BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (74 page)

Chapter 3

              Adrien walked around in aimless circles before he realized where his feet were taking him. It was Sunday and the bar was closed and he’d woken up with a restless itch in the middle of his chest that he couldn’t get rid of no matter what he’d done. He’d cooked breakfast, cleaned his entire apartment, which granted hadn’t taken all that long considering it was basically a studio. He’d tried to read some more of his father’s journal but he couldn’t focus on the words. The television hadn’t been able to hold him and finally giving up he’d grabbed his keys and cell phone and headed outside. He hoped a brisk walk in the late summer afternoon sun would cure him.

              It hadn’t worked. It felt like he had a hook buried deep inside him, dragging him closer and closer. And now he knew what it was that was drawing him. Morgan. An hour later he found himself walking down her block, past the stop sign they had kissed under. He walked passed the giant oak tree that shot at least sixty feet into the air and had probably been there long before the houses and apartment buildings that had cropped up around it.

              Finally, he turned the corner and he could see it. Morgan’s second floor apartment. He could picture her in there, making coffee in the little four cup coffee pot from the seventies that she treated like a national treasure. Adrien shook his head at himself, knowing he was being foolish, but also knowing there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

              He had tried to call her over and over again the past few weeks. He had gone to her apartment before too and every time she refused to see him, refused to answer his calls. He wasn’t even going to try this time. He just needed to feel close to her for a little while, to ease the ache that had become his constant companion since that terrible day at the cabin.

              His cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he answered it without look at he caller id. For a bare moment, he thought it might be Morgan, but that hope was dashed when Grant spoke.

              “Hey, Adrien. Just wanted to see how things were going, since…you know.” His swords trailed off.

              “Yeah, I know,” Adrien said shortly.

              “Hey, what are you doing today? I know the bars closed today so I was thinking I would swing by and we could go check out that new spot in Westmont.” Adrien knew what bar Grant was talking about but he just shook his head.

              “No, no. That’s okay. I’m not at home anyways.”

              “You’re not at…Wait a minute, tell me you’re not standing in front of Morgan’s apartment again.” Adrien didn’t say anything but that was answer enough, “Come on man, you got to stop this.”

              “What else am I supposed to do, Fish?” Adrien asked, frustration and pain filling his voice.

              “You can’t give up, Adrien. She’s your mate, and you love her. Sometimes, you have to fight for what you love.” His friend said the words as if it was so simple, so easy, but it was anything but. He quickly said goodbye and hung up his end of the line. He knew Grant meant well, but Adrien was at a loss. He looked up at her building once more before slowly turning and walking back the way he had come.

              Morgan watched Adrien’s retreating back until it disappeared around a curve in the road. She knew she should mind more, but she hadn’t been surprised when she had glanced out of the front window to see Adrien standing outside her apartment…again. She shook her head as she turned away. There were a million thoughts and emotions all tangled together in her head and she still hadn’t been able to separate them yet, make sense of them. It seemed like nothing made sense anymore. Her whole world had been flipped upside down. She had just found out that an entirely different species existed!

              Morgan thought she deserved a little time to sort out her own feelings before facing Adrien. She just wasn’t ready to yet. Everything that had happened at the cabin rushed through her mind, as it did so often the past weeks. She walked over to the couch in her living room and threw herself down, staring up at the white ceiling, but not really seeing it.

              Those weeks in the cabin with Adrien had been the best of her entire life, and that last day had been the worst. Her mind still reeled from the news that Harris had told her. Bear…people. There were bear people, and Adrien was one of them. Morgan shook her head, squeezing her eyes tight. What the hell had happened to her normal, sane world? It had all dissolved the moment that guy Harris had barged into the kitchen and dropped that nuclear bomb.

              Her heart lurched a little, a painful remainder that her feelings for Adrien were still in full effect, despite her rational brain telling her she needed to get over him. He was nothing but a big lying…bear. Her eyes popped open. She still just couldn’t make heads or tails of anything anymore and that was what frightened her the most. Because despite everything, she wasn’t afraid of Adrien. There had even been times over those past weeks spend at the cabin that she herself had noticed something a little strange.

