“Oh, my God! What was he like? Did you ever see him shift? Of course you didn’t, what am I thinking.” The sudden gush of words ended abruptly, and then Alice said, “Shit. If he quit what’s going to happen to you?”
“Oh, the boss is letting me work independently and will be monitoring my progress. And I get the shifter’s job when the course is over.”
Alice squealed. “Are you fucking serious? You landed a job already!? We have to celebrate. I’m calling Katie and Michelle, and we are getting drinks Friday. You have no choice—you have to come. We’ll meet at the campus bar at seven.”
“Okay,” Kaylee said, laughing. “I’ll be there. Now I have to get back to work if I want to keep this job, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, you lucky goose. Save a little bit of that luck for the rest of us.”
“This is my cubicle?” Jules asked, standing in the opening.
Remy nodded. “I know it’s smaller than your office at the print shop.”
“Who cares about that. Are you serious that I get to use that system?”
“Yeah. It’s standard in the office. Why?”
“You probably don’t want to know what I was using at the shop.”
“Probably not. Your first job is proofing. Here.” He handed Jules a USB stick. “Look over these files for spelling errors, bad layer compiling, missing elements, or anything that makes you cringe. Mark the changes in a text file and save them to the stick. That should keep you busy most of the day. You get a one hour break. Most of us time them around lunch time. Want to go from eleven to twelve, go ahead. Got wrapped up in a project and don’t head out on break until two? No one minds. Today I will come grab you and show you the clocking in and out procedure. You’re good to go?”
“Sure.”
“Oh, here.” He handed Jules a slip of paper. “Login info for the system. I’ll see you for lunch.”
Jules called Kaylee after work. “How was your day?” he asked. “Did Freddie give you a hard time?”
“He was too busy talking on the phone all day,” Kaylee said. “He was mad that you left without giving notice, but he’s happy that he’s not losing any contracts.”
“Why would he lose contracts?”
“Because some people don’t want to give their money to shifters.”
Jules shook his head and sighed. “This is why so many of us don’t come out.”
“How was your day?”
“You’ll be jealous. I have a brand new system with all the latest software.”
“The print shop was already an upgrade from my system at home.”
“This is ten times better.”
“All right, I am jealous. But I need some reason, right? Since I can’t be jealous of Jane anymore.”
Jules chuckled. “I guess so. I’m going to turn the TV on and let my mind go zombie for a few hours tonight. Did you want to meet for dinner tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow is good, but Friday I’m going out with the girls to celebrate my promotion.”
“Sounds fun. I’ll see you tomorrow after work then. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Oh, look at him,” Alice said. “He’s hot. And he’s looking this way.”
“Mm-hmm,” Kaylee said, sipping her drink. Kaylee was older than the other girls in the graphic design program, but that hadn’t stopped them from forming a close friendship over the last two years. They met here at the college campus pub for drinks between exams and after big projects to relax and reset and flirt with the college guys.
“You’re not even looking.” She slapped Kaylee’s arm.
“Oh! Does Kaylee have a boyfriend?” Michelle said.
“Maybe,” Kaylee said with a sly smile.
“Spill the beans,” Katie said.
“I met him at work,” Kaylee said. “He’s a little older than me, but we have a lot in common, like jerk-faced fathers.”
“Oh, my God,” Alice said. “It’s your mentor. The shifter. Is that why he took the other job?”
“Wait,” Katie said. “You worked with the shifter? The werebear from the airport?”
“Keep it down,” Kaylee said, glancing around. “I don’t need everyone in the bar trying to listen in.”
“Sorry,” Katie said, blushing.
“So, it is him?” Michelle pushed.
Kaylee nodded. “No, I’ve never seen him shift, and I only found out about it about a week ago.”
“What’s he like?”
Kaylee shrugged. “He’s a nice guy. Quiet, easily stressed, a damn good designer. I don’t know. He’s just Jules. I mean the guy is a mountain. I think I come up to his belly button.”
“Are you serious?” Katie squeaked.
