by Amelia Jade
“It’s not for you,” Andrew said from where he was hunched over the sink.
“Good. Cause I dun’ want it.” He closed his eyes. “Now go away.”
Ice-cold water splashed all across his body, soaking his shirt and shocking his system. Braden yelped in surprise and shot to his feet. The sudden motion was too much for his system to handle. A bucket was shoved into his chest and he clutched it tight to him an instant before he vomited.
“What the hell was that for?” he croaked, leaning against the bar for support.
“To wake you the hell up.” His boss’s voice was barely restrained fire.
“Just let me be miserable.”
“You can be miserable. Nobody gives a fuck if you’re miserable,” Andrew snarled. “But you missed two shifts and you’re well on your way to missing a third. That’s unacceptable. If you don’t snap out of it, I’m sending you back to Cadia in disgrace.”
“No!” he shouted. If that happened, he’d never be allowed back. He’d never be able to fix things between him and Elle, so that she could join him there.
“Give me one good reason why not.” He opened his eyes to see Andrew standing in front of him, motioning with one hand. “Come on. Tell me what the hell is going on.”
“It’s Elle.” That was all he could manage before his stomach sent him a last-minute warning it wasn’t done.
“Elle? I thought things were going good between you two. What the hell did you do?”
He spat into the bucket several times before replying. “That’s just it! I didn’t do anything. She was telling me she wanted a job. I told her not to bother, I’ll cover it. It wouldn’t be worthwhile anyway, since she couldn’t get a job in Cadia for quite some time.”
Andrew didn’t reply for several moments, but Braden could see his jaw working as he clenched and unclenched it furiously.
“You two are moving back to Cadia?” he asked at long last.
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t we? She’s my mate, that’s where my place is.”
“Hooo boy. Let me guess. You didn’t run that by her at all first, did you?”
“When I told her is when she flipped out!”
Andrew ran his hands through his hair and started laughing so hard he couldn’t speak.
“What, you think this is funny?” Braden growled, standing up straight as blood started to race through his system.
He knew Andrew was a gryphon, that he didn’t stand a chance in a fight versus him. That didn’t mean he was just going to stand there and take his bullshit!
Eventually the other shifter calmed down enough to reply. “Yes, I think it’s hilarious actually.”
“Okay smart guy, what the hell do you think is so funny?”
“Go clean the toilets.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. The toilets in every room. Go clean them until they shine.”
“Fuck that. I’m not a janitor.”
Andrew grinned. “You are now. I changed your job description.”
“I didn’t sign up for that.”
“As the ambassador, I can decide whatever I want.”
“Are you nuts? None of us are going to do that. You should have brought it up before deciding that!”
Andrew just stared at him. Waiting.
Eventually the exchange penetrated into the deeper layers of his brain, revealing to Braden the point his boss was trying to get across.
“Oh.”
“Doesn’t feel too good to just be told you’re going to have to do something without having a choice, does it?”
Braden started to respond, but Andrew held up a hand. “I’m not done yet. You need to understand something.”
“What’s that?” he asked grumpily, not enjoying the lesson so far.
“Elle is a person. A living, breathing person. She has her own wants, her own desires. They are going to be different than yours. Because she’s not you. Nor is she a shifter. She is human. I know you got the crash course on ‘This is how humans are different than shifters’ before you came here, so don’t act like you don’t know it.”
“I did. But what else am I supposed to do?”
“Don’t ask me, you boneheaded child! Ask her. Does she not matter to you?”
“Of course she matters to me! She’s my mate.”
“Then her opinion should matter to you as well.” Andrew snorted and pushed off the bar, spinning as he walked to the other side of it, pacing back and forth along its length. “Braden, listen to me, and listen to me closely.”
He put the bucket down, walked over to the sink, and splashed more cold water across his face, cupping his hands together to dribble some into his mouth to rinse it out. After doing this for several minutes he took off his wet shirt and used it as a towel, drying his face as best he could. Only then did he walk over and stand near Andrew.
“I’m listening.”
“Elle. Is. Not. A. Shifter. She doesn’t think like we do, and she does not have the same customs we do. Nothing that you’re used to is going to work with her, okay? She’s not going to want to just give up her human life to come live a shifter lifestyle.”
“So I have to go live like a human?”
The fist came out of nowhere, striking him with blinding speed. Braden flew backward, tripping over the bucket, slamming into the bar and throwing up his hands over his head as bottles of booze cascaded down around him. Some broke, others just bounced off his body parts and rolled across the floor.
“Ow.” His jaw was already starting to swell.
“Don’t be a fucking asshole,” Andrew said icily. “You aren’t an idiot either. Have you ever in your life heard of the word compromise?”
He nodded, rubbing the left side of his face.
“Then use it. You’re going to have to figure this out as you go along. On top of that, you’re going to have to talk to Elle, figure out what she wants. Then tell her what you want. From that, you’ll come to a compromise. A mixture of both. She’s got a shifter as a child, you dumbass. She doesn’t want to leave our lifestyle behind. She’s going to want to expose that kid and any other shifter children she might have to their heritage.”