              Morgan recalled that night in the bar, months ago now, where some biker guys had tried to give her a hard time and Adrien had stepped in, single-handedly fighting them off. And she had seen something then, even if her mind had refused to believe it. She had seen his arm actually change, fur where skin should be, and claws replacing finger nails.

              With a curse she jumped up and once again began pacing her apartment. She glanced to the side that was lined with canvases covered in paint. It was her only way to make sense of what had happened because she sure as hell couldn’t talk to anyone about it. She paused in the middle of her living room. Well, there was one person she could talk to, who would be able to explain everything to her. She shook off the idea. But she couldn’t shake the tiny electric thrill that shot through her off as easily.

              She wasn’t exactly sure what had kept her away from him so long. She wasn’t afraid of him, she knew that he would never hurt her, somehow she knew that in her bones. Maybe she just hadn’t known which questions to ask, but now she did. And now she needed answers.

              Morgan looked down at the painting she had stopped in front of. A scene she could picture so clearly in her head still. That day when she had tried to surprise Adrien with dinner and had walked down to that stream to catch fish. She couldn’t help the small smile that twisted her lips at that epic failure, but he had been so sweet that even now, even with everything, it shot a bolt of warmth through her body.

              She stared at the painting, a swath of blue at the bottom, the stream. Sun dappled its surface and made everything look dreamlike, but that was how she remembered it that day. Standing there on the shore with that old rusty fishing pole in hand and freezing as the large bear came into view on the other side. She remembered the exact bronze shade of his fur, the way his ears had perked up as he’d noticed her. It had been obvious that the animal had been as surprised as she was to stumble upon each other there beside the stream. But what she remembered most where his eyes, golden amber eyes that had stared at her. Just like Adrien’s.

              It had struck her, his gaze, as being intelligent. And it had also struck her how calm she had felt. No flicker of fear or panic had filled her at encountering the wild animal out in the forest, but instead, she felt at peace. She had known even then that he would never hurt her, she just hadn’t realized who she had accidentally run into that day. Adrien.

              Dammit. That meant he had known about her surprise all along! A laugh was surprised out of her at the thought. Of all the things to worry about. Morgan turned away, a smile still flickering across her lips as she came to a decision. No matter what, she knew she couldn’t keep living like this, hiding away from the world, going back and forth with herself until she was just about crazy.

              She needed answer, she decided, and she knew just who to get them from. She tried to ignore the little voice inside that whispered if that was the only reason she wanted to see him and she had to be honest at least with herself. Because the truth was, she missed him. Desperately, hopelessly.

              With resolve, she turned around and headed to back to the easel, knowing that the bar was closed for the day. She would go in tomorrow night. It would be easier to see him if they were in a public place, easier to confront him and hopefully answer some of the questions that were tumbling through her head.

Chapter 4

              Adrien flipped to the next page of his father’s journal, losing himself in the scrawled words. It had become his habit to read a little bit of the journal each day. It made him feel so much closer to the man that he never really knew. He stopped as a paragraph caught his eye and he could see his own name in the words.

             
Adrien and Grant came home today with a bucket full of frogs that they tried to ‘rescue’. A dam up by Pines Creek had burst and they said the frogs home was destroyed. That very well may have been true, but after ‘rescuing’ the frogs from their waterlogged home, they decided to put the frogs in Mrs. Patterson’s bed, and kitchen, and in the laundry that she had drying outside. I had to yell at them, of course, but even I can’t blame them for picking Mrs. Patterson as their victim. A meaner old lady I’ve never met. I wish I could have seen the look on her face…

             
Adrien laughed out loud in his empty apartment, remembering that day clearly as he read the words. He and Grant had been no more than six and Mrs. Patterson was always far too quick with a sharp word or sometimes even that old wooden broom she always kept out on the porch.

