Vance, p.15
Vance, page 15
part #1 of Roar Series
“You shouldn’t be over there on a school night,” Jack grumbled.
“And now we know why so much whiskey was necessary,” Niko mumbled.
“What did you say?” Jack asked, putting his fork down, just as Kassidy put a plate of food in front of Draven.
“Nothing. Not a damn word,” Niko insisted.
“You got a problem with me spending time with Bonnie and her daughters?” Draven asked.
“Nope. Not at all. Just know they have school early in the mornings,” Jack said. “Glad someone is there to watch over them.”
“If you have an issue, just say so,” Draven pressed.
“Cough, a gallon of fucking whiskey, cough cough,” Niko coughed out, to jumble his words.
Jack fiddled with the fork leaning against his platter. “You’re a good man. One of the best. If you were any less I’d have a problem, but I don’t. Bonnie deserves happy. The girls deserve a father.”
“Hold on, now, Jack. I’m not interested in Bonnie like that. We’re just friends, and I adore the girls. I want my own one day, but not with Bonnie.”
“Does she know that?” Jack asked. “Do not lead her on! She deserves better.”
“She deserves her fated,” Niko mumbled.
Jack glared at Niko.
“Absolutely,” Draven said, agreeing with Niko.
Jack pinned Draven with a look that seemed like it went through his soul. He wasn’t so sure there wasn’t something going on between the two of them. Maybe not mate worthy, but they did seem to spend an inordinate amount of time together. “Just don’t hurt her.”
“Never in a million years,” Draven said.
Jack nodded, then grabbed his fork, picked up his platter of still uneaten food, and stood up. “I’m going to finish this in my bedroom. See you later. If anybody needs anything, handle it. I need some rest.”
Chapter 15
Vance slung his duffel bag over his shoulder with his hanging bag and paused to look around his house one more time before leaving it for as long as Kassidy might need it. He didn’t mind in the least. In fact, it eased his mind knowing she’d be in his home, rather than with Jack, Draven, Rance and Niko. The thought that she’d been sleeping in close proximity to all of them since she arrived drove him nuts. He considered all he’d packed, work clothes, shoes, toiletries, underwear — there was nothing else he really needed that he couldn’t get elsewhere, and if push came to shove, if he really needed something, he could come get it. Once he decided to let her know it was his house she was living in.
Closing and then locking the door, he got into his much larger than necessary side by side and set out for work. Once he arrived, he unlocked the front door and let himself in. He went straight to his office to put his things away in the storage cabinets behind his desk. It was only moments before he heard the employees start arriving. After stowing all his belongings, he sat down at his desktop computer and pulled up the various bank accounts and investment accounts he managed for the Pride. He checked them every morning and every evening — at least. Sometimes more often per day.
He was carefully analyzing each of the accounts when a knock interrupted him. Vance looked up to find Findley standing at the door. She was one of the quieter of the females of the Pride. Her family had only recently joined the Pride, and she hadn’t even met everyone yet. She was quiet and kept to herself for the most part.
“Are these yours?” she asked, holding up a pair of flip-flops.
“Yeah, they are,” he said. “Where’d you find them?”
“Just outside the front door.”
“I must have dropped them when I unlocked the door. I had them tucked in my duffel. Thanks,” he said, getting up to take them from her outstretched hand.
“You’re welcome.”
She turned around to leave his office and turned back to him. “Are you leaving?” she asked uneasily.
“No, why?”
“You said you had them tucked in your duffel.”
“Oh, yeah. Just brought some things over to keep here in the office for a few weeks. A friend is using my place.”
“Oh. Didn’t meant to pry. Just wanted to know if I should expect someone new one morning soon.”
“No, I’m not going anywhere.”
Findley forced a quick smile at him and nodded quickly as she turned to leave his office.
“Findley?”
She turned around and looked at him.
“You know you’re safe here, right?”
She nodded.
“I need you to understand that you’re safe. There’s no reason to be afraid anymore.”
“I’m getting there,” she said, then hurried away. Her family had been horribly abused by the Alpha of a northern Pride, just managing to get away with their lives and very little else. Her older sister was still missing, believed to have been sold off, or traded to another Pride a little more than a year ago. When that Alpha had started looking at Findley as well, her father had decided to run in the middle of the night. He had no idea where he was going, and just chose South. He’d ended up in Jack’s territory, intent on just passing through, but after their initial meeting with Rance to explain their situation and request temporary asylum while they made more permanent arrangements elsewhere, Jack offered them permanent asylum and a place in the Pride, with the promise of protection. It had taken them a little while to figure out Jack wasn’t the kind of Alpha they were running from, but when they did, they immediately accepted his offer. Jack didn’t stop there, though. He had several people out there searching for Findley’s sister, but there were only a few who knew it. He didn’t do anything he did for any kind of recognition, he just couldn’t stand it when Alphas abused their people. Alphas were supposed to protect their people, not terrorize and exploit them. When he was able, he made a difference to those who needed him.
