Big Gator: A BBW shape shifter paranormal romance (4 page)

             
Suddenly,
a rifle blast rang out.

             
On
the bridge, McEvans stood with a Marlin Model 60, a semi-automatic
rifle whose bullets would have no trouble penetrating scales OR
scutes.  Rachel backed off to give him room, and she was scared
shitless of the cold rage that she saw in her boyfriend's eyes at
this exact moment.

             
McEvans
blasted away at the Cliburn brothers.  He was aiming for a kill
shot, even though he was likely to get fined by the state of Florida
for hunting out of season. But they weren't going down easy. 
The Cliburns were smart enough to make sure he couldn’t get a lock
on the small area on the back of their heads that effectively would
allow a bullet to penetrate their brain and kill them dead instantly.

             
With
gunfire in the air, suddenly Brandy realized all four of them now had
a whole new problem. 

             
“
Stop
fighting!
”
she
yelled at them.
“
Cut
the shit!”

             
More
gunfire erupted.  McEvans was a good shot, but these were
stubborn gators, and he was trying not to hit 'Shirley.'

             
“
Boys!
BOYS!! STOP IT!!
”

             
Everyone
backed off each other for a second.

             “
You
have to dive below,” Brandy warned them.  “Because if you
keep getting shot, and you get really hurt and maybe die, you'll
shift back into human form, and then this will turn into a murder
investigation.  The police are going to wonder how three naked
rednecks ended up in a gator pit at a family theme park.  Is
that how you want to die? Do we really want to expose our families
like this?”

             
Hugh
begrudgingly agreed with her.  So did his brothers.

             “
I'm
trusting you head to the deep end, dive below and stay there for
awhile,” Brandy said. “I'll take care of things.”

             
“
This
isn't over, Brandy-girl,
”
Hugh
hissed.

             
The
Cliburn brothers disappeared underwater.   Shirley waddled
up on a patch of sand.

             “
Shirley!”
McEvans called out.  “Are you okay?”

             “
She's
not going to answer you,” Rachel said. “Even if she likes you.”

             
Rachel
was getting exasperated with her boyfriend lately.  She had come
to accept what it meant to be with him, a man obsessed with the
Animal Kingdom.  But for two weeks all he could do was talk
about this alligator. It was 'Shirley this' and 'Shirley that' and he
was bringing her presents (snacks) and, quite frankly, he was paying
more attention to 'Shirley' than he was to her. Rachel started
feeling like McEvans was having an affair.

             
Brandy
was wiped out, and she was in some real pain.  Thankfully, her
leg wasn't severed, but she was pretty sure her ankle was seriously
messed up.

             
McEvans
bolted off the bridge and headed down to the pit.  At the gate,
he called out Brandy’s stage name again.

             
Brandy
headed over to him, dragging her mangled leg behind her.

             “
That's
it,” McEvans said. “I'm taking you home.”

             
Rachel
had followed him.

             “
What
do you mean we're
bringing
her home
?”
she asked.

             “
We
can't leave her here right now.  She's too vulnerable. 
We'll keep her in the yard.  I'll get the vet to come over and
patch her up.”

             
Yes,
please, get me the hell out of here,
Brandy
thought. She was no longer safe, and she realized that Animal Sphere
wasn't really all that it was cracked up to be.

             
After
another week at McEvans house, and after she was feeling better,
Brandy made her escape.  She owed McEvans her life and would be
forever grateful to this man.  Her connection to him was enough
for her to want to remain in a shifted state forever, but even that
wouldn't really work.  It had been fun, but she didn't want to
be his pet anymore.  Every time she saw him now, she wanted to
stand upright like a woman and wrap her arms – not her jaws –
around him.

             
Brandy/Shirley
also was getting bad vibes from Rachel, and she didn't like being a
third wheel.  The woman was clearly jealous of her.

             
Plus,
it was so much easier to break away from a suburban ranch than from a
theme park. McEvans would eventually take her back, and then she'd
have to rely on Ray for real to break her out. So Brandy shifted back
into human form, snatched a housedress off a neighbor's clothing
line, and hitchhiked her way to the nearest diner, where she called
Marianne to come and pick her up.  It wasn't easy limping along
the backroads with a bad ankle, but she had made it.

             
When
Jake McEvans realized that 'Shirley' was missing – that she had run
away from him – he was depressed for days.

Chapter 5

             
Brandy,
Marianne, and Marianne's 15-year-old little sister Annabelle hung out
on the back porch of Brandy's small house, dry-brushing their skin. 
Brandy and her brother had inherited the home after their mother
died, but now Charlie was gone, too.  Brandy's father had passed
away years ago.