“No,” Kaylee said. “It’s not that bad, but he’s huge. My siblings adore him. He plays video games with Tony, and he took me and Tony and June to see a movie.”
“Aww,” Michelle said. “That sounds so sweet.”
“I thought I told you to save some of that luck for the rest of us,” Alice said. She raised her glass. “Here’s to Kaylee. May her luck rub off on the rest of us.”
“To Kaylee!” They all tapped glasses, laughing.
Friday night saw Jules back at the print shop. Freddie and Mark had stayed late after work, and the three of them were sitting around Freddie’s office drinking beers and playing cards.
“Fold,” Freddie said, throwing his cards down. “Mark wins again. You’ve got the ace up your sleeve, don’t you?”
“You just want me to take my shirt off, don’t you?” Mark said with a wink.
“You’re not my type,” Freddie said.
“I could be.” He blew Freddie a kiss.
“I’m going to tell your boyfriend you’re flirting with the boss again,” Jules said as he started to deal.
“My boss,” Mark corrected. “You quit. Quitter.”
“You’re welcome,” Jules said.
“You would not believe the number of phone calls we had to deal with this week,” Freddie said. “It’s been insane. And you’re hidden away behind a big corporate curtain now, so I can’t even make you deal with the mess you left me.”
“Honestly, I only half quit for you,” Jules said.
“Two please,” Freddie said, tossing two cards face down on the table. Jules handed him the requested cards. “You quit for Kaylee. I think we all know that. You could have stayed. I wouldn’t have fired you over a little office romance.”
“Still, given that I was her mentor, it’s better this way.”
“Better for you maybe,” Freddie muttered. “You’re the one getting lucky.”
“I keep offering,” Mark said. “Three for me.”
Jules dealt Mark three cards then dealt himself one new card. “Freddie?”
“Fuck it, I fold again. You two are robbing me blind here.”
“Mark?”
“I’m good. I’ll raise another twenty-five.”
“I’ll see that,” Jules said. He tossed the quarter in the pile and flipped his cards. Mark’s four queens beat his four tens and the pile of quarters and dimes was pushed across the desk. “Freddie, you might want to listen to Mark here. He seems to be the luckiest man in the room. I’m sure he could rub a little of that off on you.”
“Oh, shut up,” Freddie said. “Gimme the deck. It’s my deal.”
They packed up a few hands later and walked out the back door together. While Freddie was fighting with the door, Mark said, “Hey, sorry your coming out was so public. At least your mom already knew. I thought my mom was going to kill me at the time.”
“Did she?”
“Naw, she was surprisingly cool with it. I’m glad you’re doing well. Keep your head up. The fuss will blow over.”
“Thanks man.”
“I can’t believe you’ve never seen it!” Kaylee was laughing and hanging onto Jules’ arm as they made their way from the car up to his apartment. “It’s on Netflix. We’re watching it tonight.”
&
nbsp; “I had other plans for tonight,” he said as they stepped into the elevator. It was otherwise empty, so he backed her into the corner and kissed her breathless.
“Okay, you’ve made your point,” she said, clinging to his shirt until her knees stopped shaking.
He laughed.
The door slid open with a ding and they stepped out into the hallway. Her knees were still a little weak and her steps were wobbly. She giggled.
“Hello, Julius.”
Jules’ whole body tensed, and Kaylee stopped giggling; his reaction was enough to put her on high alert. A man was leaning against the wall next to Jules’ apartment door. He straightened as they approached, and Kaylee recognized that same bottled strength, the same natural grace, that she had noticed when she first met Jules.
“Hello, Gabriele.”
“What? First name basis? I guess I deserve that.”
“Your wife doesn’t like me calling you ‘dad,’ remember? She made it very clear I wasn’t really your kid, no matter what DNA we might share.”
Dad. Kaylee looked again. The two men had very little in common at first glance, aside from their movements, which Kaylee guessed was more because of their bears than any other part of their shared genetics. There was a slight similarity in the nose and maybe the eye brows. And they both had black hair, but then this was New Orleans, and black hair was exceedingly common. It didn’t help that Jules was a head taller.
