“What are we doing here?” Taylor asked with some concern.
Namir cut the engine and turned slightly in the seat, an arm resting on the door. The lights from the shopping center only illuminated part of Taylor’s face. She didn’t have any makeup on, and Namir realized that she was a true natural beauty.
“We’re going to have ice cream.”
Taylor’s eyes widened with desire and fear. She looked at the brightly colored building, then back at him. “I can’t.”
“Why?”
“My weight…it would just mess everything up. My mother and Jason…”
“Aren’t here. When was the last time you did something just for you, that wasn’t just a way to make someone irritated?”
Taylor looked at him blankly. Her long lashed eye lids closed, then reopened in a slow blink. “I can’t remember.”
“Do you like ice cream?”
“Yes. I haven’t had any in over a year.”
Namir smiled sadly. “Then it’s about time you had some.” He got out of the car and walked to her side. She was looking out of the window and had her hand on the interior door handle, but still hadn’t gotten out. Namir opened the door for her, holding out his hand. She took it and stepped out of the car.
Once they had ordered, they chose to sit at an outside table towards the side of the building. A few people looked her way, as if they recognized her, but no one approached. A tiny amusement park was across the street, and occasionally a delighted scream could be heard coming from the Ferris wheel.
Taylor ate her plain scoop of vanilla ice cream while eyeing every bite of Namir’s banana split with envy. He finally laughed out loud.
“Here, have a bite.” He said, and pushed the paper boat towards her.
Taylor hesitated then dug her spoon into the decadent concoction. She placed the bite in her mouth and Namir was sure she would swoon.
“I’ve never had pineapple topping.” She said and dug her spoon back in for another bite.
Namir watched her amusedly. “You should live a little more.”
“Ha! I travel the world. I think I live.” She said and resumed eating her own ice cream again.
“Yes, you do a lot of cool stuff, but do you really live?”
Taylor pulled her long tawny hair to one side and let it drape over a shoulder. She changed the subject. “So, why were you on the island?”
Namir’s face darkened. Now that was something he didn’t want to talk about. “I came for a vacation with some friends. Things didn’t go as planned, and I kind of got stuck there.”
“Was that why you were working on the island?”
Namir nodded.
“How long have you been out of the service?”
“Four months.”
Taylor wadded up her napkin and stuck it in her now empty paper bowl. “Where are you from?”
“What is this twenty questions?” Namir folded his hands over the table when the only response was Taylor’s gray stare. “I was born in Israel, but we came here when I was two. We lived in Washington until I was five.”
“D.C.?”
“Yep.”
Taylor thought for a moment. “That’s kind of cool. Where did you go after that?”
“A rural area in Idaho.”
Taylor’s lips drew downward. “That’s an odd combination of places.”
Namir laughed, his eyes bright. “Yeah, I guess it is.” He stood and took their trash to the nearest can. When he came back to the table, Taylor was rubbing her hands together nervously.
“What is it?” He asked, his eyes roaming over the parking lot.
“I don’t want to go home yet.”
“Alright. Where would you like to go?”
Taylor pointed across the street to the amusement park. “I want to go there.”
Taylor gripped the safety bar of their seat on the Ferris wheel until her knuckles turned white, but a wide smile was plastered on her face. They were high in the air getting ready to come around for a second rotation. The night air was cool where they were, and strands of hair whipped across her face.
“My father took me to carnivals when I was a little girl.”
“Did your Mom ever go?”
“No.” Taylor shook her head. “She went once, but thought it was trashy and beneath us.”
Namir shook his head slightly. Constantine was a mixed up, and proving to be cruel, woman.
Taylor’s eyes took on a faraway look. “He always wore a linen suit with matching fedora. He told me that way he could still look like a gentleman so mother wouldn’t grumble. We would eat cotton candy and popcorn until I had a belly ache.” She peered cautiously over one side. “He won me a brown teddy bear at a game like that.”
Namir rose slightly to see what she was talking about. It was a shooting gallery. The seat rocked slightly and Taylor let out a nervous giggle.
She turned her head and brushed hair from her face. “I still have that bear.”
Namir helped her brush the hair from her face. His finger lingered longer than he had intended in her jaw line. Taylor looked at him with confusion flickering in her eyes. Had a man ever touched her? Namir dropped his hand as if nothing had happened. “Let’s go over there when the ride is over.”
The shooting gallery turned out to be no problem for Namir. He had shot enough real guns to make this a breeze. One by one, yellow ducks streaming through a phony river fell to his efforts.
The man working the game pointed to a row of stuffed animals above his head. “You can pick from any of these, buddy.”
Namir looked expectantly at Taylor. “Pick the one you want.”
She scanned the animals and shook her head slightly, tilting her head to the side. “No…you do it.”
Namir scanned the animals, immediately disregarding the yellow gorilla with red tongue sticking out. He didn’t see any that suited a person like Taylor, until his eyes landed on something at the end.
“Yeah.” He smiled. “I’ll take that one.”
The man pulled the pale pink teddy bear down from where it was hanging. It was plush and had a bright red ribbon around its neck. Namir took it from his hands and nodded his thanks, before placing the bear in Taylor’s arms. She ran her hand gently over its head. With her eyes still on the bear’s face, she spoke.
