The Bigger They Are… (Lovers on the Fringe, Book Two)

by Stephanie Julian

  She had to be here investigating a rumor for her brother and she’d been too close to the Mystyk Bar last night for it to be coincidence. The fact that he’d never heard of Joss having a sister until now probably only meant he’d been keeping her as a stealth weapon.

  It’d be too much to hope that her being here was mere coincidence.

  “Do you have somewhere you need to be?”

  A blush turned her cheeks rosy and Andy felt his stomach twist.

  “Actually, this is going to sound really stupid. And now that I’m here, I know how foolish it really is, but… No, never mind. I have to get home. I’ve got work that needs to be finished and…stuff I need to do. I really would love to stay but…” again that blush, “I really should get back to real life.”

  Real life, huh? So what had last night been?

  “I had a great time last night, Andy.”

  She smiled at him and all the heated anger that’d started to gather in his chest at being considered something less than real sank lower. Really low. And definitely was no longer angry.

  Hell, he’d finally met a girl who turned him on like no one he’d ever met but he should be glad she was going.

  This situation totally sucked.

  But what the hell could he do about it?

  “I had a great night too. Can I at least get your number? If I ever get back through,” he remembered at the last second that she’d never actually told him where she lived, “here, maybe I could give you a call?”

  Her cute little nose wrinkled. “Actually, I’m not from around here. I live closer to Reading, which is about an hour north of Philadelphia. But if you ever get down there…”

  Well, hell, wasn’t that almost too convenient. His cousin Tim didn’t live far from Reading.

  Maybe Tim would get a few more visits a year than he was used to. Carrie wouldn’t mind. She could always use some pictures of a Yeti for her magazine.

  “I’m sure I could manage it.”

  Her undiluted smile made him want to throw her back on the bed, strip off the clothes she’d just put on and get her to agree to stay for the rest of the day, at least. Maybe the next day, as well.

  But what he really should be doing was pushing her out the door and on her way home. Away from here. Away from him and his Fringe friends.

  If Fry found out who she was, he’d never hear the end of it.

  Come to think of it, he hadn’t heard from Fry at all last night. No texts, no calls asking where he’d gotten to. Maybe his buddy had gotten lucky too. Probably not as lucky as Andy but maybe he’d picked up a woman at the bar and went back to her room. The guy was as chick magnet. Something about those wings…

  Then again, what if something had happened to him?

  Nah, someone would’ve called him. If Fry had gotten drunk—and that was a damn good possibility—he wouldn’t have been able to fly so there would be no smashed Fry on a tree or a windshield somewhere.

  Someone had probably given him a drive back to the B&B where he was sleeping it off in a room.

  “Andy, is something wrong?”

  He blinked and realized Jenna’s smile was gone. Probably because he’d started to frown.

  “No. Nothing’s wrong. I just realized I didn’t tell my friend where I was going last night and I haven’t heard from him since then.”

  “Do you think something happened to him?”

  “No… No, I’m sure he’s fine.”

  “Maybe you should give him a call. It’ll make you feel better. And I really should check in with my brother again.”

  And there was the invisible pink elephant in the room again.

  “I had a great time last night, Jenna. And I really do want to see you again.”

  Damn, her smile made him horny as all hell.

  Turning, she began to look around the room then turned toward the desk. She jotted down something on the notepad by the phone then headed for the door.

  She opened it but turned back to him before walking out. “I’d really like to see you again too. I left you my number. Plea—”

  Jenna disappeared with a squeak.

  For a second, Andy blinked at the space where she’d been standing. In the next, he ran for the door, his body obeying signals from his subconscious before his sex-addled brain realized what had actually happened.

  Throwing open the door, he stepped outside and assessed the situation. Then he took two strides and grabbed the guy trying to drag Jenna down the path toward the B&B. The guy couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred pounds soaking wet and barely came up to Jenna’s shoulder. Andy would’ve thought it was a kid except for the scraggly beard covering his chin and the receding hairline.

