He reached down and pressed the button releasing my seatbelt, then reached across me like he did before. I couldn't help myself. I moved away from him again. He scoffed as he pulled the door handle and my door open.
"Out!"
My eyes widened, still unsure what was going on. All I could think of was my dad's words to me earlier. Be wary of the wolf at your door. Yeah, I had a wolf at my door all right, and he was being an ass.
"You can't just leave me here," I said as I stepped out of the car.
"I can do whatever I want," he said. "What are you going to do? Call the police? I am the police."
He grabbed my door and yanked it shut before putting the car in reverse and driving back out to the main road. The car sat at the end of the road and I saw his eyes flash amber at me before he hit the gas, making his wheels squeal as he drove away.
"Asshole," I said under my breath.
I stood in the darkness for a minute wondering if this was all a joke and he'd come back, but I really didn't want him to. I felt safer being alone than back in the car with him.
I pulled my cell phone out and tapped the button to bring it to life. The glow from my phone was comforting until I noticed there weren't any bars.
"Dammit! That fucking dick!" I yelled as I kicked a rock along what was left of the asphalt.
A wolf howled, sounding closer than I was used to.
"Great, more wolves," I said. "And apparently I've started talking to myself."
"Sometimes you're your own best company," a deep voice in the trees said.
"Shit."
I looked towards the woods, trying to see where the voice came from. I stopped walking, figuring I was safer where I was than accidentally walking closer to this voice. I had enough problems for one night.
"Relax," he said. "I don't mean you any harm. I was patrolling the woods when I heard the car. I figured I'd check to make sure everything was okay."
"Then why don't you come out where I can see you?" I asked.
"Because that would be rude. I'm naked."
I laughed and he laughed, too. I didn't mind knowing there was a naked man in the woods. I started walking back towards the road again.
"So are you a shifter or some crazy person who roams the woods naked?" I asked.
"Depends on whom you talk to," he said with a laugh.
For a second, I saw eyes flash amber in the trees, giving me my answer.
"Any chance you know where I can get a signal around here?" I asked, waving my cell phone.
"The trees are too dense here. But if you go up the main road a bit, you'll see an old firehouse at the intersection. Go in there, tell them Caleb Overstreet sent you. I'm Alpha in these parts, they'll let you use the phone and anything else you want."
"Thank you, Caleb. I'm Heather."
"Nice to meet you, Heather. I'll be keeping an eye on you until you get there."
As I reached the road, I checked my phone again and saw I finally had a bar. It might be enough to get a call through. I called my apartment figuring my dad was still there, but he didn't answer. He had a habit of turning off his cell phone so I didn't bother trying that. Instead I called Viv, my closest friend.
"Viv, I need you to pick me up."
"Pick you up? I thought you had a date with Gavin tonight," she said.
"Yeah, I did. He kicked me out of the car."
"What!"
"I'll tell you everything once you get here. You know the old cranberry plant? I'm near there."
"I'm on my way."
***
"I can't believe that guy," Viv said. "I knew he was bad news. He was too good on paper."
"Yeah, whatever. I should have known better," I said.
As she turned onto my street, I noticed flashing lights up ahead. I strained my eyes to see if they were coming from the apartment building I lived in and sure enough, they were.
"What's going on?" I said.
"There's police tape and an ambulance," Viv said.
The area around the building was blocked off by the police so Viv pulled her car as close as she could. I got out and ran towards the nearest officer as I scanned the area looking for my father.
"I'm sorry, miss," he said "You can't go in there, it's a crime scene."
"But I live here. Where's my father?"
"What's your name?"
"Heather Mather, I live in 3A."
"I'm sorry, Miss Mather. Chief wants to speak with you."
The officer let me under the yellow tape, then he went to find their Chief. I didn't want to speak him. I spoke to him enough earlier.
