Romance: New Adult: One Game at a Time - A College Football Romance (Bad Boy Romance) (Sports Contemporary Short Stories) (33 page)

As he ran up the
street,
he saw the car.  Patrick’s blood boiled as he watched Kerri get into the car.  Patrick’s hands balled into fists as the car drove away.  His chest began to tighten as anger consumed him. 
This couldn’t
be happening. 

Patrick couldn’t stop thinking about Kerri in a car with that jerk.  Patrick hated Jay.  The moment Kerri had started dating Jay, Patrick knew he was bad news.  Jay didn’t deserve her, but Kerri had been charmed by his good looks and money.  Eventually, they had broken up when Kerri found out he was cheating.  Patrick had defended and protected her
through
every step of the
break-up
, but now it didn’t seem like that mattered. 

Patrick felt like a fool.  He thought that Kerri was over her ex, but now it seemed like she was all too eager to get in his car.  Patrick could feel bile fill his mouth as he thought about them together.  He couldn’t stand it.  It felt like someone was piercing his chest with a hot dagger, slowly carving out his heart. 

As these emotions grew stronger and stronger, he could no longer control himself.  He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it back.  Patrick’s eyes grew big as he felt the onslaught of a shift.  He ran as quickly as he could into the nearby woods before suddenly shifting into a giant black bear. 

He roared in agony as his bear lamented the loss of a potential mate.  Soon he was running full speed through the woods, taking down trees in his anger.  He ran until everything became
numb
until he could no longer remember Kerri. 

Finally, fatigue hit
him,
and he was forced to stop.  He stood in the middle of the woods, breathing hard.  As he
did,
he thought about Kerri.  He couldn’t keep her out of his mind.  All he could think about was her gorgeous smile and those beautiful eyes.  Why did she have to be with someone like Jay?  Patrick couldn’t understand it. 

He sighed and laid down, feeling saddened by the day’s events.  As he did, he thought about Skye, the woman he had abandoned.  He thought about the dating site he had signed
up for
.  Patrick had tried so hard in recent years to find a mate that wasn’t Kerri.  Every day his bear urged him to find a mate and every day his heart strings pulled him toward Kerri, but Patrick was scared. 

He
was terrified
of hurting her.  He was afraid of ruining their friendship.  Patrick would never forgive himself if he ever caused her any harm.  But, as he laid there in his bear form, there was no denying that Kerri was his true mate.  She was the girl he was destined to
be with
.  His bear roared in agreement.  His bear wanted to be with her, but Patrick didn’t want to admit it.  He didn’t want to put her in danger. 

Patrick sighed heavily, wondering what to do. 

Chapter 5

Meanwhile, Jay continued to drive his car.  There was complete silence engulfing the space between Kerri and Jay.  Kerri continued to look out the window.  She refused to look at him.  She didn’t want anything to do with the person who had cheated on her. 

As she sat there, her mind wandered back to Patrick.  She thought about him with Skye and her chest tighten.  She didn’t know where these emotions were
coming from
.  Patrick was like a brother to her.  She should have been happy for
him. Instead
there was jealousy running through her veins, turning her into a
green-eyed
monster. 

Kerri bit her lip.  She didn’t know what to do.  She knew, deep down, that no one would treat her better than Patrick.  But, on the other hand, she didn’t want to risk it.  Relationships had hurt her
before,
and she didn’t want to put her heart on the line.  Inner turmoil churned inside of her like a storm.  She didn’t know what to do. 

All she wanted was to get out of the car.  As she thought about
this,
she looked out the window again. They were now on the south side of the city.  She looked at Jay suddenly, wondering what he was
up to
. 

“What are you doing?  You know I live on the west side.”  Jay kept quiet as he suddenly took a sharp right turn into a dirt path.  The whole car started to shake as it made its way over the bumpy path.  Kerri looked out the window, her view filled with trees. 

It seemed like he was driving into the woods.  Kerri was confused.  Where was he taking her?  Fear started to creep its way under Kerri’s skin.  She looked over at Jay and saw something sinister in his yellow eyes.

“Jay.  Stop the car.”  She said, softly, her voice wavering with fear.  She tried to open up the
door,
but it was locked.  She was trapped.  Her face grew pale as her fear intensified.  She gulped and started to tremble.  Maybe this was all some
sort of
nightmare.  She tried to keep
calm,
but she could feel herself shake. 

Suddenly, the car stopped. Wolves. So many wolves. All around the car.

Kerri stared out the window shaking with fear. 
She had never seen so many wolves before.
  She knew they were common in the woods surrounding
Gloster,
but she never expected to find a whole pack of them. 

She watched as the wolves formed a neat
circle around
the car.  She suddenly claustrophobic trapped as she looked around and all she saw was wolves.  Her heart was beating a mile a minute. 

Kerri, in her fear, didn’t even notice Jay getting out of the car.  Suddenly, her door
opened,
and she
was dragged
out of the car.  She tried to protest, but Jay’s grip was too strong.  She couldn’t get away.  She looked up at him with pleading
eyes,
but he had no sympathy.  His face was cold and emotionless as he dragged her to the center of the circle. 

At this point, Kerri was overcome with fear.  She no longer had any control of her body.  It seemed like all of her limbs weighed a ton.   She quivered as Jay let go of her. 

Kerri could do nothing but stand, helpless, in the middle of the circle.  She wrapped
her
arms around her torso, trying to calm down, but it was no use.  She
was frozen
in
place,
and she couldn’t do anything to help herself.  All she could do was look around at all the eyes staring at her. 