“Thank you, Namir.”
Her words were soft, and the way she looked lovingly at the bear, caused something to loosen in Namir’s chest. He knew she was thanking him for more than a stuffed toy; she was thanking him for the whole night.
Constantine was waiting for them in the living room, and rushed into the kitchen so she could be there when they walked in from the garage.
“Where in the hell have the two of you been? It’s almost one in the morning!”
Taylor slumped, her pink bear dangling from her hand. “We went out, mother!”
“You!” She said and pointed at Namir. “After what happened tonight, I would have thought you at least would have better sense!”
Namir’s face was stony. “It was my idea.”
Constantine picked up her cell. “Well, I’m calling Jason. You’re fired, Namir!”
Taylor stood in front of him as if she were the body guard. “Jason hired him, but it’s my money that is going to pay him!”
Constantine rolled her eyes and drummed her fake blood red nails on the counter top. “So?”
Taylor took a step forward and yanked the phone from her mother’s hand. “So, he’s my employee.” An evil smile spread across her lips. “And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
The next day Taylor was gracious enough to allow her mother to come with them when they went shopping for a dog, even though she complained that the interior of Taylor’s car would be ruined by something so filthy.
Namir tried his best to explain the benefit of getting a dog that was grown, since it would technically be helping with her security, but Taylor insisted a puppy was what she wanted.
“Oh I
do hope you won’t get a large dog.” Constantine said leaning forward form the backseat.
Namir smirked and glanced at Taylor. She grinned in return.
“I’m getting a German Shepherd.”
“Oh my Lord, Taylor! They get so big!”
The kennel that Namir had called earlier that morning was a thirty minute drive, and by the time they got there Namir’s ears were ringing. Constantine had a complaint and answer for everything, and Taylor had a snide remark for all of it.
A woman walked towards them and held out her hand. “Namir Stone?”
“Yes, Mam.”
She turned to face Taylor. Her short brown and gray hair moving in the breeze. “You must be Taylor. It’s an honor to have you.”
Constantine pushed her way between Taylor and Namir. “And I’m her mother.”
The woman, Denise, nodded, her smile only thinned slightly at Constantine. “Well, Namir I’m glad you called. We have some pups ready for adoption, and only three are already paid for. So, you have two to choose from.” She began walking towards a separate building to the side of her house.
“The dog is for Taylor, like I explained on the phone.”
“Ah, yes.” She said.
When the door opened, they were accosted immediately by the sound of tiny barks mingled in with a few larger ones. The kennel area was clean and spacious.
“Let me show you their father first.” She led them to a cage that had a door to the back that led outside. A massive black and tan German Shepherd stood and gazed at them. He greeted Denise with a wag of the tail and came to the fencing to lick her hand. The dog’s dark brown eyes looked at Namir and he growled low.
“That’s not nice!” Denise scolded the dog. “I really just wanted you to see him so you would see what fine pedigree the pups have. He’s a four time show winner, and has sired several litters.”
Denise led them towards the pups. Namir let the women get a little ahead of him before he looked back at the dog and growled himself, his eyes staring into the dog’s. The animal whined lightly and laid down flat with his head between his front paws.
“Namir! Come see this one!”
Taylor was already holding a solid black wriggling puppy in her hands. The mother to the pups was in the next kennel, and she only raised her head in mild interest at the visitors. Taylor laughed delightedly as the puppy licked her nose and mouth. Constantine’s face was twisted in disgust.
Denise frowned. “I’m sorry, I meant to remove him before you got here.”
Namir took a closer look, also frowning.
“Why?” Taylor asked.
“He was left on my doorstep about a month ago. Poor little thing hardly had his eyes open, and he was sickly. I let him nurse with the other pups, but…” She hesitated. “I mean he looks like a Shepherd, and that all I breed, but he’s different too.”
“He’s a wolf hybrid.”
All eyes were on Namir as soon as he said it.
“Are you sure?” Denise asked, looking back at the wriggling animal in Taylor’s hands. The dog’s blue eyes looked up and he seemed to smile.
“I’m sure.”
“Well, you can’t bring that one home!” Constantine exclaimed.
“I want this one.” Taylor said, and struggled to her feet.
“Sweetie, I don’t know what to even charge!”
“What do you charge for the other pups?”
“Six hundred.”
“Then I’ll pay six hundred. Do you want plastic or a check?”
Taylor had named the puppy Lancelot, which caused Constantine to roll her eyes and grumble.
“At least call him Lance.”
“Nope. He’s Lancelot, and I’m Guinevere.”
Namir smiled as he glanced at Taylor with her now sleepy charge curled in her lap.
“Guess I’ll be King Arthur then?”
“You can be whomever you want, as long as we go get what he needs before we go home.”
“Of course.”
“Can you medieval people at least take me home first?” Constantine asked dryly.
“Whatever.” Taylor said. Her cell phone was making a sound like wind chimes. She swiped her finger over the screen, her smile slowly fading.