As I walked towards the building, I noticed the EMTs pulling a stretcher out the front door. My dad's car was still in the driveway and I suddenly felt sick. I looked up towards my apartment where the blinds were still open. The young officer I spoke to appeared in the window, and then Gavin followed him.
"No," I whispered.
I ran over to the moving stretcher and pushed aside one of the men guiding it.
"I have to see. Please don't let it be him. Please let me look," I said as I reached for the sheet.
"Heather!" Gavin yelled from the doorway.
His voice stopped my hand from pulling the sheet back. I could tell by the look in his face who was underneath. I didn't need to look anymore. I didn't want to.
I couldn't breathe. I tried to take a deep breath, but I couldn't. I gasped for air, but dizziness overtook me. As everything went black, Gavin's strong arms caught me.
Chapter Four
Heather
Present Day
"Really, Viv? Here?" I said.
Looking out the dusty window of Vivienne's old Ford, the glow of a neon sign in the darkened parking lot made it obvious where she was taking me. Night Shift. A bar on the other side of the tracks. Literally.
The car jostled and rattled as it bounced over the metal tracks sunken deep into the asphalt. The trains didn't run anymore, but just a decade ago they were used to transport building materials and other large items into the warehouses. The warehouses were still there today, but the businesses weren't.
When I was smaller, my father had a friend who managed one of the warehouses. We would visit him during the day when my father was off duty. I used to sit on one of the metal office chairs and stare out the window watching the trains make their slow journey.
"Heather," Viv said loudly, startling me.
"Jeez, what is it?"
"You weren't listening. You were in your own world again. I had to do something to get your attention."
"Sorry, I was thinking about Pop."
Viv was quiet as I saw her brown eyes flick towards me, then back at the road. She liked ribbing me, but she would never say anything about that. Especially not when it had only been six months.
"I was worried about that when I decided we were going here," she said. "I know how awful you still feel, he was a great dad. He was pretty much the only father I had, too."
I nodded, thinking about how many times my father had bailed Viv out of trouble when she was a teen. That's just how he was. Abram Mather always saw the good in people. Or at least tried to.
"He loved you a lot, Viv. He thought of you as a daughter, too," I said.
"Have you heard anything new from the police?"
"No, still no leads. Nothing. It's like whoever did it vanished without a trace," I said. "I'd really rather not talk about it though."
"I shouldn't have brought it up. Anyway, we're not here to think about sad things. You need to get out of the house and have fun."
"Have fun? At a shifter bar?"
"Of course! All these hot men that are practically animals, how can that not be fun?" Viv said with a grin as she raised her eyebrows.
"I don't need a man. I have one, remember?"
"Who? Oh right, Gavin," she said, rolling her eyes.
"What? He's good looking, smart, has a good job–"
"Yes," she said interrupting me, "we all know he's good on paper
. Has he rocked your world?"
"Shut up," I said as I pursed my lips.
I turned to look out the window as I felt my cheeks burn. Viv and I talked about everything, always had. So after dating Gavin for all this time, Viv wanted to know why I still hadn't slept with him. I couldn't answer her though. I didn't know the reason myself.
Sometimes I questioned why I even went back to him, especially after how he was on that date. But later that night and for the next few weeks, he was there for me. He even helped me find a new place to stay until I decided to move into my father's home. I couldn't go back to my apartment. It wasn't my apartment anymore, it was now where my father was killed.
"Did you tell Gavin where we were going?"
"I didn't know where we were going," I said, reminding her.
"Yeah well, I knew he'd put up a fight if you told him, so I kept it a secret."
She pulled the car into a space with faded white lines near a flickering street lamp. Getting out of the car, I wondered again why we would go to such a seedy-looking place until I saw the clientele.
Standing outside the building were the most beautiful women I had ever seen. They were tall, slender, basically everything I wasn't. As Viv stepped around from her side of the car, I grabbed her by the arm.
"We can't go in there," I said.
"What are you talking about? We're not here to sit in the parking lot."
