’d answer when she was ready. ‘I don’t want to talk about that.’ Her whole expression darkened. She was retreating again.
‘Sorry,’ he said quickly. No matter how much he tried to scratch more than just the surface of her away, she would pull back again, push him away, and the fact that she was a foster kid who went through the system more than explained it. She probably felt like if she gave a piece of herself to everyone who drifted in and out of her life that there wouldn’t be anything left of her.
He wanted to reassure her that he wouldn’t be taking anything away from her. He wanted her to stay safe and he would give his life to make sure that happened. He wanted her to know how much he cared about her. Without thinking, he stepped in front of her, causing her to stop abruptly a few inches from his chest. His arms ached to pull her to him, but he curled his hands into fists at his sides instead.
‘Rhett? What is it?’ she asked. He watched her mouth form the words, watched her lips and tongue roll over the sounds until that was all he could focus on. In his head, he could picture himself taking her face in between his hands and kissing her gently on the lips, exploring her tongue and her mouth. He wanted to know how she tasted, how warm her lips were. But the reality was Indi would have the hunting knife she kept in her boot through his heart before that would ever happen.
He gritted his teeth; the words you’re-a-dumbass banging around his skull. He was being an asshole if he thought a girl as great as Indi would ever want someone as faulty as he was. He wasn’t even human for Christ’s sake! When he opened his eyes again, her eyes were curiously on him. This time he didn’t stop himself even though he should have ten times over. He reached for her, his fingers barely brushing her cold cheek. She shivered under his touch and he dropped his hand. He couldn’t do this. Guardians were not supposed to have relationships with their charges. Attachment meant feelings and feelings were bad—especially for him. He had nothing to offer her and nothing good would ever come of it.
With a growl, he pulled away from her, turned and walked a few paces up the street. She didn’t follow him though, not that he was surprised. He stalked back to her, noticing the curiosity in her eyes was now gone—replaced by a rage that he could understand. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘Let me walk you home.’ The tension between them was so thick you could have walked on it. But he ignored it, concentrating wholly on keeping Indi safe.
*
Rhett had left Indi standing just inside the glass doors of her apartment, shivering and angry. Shivering because it was so damn cold in her apartment building, and angry because he had pulled away from her. She had no idea what had happened between them before. Her heart was pounding in her ear as he reached for her, and for the first time she wanted him to touch her. There was just something about Rhett that she knew she could trust. Her normal instincts of get-the-hell-out-of-there were nothing but a distant memory when she was with him, when he was touching her so gently. She never thought she could feel that way about a male again.
Before she could feel anything else for him though, she let her anger swirl through her body. He had rejected her—flat out, cold rejected her. His refusal stung a little more than she would have liked, but it was not wholly unexpected. Why would Rhett want her? She was just damaged goods. And with that thought, the emotional scab of her insecurity started to bleed once more.
Her anger felt good flowing through her veins again as she took the three flights of stairs up to her apartment. She was swimming in the violent ocean of her rage, enjoying the sensation. Pulling her apartment key from her pocket, she jammed it into the lock angrily and opened up her front door.
The whole apartment was a festering sore; an open wound—ragged and sceptic. These four walls contained Indi’s entire pitiful life and wasn’t that the most depressing thing ever. The carpet was worn through in some spots, the holes made bigger by the rats that shared the space. An old couch she found out on the footpath when she moved in took up most of the space; her twin mattress on a cheap iron bed frame took up the other half. And in the far right corner was a small bathroom, the only place for any real privacy in that hellhole.
Dumping her bag onto the floor next to the door, she stalked around to the couch and sank down into it as she turned on her tiny TV. The news had just started, the headlining story the same as it had been for the past two weeks—the rapist was getting a fuckload of coverage. The report was on his latest victim—a sixteen year old girl snatched while walking home from the library last night. Indi switched the TV off in disgust. Hell was his favourite hunting ground and she hated that there was yet another man out there that wanted a piece of her. The cops had no leads either. All she knew was that if he came after her one night, she would make sure that he wouldn’t be able to walk, talk or fuck ever again.