Namir could see the change coming over her. He tried to keep his eyes on the road and on her too. “What is it?” When Taylor didn’t answer he pulled he car off the road and took the phone from her shaking hands. Her face was completely white.
He looked at the text, then frantically looked past Constantine in the back seat to the road behind them and got out of the car. Cars and trucks passed him benignly, unaware of why he squinted into the sun, sweat breaking out on his forehead. Constantine’s voice was demanding answers that Taylor wasn’t giving to her.
Namir got back in the car and looked at the single tear that fell from Taylor’s cheek onto Lancelot’s black fur. He looked at the phone again before cutting it completely off. The text read: Cute puppy. Can’t wait to pet him when I finally see you in person, bitch.
Namir grabbed the wriggling puppy by the scruff of his neck and handed him to Taylor. She pouted as she took the already spoiled Lancelot and kissed him profusely along his neck.
“You’ll hurt him!”
Namir grunted and began hammering again. Taylor wasn’t satisfied with the kennel that was purchased for the puppy, she also wanted him to have a pen in the backyard with a homemade dog house, complete with pink trim.
“You realize this is stupid for a boy dog, right?”
Taylor laid her hands over the dog’s ears, her mouth held open in disapproval. “I chose dusty rose for the trim and lattice work! It’s a nice calming color.” She set the puppy back on the ground and he immediately ran to Namir and began nibbling at his pants leg again. He rolled his eyes but kept working. At least today Taylor was more like herself.
The first two days after the text message, the day they had gotten the puppy, she refused to leave the house, hardly even coming out of her room. Greta nearly drove herself mad worrying that she would starve.
During that time she had Namir get an old cat litter box from the basement and had Lancelot go to the bathroom in that. She didn’t want the dog out of her sight, even to go outside and use the bathroom. Between that and the drawing (which was detailed and excellent in Namir’s opinion) of the dog house she wanted built; Namir told her that the dog would be gender and species confused.
Constantine wandered to where he was working, her trim body fitted in a revealing black one piece swim suit. Taylor frowned her disapproval.
“Really, Mother?”
“What?” She asked innocently. Running her fingertips along Namir’s shoulders. He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, his face turning red. “Are you working hard, Namir? You certainly are…sweaty.”
Taylor rolled her eyes and scooped up Lancelot. The puppy wriggled and licked her neck.
“You need to start training him.” Namir said.
“I know, but not yet. I like him being so cuddly.” Taylor giggled as the puppy tried to get closer to her face.
Constantine swiftly took Taylor’s place in her vacated chair. “Jason will be here soon. He says he has good news.” She said with a knowing smile.
“Whatever.” Was all Taylor responded before heading to the back of the house.
Constantine watched Namir as he assembled the dog house. “Where did you learn how to do that?”
“My father was good with stuff like this. He taught me.”
“Do you look like him?”
Namir paused. “I’m built like he was, but I look like my mother.”
“Ah, yes.” Constantine smiled. “She’s the exotic one.”
Namir shrugged. He had never thought of his mother as anything other than his mother. She was capable, beautiful, and could handle two werewolves; what more was there?
Namir stood and brushed off his pants. Constantine leaned forward, making sure her cleavage was visible, and smiled
. “Let’s go for a swim!”
“No thank you.”
“Why not?”
Namir studied Constantine. If he were a different sort of man he would surely take advantage of her unabashed flirting, after all she was still very attractive for her age. (Even if it was achieved in part by surgery.) But he wasn’t that sort of man, and all she really did was irritate him.
“Constantine, I think you have the nature of our relationship confused.”
“How so?”
“I’m here working for your daughter. I’m here to protect her, not to play around. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to walk the grounds again then wait inside until Taylor wants to come back out.”
Constantine leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs gracefully. “Touchy.”
He whirled and spat out his words. “You should be touchier! She’s your daughter, and she’s in danger, and all your worried about is taking a dip in the pool with the hired help!”
“Life must go on.” She smiled icily.
Namir gave her a stony stare before beginning his circuit of the grounds. He wished Taylor’s mother could be shipped away until Taylor was safe again. Hell, he wished she could be shipped away permanently! He knew Taylor would have an easier time if she were. As it was she was having a terrible time. When the police were called about the text message, the only response was that nothing was threatened. Since no harm had come to her physically, or to her property, and because they had no idea who to even as a name as a suspect, well there was little to be done. Namir had insisted that it was like terrorism, and that he knew about.
Once he was satisfied with the grounds he went inside to find Greta and Taylor happily enjoying the antics of Lancelot playing with a squeaky toy. Taylor looked up and smiled.
“When do you think he’ll howl?”
“I don’t know.” Namir said running a glass of water.
“Are you hungry, Namir?” Greta asked getting up from the chair she was sitting on. Whereas Constantine was obnoxious and tawdry, Greta on the other hand was a gem. She genuinely cared about Taylor, and she was warming more to Namir each day.
“No thanks, Greta.” He smiled. He slid the glass onto the counter. “Oh, I need you both to be aware that the security company is coming tomorrow morning to begin putting up the perimeter fence and gate. The gate will have two keypads: one near the front of the gate, and the other inside. No one, I repeat, no one is to have the code other than those who live here.”
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 40