North Peak Shifters Box Set

by Haley Weir

  Ava looked at her phone, not knowing what to say. If she told him the truth, that she couldn’t pay anything today, he likely wouldn’t listen to her. He’d probably just decide to degrade her further. She knew it was probably a bad idea to hang up on him, but it was the only thing she could think to do. She set her phone aside. Her cheeks were wet with tears.

  Things hadn’t been easy for Ava for a while, but this level of helplessness was something she had never experienced before. She was always able to manage bill payments that were necessary to her survival, but this...if she didn’t have a car, she wouldn’t be able to work. The man on the other end of the line clearly didn’t care about that. No car, no repayment. Not that it was his fault. It was just how things were.

  She started to pick up her phone to call Henrietta, but she jerked her hand away from the phone. No, if they were going to call, they’d call on their own time. Calling might send the wrong message, and it had likely already ruined a previous job opportunity. The company seemed interested, but Ava ended up coming across as too high maintenance and impatient. They stopped calling and asking her about jobs shortly after that. It was as if she was cursed. She shook that thought away. The last thing she needed was to delve that into self-sabotage.

  She heard a buzz and picked up her cell phone hesitantly. To her surprise, she saw a message from Mason.

  Hope you’re having a good day. I can’t stop thinking about you. Want to go to dinner?

  She leaned her head against the back of the couch. How could she say yes when her world was turning upside down? Ava and Mason were opposites. He was amazing, wealthy, and knew what he liked. She, on the other hand, was at her wit’s end and close to having her car repossessed. Still, she did really enjoy his company. Maybe being with him would help improve her day. She could use something good right about now.

  She answered his text after a few minutes. It’s been okay. Hope your day is going well too. I’d love to go out to dinner. Where should we meet?

  Had a hard time sleeping, but it’s been fine. I can pick you up at 7? Text me your address.

  Ava widened her eyes and shook her head. There was no way she was letting him see her neighborhood, and her trash heap of a car. He would discover the real her. She knew that starting a relationship with secrets like this was dangerous. But, she reasoned, if he knew she wasn’t one of the Prince Dating Agency’s high-end clients, he’d probably want nothing to do with her. She still wasn’t sure how they were matched up to begin with, but she didn’t mind. Maybe it was the universe handing her a cosmically wonderful gift. Perhaps she’d ask Henrietta when the woman eventually called her back.

  Aww. :( Sorry to hear you didn’t sleep well. 7 is good. I’d rather meet at the restaurant if that’s okay?

  She chewed her lip, hoping he took her response well. Things felt a little awkward between the two of them last night when she’d told him she would walk to her car herself, but that had quickly been swept aside. Hopefully he wasn’t a possessive type of person who needed to be in control of their partner.

  There was a pause between messages, then he finally responded, and she was relieved to see that he took her text well.

  Sure, no problem. I’ll send over the details for the restaurant. Look forward to seeing you again. :)

  Great. Can’t wait to see you again too! <3

  Ava swiped at her cheeks and looked at the clock on her cell phone. It was a few hours until seven, but she needed to do something about how she looked. Or better yet, she needed an attitude adjustment. The last thing she needed was to spill her guts about her problems to Mason. No one wanted a sob story on a second date.

  She rubbed her temples, trying desperately to get rid of her building headache. Maybe soaking in a hot bath and using a facial mask would help. If she pampered herself a little, maybe she’d make it through dinner without bursting into tears.

  The eviction notice hung on her bathroom mirror. She pulled it off, doing her best not to wad it up into a ball and toss it into the trash. She moved it to her kitchen table, walked back into the bathroom, and took a deep, calming breath. Out of sight, out of mind. The old adage wasn’t the best one to follow, but at least she’d have a few moments without the reminder of yet another bill that loomed on the horizon.

  She looked at herself in the mirror and took a few more deep breaths. She just needed to hang in there. One day, all of this anxiety and worry would be a distant memory.

  Chapter Ten

  The restaurant Mason had chosen tonight was a little more casual than the last one.. He stood near the door and glanced down at his watch. The time was 6:55 PM. He started to worry she wasn’t going to show up. Maybe she wasn’t as into him as he thought, and changed her mind about coming at the last minute.

  He heard the rough rumble of an engine and looked toward the parking lot to see an older car make its way toward one of the parking spots toward the back. He recognized the woman in the drivers seat. It was Ava.

  He was surprised. She was a beautiful, classy woman. He imagined she’d drive a BMW, or at least something that wasn’t such an old clunker. It made sense that she didn’t want him to walk her to her car or have him pick her up. She was probably embarrassed, especially after he’d taken her to a fancy restaurant and his family’s yacht. He shook his head, chuckling under his breath. She probably thought he was a pretentious jerk. He looked away. He wanted to give her space to park and walk up to him comfortably, on her own terms.

  Mason finally looked at her again when she was halfway through the parking lot. He waved and smiled at her, taking in the way she looked in her colorful sundress.

  “I’m glad you got in touch. It brightened my day to hear from you and, of course, to see you again,” she said enthusiastically. But he noticed her face was a little red and puffy, like she had been crying.