Vance watched the skittish girl hurry away from his office, then took his flip-flops and tossed them into the storage cabinet he’d put the rest of his things in — he’d need them for when he showered in the employees’ locker room. They had a single stall shower that was rarely used, unless someone had spilled one of the tanning products or chemicals they used to decorate and prepare the leather, but they had it nonetheless. It would become his shower while Kassidy used his house.
He returned to his desk, and picked up his cell phone, typing out a quick message to Jack.
“Got what I needed out of the house. You can take Kassidy over whenever she’s ready.”
He set his phone aside and gave his attention to the checking and investment accounts once more, making sure all was as it should be before he started the rest of his day. He was unaware of the smile he wore as his lion preened at the thought of providing their mate with a safe, warm home.
~~~
Jack rolled out of bed for the second time later in the afternoon. He picked up the alarm clock and brought it to his face to see it clearly, realizing he’d slept most of the day. Setting it back down on the bedside table, he noticed the tiny green light on his phone was silently trying to alert him to a message waiting for him.
Picking it up and swiping the screen to wake it up as he walked to the bathroom, he read Vance’s message, then set the phone down next to his bathroom sink as he walked into the doorless shower and turned on both shower heads. He groaned in pleasure as the almost too hot water poured down over his head from dual shower heads and the bathroom quickly began filling with steam.
The bathroom was the one luxury he’d allowed himself while repairing most of the other houses on Pride property. His home was nice, had always been well-maintained by his father and the Alphas before him, but a modern bathroom it did not have. Until Jack had the old bathroom gutted, and stole another eight feet of the master suite to extend the bathroom, making a huge walk in doorless shower with dual shower-heads and a bench seat along one wall, an oversized soaking tub on the opposite side of the bathroom, an enclosed toilet in its own little closet-like corner of the room, and an expansive vanity with two sinks and two separate sets of cabinetry — one for each sink, and matching mirrors of course.
He’d decorated the bathroom in off-white, peach, and rose gold accessories. The tile was medium tan with streaks of dark brown, offset by a slightly darker brown grout, and a dark brown wooden inset about four inches from the ceiling, that matched the dark brown wooden bench. The tiles and wooden accents were masculine, but the accent colors of off-white, peach and rose gold were decidedly not. Didn’t matter. He had his reasons for them, and no one but him used his bathroom anyway.
Standing beneath his shower, he let the steamy water wash away the shampoo and soap, then leaned his head against the wall and let it do its best to wash away some of the funk drinking more whiskey than any living being should have left in its wake. With bronzed skin bordering on dark red thanks to the temperature of the water, he finally reached out tapping the faucet to turn the water off, before reaching for the towel and stepping out onto the peach colored bathmat.
“Think something died in my mouth,” he grumbled as he used twice the standard amount of toothpaste and mouthwash before deciding he could live with the taste. He briefly towel dried his wavy hair, then left the bathroom to stride completely naked across his bedroom to his walk-in closet. He pulled on a pair of jeans, a clean shirt and a pair of running shoes. Opened his bedroom door and stepped into absolute silence.
The lights in the house were turned off. There was no movement, no sound — nothing. It was so unusual that he reached out and flipped a wall switch up and down just to see if the lights would come on. “The hell is everybody?” he asked the silent house. Walking out the front door, he sensed that it was business as usual, except for inside his house. Hopping on his golf cart he set out to find those who would normally be at his house, and Kassidy. Hopefully, one of them had Kassidy with them.
As he left the house behind, he reached down, slapping his pocket in search of his phone to send a group text, and realized he’d left it in his room somewhere. Considering going back for it, versus just finding everybody, he shrugged off the lack of phone and drove the little cart recklessly down a well-worn path, enjoying the wind through his hair and bit of speed he forced onto the cart, knowing at some point he’d run into someone who knew where Kassidy was.
Finding someone to tell him where his friends, or Kassidy were, wasn’t what stopped him, though. It was the truly recklessly driven four-wheeler that shot out of nowhere, crossing his path, almost crashing directly into him as it went by with its open exhaust nearly deafening him, and its driver pissing him off beyond all measure, while the woman on the back of it squealed and laughed hysterically, obviously having the time of her life.
“Goddamn it, Niko!” Jack shouted at them as they quickly sped by, leaving him alone on the now quiet path once more.
Jack knew his golf cart couldn’t keep up, or handle the ground Niko was traveling without paths of any type, but based on the direction they’d been going, they’d pass the manufacturing facility at some point. So, Jack headed there, clenching his teeth in irritation. But as he drove, he pictured Niko half-standing while he drove the four-wheeler. The man was clearly in his element, still half-adolescent. He remembered the excitement in Kassidy’s squeal, the pure joy in her laughter as she clung to Niko’s hips and peered around his body to see where they were going next. Jack chuckled. Niko had managed to do what no one else had been able to do so far. He’d gotten Kassidy to relax enough to smile. He’d gotten her to forget for a moment or two the reason she was here now, and made her happy for a while.
Shaking his head as he still grinned to himself, he’d already decided the only thing he’d say to Niko was to watch it when he was crossing established pathways. He could hit someone. Other than that, he wasn’t going to say a word. And then as he pulled his golf cart to a stop in front of the manufacturing facility, Vance came out.
