by Moxie North
The waitress came up with her order, and Becca slid a bill across the counter. “No change, thanks.”
The waitress smiled at her then looked back and forth between her and Eddie.
“Nice to meet you, Eddie. Have a good night.”
She jumped down from the stool and walked quickly to the front door. Not wanting to turn around to see if he was still watching her, she unlocked her car and got in, keeping her eyes away from the restaurant.
Becca was down the road and on her way before ever glancing in her rearview mirror. What did she expect? To see him running down the street still trying to convince her to give his brother a chance?
“Can this get any more complicated?”
The interior of the car was not giving her any answers.
Becca didn’t want to believe that Eddie would call Angel and tell him she was on the way home, but clearly, the pro-Angel side was growing at a rapid pace. Deciding that she wasn’t up for another Angel encounter, she turned her car towards Alicia’s house.
Chapter 30
The lumpy futon in Alicia’s spare room was not conducive to good sleep or any sleep for that matter. But she’d crashed after showing up on her friend’s doorstep the night before. She wasn’t ashamed to admit she was hiding.
Okay, maybe she was a tiny bit ashamed. But in her defense, she was feeling surrounded by people that shouldn’t have an opinion on who she should or shouldn’t be interested in. Alicia had finally stopped telling her she was crazy for not wanting Angel.
That left Becca to act like she wasn’t thinking about him all the while she was completely obsessing. Being a practical person, she made a pro/con list. She knew only a few things about him. He’d told her she could ask him anything, but she spent more time trying to push him away than learning anything about him.
Pros:
Shockingly handsome.
Hot sex and making her come like a screaming banshee.
Worrying about her and taking care of her when she was sick.
Thought she smelled nice, commenting often (not sure if this is a pro).
Thought she was sexy, even though she needed to lose a few pounds.
Wanted a relationship, to date her, take her to dinner, everything!
Rock hard body and shocking stamina.
Possible chance she could talk him into growing a beard and getting a few tattoos to take his handsome level from panty melting to nipple twisting level.
Cons:
High school graduate. Literally––a few years.
Potentially lived with six roommates in a studio apartment that was full of dirty clothes and unwashed dishes.
He could spend all of his money on energy drinks and Slim Jims.
Had dreams of being a musician. Normally a pro but not if he didn’t have the focus to get it done. Otherwise, it was a lifetime of unfulfilled hopes.
Bossy (okay possibly a pro).
Told his family about her after they just met!
Hot body and firm muscles now, receding hairlines and potbellies in the near future. (Okay, that wasn’t exactly fair. He didn’t seem like the type to stop being who he was).
Mismatched together.
Being mistaken for his mom.
It seemed Becca’s mental list was even with no clear winner. Her list seemed to be futile in making a decision about Angel.
Becca convinced Alicia that hiding at her house would be the kindest thing for Angel. It would give him a good couple of days to get some perspective. Alicia decided that Becca had a magical pussy to get a guy so wrapped up so fast. Now she kept torturing Becca with the new title.
But she had to put up with it since she was squatting at Alicia’s house. She’d left to go scoop her alpaca poop, and she managed to get one of the little beasties to hold still long enough for her to hug it. The fluffy little mammal tolerated the contact but didn’t participate.
Becca slunk back to Alicia’s, and they watched their TV show, munching nachos and drinking enough margaritas to get Becca talking about her night with Angel. She gave Alicia all the dirty details she was looking for. It didn’t help that at the end of her recitation of Angel’s attributes and his skills, she was even more on his side.
“You have to be the dumbest woman in the world.”
“Gee, thanks for that. I was hoping for a little more support. Maybe a little about how I made a mature decision. I can’t have a life with someone that probably watches Zoolander movies and thinks they’re funny.”
“If a man did me the way you just described? I’d watch whatever crap he wants as long as I was cuddled up to him. You don’t turn your back on mind blowing sex. It’s against the girl code, and if the sisterhood found out you had crazy porn sex, and that guy wanted to see you again? There would be a bitchy lynch mob at your door.”
Becca knew there was no convincing her friend. She loved Alicia, but this was something she had to make an adult decision about. If she thought she could get away with just having fun with Angel, she would be totally down for a little action. Him showing up at her house showed that he couldn’t keep emotions out of it.
She also wasn’t going to admit to her friend that she had something bordering on a major crush on Angel. If she was a few years younger and not so uptight, she’d be writing her name with his last name. Drawing little hearts around their initials. Yes, there were plenty of reasons to like Angel Rochon, if this was a perfect world.
Instead, she was thinking about how she couldn’t be any more pathetic. She also still planned to go over in her mind all that was Angel. That time was now, laying alone, post Game of Thrones. She had too much real drama in her life to appreciate the blood, death, and sex of her favorite TV show.
She wondered how long she could live with Alicia. They got along well; they could be roomies. All of Alicia’s clothes were way too tall for her, but she could roll up some leggings and belt a shirt for work. It wasn’t a practical solution; it was one of desperation and pure cowardice. Maybe she could call his mom and have her tell him he was grounded.