"I should've worn something nicer. Maybe a skirt. Guys like skirts," I said, looking down at my faded jeans and black knit shirt.
"You're crazy! You've said it yourself, you have an ass made for jeans. The guys will be all over you."
"Yeah…maybe I'll just walk around backwards."
Viv hooked her arm with mine and headed towards the entrance, pulling me along with her. She always walked with such confidence, it made me jealous. Of course I knew she was as insecure as I was, but while I felt everyone could see my insecurities, Viv figured out how to hide hers.
A large man stood in front of the entrance, the neon sign reflecting off his scalp. He looked menacing with his arms folded in front of his barrel chest, making me ready to turn around and head home. Stopping in front of him, Viv tossed her hair over her shoulder and gave him her best smile.
"All shifter night," he grunted as he stepped to the side and let us in.
Word about Night Shift got around. It was the only place in Leeds Point that stayed open late. All shifter night was an especially popular night because any kind of shifter was allowed to go. Most nights catered to a specific group.
The place was much bigger than I expected. Dark wood paneling lined the walls. At the far end was a long bar with a couple of hot bartenders. Closer to the entrance was a pool table with a jukebox along the wall behind it. Near the bar was a small dance floor.
I followed Viv as she weaved her way through the crowd. "Viv!" I hissed in her ear as she sat at a small wooden table. "Don't you feel uncomfortable here?"
With her foot, she slid an empty chair towards me. "Why would I? They're not any different than you and me. And how lucky are we to show up the one night a week they have an all shifter night?"
Looking around at the beautiful, fit bodies in the bar, I didn't think they were anything like me at all. I drummed my fingers on the table top and felt an odd groove in the wood. Someone had carved initials into the table, but it was too dark to read them. Slowly, I let my fingertips trace the smooth wooden canal when the room blurred.
Everything switched into slow motion and it grew quiet. I turned my head to look at Viv, but she didn't seem to notice anything was wrong. Her lips were moving and her hands fluttered like they did whenever she spoke, but I couldn't hear any words.
A breeze entered the room and gave me a chill. Scanning the bar, I knew there weren't any open windows or doors, but it still moved against me. The entrance appeared brighter than before and out of nowhere, a man with the darkest hair I had ever seen appeared in the doorway. I couldn't take my eyes off him.
Time stood still as he entered the room. Clutching the table, every part of my being wanted to run to this stranger and fall into his arms. I was overwhelmed by him. I had to remind myself to breathe when I found myself gasping for air.
His short-sleeved navy blue t-shirt clung to his broad shoulders, following the muscles down to his arms. The slope of the v-neck outlined his rippling chest. Dangling down into his shirt was a silver chain. Covering his strong jawline was the shadow of a black beard.
Even from across the room, his eyes were intense. The bar continued its slow movements. No one else seemed to notice him, but I still couldn't look away. There was no way he could see me through the crowd, but I felt his eyes settle on me after scanning the room.
I pulled my eyes away from his powerful gaze and took the rest of him in. He was confident, almost cocky as he moved. His wavy hair was tousled and fell onto his forehead, making me wish I could push it back. The wind picked up again, brushing past me and as quickly as everything slowed, time resumed and the crowd blocked my view.
"Heather!" Viv yelled in my ear, startling me.
"Shit, what? You don't have to yell."
"You were zoning out again. I was telling you to come over tomorrow for dinner. Rick is bringing a friend over to meet you. What is going on with you tonight?"
"Okay, okay, I'll be there," I said, only half listening. "I just…" saw the most gorgeous man on the planet? No, I couldn't say that.
"You saw someone you like, didn't you? Maybe someone who would do the things Gavin hasn't?"
"Is that all you think about?"
"Sometimes," she said with a laugh. "I'm just teasing you, Heather. Relax, you're never this uptight. You sure you're okay?"
