Bear Shifters: Hunt Collection #1 (12 page)

“Even better.  I’ll go with you to the hotel and then we can plan a date for tonight.  Don’t worry about my work.  Like I told you, I can take care of it after the weekend.  It’s nothing important really.”

“Don’t you have to tell someone you’re leaving?” 

Mark laughed.  Abigail was so innocent when it came to how businesses are run in the big city.  “It’s not like your job at the diner.  I can come and go as I please.  Plus, my business partner is still here.  I can text him that I’m taking off the rest of the day and he can handle everything while I’m gone.  But I don’t think there’s going to be much since the meetings are over.”  He grabbed Abigail’s suitcase.  “Come.  My driver is outside waiting.”

“You’re driver?”  Abigail never experienced this kind of service before.  Back home, she had to call well in advance to get a taxi.  “I mean, he’s here whenever you need to go somewhere?”

“I just send word down to the lobby that I need to go out and they page my driver for me.  It saves a lot of time and hassle of taking the subway or bus.”

*****

Friday night, Mark took Abigail to his favorite restaurant.  It was obvious how frequently he visited, as every worker knew him by name.  She was surprised to see how popular he was in the city.  Her popularity back home came from her winning beauty pageants for most of her life.  The town was so small that as soon as she was crowned beauty queen, every resident knew.  But New York was bigger.  To be so well known in a place like this, you had to be good at your job.

Abigail was pleased that her romance with Mark took off right where they left it before he returned home.  The Saturday after she arrived, he planned a whole day for them, which started with a picnic at Central Park.  He laid down a blanket for them to sit on as she placed the picnic basket on the ground.  “How are you liking it here so far?”

“I love it Mark.  I can see why you wanted to come back home.  This is nothing compared to the country life.  I wish I could live here.”

“Maybe it’s because you haven’t been here for long.  I actually found it more relaxing being in your town.”  He wrapped his arms around her.  “I want to take you somewhere tomorrow.”

“I have a flight at night so I can’t be gone for too long.”  Saying those words made Abigail sad, knowing the weekend was going by too fast.

“Perfect because my parents don’t live far from the airport.”

“Parents?”  There was no way Abigail heard him right.  They weren’t together long enough to take their relationship to the next level and meet the parents.”

“Yes my parents.  I want you to meet them.  I swear they will love you and they’ll be happy to know that I’ve finally settled down.”

How could Abigail disagree?  His heart was set on her meeting his parents.  And the next day, that was what they did.  Mark and his driver picked her up at the hotel.  He rushed to meet her in the lobby, carrying her suitcase to the car. 

“My parents are excited to meet you.”

“I...I can’t wait to meet them either,” she said nervously.  She never had to meet the parents of her previous boyfriends before since everybody knew her. 

She sat at Mark’s parents’ house.  Nervous, feeling as if their eyes never stopped studying her. 
They probably think I’m no good for their son.  I don’t blame them.
  Mark apologized to his parents that their stay was short, but Abigail had to get to the airport.  She didn’t have the heart to tell Mark, but she knew his parents couldn’t wait for her to get out of their house.  The feeling was mutual.  She felt uncomfortable, like she was a subject they were studying.

As the evening drew to a close, Mark drove Abigail to the airport. He couldn't help but look over at her and know that he needed to tell her the truth.

"Abigail, there's another reason why I stopped calling," he said quietly, looking straight ahead.

"Yes?"

"How familiar are you with shifters?"

"You mean, people that can change to animals and such? Let's see, one of my friends was dating one once. I've no major thoughts of them one way or another, why?"

"Abi, I don't know how to tell you this but..."
Her eyes went wide and she slid to the door frame of the car. "Oh my God, you're in love with a shifter?"

"No, no, no! I ..." he sighed deeply, "I'm not doing good trying to tell you this it seems. Abi, I'm a bear shifter."

"You're a... wha?"

"Bear shifter, I can transform from human to bear and back again." He just managed to squeak the words out as they pulled into the terminal.
This was not how I wanted this to go.