  The guy squealed and released Jenna when Andy picked him up by the scruff of his neck and let his feet dangle inches above the ground.

  Jenna turned, hands on her hips, a furious expression on her face. “Mike, what the hell’s going on with you? What’re you doing here? And why the frack are you trying to kidnap me?”

  The tone of Jenna’s voice made it clear she knew the guy. And wasn’t happy to see him.

  The look on the guy’s face was sheer panic. Andy was surprised ole Mikey here wasn’t begging for his release.

  “Joss wanted me to make sure you were okay. He didn’t want anything to happen to you.”

  Jenna’s arms crossed under her breasts now and Andy couldn’t help but sigh at the sight. “And why exactly would he think something would happen to me?”

  Mike flicked a somewhat frantic look at Andy over his shoulder as his feet pedaled in the air. As if he might be able to get enough motion going to get free. Andy just lifted his eyebrows at the SPAz. Definitely SPAz.

  His new buddy Mike had that look about him.

  “Joss just wanted to be sure you got his message. Since I was in the area, I told him I’d make sure you were okay.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Andy’s mouth quirked in a grin at the heat in Jenna’s tone. He really liked this girl. And when she caught his grin and returned it, that heat sank into his blood.

  “I want to know what’s going on and I want to know now. Andy, I think you can let him down. He may be an idiot but he’s not dangerous.”

  Andy would reserve judgment on that one. Not on the idiot comment. That was definitely true.

  As soon as he put the guy on the ground, Mike made a beeline for Jenna, and, while he didn’t exactly cower behind her, he did stick pretty close to her side.

  Mike must’ve seen Andy’s displeasure with his proximity to Jenna but, even though the guy practically quivered like a hairless Chihuahua in a snow storm, he didn’t move.

  “Jenna, who is this guy?”

  “And why would you think this was any of your business, Mike? What are you doing here? I thought you went with Joss.”

  Mike flushed a bright, uncomfortable red. “I was going to but my mom needed me at home. She’d be all alone if I left and…”

  Jenna actually looked sorry for the guy and Andy had to admit it was kind of pitiful.

  “So now you’re following me around?”

  “No! Well, not really.” Mike gave Andy a furtive look before leaning closer to Jenna. “Joss told me why he asked you to come here and I think I found something you need to see.”

  Well, shit. That didn’t sound good but Jenna just rolled her eyes.

  “Whatever it is you think you found, Mike, I’m sure it won’t interest me.”

  Mike deliberately ignored her or, more likely, he didn’t pick up on Jenna’s tone, which definitely told Mike to get lost. Instead, he started tugging Jenna toward the B&B.

  Andy was about to go rescue his damsel but the damsel didn’t appear to need any help as she made a short, sharp motion and freed herself from Mike’s grip. Before he could attach himself to her arm again, and before Andy could grab the guy by the scruff and give him a shake for daring to touch Jenna, she held up one index finger and stared Mike down as if he were a first-grader having a t
emper tantrum.

  If Andy had had a teacher like Jenna, he probably would’ve flunked out of school because all he’d do all day was stare at her.

  Finally, Mike actually stomped his foot like a child. “Jenna, you gotta come with me. Joss will have my head on a platter if anything happens to you.”

  “And again, I say, I’m old enough to take care of myself. And older than you by five years.”

  Andy made a mental note not to get on this woman’s bad side. That tongue could cut like a knife. When it wasn’t licking up his—

  “Jesus, Jenna,” Mikey’s voice had dropped to a level he probably thought Andy couldn’t hear. Too bad for Mike, Andy had great hearing. “I’ve got a freakin’ fairy trapped in my trunk. You gotta come see.”

  It was Andy’s turn to roll his eyes.

  Well, hell. That probably explained the mystery of what’d happened to Fry last night.

  How the fuck did the guy get himself into these situations? This wasn’t the first time Andy would have to pull his ass out of the fire. Or, in this case, Mikey’s trunk.

  But how did he do it without Jenna seeing Fry?

