And if he could touch the bond, he could find her again.
Chapter 2
El Verano was a city about a thousand times the size of Williamsburg, but there were exponentially more people. It seemed like everywhere there were queues with people waiting for services that weren’t fast enough to cater for the masses.
After going down the mountain in the middle of the night, Jenna had made it back to Bruce’s cabin without being eaten by a bear or being attacked by a mountain lion. She’d scared herself all the way, jumping at the crack of a twig or the hoot of an owl, feeling like her heart would leap out of her throat.
Bruce’s cabin had looked desolate in the darkness, not like they hadn’t been there for a week. It had seemed like it had been deserted for months. She’d meant to pack her things and move home, but then she’d realized that someone else had moved in. The cabin that she’d owned before didn’t belong to her anymore.
It was normal for the town’s folk to rotate homes as they opened up. It was normal, and it had hurt. It felt like she’d been rotated out of the system.
Her bags had been packed with her clothes, shoes and pictures of her parents, and she’d stood in front of the cabin that used to belong to her, and she’d felt like she would never belong again. It was easier just to keep walking, keeping going until she reached the end of the earth and dropped off.
So she’d kept going. She’d traveled south, further and further away from the mountains until the earth had lost its color and contours and all there was left to look at was a flat expanse of dull brown, stretching into infinity. This, she’d thought, was what her life had become.
And then she’d seen the skyline of the city in the distance, and suddenly there had been hope again. A new start.
The apartment she rented was small, smaller it seemed than her cottage back in Williamsburg, but maybe that was because she was boxed in. It didn’t have as much to do with space inside, as outside. Every window she looked out of looked into the gray wall of the next building. Her bedroom window looked into the window of another apartment.
She was on the fourth floor of an apartment building with shouting children on both sides next to her and a couple that screamed at each other all the time above her. The people below she couldn’t hear because their music was usually too loud.
The city had showed Jenna how primitive life in Williamsburg had been. It taught her how backwards they were, how much they’d missed out on all the years they’d lived isolated from the outside world. Technology had taken a leap, everything was electronic and Jenna struggled to keep up.
She tried for jobs at a couple of hair salons, but they all turned her down and told her she was outdated. She had to do a filler course if she wanted to get a job with them. She ended up working at an old age home, cutting the hair of the elderly.
Jenna missed the mountains. She missed the crisp air that smelled like the seasons and happiness. She missed the green everywhere, trees that reached up to the heaven, and a nightlife that reminded her she wasn’t alone in the world. In the city everything was gray and it smelled like gas and rubble. She was around people all day, and she’d never felt more alone.
But the one thing she missed the most was Bruce. Of course it was Bruce. She missed him, missed his smile and his deep dark eyes that had made her melt since she’d met him. She missed his odd sense of humor and his intensity that she never understood until she realized what he really was.
What he really was. The reason she’d ended up leaving the only home she’d ever known behind. If she’d only found out soon. If only he’d have told her. It would have changed everything.
And it would have changed nothing. Jenna knew that even if he’d told her what he was, she still would have loved him. She still would have married him if he asked. She would have given everything up for him in a heartbeat, just like she’d done already.
What she wasn’t willing to do, was make his life hell. And that was what had happened. She’d made his life difficult because his world wouldn’t accept her. And that was why she left. Because it was easier loving the good times gone by – the memories she had of him – than bringing misery to him, stopping him from living his life because he always had to protect her.
It was because of her, after all, that they’d gone to live in the mountains, away from everyone she loved. And away from everyone he loved, too.
And when the pack had meant to attack her? They’d had to fight him instead because he was her guard in some way. And she wasn’t willing to be the reason he fought with the people he called his Family, no matter how many times he told her that essentially they were animals, and that was what animals did.
No, Jenna had done the right thing. She was sure of it. She just didn’t know how she was going to recover from it.
She woke up from the alarm clock that beeped incessantly next to her bed. It was already six in the morning. She used to wake up to the sun, falling into her bedroom, but there was no sun to be had here. It felt like so many people were trying to share it, everyone was left with a tiny sliver of daylight instead of the real deal.
She pushed herself up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Friday. Thank God. The last day of work for the week for her, and then she could spend two days locked up in her apartment, without having to face anyone at all.
She showered and got dressed, grabbed an apple. She had to turn back after leaving her apartment to get her cell phone. The people in the city all expected her to be reachable at all times. Even the old age home. It wasn’t like there was going to be some hairdressing emergency for an old lady at three a.m. but she did as she was told because it was the conditions of her job.
She took the bus three blocks down where she waved at Mr. Smith who watered the roses outside Golden Rays Retirement Center. It seemed ironic that an old person would run the facility that took care of old people, but that was how it was.
Jenna took her place behind the station in the small salon opposite the clubhouse and waited. Her first client was half an hour late, but she knew that would happen. Not many of them kept track of time.
By lunchtime, she’d done only two clients, a slow day even for Williamsburg, and Harriet the cook brought her a bowl of broth and a slice of toast.