*****

Mark stayed with Abigail in the waiting section as she waited for her flight to be called.  A weekend wasn’t long enough to spend with Mark.  She wished she could’ve stayed longer but she was needed back at the diner.  She couldn’t leave Oscar alone to deal with the customers.  She was his best waitress, a point he always made sure to tell the others.  She had obligations that couldn't be stopped just for a what-if of a relationship with Mark.

Her flight was called and she slowly stood up.  Mark went over to hug her tightly.  He didn’t want her to go back as much as she didn’t want to leave.  “I love you,” he whispered in her ear.

“You know I love you too.”  She refused to let the tears fall from her eyes, especially in front of Mark. If she was going to cry, it would be on the plane.

“Abigail, I swear I will keep in touch with you. Between the meetings and the bear shifter secret, it was just all too much. But now you know the truth.  This weekend wasn’t nearly enough time for us to catch up on lost time.”

“It wasn’t enough time for me either.  I really wish I could stay longer.  Hopefully I can save more money to come out here and visit again.”

Abigail found it hard to believe that Mark was going to keep in touch.  Wasn’t that what he said when he had to leave to go home?  And look how that turned out.  Something inside told her that if she didn’t fly out to surprise him, he never would’ve contacted her, but she didn’t want to tell him what she believed.  She would pretend that she believed him.  That way if he didn’t call her, she wouldn’t be disappointed.

Abigail’s flight was called again and Mark leaned in to kiss her goodbye.  The kiss was long and passionate, as if he refused to let her get on the plane.  “I...I have to go.  I can’t miss this flight,” Abigail pulled away.  She looked back one last time before handing her ticket in and going inside the gate.

Chapter Five

Mark sadly walked back to his apartment, surprised to see his parents waiting out in the hall.  “Mom!  Dad!  What brings you here?  I just left your place earlier.”

“We know you did.  But there was something your mother and I wanted to speak to you about but we couldn’t given the company at our place,” Leroy said stepping inside the apartment with his wife.

“You mean Abigail.  She has a name Dad.”

“Yes I am aware that she has a name.  After you left, your mother and I had a talk and well...Martha you tell him what we talked about.  You can say it better than I can.”

Mark rolled his eyes, he knew where this was leading.  He noticed his parents looking at Abigail like she was out of place being in the city.  Deep inside he had a feeling that they didn’t like Abigail, but he hoped he was wrong.  “Let me guess, you don’t like Abigail do you?”

“It’s not that we don’t like her son.  We don’t even know her.  And you did bring her to us by surprise.  But…” Martha started.

“But what?  Come on you and dad don’t ever come to my place unless you have a reason.  And since you’ve been waiting for me to come home, this has to obviously be something big involving the girl that I love.”

Martha turned to Leroy.  “Did you hear that?  He says he’s in love with her.”

“Let’s just talk to him about what we came to talk about.”

“I’m standing right here.  So why don’t you just tell me what it is you want to tell me.  I figured you didn’t like Abigail and I figured it was because I started a relationship with her without telling you about it.  But that’s obviously not the case.  What is it about Abigail that you don’t like about her?  That she’s caring and polite?  Or the fact that she flew all the way out here from her town to surprise me?  Because if that’s not love, then I don’t know what is.”

“Son, you’re right about one thing.  We don’t want you to be with Abigail,” Leroy spoke.

“I’m sorry, it sounded like you said you don’t want me to be with Abigail.”  Mark laughed.  “That is funny because I was under the assumption that at my age, I didn’t have to go through you when it came to girls I want to date.”

“You have to think of your future with the company.  Mark, you can’t be seen with some girl that’s from the country.  Think about how that’ll look when you have to go to all those important meetings and dinners.”  Leroy was a top business man himself and wanted his son to be exactly like him; only the finest things and the most upscale woman on his arm.

“Since when have you known me to care what people think?  And why would they have a problem with me dating Abigail?  My love life shouldn’t be anyone’s business in the first place.”