Calling the Sheriff wouldn’t get her too far, him being a Rochon and all. And there was no reason to get the police involved. Unless there was a law against too much sex and a man wanting a second date.
Of course, a bar hook-up could hardly be called a date. There were drinks and awkward conversation followed by sex. So maybe he did think it was a date.
Going to work in the morning was going to be a lesson in focus for Becca. She was going to want to worry that Angel was going to show up. She didn’t have anything to say to him, at least, nothing that he would accept.
There was the chance that the last few days gave Angel the break Becca thought he needed to see she wasn’t the one.
Becca really hoped that it was that last option. Then everything could go back to normal.
Normal. That used to be her goal in life. Keeping everything the same, no surprises, just staying content with her life.
Angel threw a wrench into that world. Becca wasn’t so sure she wanted that old world back. Week after week with the same routine. Working, volunteering, and hanging out with Alicia wasn’t a bad life. It just wasn’t very exciting. Life with Angel in it wouldn’t be boring.
Conflicted and tired from thinking about her lack of resolution with Angel all day had Becca exhausted. Closing her eyes, she tried to think about anything but him before falling asleep. When she finally slipped into that fitful slumber, she dreamt about him.
Chapter 31
“It’s killing me.”
Leaning over with his head in his hands, Angel replayed how hard it was to leave Becca’s house. He had listened to her slide to the floor on the other side of the wood door, listening to the tears that were falling as she took in ragged breaths. His bear wanted to tear the door down to get to their mate. Comfort her and kiss away her tears. Instead, he forced his animal back and walked to his truck. He sat in it for a while before driving away, staring in the rearview mirror at the little house c
overed in flowers that held his mate.
Now he was sitting at his brother’s kitchen table. His niece Talia was on his knee, gurgling and drooling on him. She was decked out in a black t-shirt with an attached hot pink tutu that barely covered her diapered butt. Her shirt said You Can’t Wear Pink Every Day.
“Man, I don’t know what to tell you. Gemma loved me back from the moment I met her.” Eddie lounged on his couch; his feet propped up on the coffee table in the one small section that wasn’t covered in sippy cups and toys.
“Bullshit!”
Gemma Rochon came around the corner carrying a couple bottles of beer. She was also glaring at Eddie. Angel always thought his brother had lucked out with the beauty that was his mate. Gemma was curvy and gorgeous, but now nothing compared to Angel’s own mate. There was no beauty greater than his girl.
“Sweetie, don’t swear in front of the children. What will the teacher think when Dash starts calling bullshit during reading time?”
“I’d never say those naughty words. Those are adult words, Daddy,” little Dash said, coming behind his mom.
Scooping up his son, Eddie put him on his lap. “Good boy. Mommy is a terrible influence. Only listen to me or Uncle Angel, but only if you check with me first to make sure Angel isn’t being naughty too.”
“Thor likes him, though,” Dash said thoughtfully.
When Gemma had gotten pregnant, Dash decreed the baby was going to be a boy and would be named Thor. Even after the ultrasound showed it was a girl, he stuck by the nickname. Dash also told everyone that it was his name for his sister. Everyone else had to call her by her full name.
“Of course, she does, she has excellent taste. Unlike my mate,” Angel said, tickling the baby under the chin. Talia grinned her toothless grin up at him.
“Does she not like you or your bear, Uncle Angel?”
“She hasn’t met my bear, buddy. I can’t show her until she likes me first. I don’t know how to get past the fact that she thinks I’m too young for her.”
Dash seemed to ponder that for a moment then decreed, “You just have to grow up!”
Eddie and Gemma found this a vastly amusing option, and both started laughing at Angel’s expense.
“Like I haven’t heard that line before,” Angel sighed.
Eddie laughed and pulled his wife into his lap where she settled in like it was a normal occurrence.
“So you’ve talked, right?” Gemma asked. “Learned about her, gotten to know her?”
“A little. We haven’t even had that much time together. I would love to talk to her. I hate feeling like I’m stalking her. She hasn’t been home in two days, which I only know because I can’t help driving by to see if she’s there. My bear is pissed off, at me of course, not her. I let him out last night, and he sat his ass down in the dirt and pouted. Didn’t even want to run or forage. He put his furry butt on a log and stared into the woods.”
Eddie started laughing again. Gemma was trying to hold back her laughter. Both of them seemed to find Angel’s pain amusing.
“You are the only person I know that would have a depressed bear,” Eddie said with a coughing chuckle.
“Asshole, this is serious. She’s my mate. I love her. I need to be with her. Could you be away from Gemma?”
“Of course he couldn’t, sweetie. He bulldozed over my life, and it was all for the better,” Gemma said, reaching over to pat his hand.
“I showed up at her house and took care of her when she was in pain. We seemed to be having an okay time when she was feeling better. But then she got all rigid and started talking about my age again. I even told her that I no longer wanted to make music my life and that I was going to focus on working in the family businesses.”
Eddie and Gemma exchanged a look that Angel couldn’t read.
“So you told her how much music meant to you?” Eddie asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you told her you were giving it up?” Gemma prodded.
“Yes, so what? Isn’t that a good thing? Showing her I can be responsible and focus on my future?”