Vance was fit to be tied. He was snarly. Angry. Completely out of patience, and all semblance of professionalism was gone as he stalked toward Jack.
“Oh, great,” Jack mumbled to himself.
“Did you see that shit?” Vance nearly spat.
“What shit?” Jack asked, pretty sure he already knew what Vance was angry over.
“He’s going to fucking kill her!”
“Who?” Jack asked.
“Niko! He’s flying through here at breakneck speed with Kassidy behind him, clinging to his waist, putting her in danger with no regard for her safety whatsoever.”
“I saw them, yeah. And he needs to pay a little more attention at the path crossings, but otherwise, I thought they were fine.”
“Fine? Seriously? You thought they were fine? Did you see the way she was holding onto him?”
Jack’s brow raised. “Same way any one of us would have held on to someone driving an ATV with us on the back.”
Vance’s irritation seemed to ratchet up another few notches. “You don’t get it!”
“Apparently not,” Jack agreed.
“He’s going to hurt her!” Vance nearly roared.
“You want me to tell him to stop?” Jack asked calmly.
“Yes! Or I’ll fucking stop him myself!”
Jack got out of his cart and walked around the back of it and over to Vance. “Man, you’re going to have a stroke. Calm down.”
“I can’t calm down! She’s out there in danger!” he said looking out as though they'd go flying by again at just that moment.
“Vance! She’s not in danger. She’s with Niko.”
Vance whipped his head around and pinned Jack with an intense glare.
“He’s managed to make her smile. She’s laughing. Did you notice the laughter? She’s not upset, she’s not subdued, she’s not hurting, not missing Jared. She’s joyous. Leave them alone.”
Vance’s eye twitched as he looked at Jack. He took a moment to think about what Jack had said, and had to admit — though rather unhappily — that Jack was right. “He needs to take it easy.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“He needs to not turn his attentions to Kassidy.”
“They’re just having fun,” Jack insisted.
“He’s got a reputation,” Vance said.
“And a history,” Jack agreed.
“Make him stop. Or I will.”
Jack looked at Vance suspiciously. “Something you’re not telling me?”
“She deserves respect.”
“She does. And happiness. And fun. And that’s all that’s happening. I’m pretty sure Niko is not interested in any kind of relationship in any way. In fact, he prefers it when they don’t even know his name. Kassidy is too close to home. She’s family, and he wants no part of that, I’m pretty sure.”
Vance turned his head at the slight sound in the distance of the four-wheeler making its way back in their direction, then he looked at Jack again. “Make damn sure,” he growled. Then he realized who he was ordering about. “Please. Alpha.”
Jack watched him silently for a second or two as he exerted some of the strength he usually kept a tight hold on. He didn't need to let a lot of it slip through, just a little, enough for Vance to feel it and be reminded that no one ordered him to do a damn thing.
Vance felt it, and immediately took a step back, lifting his chin just enough to give deference to his Alpha.
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Thank you,” Vance said.
As the sound of the four-wheeler came closer and closer, Jack walked out to the parking lot where Niko and Kassidy would pass any moment now. He threw a look or two back at Vance who stood so stiff and tense he could have been a statue.
“You sure you’re good?” Jack asked.
“She’s touching him,” Vance said, his voice more controlled than it had been earlier.
“So she won’t fall off,” Jack said with obvious intonation.
“She said he’s handsome.”
“He is,” Jack said.
Niko and Kassidy came into sight, shrieking and laughing as the dust and gravel flew from beneath the four-wheeler’s tires. Jack stepped out a few feet into the parking lot, raising an arm to hail them so they’d stop.
Gravel spewing, and laughter still in full force, Niko brought the four-wheeler to a stop, revving the engine as he sat down and Kassidy looped her arms around his waist instead of clinging to his hips.
Jack heard Vance’s growl behind him, but he didn’t turn around to look at him. “I think y’all are a little too subdued. Y’all should go out and have some real fun.”
Niko and Kassidy both laughed. “We were doing our best!” Niko said.
“I know, and I’m glad for it. Just a thing, though…”
“What’s that?” Niko asked, still smiling and revving the engine.
“Slow down when you cross the paths. You almost hit me. Could be anybody on those paths, walking even. You might hit somebody that can’t get out of the way in time.”
“Alright, alright,” Niko said, nodding enthusiastically. “You’re right. I’ll bring it down a bit.”
“And when you’re done…” Jack said.
“You already said your one thing. You didn’t say there was a second thing,” Niko objected with a grin.
“What’s the second thing?” Jack asked.
“Whatever it is you’re going to say,” Niko explained.
Jack rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. “Anyway, as I was saying, when you’re done, I’ll take Kassidy over to see the place she’ll be staying in until hers is built.”
“Oh! Oh, yes! I’m ready!” she exclaimed, changing her grip to Niko’s shoulders to steady herself as she climbed off the four-wheeler. “Do you mind?” she asked, looking at Niko.
“Yeah! I’m totally offended a new cabin trumps time with me,” he said laughing.
Vance took two steps toward them, and Jack held his hand out, palm toward Vance, just beside his thigh to signify he needed to stop right where he was.
