Growl for Me

by Alice Bello

  “I’m also nosy, bossy and can trash talk with the best of them.”

  I took a deep breath. I so needed that. I felt my body relax immediately.

  “I was in college—English History. I barely said boo to anyone.”

  Lauren bumped my shoulder as we walked. “I like Prince Harry best. He’s adorable. And I think he’d be a really fun date.”

  “Me too.”

  We walked for a few beats in silence. It was nice.

  Not being alone, in a pretty little town, just walking down the street.

  “Well, at least you have your health,” Lauren said.

  My health?

  Did she not see my gray skin?

  “Maybe you need a job, you know, to take your mind off of your problems. Plus you get paid, which is always a good thing.”

  “I used to wait tables, back in Colorado. But I don’t know if I can still do it.”

  Lauren nodded. “Well, we’re all full up at Carly’s, but Jerry’s gas station is looking for an afternoon attendant.”

  And wouldn’t you know, we were standing not fifty feet from said gas station.

  “Come on,” Lauren said, already walking toward the building. “I have to get some night crawlers for my man—early morning fishing trip tomorrow—so I’ll introduce you to Jerry while we’re there.”

  I stopped and stared after her. A couple minutes ago I was on the verge of tears. Now she wanted me to apply for a job. I probably looked like hell. And who would want to employ someone that looked as sickly as I looked?

  Lauren gave me another one of her blistering stares. “Come on, hungry girl, I’ve got sour cream and cottage cheese getting warm here.”

  I started after her, biting my lip with nerves. “I’m Chelsea, by the way.”

  “And here I was so sure you were a Lana or a Lolita.”

  I sped up in front of her and opened the door for her. There was a very soft gong noise as the door opened. Made sense, since this town was crawling with shifters, to have the bell on the door be so soft.

  “Jerry! I’ve got your new afternoon girl here. Come meet Chelsea.”

  ###

  Lauren was a force of nature.

  Before I knew what happened I’d met Jerry, filled out an application, had an interview—which was pretty much Lauren interrogating me with thankfully fluff questions, and then Jerry hiring me.

  The deciding factor had been Lauren telling Jerry “She’s already twice as good as any of the last ten people you’ve hired and fired. What do you have to lose?”

  A lot.

  I’m a shifter that hasn’t shifted. And the man would have to be blind not to see the gray in my coloring.

  But he didn’t even flinch when he took my hand and we shook on my being hired.

  I started tomorrow, on the night shift.

  After that, I followed Lauren back to Carly’s Burgers and ordered myself another Hungry Bear platter. This time with a side of fries.

  Lauren chatted with me between waiting on her tables. She was funny and really liked to talk. She also had a way, seemingly like magic, of getting her customers to smile at her. It was like some kind of magnetism. And she wasn’t even a shifter.

  After devouring my early lunch, and ordering a second to-go for Benjamin, I got back in the truck and drove back home.

  Home…

  Yes, Nonna the werebear/witch’s house felt like home.

  More than anywhere else had since I’d been bitten.

  Too bad it would only be home for a little longer.

  When I got there I heard the rough back and forth of a hand-held saw blade.

  I grabbed the bag of Carly’s Burgers goodies and followed that sound to the side yard where I found Benjamin slumped over an old-fashioned wooden sawhorse, menacing looking metal saw in hand, and a poor, innocent two by four in the other.

  I watched as with just a few strokes of the saw the two by four became two pieces.

  It’s good to be a shifter.

  He whipped out a pocket measure and marked it with a tiny pencil he had tucked behind his ear.

  But then his back straightened and he scented the air.

  A moment later he turned and shot me one heck of a sexy smile.

  No… no, no, no!

  I can’t be thinking that Benjamin is sexy.

  Yeah, but I’m not blind either.

  “Feel better?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Sorry I was so…”

  “Don’t apologize.” He walked over and stared into my eyes.

  Oh boy…

  “What’s in the bag?”