  He wanted to ask what was going on. Her scent wasn’t as it’d been before. His bear could feel sadness coming off of her in waves. There was no way to bring that up without making things awkward. He just wanted to make her smile, and take the pain away from her.

  “I’m happy I did too.” He held out his arm to her. “Shall we get a table inside? I’m starving, and it smells amazing, even out here.”

  Ava placed her hand on his arm and grinned at him. Her eyes were still troubled, but he liked feeling her hand on him. “Of course. It does smell good. I’ve never been here before, so you’ll have to give me the rundown on what to go with. Your suggestion last night was spot-on.”

  Her words warmed his heart. She cared about his opinion. It meant something to him, especially since it seemed like others who close to him were ignoring his opinions as of late.

  He looked down at her and placed his hand over hers. “I appreciate that. I promise not to lead your palate astray.”

  Ava’s smile became more genuine. Now it actually reached her eyes. There was the girl he’d met last night. He loved seeing her happy, which made him reminded him of how he came to be with her in the first place. He felt guilty about demanding that the dating agency not hire Ava so he could have her to himself. After seeing the kind of car she drove, it was likely that getting the job meant something to her.

  “That’s really sweet,” she cooed.

  They sat in a booth, and he ordered a bottle of wine for them. He wanted to impress her again.

  He sipped on his wine and looked over the menu. “So, my suggestions are the Angus cheddar burger with sweet potato fries, the filet mignon, the salmon, or the T-bone.” He glanced up at her. She was watching him drink his wine. She slid her tongue over her lip, and it made him want to taste her mouth.

  “Those sound really good. Maybe I’ll go with the burger and sweet potato fries. So, how did your meetings go? You didn’t fall asleep, did you?”

  Mason closed his menu and set the wine glass down. “The meetings were...informative. I didn’t fall asleep, thankfully. There were a few times when I thought about nodding off, but I stopped myself. How did your day go?
Anything exciting happen?”

  She licked her lips again, nervously this time. “It was okay. Nothing exciting happened. Just...” she shrugged. “Yaknow. Did stuff.” Mason didn’t need his bear to recognize her lie, and the pain in her voice.

  “Are you sure, Ava? You seem upset…distracted,” he stammered. Maybe the particulars of her life were none of his business, but he cared how she was doing.

  Her mouth dropped open, closed, and opened again quickly. “N-no, I mean, yes, I’m sure,” she said, looking down at the menu, shaking her head. “Sorry. I don’t know if I should talk about it. I don’t want to be a downer. You shouldn’t have to listen to my problems.”

  “What? No. I don’t like seeing you sad. You can tell me anything,” he urged.

  Ava met his gaze briefly. “Okay, I just… really had a bad day. Things have been tough recently. I was laid off from my job. I’ve been trying to find a new one. I’ve lost track of how many applications I’ve submitted. Nothing has panned out. I even had an interview at the dating agency when we met, but I haven’t heard back from them. I was almost positive that I’d get the position. They really seemed to like me.” Tears welled in her eyes, even though she was trying hard to fight them. “I’m terrified because I’m going to lose everything if I don’t find something soon. Bill collectors keep calling, and I don’t have anything to give them. It just feels like I’m…” she shook her head, and forced herself to stop rambling. “Sorry,” she sniffled. “I didn’t mean to give you my sob story.”

  He placed his hand on hers. Guilt kicked him square in the gut. Would Ava be in this position if he hadn’t screwed up her chances with the dating agency? Would she free from some of the burden weighing on her? He didn’t know how to make things right, but he knew he needed to tell her the truth.

  “No, it’s fine. I’m sorry you’re going through that. I truly am.” He dropped his gaze to the table. He couldn’t look her in the eyes while he described his betrayal. “I have to tell you something. Before I go on, I want you to know that I had no idea you were in this situation. I never meant to cause further stress for you. But when I went in for my interview at the dating agency, they asked me what kind of woman I’d like to be matched with. From the moment I bumped into you in the hallway, I wanted you. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. We had such a strong, instant connection. I wanted to be matched with you. When they told me that you were there on a job interview, I didn’t care. They said that employees are forbidden from dating clients, so I made a deal with the manager there. I offered to pay triple their normal rate so that she wouldn’t hire you. She said she would keep things under wraps if I paid the extra portion directly to her.”

  Ava jerked her hand away from his. Her eyes were wide, horrorstricken. “Y-you did what?”

  “The woman put you into the system. She didn’t think there’d be a problem, and things went really well on our first date. I’m so sorry.” He hated himself for causing her so much pain. He had no idea how much she was counting on the job. “I promise I’ll give them a call tomorrow and try to take it back. I—”

  She stood up, grabbing her purse from the booth. “Please don’t do me any favors. If you want to talk with them, that’s on you. I... just…how could you do something like that? Play with a stranger’s life? Their career?” She shook her head. “I don’t even know what to say to you,” she seethed. Without another word, she walked toward the front door of the restaurant.

  He tossed enough money on the table to cover the bottle of wine and a sizable tip, and he strode after her. He was much faster than her, so he caught up quickly. “Wait, Ava. Please. Hear me out. I’m sorry for hurting you. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” He grabbed her elbow, trying to get her to face him.