Braden hadn’t thought of that. “That’s a good point.”
“I know it’s a good point!” his boss roared, sounding fed up with him. “Now pick yourself up out of the pile of puke, get changed, and start acting like an adult! The woman is crazy about you, but you need to show her that you know how to act in a relationship. She is your equal, you buffoon. Not your property, your conquest, or anything else. Treat her like you would want her to treat you. Is that so hard?!”
He looked around, noticing for the first time that when he’d fallen, it wasn’t just booze that had splashed on him. The combined smell of alcohol and vomit was…unpleasant, to say the least.
“Come on.”
A hand hung in mid-air in front of him. A moment later he clued in that Andrew was offering it to him. Clasping the wrist of the other shifter, he allowed himself to be hauled to his feet, liquid and other unmentionables dripping to the floor around him.
“I’ll clean this up.”
“No, don’t bother. Go get yourself cleaned up. Your shift starts in twenty minutes. Can you sober up by then?”
Blinking in surprise, Braden glanced at the clock on the far wall near the door. It was almost quarter to four in the afternoon. Had he really lost track of three days?
“How long have I been like this?”
“It’s been five days since you came back and started acting all pissy,” Andrew supplied. “I know, because I’ve dealt with complaints every day from the others.”
“Fuck.” The simple word conveyed so many emotions at the moment. Embarrassment. Anger. Regret. Sadness. Frustration. All of it just sort of poured out of him into that one expressive word.
“Go shower already. You fucking smell,” Andrew said, backing away from him.
“What about this?” He swung an arm at the destroyed bar and remnants of his stoma
ch.
The gryphon shifter’s face twisted upward maniacally. “Oh, don’t you worry about that. I know a shifter who lost a bet. I’ve been waiting to call this in. It’s perfect.”
“They’re going to blame me for it though, you know that.”
Andrew snorted. “That’s your own fault. Now go shower. And take your shift to think about how you might fix things with Elle.”
He nodded. “I think I can manage that. I understand now. Sort of. I get it, on the intellectual side of things, I guess you might say. My brain grasps the concept. It’s going to take some getting used to. It’s something that will need constant work from me.”
His boss smiled tightly. “Sounds like you’re getting there then. Good job.” Then he pointed at the door. “Now seriously, get the hell out of here, I’m not joking about you smelling.”
“Right. I’m gone.” He headed toward the doorway, any remaining alcohol in his system burning off as he forced his system into overdrive.
It was time to fix things.
Braden was halfway up the stairs when he heard a roar from the lounge.
“GRAY, YOU PIECE OF SHIT EXCUSE FOR A POKER PLAYER. GET IN HERE AND PAY THE PIPER! I’VE GOT A JOB FOR YOU!”
Oh hell.
Chapter Nineteen
Elle
“I needed this so badly.”
She sipped at the glass of white wine, relaxing into one of the sinfully luxurious leather chairs that surrounded a large circular table. The other four chairs were filled with good friends.
Angela, Rachel, Kelly, and Karri, Andrew’s mate, whom she’d been talking more with over the past few days. It was a good gathering. Small, intimate, and at the moment, perfectly timed to coincide with nap time for the kids.
It was bliss.
“Yeah, girl time is so awesome. Especially with just a few of us,” Kelly agreed.
“Preach,” Angela said, lifting her glass. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the whole crowd. But sometimes I don’t want a party atmosphere, I just want a chill atmosphere. Right?”
The others voiced their agreement, including Elle, lifting her glass and then taking another sip. It was going down smooth. Possibly too smoothly.
She’d been spending a lot of time in the north end of the city over the past few days, occupying her time with friends as much as possible to try and cover up the hole that the fight with Braden had left in her life. The others all knew something was up, but so far they’d all respected her privacy and waited for her to talk about it.
“You’re all so lucky,” she said now, swirling the wine around as she watched it.
Karri looked around the group before responding for them. “What do you mean?”
“Just, with your men. With your families and the lives you’ve built. They all love you so much, and they just get you. None of them have tried to change you.”
“No,” Rachel said, “they haven’t. Not majorly at least. But that doesn’t mean things were easy before we got to this point. In fact, I think the majority of us here found ourselves on the wrong side of things, forced into dealing with enemies that our men had made. Enemies that we couldn’t do a damn thing about. “
The others all nodded. “I know,” Elle told them. “I wasn’t trying to diminish that. I was just saying, the relationship has always been strong. You’ve always known that they were going to be there for you.” She sighed heavily. “I’d do anything for that right now.”
None of the women said anything, they all just looked at her, waiting patiently for Elle to finally reveal to them what had been going on between her and Braden. She wasn’t entirely sure she was ready to tell them, but she needed to tell someone, and these were the closest friends she had. Who else was she going to talk to? Normally she’d consider going to Braden. But he was the one who’d fucked it all up in the first place, that stubborn, pigheaded jerk!
“What I mean is, your mates all understood that they were dealing with women. Human women. That the old customs and things wouldn’t fly with us.”
There were nods from around the circle.