  Bag? “What bag?” My voice sounded singsongy, and I’m sure I looked like I was a swooning, drooling teenager.

  He looked down at my hands.

  Yep, there it was. The bag.

  “Lunch,” I said, my voice sounding more than an octave higher than usual. “I ate in town and brought you back the same. It’s called The Hungry Bear.”

  Okay, now that didn’t sound a bit stupid.

  I watched his half hooded eyes turn from the blue of a winter day to pure, radiant sapphire.

  “Good,” he said, his lips sensuously forming every syllable. “I’m starving.”

  Oh… so… slowly… he reached over and took the large paper bag out of my hands.

  “You can have the cheese sticks. I’ve never liked fried cheese.”

  That snapped me out of my daze.

  “You don’t like cheese sticks? Are you kidding?”

  He chuckled. “I can eat them if that’s all there is, but I’d have to be starving more than this.”

  There’s a new platter for Lauren to sell: The Starving Wolf.

  “That’s kinda twisted. I’m not even sure it’s American.”

  “It’s not American,” Benjamin said as he passed through the back door into the kitchen. “Cheese sticks originate from France.”

  I scowled.

  I loved British History, but I was also quite ignorant of the rest of the world’s history. Especially about their food.

  I smiled as I followed Benjamin back into the house.

  I have to admit that it was nice to be back. The house was already so familiar, and to lay my eyes on it again was so soothing. Just inhaling the air here was like a balm. Probably because it was a little musty, like a book. I love how books smell.

  Benjamin was already at the kitchen table, a cup of coffee poured and emptying the bag of eats.

  I grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured myself a cup of that coffee. It was just this side of hot and sent a zing of caffeine through me.

  “Is this from Carly’s?” Benjamin asked.

  I nodded. “I’ve eaten there twice since I got here.”

  His handsome chin popped up in a happy nod. “I like their food. Lots of calories there.”

  Yes, shifters need a lot of calories. I can’t imagine trying to go vegan as a shifter. It would be torture.

  Not that I was a model of wolfy health. Not even close from the tint of my skin.

  Benjamin was halfway through the burger and was starting on the ribs when I shook myself out of my little gray skin reverie.

  “There are pretty good pre-made subs at that gas station too,” he said between bites of ribs.

  Oh, yeah… I had news.

  “Jerry’s gas station,” I said and he nodded. “Well, I just got a job working there.”

  Benjamin stopped eating. He looked up at me with wide, shocked eyes. “You’re going to work at the gas station?”

  His question kind of echoed through my brain. Was I really going to work there?

  “Yes,” I said reaching over and stealing the container that had the cheese sticks. “I need to work. I can’t live off my savings for long, and…” And Lauren had pretty much decided the whole thing for me. “Jerry’s really nice, and I’m working afternoons… the closing shift.”

  “Uh huh…” Benjamin’s eyes danced around the table. He was thinking. Probably deciding how to ask the obvious
without hurting my feelings.

  I beat him to it.

  “I haven’t had an anxiety attack once since I got here. Not even a nightmare.”

  Of course, it had only been a little over twenty-four hours.

  “That’s good,” he said, trying to sound positive. “If you need me to, I can come down and loiter.”

  My lips curled as I pondered throwing one of my cheese sticks at him. But instead, I dunked it in sauce and took a big bite. “I’ll have to make a sign: ‘No loitering unless you’re a werewolf.’”

  His eyes did that glowy thing again. “Maybe just Werewolf Benjamin.”

  I felt my body warm all over. My skin, my face… especially my middle.

  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…

  “When do you start?” he asked.

  “Tomorrow. Jerry will train me for a week, he said—since he doesn’t have anyone for the afternoon shift except the weekend lady. But she can only work the weekends. She’s got school.”

  I swear Benjamin’s ears perked up. “So you’ll be off on the weekends?”

  “Yep, free and clear.”