  She jerked her arm away, but he had a firm grip. He didn’t want to let her go. “What you can do is let me go and leave me alone. That’s what you can do.” Her cheeks were damp with tears. She looked like she never wanted to see him again.

  Mason flinched and released her arm. He watched her walk the whole way back to her rundown car, and peel away. He shook his head, unable to believe that he managed to ruin the one good thing he had going on in his life. The fact he’d lose his job and his status in the pack wasn’t what hurt most—although that wasn’t far from his mind. He started to truly believe that Ava could be the one for him.

  He walked back to his SUV in despair. Tomorrow, he would give Henrietta Douglas a call. If they wanted to keep him on as a client, she needed to be reasonable. He would fix what he’d done. He couldn’t just stand back and let Ava suffer for his selfishness. The look in Ava’s eyes haunted him, and he placed his forehead against the steering wheel, fully taking in how badly he screwed up.

  After a few moments, Mason drove to a nearby forest where his bear could run wild. He needed the freedom and to burn off his anger at how stupid he’d been.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ava was absolutely heartbroken. How could Mason do such a thing? She was confused when she hadn’t received a call from Price Dating Agency, but now things were starting to make more sense. How had her name gotten into their system for a date? Why did she get paired up with Mason? And the woman who called her...Isabella? She hadn’t sounded happy. The call hadn’t seemed right at the time.

  She pulled onto her street. In front of her home, she spotted two men with a tow truck. A feeling of dread slithered through her. Part of her wanted to drive past, but she knew that wouldn’t solve anything. They would just be back the next day. If she could tell them just how terrible her day had been, maybe they would show some leniency? Ultimately, Ava knew they had a job to do, and there was no way she could talk herself out of this predicament.

  She parked in her small driveway and sat in her car for a moment, realizing that she had truly hit rock bottom. So many things were going wrong, and she felt more than ever that she was cursed. It just wasn’t fair. Still, she needed to get ahold of herself and face this situation.

  A knock on her window startled her, and Ava looked up to see one of the men tip his ball cap to her and give a signal to roll down her window. She did, and wiped away a tear.

  “Hello, ma’am. I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but I’m here to repossess your vehicle. I’ll leave you information on how you can settle up with the loan company and get your car back. It’s nothing personal, you know.” He leaned down a little. “If you’d like, you can take your belongings from the car quickly.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, to beg and plead with him, but no words came out. She simply nodded, collected her things, and got out of car.

  She looked over at her neighbors’ house, hoping that they were eating dinner or watching Wheel of Fortune inside. But the elderly couple was sitting on their porch watching what was going on as they talked. The two of them waved at her. Nausea roiled in her stomach. This was the last thing she needed. Of course her misery was a spectacle.

  But today, she was way past the point of caring about their opinion. She sat on the steps as the tow truck men loaded up her car. The man who knocked on her window discussed the procedure for getting her vehicle back. Then they drove away with her car in tow.

  She sat there, letting the tears fall down her face. She didn’t care who saw them. What was she supposed to do now? What could she do? Even if Mason decided to call the dating agency and talked them into hiring her, she had no transportation. She didn’t have the money to take a cab or public transportation. She was well and truly screwed.

  The pain in her chest radiated when she thought about Mason’s role in her unemployment. He talked with someone at the dating agency and convinced them not to hire her. Had they struggled with the decision, or where they too focused on pocketing some extra cash that they didn’t care what happened to Ava?

  Henrietta was in charge of hiring. Maybe if Ava called her, things could be straightened out. The woman had seemed very reasonable and caring when they’d talked both on the phone and
in person. She felt like someone Ava felt she could trust. Did she know about what Mason had done? But Henrietta was the person in charge of hiring! She reported directly to Ms. Prince when it came to fielding potential new employees. Mason said he made a deal with a manager.

  The brunt of her anger moved from Mason to Henrietta. She stood and brushed off the back of her sundress, grabbed her things, and went inside. The show was over. Her neighbors would have to find someone else to snoop on.

  She headed straight for her bedroom, stripping off her sundress as she walked and climbed into bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. She heard her phone vibrate, but there wasn’t anyone she wanted to talk to right now. If Mason was texting her, he could take a hint and leave her alone.

  Tomorrow would be a new day. She would return to the job search and try to figure out how to scrounge up the money to get her car back. For now, she needed to just curl up in her blankets where it felt safe and weep.

  Life wasn’t playing fair. And right now, she had no idea where to even begin climbing out of the hole she’d found herself in.

  Chapter Twelve

  Mason tapped his pen on the glass top of his desk. He looked at the time on his watch, and checked his phone again. He hadn’t heard from Ava since yesterday. He understood that she needed space, but he sincerely wanted a chance to make things right.

  He would call the Prince Dating Agency today, and get in contact with Ms. Douglas. He tried calling earlier, but apparently, Henrietta had been with someone at that time. She would give him a call back soon, or so the receptionist said. That was a couple of hours ago. Maybe speaking over the phone wasn’t the way to go about this, and he needed to confront her in person. She wouldn’t be able to ignore his calls then. He stood up, reaching for her jacket when his phone rang.