Chapter Twelve – Jack
Chapter Twelve
Jack
I woke up in my coffin substantially less convinced that trying to burn my boss’s theoretically werewolf son with silver was a good idea. Sugar heard me breathing and started meowing for food.
“All right, all right.” I pushed my way out of the box that I’d died in at dawn and made my way to the kitchen to feed her.
Sugar wasn’t the only one who was hungry.
I didn’t have to eat tonight, I’d kept my hunger topped off recently with sex, but Paco was right—I was stronger when I’d freshly bled someone.
I just hadn’t bothered cultivating too many of those connections when sex was so easy to find.
It still would be, except for the fact that I needed to go watch a seven year old in forty-five minutes.
Maybe I should’ve gotten Zach’s apartment number… .
I walked out of the kitchen and toward the shower, past my front door—which had a note slid underneath it.
Check under your hood - P
I bit my lip, wondering what Paco had put there for me, and hopped into the shower.
Twenty minutes later I was outside with wet hair and my hood popped up looking at a folded towel.
I took it, closed the hood, and sat inside my car before opening it—revealing a six inch knife in a boot holster.
It sizzled when I touched it—silver for sure—and I smiled.
I’d take weaponry over an apology any day.
Angela
“Angela, what does Jack possibly know about watching a child?” Mark asked, his expression halfway between a laugh and a frown.
Good question. Asking Jack to watch Rabbit while Mark and I went out wasn’t a decision I could entirely defend. “Look, this was last minute, and he was available. Plus, I felt bad for him, he hasn’t worked since the windows were broken.”
“So you’re paying him?”
“No.” I hadn’t even thought about that angle. “Should I?”
Mark decided to laugh. “Well if your son’s anything like you, he can watch himself. Plus I’ll leave a driver outside,” he said, with intent. I had no doubt that in addition to knowing CPR, the driver was probably armed. “I’m not going to let anything stand in the way of me taking you out tonight.”
And I knew why. I licked my lips. Something was going to go down with Gray in prison in the next few days, courtesy of Mark’s connections, and then I’d finally be free.
I wouldn’t have to live the rest of my life wondering when Gray was going to get out or who he was going to send after me.
Rabbit and I would never have to worry again.
I didn’t know how badly I’d wanted that until now, when it was almost in my grasp.
Mark watched me thinking and tilted his head down. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I am—I really am,” I said, giving him a shy smile, right as the doorbell rang.
Rabbit thundered down the stairs, excited to have company. “Can I get it?”
I blocked his path instinctively. “No.” Not yet. But soon, I wanted to tell him. I turned around and opened the door up myself.
Jack stood outside looking out of place and smelling like soap. “Hey,” he said, with a low wave, acknowledging all three of us.
“Hey,” I said back, pulling into my apartment to let him in.
“Jack!” Rabbit shouted in delight.
“Hey Rabbit,” Jack said back, smiling at him.
A slight flush rose as I remembered my imagination the prior night, but luckily the men were too busy sizing one another up to notice. It was so strange that my wolf thought Jack and Mark were equals, when Mark had four inches and a hundred extra pounds on Jack, easy.
“You’re really going to babysit me tonight?” Rabbit asked, looking back and forth between us, unable to believe his good luck.
“Yep! And he’s going to have you in bed by nine,” I said, giving Jack a look.
“Hi Mark,” Jack said, putting his hand out.
“Jack,” Mark said, shaking it.
“How late are y’all gonna stay out?” Jack asked, companionably, with a hint of his southern twang.
“My mother will be back around ten—you can take off then,” I said, ducking down to tug the strappy backs of my heels up.
“It’s okay if she’s later than that,” Jack said with a shrug.
I grinned. “She’s pushing seventy. She doesn’t stay out late, unlike some people.”
Mark made a face like he was going to say something particularly manly, and I started pushing on his chest with both hands.
“Bye! Stay out of trouble!” I said, and shoved us out the door.
When it snicked behind me and I heard it lock, I started to relax.
Mark, however, kept looking back behind us on the way to the parking lot.
“What do you really know about him, anyhow?” he asked.
My wolf says he’s safe. “I know all I need to,” I said, giving him a mysterious grin, before ducking into his car.