“This is the business world son and appearance means everything.  You can’t be seen dating a girl who has no money and has never lived in a big city before.  People will notice.  No, what you need is to date a girl with money.”

Mark shook his head.  This wasn’t a real conversation he was having with his parents.  They never got involved with his relationships before.  Why start now?  “Listen to me Dad, I love Abigail and nothing can ever change that.  Do you know how hard it was for us to be separated for all these months?  It was torture for me and I never thought I’d see her again.  Until she showed up at my office.”

“Wait, she showed up out of nowhere in your building?  Did you ever think that maybe this girl is only after your money?” Martha interrupted.  “I mean think about it.  She has hardly any money to her name and yet she travels all the way over here to be with you.  Sounds like she wants to only be with you because you’re rich.”

“It’s not like that at all.  You have no idea how much of a hard worker she is.  She even takes on extra shifts at the diner she works at to get more money.  She’s not after me for my money.”  Mark was losing his patience with his parents.

“Are you sure about that?  I mean how well do you really know this girl?” Martha worried about her son and his choices in women.

“Enough to know that she would never hurt me or use me like my ex-girlfriends in the past have.  Why am I even explaining this to you?”  Mark tried to keep his anger under control.  He couldn’t believe that his parents were dictating his life at his age.  He was a grown man, he didn’t bring Abigail to meet them to get their approval.  He wanted them to meet the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.  He loved Abigail and no one, not even his parents, could change how he felt. 

“Mom, Dad,  I’m sorry you feel that way and don’t believe Abigail isn’t using me.  But you don’t know her like I do.  And I love her and I hope one day for her to be my wife.”

“Let’s not jump to any hasty decisions.  You don’t know for sure she’s the girl you’ll marry.”  Martha wanted her son’s mind off of Abigail.  Maybe with her being back home, they’d never see each other again.

“I’m dead set on my decision.  Now if you don’t mind, I would like to get some rest since I have to go back to work tomorrow and today was a long day.”  Mark opened the door.  He hated kicking his parents out of his apartment, but if they stayed any longer, he was afraid he’d say something to them he would soon regret.

*****

Abigail arrived back home and was greeted by her mother at the airport.  “Mom, what are you doing here?”  She never told her parents she went to New York and hoped they wouldn’t have found out.

“Do you know how worried I was when I stopped by your place and saw that you weren’t home?  And then you weren’t answering your phone.”

“Sorry about that, I didn’t have my phone on most of the time.”  That was a lie, but Abigail wasn’t going to let her mother know.  She saw the missed calls, but she didn’t want it to ruin her time with Mark.  “But how did you find out I’d be here?”

“Your manager, Oscar.  When I couldn’t get a hold of you I called the diner and he told me.  He assumed you told me everything.  I made it like I forgot what you told me because I didn’t want him to think you couldn’t be trusted and have you lose the job.  But what were you thinking sneaking off to a strange city without telling me or your father?”

“Mom, I can explain everything.”

“You can bet that you will.  You flew to be with some city boy that your father and I never met?!”

“I know Mark.  I met him when he was here for business and we dated the whole week.  He’s my boyfriend…”

“No!” Audrey was furious.  “I will pretend I didn’t hear you say that.”

“Say what?  That Mark is my boyfriend?  Well he is Mom and you can’t do anything about it.  I’m a grown woman who can date who she wants!”  Abigail never got mad before, especially not to either of her parents.  Once she started, she couldn’t stop the words from coming out of her mouth.  “I love him and he loves me.  Yes, I know it was wrong for me to leave without telling you and Dad so that you two wouldn't worry, but I knew it was a chance worth taking.  Especially in the name of love.”

Audrey laughed.  “You really think you’re in love?  With this guy?  Abby dear...he’s not right for you.  You need to date a country boy.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, I want to be called Abigail.  Abby was my nickname as a kid.  I know to you and Dad I’m still your little girl, but it has to stop.  I am old enough to make my own decisions and I have.  Mark and I are in a relationship whether you like it or not.”