  He smiled. “Good. They’re having a little festival this weekend. Saint Rocco.”

  “There’s a saint named Rocco?”

  “It’s an Italian thing. Lots of good food, dancing, and fireworks.”

  I loved food and fireworks… but dancing?”

  “I can’t dance,” I confessed.

  He raised an eyebrow at me. “All werewolves can dance.”

  I scoffed. “You can’t dance.”

  Benjamin might have many hidden talents, but I was quite sure he couldn’t dance. At Stormy’s wedding, I’d watched out my window and had seen him as he shrank away from any woman who even looked his way when music was playing.

  “I can’t…” He stood up, pulled his phone out of his back pocket, and with a few taps of the screen a fast-paced honky-tonk tune blared into the kitchen.

  “I don’t believe it,” I said as he started to scoot his workboot-clad feet across the kitchen floor.

  I shook my head, blinking and trying not to gape as the man did a little line dance across the kitchen, threw in a bit of Irish stepdance, and then a flourish of Elvis' hips.

  Oh. My. Goodness.

  It was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

  But then he turned toward me and held out his hand.

  I put up my hands, begging off. “I told you, I can’t dance.” A nervous giggle bubbled up from deep inside me. “I’m a certified klutz.”

  But before I could think twice he had me by the hand, and in two shakes of a lamb’s tail he twirled me around twice and then pulled me into a perfect dance hold.

  “Look at me,” he said low and whispery. “Not your feet.”

  I was looking at him. I couldn’t see anything else. He was so beautiful and kind and…

  He was Benjamin. My Benjamin.

  He was all I saw, all I wanted to see… all that I smelled and felt. I could even hear his heart beating faster as he looked at me.

  Whatever we were doing, the steps didn’t seem to matter. We swayed, we moved across the kitchen floor, and he would spin me around.

  It was like being in heaven.

  And then the song ended.

  For an uncomfortable moment, we stood there not moving, just staring at each other.

  But then another song started to play. It was slow and made me think immediately of water.

  Benjamin pulled me closer, and we danced in a slow, swaying style.

  We were so close…

  I wanted to kiss his neck.

  I mean… we were so close, and he was there…

  I really wanted to kiss his neck.

  I wanted to kiss Benjamin.

  My heart was thudding in my chest. I was certain Benjamin could hear it.

  My hand was resting on his shoulder, and just seeing the gray tinge of my flesh tore me right out of what I was feeling. Like being slapped in the face. Hard.

  I pulled away from Benjamin and gulped.

  I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t start something I would never get to finish.

  And Benjamin deserved so much more than I could give him.

  “I…” I stepped a few more steps away. “I forgot… I’ve got something I need to do.”

  And with that, I turned and speed walked up the stairs, down the hall to my room and promptly locked myself in.

  I backed away from the door as if I expected it to sprout fangs and attack me.

  I ran my fingers back over my hair, ready to rip some of it out.

  This was…

  It was just…

  Aggravating.

  Why would the world give me this death sentence—being a shifter that can’t shift, who’s getting sicker and sicker—and then give me such a great, fantastic, amazing and sexy guy?

  Why?

  It’s not like I’m some villainous mean girl or a b-i-t-c-h.

  I swung around picked up a book and threw it against the wall.

  Tears burst from my eyes, hot and burning. I wanted to scream.

  I covered my mouth over with my hands, trying to keep my sobs as quiet as I could.

  I walked over and picked up the book I’d thrown. It was a biography of the current Queen Elizabeth. A tattered paperback that I’d bought new, and had read over and over again.

  I put her back on the reading chair. I loved this book, and I was damn lucky it hadn’t been hurt.

  I lay down on the bed, my arms hugging me.

  Why would I get a chance at something so wonderful when I was on my way out?

  Chapter 5

  I don’t know when I fell asleep, or when I stopped crying, but when the pounding at my bedroom door woke me the room was almost perfectly dark, and my eyes felt so dried out.