“Monday’s menu,” she said and shrugged, straightening out her dirty apron before she left. Jenna pushed the spoon around the bowl and wondered vaguely how many days she could go without food before it affected her job performance. After lunch, she waited for her next client, an old man whose hair she trimmed a quarter of an inch every week because he didn’t cope with the reminder that time was passing and his was running out. After forty-five minutes of waiting, Jenna walked to reception.
“I’m looking for Mr. Klein, he hasn’t arrived for his appointment today,” she said to the receptionist that seemed to change every other week because everyone hated the job and quit.
“Oh, honey, haven’t you heard?” this one said. She was big and black, so wide Jenna didn’t know how she fit in the office chair. She put her hands flat on the desk in front of her.
“Heard what?” she asked.
“Mr. Klein had a heart attack yesterday afternoon. He’s been moved to the intensive care unit.”
Jenna’s heart sank and for some reason, she thought of her mother. She would give anything to just speak to her one more time, ask her if she was doing the right thing. Tears welled up in her eyes. The receptionist put her hand on Jenna’s.
“I know honey, but that’s part of the job here. You’ll probably be able to take the afternoon off.” She sighed and picked up a pen, holding it over a notepad on her desk. It gave Jenna the feeling she was dismissed. She swallowed her tears, not meant for Mr. Klein but her mother instead, and walked away.
Jenna wasn’t allowed to knock off work early, even if she had no work. So she found an old book and made herself tea in the little kitchen, and sat down in the sun just outside the reception area. It felt good to feel the sun on her cheeks again. I
t felt like it had been years.
“You look a bit young to be a resident here,” a deep voice said and Jenna looked up. A man stood in front of her, hands in his pockets, and his eyes were electric blue. He smiled at her and there was something about him that made her feel like she knew him. It was impossible, but something about him was just… she didn’t even have a word to describe her.
“I just work here,” she said softly, trying to place what she was feeling. She wanted him to keep smiling at her. His eyes were beautiful when he smiled. He came across bigger and taller than he was like his presence oozed out of him and filled more space than his body did. His eyes slid lazily over everything, but Jenna got the feeling he missed nothing.
“Could you point me to Reception?” he asked. Jenna pointed at the door and he nodded.
“Thank you,” he said. He walked in the direction she’d pointed him and she watched him go. He carried himself with confidence and sex appeal. There was no denying it. He was hot. When he finally disappeared through the door Jenna flushed. Since when did she perv over men like that? She shook her head as if trying to get rid of the spell. When he came out again ten minutes later she was ready with something to say.
“They might have turned you down because you’re a bit young, too.” Not her best line but it was an opening to a conversation.
He stopped and looked at her, his expression a little confused, before he laughed. His laugh was beautiful. Deep and straight from his belly, and it made Jenna feel the same way it felt when the sun broke through the clouds after a heavy storm. He walked toward her and gestured toward the bench, a question.
A gentleman. Jenna nodded and scooted over to make space for him.
“I was here for my grandmother. She needs more attention than I can give her,” he said, even though Jenna hadn’t expected an explanation.
“I work here because I feel I want more attention than I get at home.”
She kept saying the dumbest things, she thought, but he chuckled when she said it.
“Well, whoever is neglecting you is an idiot.”
Jenna thought of Bruce with a pang, but she shoved the thought away. The memory lagged like it didn’t want to be sent away. Like something was holding it there. She made herself focus on the present.
“I live alone,” she said. It was the truth, wasn’t it? She didn’t say she was single.
They sat together in the sun. He asked her what she was reading, and she asked him what he did. A lawyer at a big firm she’d never heard the name of. Not surprising. He could tell straight away she wasn’t from around there.
“I moved here a few weeks ago,” she said. “It’s been a bit of an adjustment.”
“No one really gets used to El Verano. It’s the city that never sleeps. The problem is it insists on keeping everyone else awake, too.”
Jenna smiled. The guy, whose name turned out to be Darren, returned it.
“So, seeing as you’re new here and don’t know the city so well, would you like to come out with me tonight? I know a really nice restaurant, and I can show you some of the sights afterwards.”
He looked at her with smiling eyes and an open face. Expecting. Jenna hesitated. This was a stranger, someone she didn’t know at all, and she was in a city she didn’t know where to run to if she needed help. But she felt like she knew him. Or like he knew her. Everything about her. It was bizarre, but it set her strangely at ease. And anyway, everyone was a stranger until you got to know them, even the people that eventually became your best friends. Bruce had been a stranger too. And, somehow, he still was.
She nodded slowly, and a smile spread across Darren’s face like a sunrise. It made her feel warm inside like her center was heating up after it had been frozen for a very long time.
“How does eight sound to you?” he asked.
Jenna nodded. “Eight,” she said.
“I’ll meet you there,” he said and scribbled an address on a rumpled piece of paper. “It’s called Fiasco.”
Jenna took the paper.
“I’ll see you there then,” Darren said.