The shrill buzz of her doorbell rang through her small apartment. ‘What?’ she barked into the intercom. She’d found it was better to shoot first and ask questions later in a neighbourhood like Hell.
‘Indi? It’s me,’ her best friend replied. Her voice came out tinny and thin. Indi pressed the button to buzz her in and paced around her apartment. Beth was early. The knock on her door came a minute later.
‘What are you doing here so––’ she began to say, but stopped when she realised it wasn’t her best friend standing in front of her. It was her neighbour from across the hall.
‘James?’ she asked; the thrill of fear licking up her spine. His sheer size and fondness for football reminded her of the first guy who had gotten his claws into her. James was standing with his shoulders rolled forward so that he looked smaller than his actual six-foot-six height. His dark hair was cut short making his dark blue eyes rimmed with gold around the pupil stand out on his handsomely angular face.
‘In-In-Indigo,’ he said warily, his nearly debilitating stutter almost swallowing his words to a point past incomprehensible.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘I-I w-was just g-going out t-t-to the sh-shops. D-Do you n-n-need anything?’
‘Ah, no. Thanks,’ she replied, trying not to look at his face. She focussed on his chest instead. Not ideal when you’re trying to be tough, but good enough.
‘O-o-okay,’ he stuttered before leaving. ‘Good-good-goodnight,’ he called over his shoulder.
She closed the door and leaned her forehead against the cool wood before there was another knock vibrating through her skull. She opened up the door, greeted by the smell of the Italian food Beth had brought around for dinner. Indi’s mouth watered. She hadn’t eaten a proper meal in two days—not after she had to pay her rent and phone bill in the same day.
‘Indi!’ Beth said, throwing her arms around Indi’s neck in a hug. Indi tried not to pull away from her straight away.
‘Hey Beth. How are you?’ she said into her ear.
‘I’m good,’ she replied, pulling out of the hug.
‘What ingenious lie did you spin to get away this time and how long do you have?’
‘I told my mother I was going to a bible study group, so I’ve got a couple of hours max.’
‘We better make it count then,’ Indi said, closing the door behind them. Beth was already rummaging through Indi’s poorly equipped kitchen looking for clean plates and cutlery.
‘Indi, when are you going to wash up? I can’t find one clean plate.’
‘If you think it’s so important, knock yourself out,’ Indi replied, settling down onto the sofa.
‘That wasn’t what I meant,’ Beth muttered under her breath without stopping her search.
Glancing over in the general direction of the kitchen, Indi said, ‘I don’t know why you’re bothering. It just means that I’ll have to wash them up afterwards. Can’t we just eat out of the containers?’
She didn’t answer her, whi
ch meant that she was being polite. Indi switched the TV back on, absently flicking through the five channels it picked up.
‘So how’s your gilded cage?’
Beth stuck her head past the bookshelf that split the kitchen from the rest of the apartment. ‘That’s not funny.’
‘Sure it is,’ she smiled.
‘School’s not the same without you, you know?’ Beth said as she brought two mismatched plates out with pasta sprawling over the edges.
‘I’m not going back there.’
‘But it was the final year. You could still graduate if you wanted to.’
Indi took the plate she was offered. ‘Beth, we’ve already been through this. I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t even make my rent on my wage, let alone pay those ridiculous school fees.’
‘I know that, but still …’ Beth finished with a shrug, sinking down onto the sofa with one leg tucked under her body. Beth didn’t know about the money sitting in Jerry’s bank account and thank God for that. If she did, she’d be pushing Indi to use it.
‘So what’s new? I haven’t seen you in a week.’
Beth’s bottom lip disappeared into her mouth for a moment; her eyes cast down to the floor. ‘Nothing really.’ Indi knew exactly how to translate that. In Beth language, that meant that there was something major going on.
‘Spill it,’ Indi demanded.
‘It’s nothing.’
‘Bullshit.’
She sighed. ‘Fine. I called Jason this afternoon,’ she admitted.