  Or maybe…it’d be a good way to gauge Jenna’s reaction to the Fringe. Of course, if she turned out to be just like her brother, he’d never be able to see her again. And if she told anyone she’d slept with a Yeti, well, she’d lose any credibility she’d ever had.

  Which would be a shitty thing to do to the woman he had a freaking hard-on for right now.

  So what the fuck did he do? He couldn’t leave Fry in the back of the little twerp’s car, though it would serve Fry right if he did, at least for a little while.

  “Now, Mike, really. I know you probably think you have a fairy in your trunk but maybe it’s simply a bat or a—”

  “Bat’s aren’t almost six feet tall with blue wings.”

  Yep, definitely Fry.

  “Oh my god.” Jenna’s expression made Andy wince and Mike practically folded in on himself. “Do you mean to tell me you have an actual person trapped in the trunk of your car?”

  “He’s not a person, he’s a fairy.”

  “Oh, for—Mike! You’re going to get arrested for a hate crime!”

  Andy couldn’t help himself. He started to laugh even as Mike began to wave his hands in the air as if he were guiding a fighter jet onto the deck of a battleship.

  “No, I mean he really is a fairy. He’s got wings and everything.”

  Now Jenna threw her hands in the air and started stomping back toward the B&B. Like a good little boy, Mike fell in behind her. Andy followed at enough of a distance that he could ogle her ass. He figured it’d be the last time he got to see it.

  They reached Mike’s car in what seemed like seconds and Andy started to laugh again. He couldn’t help it.

  Mike drove a Gremlin.

  The damn thing didn’t have a trunk. It had a see-through hatch. The only reason no one had noticed Fry in the back was because Fry had curled in on himself. He looked like a pile of clothes, his dark hair blending into the dark fabric of his coat.

  While he tried to hold back his laughter, Jenna and Mike gave him funny looks. Jenna’s confusion scrunched up her face in adorable bemusement while Mike just looked pissy.

  Just wait, little man. I’ll show you something that’ll wipe that pissy look off your face in a heartbeat.

  “Mike, open this car right now.”

  “But Jenna—”

  “Don’t ‘but Jenna’ me.” She held up her index finger and Mike looked like a puppy she’d just taken the newspaper to. “Open. The. Car.”

  With a huge sigh, Mike trudged over to the car, pulled keys out of his pocket and fumbled around until he got the right key in the slot.

  The hatch popped open.

  Fry didn’t move and a quick blast of fear swept through Andy that his friend was actually hurt. Then he caught a whiff of alcohol.

  Not hurt. Drunk.

  How the hell much did Fry drink last night? Not that it took much to knock the guy out. Alcohol did funky things to the fae.

  “My god, Mike, did you hurt him?”

  “No! Of course I didn’t.” Mike actually looked affronted that she’d even think that. “But I let him have the bottle of moonshine I had in the car. You remember that trip your brother and I took to Kentucky a few months ago? To track down that Bigfoot sighting? Well, we kinda got lost and stumbled onto this illegal moonshine ring. They held us hostage for a few hours before they realized we weren’t with the Feds. Then they gave us a couple of bottles and told us where they’d actually seen a Sasquatch. We didn’t find anything that night and it took us two days to find our way out of the forest. We must not have followed their directions right.”

  Andy choked on another laugh. He’d bet those moonshiners had been hoping Joss and Mike would never make it out alive. Probably figured the moonshine and the forest would take care of them. Joss’ uncanny luck had struck again, apparently.

  Jenna lifted one hand to rub at her temples as her eyes closed and a long, deep sigh issued from her lips. When she spoke, she formed each word carefully, as if she might trip over them.

  “Mike. Please help the man out of your trunk.”

  Mike’s mouth fell open in shock. “But he might fly away.”

  Another sigh and her cute little teeth sank into her bottom lip before she took another deep breath. “Mike. If you don’t get that guy out of your car, I’m going to call the cops and the only flying anyone will do is you through the legal system and straight into the loony bin!”

  Looked like Jenna had reached her breaking point. Not that Andy could blame her. He’d get frustrated if he had to deal with this yahoo.

