Undone: A New Adult College Bad Boy Romance (Mature Young Adult Fun Contemporary Romance)

by Alli Sims

  “What happens if someone does draw the wrong kind of attention?” Stacey asked, her stomach turning nervously.

  “We have our ways of dealing with that,” Emily said as she leaned forward, lacing her fingers together. The woman rested her chin on her fingers. “There are two options,” she said, the smile from her face gone. “One, we can keep you locked up. You’d essentially be a prisoner.”

  “What’s the other option?” Stacey said, her heart pounding against her chest.

  “Since it was my son’s foolish actions that started this-”

  “How was it foolish?” Nathan asked, irritation in his voice.

  “I told you about fighting,” Emily said, narrowing her eyes at him. In that moment, Stacey could see the resemblance to Kristy. “You know there are consequences,” she said simply before she turned back to Stacey. “The other option is that you marry my son and have a child.”

  “What?” Both Stacey and Nathan’s voice asked in unison.

  “Why would that even be an option? How does getting married and having a child keep me from telling your secret?” Stacey asked.

  Emily smiled. “Well, if you have a child with Nathan that baby will be a shifter, like us. Naturally, you’ll want to protect your child, so you’ll keep our secret.”

  “I’ll keep your secret now!” Stacey protested.

  Emily shook her head. “That’s not good enough and there’s no way to know if that’s true. You’re not from here, are you?”

  Stacey shook her head.

  “Exactly. You could very easily change your mind when you return home, try to make some money by telling our story. Then we have people crashing into our home and changing the way that we live. We can’t have that. Even if you said that you would keep our secret, we would still have to leave. I don’t want to have to abandon my home.”

  “What if I don’t like either option?” Stacey mumbled.

  “There are only two options,” Emily said coolly. “If you don’t want to choose, then one will be picked for you. We’re reasonable people, Stacey. However, I will do anything to protect my family. Take a little time to decide.” She stood up before she smoothed her dress. “Come on Kristy, let’s leave them alone to talk.”

  Kristy followed her mom, somewhat reluctantly as she kept glancing over her shoulder at Stacey. Once they were gone, Stacey blew out a breath of air. Her hands were shaking as she pushed them through her hair. The woman couldn’t be serious. Between the two options; jail or imprisoned, Stacey wasn’t sure which was worse.

  “I’m sorry,” Nathan said, his words cutting into her thoughts. “I didn’t mean to get you involved in any of this.”

  “But you did,” Stacey mumbled.

  “I said I was sorry,” the man said, narrowing his eyes. “Besides, it’s not like I told you to follow me around and stalk me.”

  “I wasn’t stalking you!” Stacey yelled. “I was...I was….” Nathan raised an eyebrow making her temper boil. “Shut up! This is all your fault.”

  “How am I the bad guy here? Once again, you were following me!”

  Stacey groaned, her fingertips going up to massage her temples. “I never would have met you if you hadn’t been fighting. Besides, what does that mean anyway? Who were you fighting?”

  Nathan seemed embarrassed as he glanced away. “It’s a game we play sometimes,” he said as he ran a hand over the side of his neck. “It gets out the aggression and kills the boredom.”

  “What game?” Stacey asked, forgetting for a moment that she was supposed to be pissed.

  Nathan shrugged. “Shifters fight each other, usually for money. I usually win, but I was having a bad day.”

  “You said you were attacked.”

  “Well,” Nathan said with a devious grin. “That’s partly true.”

  Stacey shook her head. “Now what?”

  “Now, we either get married or my mom locks you away in our basement.”

  “Oh, great. That’s just great!” Stacey said as she buried her face in her hands. “I don’t want to get married yet, I’m not ready. Besides, I always thought that would happen down the road with someone I care about.”

  “Me too,” Nathan said, folding his arms across his chest. “I don’t think either of us has a choice though. It has to be done.”

  Stacey winced. Why had she followed him out into the woods? Why couldn’t she have just minded her own business, enjoyed her vacation and gone home? Now, she might never be able to leave this place again. She glanced around.

  “What if you just let me run away? I could go through there,” she pointed to the trees that filled the edge of the backyard. “And you can say that I got away.”

  Nathan shook his head. “There’s a gate through the trees. You can’t see it from here, but it closes in the entire property. Besides, I wouldn’t do that anyway.”

  “Why not?” Stacey asked, irritation working its way into her voice.

  “There are rules here. If I let you go, by accident or otherwise, I get punished too.”

  “Punished?”

  Nathan nodded. “That’s just the way that things work here.”

  Stacey sighed. “I guess we really don’t have a choice, do we?”

  “Don’t sound so down! I’m not going to eat you or anything. I like to think I’m a good person.You make it sound like marrying me is a death sentence.”

  Stacey surprised both of them by chuckling. “I didn’t mean to.” She sighed. “Fine. I guess we’re getting married.”