              He couldn’t imagine this side of his father, the man he remembered as always so stern and so serious. Laughing to himself over the antics of his son and his friend. He did remember his father yelling at them, and making them apologize to Mrs. Patterson and then being sent to bed early. Adrien shook his head, mirth still flowing through him. He wished suddenly that he could have known his father as an adult, really get to know the person that he was.

              With a sigh, Adrien tucked the journal back into the desk drawer and got ready for work. The bar had been re-opened for two weeks now and business was going better than ever. It was going so good in fact that he really would have to hire another bartender soon if things kept up the way they were.

              He quickly donned his uniform of black jeans and a t-shirt and headed outside, locking the door as he left. He gave a little prayer of gratitude that Harris’ thugs had decided to leave him alone the past couple of weeks, he just wish he could say the same about his daughter. It seemed like everywhere he turned, Sera just happened to be there. Coincidentally. Yeah, right.

              Adrien unlocked the bar and stepped in, breathing in the excitement at the renovated space. Each time he walked in it was still hard to believe this was the same old bar he had worked in for the last ten years. It looked like a brand new space, and his customers had all responded positively to the new look. He grinned, feeling a little bit like a proud parent before looking over and stopping. He was standing right in the spot where he and Morgan had been kissing when that brick was thrown through the window, delaying the inevitable. Because it had been inevitable, Adrien had realized. Morgan was a part of him, had been long before the mating ceremony. He just had been too dumb or too short sighted to realize the truth.

              He barely resisted the urge to drag out his cell phone and give her a call for about the millionth time. Grant had told him to give her a little space, and he’d also said he was working on something which worried Adrien a tiny bit because he knew his friend. And he had no idea what Grant might be ‘working on’ that could help him get Morgan back.

              The next hour he dedicated to getting the bar ready for the night. It was a Monday so it wouldn’t be too busy, but if the last few weeks were anything to go by they would still have a steady night. Which was good for Adrien. Anything that would keep his mind off of Morgan would be greatly appreciated.

              Because the smallest thing would set him off, and there were so many memories of her in this place that it was almost impossible to ignore. An ache started in his chest and he rubbed at the spot, barely aware of what he was doing. It had become a near constant feeling, that pang that meant he was missing her, that he needed to see her. He had hoped it would begin to fade over time but instead it just continued to grow harder and harder to ignore.

              By the time eight thirty rolled around there was a good sized crowd at the bar and several groups occupying various tables throughout the large room. The jukebox was playing some old soul blues that had everyone swaying to the music and really did feel like a proud parent as he looked around the bar.

              He glanced over as another customer walked in and barely held back the groan as he saw Harris’ daughter saunter in. Again. He turned away, hoping he could just ignore her and she would go away but that hadn’t worked all the other times he had tried it. She had been hounding him ever since he’d been back and no matter what he said she wouldn’t leave him alone. She was persistent, he had to give her that.

              “Hello, honey bear,” He forced himself to turn around and rolled his eyes at the satisfied look she had on her face at her bad joke.

              “I already told you Sera, I’m not your anything. Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll be over with your drink, okay?” He gestured to an empty table but she refused to budge.

              “Oh, I’m not here for a drink.” She smirked up at him and he sighed in frustration.

              “It’s a bar, Sera. Why else would you be here?” He regretted the question as soon as it was out of his mouth. She took a cloying step closer and he could see just how much makeup was caked on her face, adding years that she didn’t have. Her perfume, something heavy and floral wafted in through his nose, choking him as he tried to lean back and take a breath. She followed him, stepping even closer and then raised her arms, resting her hands on his chest.

              “I’m here for you of course,” She purred the words and Adrien grimaced as he grabbed her wrist pulling her a little out of the way, about to give her a piece of his mind she would never forget when he looked up, seeing Morgan’s emerald green eyes locked on him from where she stood in the doorway, and worst, on his hands were they still grasped Sera’s.