"Yes...no. I really don't know, Viv." I shook my head, thinking I shouldn't say anything, but after years of friendship with Vivienne, I knew she was the last person who would think I was nuts. "I just saw a guy enter the bar. Not just a guy, but a man. Like grrr," I said as I pretended to flex my muscles.
Viv laughed. "Have you looked around? You're surrounded by 'grrr'."
"No, different than these." I looked around the room, trying to find him when I spotted him ordering something at the bar. "There, in the navy shirt," I said as I jerked my head towards him.
"Nice! Go talk to him," she said as she nudged me.
"I can't. I mean, look at him. Plus I have Gavin."
"Oh please, forget about that assmonkey and walk over to the bar and say hi or maybe grrr to that guy," she said as she nudged me again. "Go on!"
Standing up, I smoothed down my top and ran my fingers through my hair. I could do this, I could talk to this gorgeous man. As I made my way through the crowd to the bar, my stomach started flip flopping. I chewed my bottom lip and wrung my hands together as my heart skipped wildly in my chest.
He leaned against the bar, waiting for his drink, his back towards me. I slowed down as I got closer but ran out of courage and kept walking. Finding an empty spot at the bar, I turned in there and caught my breath as I tried to look like everything was fine.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him take a frosted glass of beer and leave some cash on the bar. He walked along the bar, towards me, while I tried to look like I belonged there. The bartender came over, but I was too busy pretending to not watch my dream guy walking towards me to notice the bartender. He tapped the surface of the bar in front of me.
"What can I get you?"
Why now? Why couldn't you ignore me and take care of everyone else?
Just as I opened my mouth to order a drink, the heat of the man's body came up behind me. A flush ran over my skin, making me feel naked. His presence made me dizzy and I held onto the bar, hoping I wouldn't fall.
"Get her whatever she wants," he said with a thick Scottish brogue.
His voice warmed me deep in my belly. He leaned forward, his tight body pressing against me as he dropped some cash onto the bar. The bristles of his beard softly caught my hair, and I heard him inhal
e deeply before walking away.
I turned, hoping to thank him and maybe get his name, but he was gone. I replayed the brief moment in my head over and over, feeling the heat of his body, hearing the sound of his voice. Wait, did he sniff me? I giggled to myself as I went back to Viv, who looked ready to bounce out of her seat as she waited for me.
Chapter Five
Heather
Kneeling in my father's garden, I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand, careful to not smear dirt across my face. As I looked towards the setting sun, I grimaced and stood up. I was hoping to get the last of the bulbs planted before night fell, but I ran out of time.
Since my father passed away, I had ignored his house, his garden, everything that had to do with him. I didn't want to deal with it. I didn't want to see anything that reminded me of him.
But all of that changed about a month ago. I missed having him around and I wished I had spent more time with him. I cleared out a lot of the house and replaced his things with my own. I refused to leave it as a shrine to him. That was unhealthy. I couldn't do anything about his garden though.
Pop was gruff. Most people called him a ballbuster, but that was just his cop schtick. Behind his small Cape Cod style home was the most magnificent garden I had ever seen. He grew vegetables on one side and flowers on the other. I had never seen dahlias as large as the ones my father grew.
Unfortunately when I ignored the house, I ignored the garden, too. It was overrun with weeds and desperately needed care when I moved back in. Every chance I got, I worked on getting the garden back in shape.
It was cathartic for me. Instead of my being able to shove away the pain I felt from losing my father, the garden reminded me of the time we spent together. Trimming back the cucumber vines reminded me of when I was little and I would crawl between the plants to place the bowls of beer for the slugs.
Pop used to say the heather surrounding the garden reminded him of a simpler time and a simpler life. And that even if I was away, he'd always have his heather nearby. I always thought it was his way of laying the guilt trip on me when I moved out after college, but now I couldn't help but smile as I saw it growing wild in the yard.
Wolf at Her Door: BBW Paranormal Romance Page 8