She watched as the wolves started to get closer and closer to her.  The circle was getting tighter now.  Kerri gulped and closed her eyes, fearing they would pounce on her at any moment. She was barely conscious
of
the fact that Jay was still by her side. 

“Well, well, babe, I am sure you are glad to meet all of my new friends.”  Jay’s eyes flashed
sinisterly
as he looked down at his ex-girlfriend.  She looked at him, terror in her blue eyes. 

“J…J… Jay… what… what is all this?”  She managed to stutter, her voice barely a whisper. 
This had
to be some
kind of
nightmare. 
This couldn’t
be real. 

“Well, you see…  I don’t take kindly to girls like you dumping me.  You were the first girl
ever to dump
me.”  Jay
circled
the defenseless girl now, like a predator circling his prey. 

“I am Jerimiah Lane.  I am the richest boy in this town.  My father owns Lane Industries.  Lane Industries.  I could give you anything.”  He snarled, angry now.  Kerri looked up at him, her face pale as these words were spit at her.  “What gave you the right to dump
me
?”  There was venom in his voice now as he looked down at the girl. 

Kerri refused to look up at him. 

“But don’t worry.  I’ll make sure that you never do that again.  I will make sure that you never dump anyone ever again.”  There was a smirk on his face
now,
and it sent a shiver down her spine.  Was he threatening her?

“I’m going to make you pay for everything you did to me.”  Kerri looked at him with a shocked expression.  She had done nothing to him.  She had loved him.   She had been a faithful girlfriend throughout their entire relationship.  He was the one who had treated her badly.  He was the one who had cheated on her.  She couldn’t believe he was blaming her right now.  She was about to defend herself when he beat her to it. 

“But
…
since I am such a nice guy...
I’ll give you a
five-minute
head start.  Starting now.”  Kerri looked at him confused.  What did he mean?  Suddenly, Jay started to shift before her.  She watched as he turned into a giant white wolf.  She couldn’t believe it. 
This was
something out of a fantasy novel. 

Despite this feeling of
disbelief
, Kerri willed herself to run.  She had to get out of there and get to a place of safety.  So she ran as fast as she could through the woods.  Kerri, however, had never been very coordinated.  She was
actually
quite clumsy and so as she ran through the woods she kept falling and tripping as the paranoia of fear crept up behind her. 

She kept looking back over her shoulder, looking for the
wolves
but saw nothing.  Eventually, she was covered in cuts and bruises.  She was already out of breath when she heard a
howl
sound through the woods.  The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. 

Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she started to run again.   Her lungs were
burning,
and her legs begged her to
stop,
but she knew she couldn’t.  She could hear the sound of the pack catching up to her.  She needed to run. 

So she continued to run.  She ran as fast as her legs could carry her but suddenly a large branch, hidden under a bed of leaves, caused her to trip.  She fell hard, crying out in pain. 

She tried to get up only to realize that she had twisted her ankle.  She tried to put weight on
it,
but she only managed to fall again.  She cursed under her breath, knowing she was now a sitting duck.  Her heart pounded in her chest as she heard the wolves get closer and closer to her. 

She closed her eyes, fearing the end. 

Chapter 6

While Jay had brought her to the woods, Patrick was still in another part of the same woods lying down, trying to comb through the countless thoughts running through his mind.  He didn’t know what to do with all the emotions that
cartwheeled in
his heart, threatening to strangle the life out of it. 

Suddenly, however, he was pulled from his thoughts.  He suddenly felt a sharp jab in his chest, like someone was running a dagger through his heart.  He gasped, bringing a paw to his chest.  What was this feeling?  Inside of him, his bear roared in anguish.  He had never felt something like this before.  Suddenly, Kerri popped into his head. 

Somehow, he knew she was in trouble.  She needed his help.  He got up
quickly,
and his instincts kicked in.  Instantly, with one sniff, he knew
exactly
where she was.  He rushed off, full speed, toward her scent.   That was when he heard the wolves.  Their howls reverberated through the woods.  Kerri was definitely in trouble now.  Patrick prayed he would reach them before they did. 

Patrick continued to run as fast as he could, following Kerri’s sweet scent.  He knew that scent by heart:  a pleasant mixture of warm vanilla and honey.  As he got closer to her, he also picked up the scent of at least twenty different wolves.  Patrick started to
worry,
and his bear
whimpered
in concern.  He forced himself to run faster. 

***

Jay slowed down as he spotted Kerri lying on the ground, nursing her ankle.  He licked his lips as he slowly got closer to her.  Kerri tried to move away, but she was trapped.  There was no way out of her situation.  She was forced to look up into Jay’s bright yellow eyes as she softly uttered a prayer under her breath.  She prayed for a quick and painless death. 

Jay was so close to her now that she could smell his rotten breath.  She fought back the urge to gag as he leaned forward and gently licked her cheek with his rough tongue.  He was toying with her now.  He
circled
her, instilling even more fear into her.  He loved the look in her eyes, the trembling of her body, the way her teeth chattered. 

He then started to walk
away,
and Kerri looked at him curiously.  Was he letting her go?  She looked at him, dumbfounded as he continued to walk away from her.  She didn’t know what was going
on,
but she was glad for it.  Suddenly, however, to her horror he started to charge toward her, with every intention of killing her.  She closed her eyes and waited for death.

Instead of feeling his sharp K9s sink into her neck, however, she heard the sound of a very loud whimper.  She slowly opened up her eyes to see a large black bear standing in front of her, protectively.  He was growling at the various wolves that now surrounded them.  She looked around and saw Jay lying on the ground, a deep gash in his side.  Had this bear protected her?