             
The
porch was bordered by two saw palmettos at either end.  At the
far end of the backyard were three banana trees, which occasionally
would sprout one or two giant, bulbous pink flowers.

             
Brandy
and Marianne stood in their bathing suits, exfoliating themselves
from top to bottom. This was one of the downsides of the Alligator
Curse – perpetually dry skin.  Shifters had to exfoliate twice
per day, or risk looking leathery-skinned even in their human form.
They also had to moisturize, moisturize, moisturize!

             
The
backyard was private, hedged in on all sides, so there was no threat
of being spied upon.  Brandy held a round, thick-bristled body
brush.  She brushed Marianne's back, and then they switched
off. 

             
Annabelle
had long skinny arms and was double-jointed.  She could reach
her own back, and she was all done with her own beauty regimen. 
She lounged in a wicker chair, sandals kicked off, reading a
newspaper.  She sipped on a cool glass of homemade lemonade. 
Brandy refused to ever use the powdered stuff.  There was
nothing so easy to make as homemade lemonade, and nothing so
worthwhile.

             “
Hey,
Brandy,” Annabelle said. “There's a reward out for you!”

             “
What?”
Brandy said.

             
Marianne
was still working on her back.

             
Annabelle
read aloud for everyone’s benefit:

             “
It
says here that Jake McEvans is offering $25,000 for anybody who
recovers 'Shirley' – his prized alligator, the largest female ever
measured in the Southeastern United States.”

             “
Let
me see that,” Marianne said.  She put the body brush down and
grabbed the paper.  Upon reading the article, she shook her
head.

             “
You've
got a little bit of trouble here, my friend,” she said.

             “
The
man can't be serious,” Brandy said.  She picked up a jar of
coconut oil and scooped out a melting handful.  She rubbed it
between her hands, then slicked it down her heavy thighs. 
Nothing felt or smelled so good as coconut oil on one's skin.

             “
Is
there something you're not telling us?” Marianne asked.

             “
What
do you mean?”

             “
You
weren't in such a hurry to break out of Animal Sphere,” she
replied.  “I was in more of a panic than you were.  I
kinda got the feeling you actually liked it there.”

             “
It
was just interesting,”  I said.  “It was a learning
experience.”

             
She
limped over to grab the magazine.   Her left ankle was
still swollen from the Cliburn brothers' attack.

             “
You
almost died in there,” Marianne said.

             
Brandy
didn't want to overthink it.  She had experienced a couple of
nightmares about it this week, but last night she finally slept
peacefully.

             “
Hugh
was out to get me no matter where I was,” Brandy said.

             “
Where
are they now?”

             “
As
far as I know, they are still at the theme park.”

             
Brandy
had lost her job, as she had guessed probably would happen. 
Most employers don't take to well to no-shows even when there was an
emergency, and she was an employee-at-will.  A coworker had been
fired when she had to miss a week of work because her toddler was in
the hospital.  The employer showed no mercy after two days.
Brandy’s situation also was sort of an emergency, but she had no
way of explaining it to her employer even if the employer was more
reasonable. She didn't have much saved up in the bank, so she would
need another job soon.

             
She
had enough money for tequila shots, though! 

             
She
and Marianne headed off to the Sons-of-Guns Bar & Grill for the
evening.  Sons-of-Guns prided itself on serving the best
barbecue within 20 square miles and also had a special menu featuring
game meat, like venison, duck and caribou. 

             
The
creepiest item on the hunting menu, of course, was fried gator
bites.  So many restaurants around served alligator that there
was no escaping it, so they just tried not to watch when someone
nearby ordered it.

             
A
rival bar called McAlister's was the only place around that didn't
have alligator on the menu. That was operated by ex-convict Ray
McAlister, fellow gator shifter and the man whom Marianne originally
wanted to enlist to break Brandy out of Animal Sphere. 

             
Brandy
couldn't totally avoid Ray, who had been sweet on her since high
school, but she just couldn't deal with him tonight. 

             
McAlister's
was a haven for gator shifters and had a canal out back that led to a
river that led straight to the Glades. Ray also had opened up what
technically was a separate business next door – a private “health”
club. If you knew the password and paid a club membership fee, you
had private access to the canal through the back.  You also had
access to either the male or female locker room where you could keep
a change of clothes and take a shower after you returned from
wherever you had slithered and swum off to. 

             
Ray's
health club offered the only guaranteed private shifting area in the
county.  He also had put in a sauna and spa for his female
patrons, and he hired two specially trained shifter masseuses for
them.  Lady shifters could exfoliate here in style and get
heavier duty treatment from the masseuse.