“Well,” Gabriele said. “She’s not here right now.”
“Why are you here?”
“I saw you on the news. I thought you could use a little support. Being out can be hard.”
Kaylee stretched up on tiptoes and kissed Jules’ cheek. “We’ll take a rain check on that movie.”
“No, Kaylee…”
“Hey, it’s okay. This is important. Deal with this, and we’ll catch up another evening.”
“At least let me give you a ride home.”
“I can find my own way. It’s not that late.”
He kissed her, and the way he looked into her eyes, with an intensity that worried her, made her weak in the knees.
“I’ll be okay.” Her words did nothing to ease the worry in his eyes.
“I know you will be.”
“Call me later.”
He nodded and watched her until the light above the elevator showed that she’d reached the main floor. Finally, he turned back to his father.
“You turned your back on me, a stronger shifter. What is Remy teaching you?”
“Are you threatening me?”
Gabriele smiled. “Of course not. Just the overprotective side of me. I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had plans.”
“How could you have known? You haven’t called once since you left town.”
“I’ve been busy, and I’m betting you have been too. Is it wise to talk out here in the hallway?”
Jules considered his options. None of them were ideal, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys. “Come in and we’ll talk.”
“Thank you.”
He felt more awkward opening the door for his father than he had the first time Kaylee had come over for dinner. The place was clean. He’d been expecting to spend the evening with Kaylee after all, but it was small, rundown, not something he felt overly proud of, but it was the best he could do for the time being. But his best had never been good enough for his father before.
Doesn’t matter. Just get this over with. “Does Remy know you’re in town?”
“No. I haven’t gone through all the formal welcomes just yet, but I will. I don’t want to hurt the clan chief’s feelings.”
“It isn’t about feelings—it’s about tradition.”
“Of course. Not a bad place.”
“Can I get you a drink?”
“Water is fine.” He sat at the kitchen table. “I saw the original footage on the news, back before The Human Order attacks. I didn’t know it was you.”
“No one outside of the police and the clan did.”
“You could have called and told me you were in trouble.”
“I wasn’t in trouble. I was being targeted. And it was taken care of.”
“And now you’re out.”
“And that situation is being taken care of as well. You haven’t said a word to me in years. Why come now?”
“I told you why. That, and because I have news of The Human Order that your clan chief should hear. Since I was once a part of this clan, my new chief sent me here as his ambassador.”
“Is that what they’re called now?”
“You don’t trust me, I understand that. I know why you don’t trust me. I wasn’t there for you, and I should have been. I was troubled and upset. My girls, they weren’t shifters, either of them. I felt like I had failed them, failed my family. And then your mother calls me in a blind panic because there’s a bear in her living room.”
“I thought it would have made you happy.”
“I realize now that it should have. Julius, I should have been there. I should have been more proud of you. I should never have let a jealous woman keep me away from my son. If Remy gives me permission to stay for a while, could we spend some time together? Catch up a little? I can’t change the past, but maybe we can have a better future.”
Jules took a deep breath. “Okay. We can give it a try. Have you called my mother yet?”
“No. I wasn’t going to. She and I fought worse than you and I did before I left. She made it very clear that I was not welcome in her life anymore. I thought it would be for the best if I just let it be. Is she happy? Secure?”
Jules nodded. “She’s working, she has an apartment, she has a little group of friends.”
“No boyfriend? No, don’t answer that. It’s none of my business. I’m glad she’s happy. And you. Who’s the girl?”
“Her name is Kaylee.”
Gabriele waited a moment, but when Jules didn’t offer any further information he said, “Would you call Remy for me? Arrange the meeting for tomorrow night? I think he would take this better if he heard from you first.”
“Of course.”
Gabriele pulled a card out of his wallet. You can reach me at this number and let me know what time to meet you at the warehouse.”
“You’ll have to come here, and I’ll drive you to the warehouse.”
“I know where it is,” Gabriele scoffed.
Jules shook his head. “We sold it after the attack and moved to a different location. Too many people knew about it, and we were having problems with the media.”
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 49