“Exactly. Oh I’m sure you had fights and the like. But tell me, honestly, how many of them simply told you that you were expected to give up your life here and move back to Cadia with them, to be little more than a trophy wife and brood mare?”
Silence rang out loudly. She could see shock and stunned surprise on all their faces.
“I’m going to take it that means none of you.”
Angela snickered.
“What’s so funny?” she snapped.
“Oh come on!” her best friend said, breaking out into a chuckle. “I can just imagine how you reacted to that. I bet he had no idea what hit him when you laid into him and told him how wrong that is on so many levels, and how he doesn’t control you. I know you, Elle. You’re pretty chill most days, but you are not one to let someone else control you. Not outside the bedroom at least.”
That brought giggles from the rest of them, and even Elle couldn’t keep a smile from her face. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said stoically, despite the red tinge creeping up her face.
“Did he seriously say that?” Karri asked as the hubbub died back down.
“He did! I told him I wanted a job, ‘cause I’m going stir crazy. Something to get me out of the house, where I could maybe make a bit of extra income. Buy myself lunch once a week maybe. Nothing crazy. He starts getting all defensive, saying I don’t need to do that, that he’ll just give me money for whatever, that sort of thing.” She worked her hands together while she spoke as the emotions of the day came rushing back.
“Which was nice,” she said, continuing after a moment. “I really do appreciate his willingness to spoil me and buy nice things. It’s uncomfortable to accept, but I’m not denying that I enjoy the stuff he buys me, or Gwen. At the same time though, I still want to have my own independence. Besides, what if things don’t work out between us, right? I need to have my feet on the ground at least. So I tell him that, and he doesn’t like it, but he just says it would be pointless, because when I move back to Cadia with him, I won’t be able to work there.”
“Just like that?” Angela half-gasped as she spoke.
“Just like that,” she confirmed. “He just sort of plunked it down, like it was a given. When I tried to confront him about it, he seemed confused, not understanding why I wouldn’t be willing to do that. As if the concept of moving away from the human world and into his shouldn’t bother me in the slightest.”
“Men,” Karri snorted. “So oblivious sometimes. I can’t believe he would just expect that of you.”
Elle nodded, lowering her voice as she spoke, imitating him to the best of her ability. “That’s how it is. You’re my mate, so you come live with me. Hur hur hur.”
They all laughed. She knew it wasn’t overly nice, but she was angry with him, and needed to vent. And until he decided to be more open-minded, she was going to feel perfectly okay with mocking his thick-skull.
“When did this happen?”
She looked at Rachel. “Five days ago.”
“Have you spoken since?” her friend asked.
“Nope.” She shook her head. “He’s asked me to come talk about it a few times, but I just ignored him. I’m not interested until he stops trying to convince me, or asking me for explanations on why I’m mad. Maybe he’ll figure it out. Eventually. I don’t know. I hope so. He’s a good guy, but I can’t be with someone who thinks I’m just property.”
“Absolutely,” Kelly said, the others chiming in with words of support for her.
“Still, I can’t believe it’s been five days,” she said, waving at Hector as he came in the front door of the house.
Rachel got up and went to greet him, then gave him the boot, saying it was ladies’ time. The big shifter grumbled something and then headed for the stairs.
“I don’t know,” she continued, feeling like she was saying those three words a lot. “Maybe I had him figured a
ll wrong. Maybe he’s not that interested in me. Maybe he just doesn’t care.”
There was the sound of wood creaking from the railing, which was just audible from where she sat on the far side of the room. Then it suddenly exploded.
“That will be enough.” The thunderous avalanche of Hector’s voice rolled over the room as he descended the stairs.
Elle sat there in shock. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d been talked to like that.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he growled, the sound deep and menacing. “You want to make fun of Braden for being thick-headed? Sure. He’s still got some learning to do about humans. Not a problem. But I don’t want to hear another word out of you about him not caring, got it?”
She opened her mouth to reply at the same time that Rachel got up, stunned by her mate’s aggression, but Hector flipped up a hand at Rachel so forcefully that she froze, rooted to the spot.
“Braden is a damn good shifter, a good coworker, and a good person overall. He has been drinking himself sick the past three days, all because he can’t stand being away from you, and he doesn’t know how to fix it. He’s come this close to being fired because of how distraught he’s become over his fight with you. I’m pretty sure I heard him crying, though if you mention that to anyone I will make your life a living hell. He desperately wants to fix things with you, but from what I understand, you won’t even give him the chance to speak. The words might not be what you want to hear just yet, but he is trying to talk to you. And you’ve kept pushing him away, refusing until he does things your way.”
Hector paused and jabbed a finger at Elle. “Which, if I’m not mistaken, is exactly why you’re fighting in the first place, because one of you was refusing to compromise. So I’ll tell you one more time. Don’t talk shit about whether he cares or doesn’t care. Especially when, to someone who can see both sides of it, you’re the one coming off like you don’t care right now.”
Without another word the shifter turned and silently left the room.
“I’ll fix the railing tomorrow, my love,” he said softly as he paused at the bottom of the stairs, then climbed them quieter than someone his size should have been able to do.