Abigail shook her head.  “Come on, your Dad is in the car outside waiting.  We’re going to take you home with us and then have a serious talk. Maybe you can even live at home again, wouldn't that be nice Abby?”

“There is nothing left for us to talk about.  I just want to go back to my place and unpack and get to sleep.”  Abigail couldn’t believe her parents were treating her like a child.

“Fine we’ll go to your place, but your father and I still want to talk to you.”  Audrey walked out of the airport with Abigail slowly following. 

Abigail got into her father's car, slamming the door shut.  “You will show us respect!” Peter, her father, exclaimed as soon as she inside. He must have seen the back and forth of her and her Mother before getting into the car.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. It never failed that when she was around her folks she felt small and silent.

“This is exactly what I was talking about with you inside.  This Mark fellow is bad news.  I mean look at the attitude you have towards us now.  And that was after a weekend staying with him in the city.  I don’t trust him.”

“It’s not Mark’s fault that you and Dad are being unreasonable!  Want to know why I’m acting like this?  Because you just embarrassed me in the airport when you demanded I come home with you.  I am an adult and can do what I want.  I’m not that little girl you forced to be in beauty pageants anymore.  Do you really think I enjoyed those, because I never did.  That’s why once I started college I retired from competing.  If it was up to me, I would’ve quit after the first one you signed me up for.  You’re just mad that for the first time in my life I’m making my own choice and it’s not something you like."

“Abigail Yates you will not speak to us with that tone of voice!  We are your parents and you will treat us how we are supposed to be treated.  Now we will discuss this more once we get to your place.”  Audrey said and Abigail knew to keep her mouth shut.

She couldn’t believe how her parents were acting.  Never before did they tell her who she should date.  Then again, she dated boys who were the sons of their friends.  Even when it came to her love life she wasn’t given a choice.  Not anymore.  Abigail demanded to be treated as an adult who had her own mind.  She was glad she took off and flew to New York without telling her parents.  She took charge of her life for once and it felt good to know she could do whatever she challenged herself to do.

There had to be something about Mark that made them uncomfortable, she just had to find out what.

Abigail didn’t know how much longer she could stand living in this town.  Once she got a taste of the city life, country living seemed boring.  Added to the fact that Mark was nowhere near made living here even worse.  She needed to make a new plan, one that included leaving this place and never looking back.  Sitting in the back of her parents’ car she sighed, wishing she had enough money to pack all her belongings and move to New York City.  Leaving without leaving any word and disappearing without a trace, she’d be able to spend her life with Mark without anyone getting in her way.

Back at her place, her parents sat silent on the sofa waiting for the right moment.

After a while, Audrey sighed and began, "Abigail. We know."

"Know what, Mother?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"Mark's a bear shifter isn't he? Those people aren't right, honey, do you realize they shift into wild animals? What if he tore you apart? What if he's....violent!"

Abigail was thoroughly confused, "How did you know that?"

"Honey, while we were talking to Oscar he mentioned a few things; Mark's wild eyes, his brawn, how he acted around you. I've only known a few bear shifters in my day, and they were just like that. I put two and two together and, well, I don't like it, neither does your Father."

"Mother, I swear to you, Mark is not violent."

*****

Later that week after returning home, Abigail went back to work at the diner.  Oscar was in his office making up the schedule for the month when he noticed a difference in Abigail’s availability.  “Abigail, can I speak to you for a second?”

Taking off her apron, she walked into the back office.  “Sure Oscar.  Is something wrong?”

“I’m getting ready to make the schedule for next month and I saw you put that you’re available to work seven days a week and all hours during the day?  Is that some kind of mistake?  Because I know every worker wants at least two days off.”

“No mistake.  I want you to know that in case someone calls out, you can get me to come and cover.  I need to take on as many shifts as possible.” 

Oscar knew Abigail was a hard worker.  But she was going to work herself to death if she didn’t take any time off.  “Is it money matters because of the little vacation you took a few weeks ago?”