“Women are so much more complicated, sweetie. She doesn’t want to be the reason you don’t follow your dreams. She sees you as someone at the beginning of their life, and that you are giving up something you love for someone you met at a bar. Can’t you see that she would never want that for you?” Gemma said quietly.
Angel could see that. So why couldn’t he just explain to her that music was his dream, and now she was better than a dream?
He saw them staring at him.
“No, it won’t help,” Eddie said, shaking his head.
“What?”
“Just telling her she’s more important than your music isn’t going to work. It sounds okay to you, but to her, it would make her feel like she was the cause of you losing part of yourself. Anyone that meets you knows how important it is to you. Your eyes light up. You talk about it with such a passion that no one can mistake it for being something other than the most important thing in the world to you,” Gemma explained.
“It’s not anymore. She is…she’s everything. Why can’t I just tell her I don’t have a choice in how much I love her?”
Eddie gave a sigh. “And before you found your mate, what would you have said to a girl that walked up to you in the bar and said that? Declared her love for you when you barely knew her? Would you take her seriously?”
“Fuck, this is complicated!” Angel groaned.
Dash started laughing at his uncle swearing.
“Nice, my kid laughs at curse words. I’m so proud,” Eddie said.
“As long as he doesn’t teach his cousins to swear. Not that they would be totally surprised that it was Eddie’s kid that taught them the bad words,” Gemma said, giving her husband a wink.
Eddie smiled at his mate. The second they mated and were sealed with the bonding bite, Dash became Eddie’s. Dash still saw his biological dad occasionally, but those times were getting fewer and fewer. Gemma’s ex was slipping away and no one was trying to stop him. Now Eddie was the only daddy as if he’d always been.
Angel had watched their relationship and thought that it couldn’t have gotten any more complicated than what his brother went through. Now he was feeling like he would hold the family record for longest courtship. Rochons tended to close the deal at lightning fast speed. Angel should have known he wouldn’t be so lucky.
“So do I show up again? I’m becoming the ambush guy. That is going to get Tanner all over my ass if she calls the police.”
“Can you call her?” Gemma leaned over to take Talia out of his arms. Her baby gurgled and cooed as her momma picked her up.
“I don’t have her number. I might be able to get it from her friend.”
“Try that. Leave her a message and see if she calls you back. She is feeling that pull to you too; she just can’t explain it. To her, it’s a crush or infatuation. It’s not anything like what you are feeling. I know how it is; every shifter that’s ever found their mate knows how much being away from her is hurting you. Just don’t get angry at her for it. She isn’t trying to hurt you.”
“Fuck, man. I’m not mad at her. It’s my job to take care of her and make her life easier. I’m failing miserably at it. I know everyone thinks I’m a screw up, but this is not one of those things I can mess up. I have to get this right. I have to show her how much I love her without telling her.”
“Call her,” Gemma said quietly, bouncing gently while her daughter was falling asleep on her chest.
“And say what?”
“Just ask her how her day was. Have her tell you about things she likes. No matter how uninterested you may be. Women want men to listen and hear them,” Gemma said, with a smile.
“That’s the secret to a happy life?”
“Happy wife, happy life. Happy mate, life is cake,” Eddie said.
“Dude, that doesn’t even rhyme,” Angel scoffed.
“Doesn’t need to. My mate thinks I’m cha
rming no matter what.”
Laughing, Gemma gave her a mate a look so filled with love, Angel wanted to look away so as not to intrude.
“It’s true. He’s a dork, but he’s my dork.”
Angel wanted what his brother had. He’d always envied Eddie, not because he was a doctor or seemed to have it easier than he did, but because he had found happiness and true contentment with his mate. He had a family now that you could see was the center of his universe.
Chapter 32
Angel went home and tried to sit in his room alone, but his bear couldn’t stand it.
He went outside and got into his truck. He drove into the woods that were never far away from where they lived and walked into the trees far enough that he couldn’t see the road anymore. It was almost dark, and there would be no one out in the forest.
Angel needed the peace that giving over his body and mind to his bear would bring. His bear wanted out, hopefully, this time not to sit in the dirt. Tonight it was about running himself to exhaustion, tearing something up, roaring, and venting the anguish being apart from his mate was causing him.
Stripping out of his clothes, Angel mentally apologized to his bear for not being able to get their mate for them.
His bear responded with a nudge to give him the lead. Angel stepped back in his mind, and he felt his bear come forward. The shimmering surrounded his body; his bear pushing through his skin to be able to come forward. There was a moment when Angel’s last vision was of a rainbow of color, and then he was looking at the world from a totally different angle. Closer to the ground with the smells of the forest coloring his vision.
Giving his bear the lead, they took off at a run. They climbed the mountain at a fast pace. Once Angel felt his bear wasn’t going to pout, he let his mind fall away and enjoyed the instinct his animal reveled in. With someone else running the show, it felt like Angel’s mind was on pause. No worries, no concerns, no hurt.
Angel wasn’t sure how long they had been out. His bear decided when they had enough and returned to the truck. He sat down and waited for Angel to pay attention and take back over.