  “I’ll tell my mom. You sit tight. I’m sure you need a minute alone.”

  Stacey nodded. When he was out of sight, she ran the back of her hand over her eyes. It was hard to swallow that she would never go back home. Never again would she see her little apartment. She wouldn’t go back to work, or talk to her friends and family or anything that had become a part of her life over the years. She sighed before she raised her head high. No matter what happened, she would be fine. That she was sure of.

  Nathan came walking back out. She glanced at him briefly. It could be worse, she thought. At least Nathan was charming, sweet and definitely sexy. A girl could do a whole lot worse.

  “Come on inside,” Nathan said, extending a hand to help her up. “We’re going to figure everything out right now.”

  As she placed her hand in his, she nodded. Things were going to be just fine. She gave him a small smile as he helped her to her feet. For a moment, her hand lingered in his. Nathan didn’t pull his hand away, didn’t turn away from her. He simply smiled, gave her hand a squeeze and led her through the patio doors.

  ~

  “Well, that’s excellent news!” Emily said with a smile. “Why don’t Kristy and I go and get your things? You and Nathan can stay here, get to know each other a little better.” The woman pushed herself out of her chair.

  “Wait,” Stacey said quickly. “Does this mean I can’t speak to my family anymore? Or my friends?”

  “Of course not,” Emily said. She took Stacey’s hands in hers. “At first, yes you’ll be watched closely so that I know my family is safe, but you will still get to talk to the people you love. They’ll even be able to visit when I can trust you. I wouldn’t keep you locked away.”

  “You literally just threatened that not even an hour ago,” Nathan said, mumbling.

  “Don’t get snippy with me,” Emily growled.

  Stacey could tell they all had a temper. Emily patted her hand before she and Kristy wandered off. Nathan sat beside her heavily. He ran a hand over his beard.

  “This is weird.”

  “I agree.”

  “Here,” Emily said, laying a book on the coffee table, “look through that together.”

  Stacey glanced up at the woman. She and Kristy had changed into shorts, heavy boots and tank tops. Both of them carried backpacks as well. Stacey looked down at the book that Emily had given her.

  Wedding Planning Guide.

  She swallowed thickly. This already? Wouldn’t she even
have time to get to know him? Neither Nathan or Stacey seemed to want to touch the book. With an exasperated sigh, Emily picked it up before placing it in Nathan’s lap.

  “Seriously, get moving. Shifter law gives us a very small time frame to do this. We’ll be back.”

  “Don’t you need to know where I’m staying?” Stacey asked quickly.

  “No offense, but we can smell you a mile away. Get started you two,” Emily said before she and Kristy breezed out of the door.

  “Do we have to do the whole wedding bit? Can’t we just go to a courthouse and elope?”

  “Traditions,” Nathan started.

  “Yeah, yeah. Traditions.”

  Stacey felt as if she was living in a surreal, parallel, universe. Nathan gave her a small grin. She could tell that he was just as unsure as she was about the whole thing. At least that gave them something in common.

  No matter how imminent her fate was, Stacey wasn’t prepared to face it yet. She pushed the wedding book away from her. That was something that could be done tomorrow. For now, she was in need of something strong.

  “Do you have anything to drink?”

  “I know just what you need,” Nathan said as he pushed himself off of the couch. He ducked into the kitchen before returning moments later with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. “Is this okay?”

  “Oh, that’s perfect,” Stacey said with a small smile.

  Nathan filled both of the glasses before he handed one to Stacey. She took a deep sip from it, surprised that it was missing the usual burn that she’d become accustomed to. Sighing, she took another sip.

  “This is really good,” she said.

  “I have a thing for good drink.” Nathan said with a chuckle.

  “How do you get it? I mean, do you ever go into town? Or do you guys always have to stay here?”

  Nathan laughed. “That’s not an easy question to answer, really. Shifters typically keep away from other people. We can control our changes for the most part, but only if you’re older and you keep calm. Getting pissed off in public isn’t something anyone wants.”

  “How many are there?”

  Nathan shrugged. “At least twenty nearby, maybe more now.”

  “How can you not know for sure?” Stacey asked with a raised brow as she swirled her drink.

  “Well, I don’t get along with everyone, who can? On top of that, there are different kinds of shifters.”

  Stacey had a dozen more questions, but Emily and Kristy were walking back through the door. They’d neatly packed her suitcases and sat them by the front door. Emily wiped a hand across her forehead, even though there wasn’t a bead of sweat there.

  “Are you two getting along? How’s the planning going?”

  “We’re doing that tomorrow,” Nathan responded quickly to Stacey’s panicked look.

  “Well, no time to lose. It will be adorable!”

  Stacey had to stifle the craving to roll her eyes. As nice as Emily seemed, the pressure that she was putting on her wasn’t exactly welcome. Stacey downed the rest of her drink in several long gulps.