  Mike blinked up at her, frozen like a deer in headlights. An angry Jenna definitely was a sight to behold. Her eyes blazed with heat, her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. When she put her hands on her hips, her breasts jutted out and nearly made his tongue fall out of his mouth.

  Fry chose that moment to regain consciousness. He yawned, tried to stretch before he realized he didn’t have enough room then sat up with a jaw-cracking yawn.

  He had Jenna’s and Mike’s full attention as Fry threw his legs over the end of the car and rubbed at his eyes…with the ends of his wings.

  Andy heard Jenna gasp. And Mike said, “See? I told you he was a fairy.”

  Then Mike turned to Andy, his head cocked to the side. Andy had seen that expression before.

  It was the look true believers got when first confronted with proof that there were little green men. Only they didn’t come from Mars. More like Ireland.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, Andy just stared back.

  Then, since he couldn’t resist, he flipped the switch. For five seconds, with Jenna’s attention solely on Fry and Andy completely out of her sightlines, he shifted into his Yeti form.

  His body grew taller and broader, his form closer to a bear. His shaggy white fur gleamed in the sunlight and Andy bared a mouthful of sharp teeth in a shit-eating grin.

  Five seconds was usually all it took for the yokels to realize what had happened. Unless they were dumber than the average yokel.

  Apparently Mike was average. His mouth dropped open as his eyes widened. He literally froze, like a kid playing statue. Andy wanted to laugh but knew he’d give himself away with his growl.

  Then Andy flipped the switch again and Mike gave a high-pitched squeal worthy of a tween girl who’d just found out her parents still had sex.

  Jenna didn’t appear to hear him or, if she had, she totally ignored him.

  Moving to her side, Andy knew it was time for the reckoning. Because Jenna was not your average yokel. She might be the smartest person he’d ever met. Her brain never stopped working.

  Except for right now when she looked like Eymorgs had stolen her brain, just waiting for someone to press a button and turn her on again.

  “Hey, Andy.” Fry grinned up at him from the car, his eyes bleary and his grin lopsided. “What the hell ha
ppened to you last night, buddy? You disappeared and I had to take care of those tengu all by myself.”

  Jenna blinked again then looked between him and Fry. Between that blink and the next, Jenna’s brain began to compute.

  And what she came up with equaled a hell of a lot more than four.

  “Why does this man have wings?”

  “Jenna…”

  Mike tried to break into the conversation at that point but Jenna held up one hand and Mike closed up like a clam when she turned her sharp gaze on him.

  “How did you know to look for me in Andy’s cottage? Joss called this morning to tell me to go home. After he practically begged me to come up here and check out…this town.”

  Andy caught her slight hesitation and knew exactly what she’d been going to say. Joss had somehow found out about the Mystyk and sent Jenna to investigate. She’d been blissfully unaware of what she’d been about to stumble onto and now she was going to be either pissed off or scarred for life.

  There was no way out of this situation without a little heartache for either of them. He just hoped Jenna didn’t freak. He hated when women he really liked freaked out because they’d slept with him.

  He’d been hoping he could see her again.

  Damn it, he really didn’t want this to be the end of their relationship. He liked Jenna. They had a connection that went beyond a geek’s love of Star Trek.

  But first he had to deal with Mike, because ole Mikey was hiding something.

  And he wasn’t doing a very good job of it if the flush covering his face was anything to go by.

  “Joss was worried about me. Why was that, Mike?”

  Seems Jenna had come to the same conclusion Andy had. That the only trouble Jenna was in was from Mike.

  Which proved to be only too true when Mike pulled a gun. The hand holding the gun shook so much, Andy didn’t think the guy would be able to hit the broad side of a barn. But at this close distance, he wouldn’t even have to aim. A wild shot could hit any of them.

  “Joss was worried I’d find the truth about the Mystyk before you did. And he was right. Now I’m going to be the one who gets the TV and book deals. I’m going to be famous. Everyone will talk about me when I show them a real, live fairy.”