  “Wake up, wolf girl,” Benjamin called through the door.

  I rubbed at my eyes and sat up on the edge of the bed.

  Another knock, and then Benjamin just barged in, flipping the overhead light on with the switch by the door.

  “Benjamin!” I ran my hands over my head, sure I looked perfectly ghastly. Bedhead and bloodshot, puffy eyes. Not to mention probably a red nose.

  “Good, you’re dressed still.”

  I closed my eyes and nodded. “Yes, it’s so much better I’m not naked.”

  My eyes snapped open as soon as I said that bit. Benjamin was staring at me, his mouth gaping open and his eyes wide.

  Jeez…

  “I didn’t say that.”

  He just smiled. “Whatever you say.”

  We stared for another few beats before he shook his head and said, “Well, what are you waiting for? Grab a sweater and let’s go.”

  “Go where?” I didn’t like this.

  Historically, I didn’t like surprises at all.

  “We’re going out. Grab a sweater or a jacket and let’s go.”

  “I don’t want to go anywhere.” I just wanted to lay back down and disappear in the softness of my new sheets and the old feather mattress.

  Benjamin cocked his head. “Okay, let’s talk about why it’s better I didn’t find you naked in here.”

  “Fine… let’s go out.” I was up and pulling a well worn black cardigan from my closet and walked past him. “Don’t dawdle. We’ve got somewhere to be.”

  We went downstairs and toward the front door. Benjamin beat me to the door, and the little bowl I’d placed on the stand beside it. In the bowl were our two sets of keys.

  Benjamin plucked both sets out and headed out the door.

  “Hey!” I lamented.

  “Hey what?” he called back over his shoulder.

  “My car’s blocking yours in.”

  “Yes, it is.” He hit the little fob thingy and the inner lights came on as the doors unlocked.

  He was already so far ahead.

  “My car, my rules… and my rule is I drive my car. No one else.”

  “That’s a good rule,” he said, pulling the driver’s sid
e door open and plopping his butt down into my car. “But I know where we’re going and you don’t… so get in so we get there on time.”

  This was crazy.

  Not werewolves-are-real insane, but it was pretty crazy to head out into the night, in the middle of nowhere, and not know where you were going.

  “You need to tell me where we’re going,” I demanded.

  Benjamin leaned over and looked up at me through the passenger side window. He also started the engine. “Nah… this is more fun. Get in.”

  Oh, what a stubborn, idiotic man!

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Then we talk about you getting naked.”

  I bit my lip. “I can live with that.”

  And just like that, his eyes turned hot as if there was a sex powered furnace inside him, and the flames were licking up out from inside him. “And we can talk about what almost happened earlier. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

  I knew he would do it too. He never pushed me to do anything. But if he said he would do something, then he would do it. Period.

  I pulled the passenger side door open and got in.

  “You play dirty.”

  “You have no idea,” and he backed my car out into the road.

  ###

  The sign read Sky View Drive-In.

  “We’re watching a movie?”

  “It’s a double feature,” he said as we rolled up to the entrance and the ticket booth.

  “My first day is tomorrow—”

  “And you don’t work until three in the afternoon.”

  I looked up to the well-worn marquee. There was a superhero movie and a cartoon about a super villain turned hero.

  Not my cup of tea, not either of them.

  I opened my mouth to say I hate superhero movies almost as much as cartoons, but Benjamin placed his thick, rough finger against my lips.

  “Sometimes you just need to watch a silly, stupid movie and have fun.”

  I pulled away from his touch and rolled my eyes. “Fine, whatever…”

  “I’ll take that as tacit agreement.”

  And after he paid for our tickets he drove my little car up into a long, wide field and we parked almost exactly in the middle.

  I smelled popcorn and hot dogs and pizza.

  My belly rumbled, and I was suddenly absolutely starving.

  With a big goofy grin I looked at Benjamin and said, “Race you!” and then I jumped out of the car and ran toward the concession stand.