  “Wow,” Nathan said with wide eyes.

  “Where should I put my things?” Stacey asked, sitting her empty glass on the table.

  “I’ll show you to the guest room.”

  “No, you’ll show her to your room. You two will be staying very close until after the wedding.”

  “Mom,” Nathan said, shaking his head. “Stop.”

  Emily shrugged. “It’s the truth. Once everything is done, she’ll be able to move into your home.”

  Nathan picked up her bags. Stacey grabbed her backpack before she followed him up to his room. When he pushed open the door, a large space opened up in front of her. The bed was huge with a thick comforter and fluffy pillows.Everything was done in gray and blues.

  “Nice room. You have another house?”

  “Of course. I love my family, but I couldn’t live here all of the time. They’d both drive me crazy.”

  Stacey chuckled. She sat her backpack down before she sat on the bed, the mattress sinking down only slightly under her weight. She watched Nathan moving around the room, his hands working quickly as he put away the rest of her clothes.

  “There,” he said when he was done, “that’s better.”

  “Thanks,” Stacey said quietly.

  “No problem. And look, don't worry about things too much. We’ll do the planning for this thing tomorrow.”

  Stacey nodded, her belly still twisting with anticipation. “Okay.”

  ~

  The day of the wedding came quickly. They’d only had two weeks to prepare. In that time, Stacey had gotten to know Nathan a little better and was surprised about how much they had in common. Both of them could easily get lost in reading books. Both of them liked to cook and eat equally. On top of that, Stacey found that Nathan was kind, calm. Even when they didn’t agree on things.

  The day of the wedding, Stacey nervously clenched and flexed her fingers as she paced around the room. She wanted to slip out of the house, run away. However, another part of her had began to like Nathan, a lot. She didn’t want him to get hurt because of her, or to never see him again.

  A knock broke Stacey out of her thoughts. “Come in,” she called distracted.

  Emily stepped into the room. She looked immaculate in a long, powder blue dress and matching heels. Her hair was brushed straight, a smile on her lips.

  “It’s almost time,” she said excitedly.

  “Emily, can I ask you something?”

  “Of course,” the woman said as she began to fuss over Stacey’s hair.

  “How can you be okay with this? I’m a stranger, marrying your son. You’re okay with all of this?”

  Emily sighed. “Well, I probably wouldn’t have been if I didn’t get such a good feeling from you that first day you arrived. That and,” Emily sighed as she glanced at Stacey in the mirror, her face serious. “Nathan has been lonely. Honestly, he’s hardly ever dated because of being a shifter. Normally, he’d marry another of our kind, but we seem to be a dying breed these days. I think you’ll treat him well.”

  Stacey nodded. It was nice to know that Emily wasn’t just an empty smile. She really did like Stacey and the idea of the marriage. The woman was a lot more calculated than she’d expected.

  Glancing into the mirror, Stacey’s eyes took in her reflection. Her hair was pinned up, gentle and soft. The makeup on her face was light, but seemed to soften her features even more. Her dress had been purchased through Emily. It was sleek, simple. A white gown with straight lines, lace and a veil had been her choice. Knowing that the wedding was inevitable, it had been the one thing that Stacey had been sure to meet her standards.

  “My mom’s going to kill me,” she mumbled to herself.

  “Nonsense,” Emily said. “I’m sure she’ll come around.”

  Stacey chuckled. “You’ve never met my mom.”

  “True,” Emily said with a laugh, “I think it’s time for us to get going now.”

  Stacy's belly flip flopped. “Now?”

  “Yes,” Emily said softly. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

  Stacey swallowed thickly. Emily led her downstairs. Everyone was outside, the music playing softly as Stacey peeked outside. It wasn’t as small a crowd as she had been expecting. It seemed as though every shifter in the state was there. Stacey had met a few of them, but most were fresh faces. Emily touched her arm gently before she walked out to take her seat.

  When the music started for her to walk, Stacey moved forward as if on instinct. Everyone’s eyes fell on her as she walked out of the house. Stacey held her head a little higher. Then her eyes fell on Nathan. He was in a black suit, his big, brown eyes gazing at her.

  Stacey felt something that she hadn’t in a long time. Her stomach flip flopped the closer she got to him. It may not have been conventional, but Stacey realized that she was happy. Nathan took her hands as she stood across from him.

 
“Still want to run away?” He asked quietly.

  Stacey laughed before shaking her head. “I really don’t think I do.”

  ~

  The first few weeks of married life weren’t that bad for Stacey. Mostly, things didn’t change between them, except it felt as though they’d started dating. Nathan would pull her close at night, wrap an arm around her body. He’d kiss her forehead when she was feeling down or hold her hand when they started going for walks. Nathan didn’t push her to sleep with him right away, for that she was grateful. She wasn’t ready yet. Everything felt as though it was going great, until Kristy broke into their breakfast one morning.