When he walked away Jenna felt hollow, like something big was missing and she’d just been reminded of it. There was a hole inside of her, and she knew what fit in that hole. But she’d made her choice. And she wasn’t wrong in saving herself. That was what she was doing, wasn’t it?
When Jenna got home she put on a pair of skinny jeans she’d bought the week before from a store that was bigger than Williamsburg in its entirety, and a green blouse that matched her eyes. She brushed her auburn hair and pulled it back in a ponytail, and put on kitten heels. She didn’t know what the restaurant was like, but she’d seen others dress up to head out.
She’d owned nothing as fancy as what she’d seen on the street, but what she was wearing was better than bootleg jeans and a t-shirt.
She got out of the taxi in front of Fiasco ten minutes early, and Darren was already waiting for her.
“You’re early,” she said to him.
“So are you,” he said and smiled. He wore a black collared shirt, jeans and black loafers that looked expensive. His whole aura screamed attractive in a way that suggested he wasn’t even trying. He held out his hand to her, and when she touched it, it was that same feeling like they’d done this a million times, like she knew him.
“You look great, by the way,” he said to Jenna and she felt heat on her cheeks, a blush creeping in. Darren led her to the door. He’d reserved a table and they were taken to it right away. When the seating hostess disappeared, Jenna rubbed her palms on her jeans. She adjusted the already straight cutlery and then readjusted it. She looked around the restaurant. There were others there, couples mostly and the air was filled with a gentle hum of conversation.
It felt like a date. She didn’t want to be on a date. She didn’t know what was going on in her head anymore. Or in her heart, and Darren was good-looking and attentive and that just made everything feel so much worse.
“Darren…” she said and looked up at him. His eyes were like ice, a very light blue that felt like they looked right into her soul.
“I don’t know how to do this,” she ended her sentence, going in a completely different direction than she’d meant. She’d wanted to say that she didn’t want anything romantic with this man. But that would be a lie because the way he was looking at her gave her butterflies.
She wanted to say that she wasn’t available, but that would be a lie too because she didn’t know what she was anymore and saying she was not available felt so permanent.
“There’s nothing to know,” he said. “We’re just two really good looking people spending time together.” He flashed her a lopsided grin when he said it that buzzed through her own body. “It’s just the first night. Dinner. Drinks. That’s it.”
She nodded slowly. Right, dinner and drinks. It didn’t have to be anything serious. It didn’t have to be anything at all. They were just two people – really good-looking people – spending some time together. She took a deep breath. Darren was really good looking. He had a high cheekbones, a square jaw, nose straight as an arrow. And those eyes, it felt like he could see right to the core of her.
He reached over the table and put his hand on hers. The contact was so gentle she had to look down to see if he was touching her. A slight humming surged through her body like she was a tuning fork picking up on the right frequency. She suddenly thought of Bruce, of the power she felt when she was with him. Images flashed through her mind of him as a bear, shifting. And the pack, chasing her. The fear. The awe. The knowledge.
She shook her head and pulled her hand away, slowly so it wasn’t offensive. For a moment, it had felt like something had been drawn out of her. But when he looked at Darren he was smiling, gentle as his touch had been, and she let it go.
Chapter 3
The bond was faint. It was so faint, Bruce wasn’t sure that he was going to find Jenna if he followed it. When he focused on her, he could just feel it, almost
like a memory rather than something that was real. He didn’t understand what had caused the bond to fade so much. Since Jenna had disappeared the bond had been almost non-existent, even though they hadn’t gotten divorced. Even though the mating was still in effect.
It was almost like she was blocking him off.
Bruce closed his eyes and focused on Jenna again. He’d been practicing it all day, and still it was so faint he could barely trace it. But he didn’t want to wait any longer. He wanted to find her, had to find her. He was incomplete without her.
When night finally fell, he moved into the trees and turned his attention inward. The shift started and he felt his body break and rebuild itself. It was always uncomfortable as if his human could never really get used to his animal. When he was a bear he shook himself. He headed out, instead of going to the plateau for their meeting.
He was only going to deal with them after he got back. He didn’t want another fight, not now. He needed his strength. He didn’t believe that the tug he’d felt was accidental, and if it had been about an attack on Jenna then he had to get there as soon as he could. Wherever ‘there’ was.
He took the same route Jenna had taken, following the stream. He kept next to it until it wound to the left in a sharp bend. Instead of veering left, too, he turned right. When he came closer to Williamsburg something tugged at him, something keen and familiar and felt like home. He wanted to go into the village. He was drawn to the place that was his home for so long. But he forced the feeling away and avoided the town.
He just had to keep going.
A shadow stepped out into the night and he pulled up short, sniffing the air. Family, his nose told him. But not a shifter. Dwayne.
“You’re going to find her,” he said. A statement, not a question. Bruce didn’t bother shifting back to talk to Dwayne. As a bear, the bond was stronger. Dwayne sighed like he’d known Bruce was going to do it all along, even though he thought Bruce was an idiot.
“You’re going to run into trouble. Don’t let your love for Jenna get in the way.”
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 95