Chapter 13
HARI
“I don’t understand why Remy seems so hesitant to move forward.”
Where was the flirty version of him I’d spoken to on the phone?
Jackson poked his head into my office, letting me know he was here for the update on the hotel project. Based on how slow Remy and I were at getting together, the furniture for the hotel would be complete before Remy and I had seen one another naked.
“What do you know about gum leaves?”
Jackson made a “what the fuck” face. “Huh?” But he gripped the door frame, and his eyes narrowed as if he was visualizing something. “Eucalyptus? Not much.”
He avoided my gaze and fiddled with papers on the desk. There was something he wasn’t telling me, and he reminded me of Remy when he got that faraway look in his eyes.
“Is it me?” That question wasn’t for my friend. I was putting it into the universe, hoping for an answer that made sense.
“I can say unequivocally that it's not.”
I swung around because there was no doubt in his tone, and I’d been dreading the “it’s not you, it’s me” conversation with Remy.
“You’ve never met the guy and just walked around the showroom sniffing.
” Who did that? But I pulled back and thought of me talking to myself, which seemed perfectly normal and yet wasn’t for some.
But being “a nose” was essential when working with wood, though it might not require the same training as a perfumer.
“Boss, he’s leading you on.” Jackson held up one hand when I gasped. “No, not like that. He’s into you, for sure, but he’s not showing you a part of him and who he really is.”
That was a little weird discussing Remy’s cock, unless Jackson had information I wasn’t privy to. Did he have a family already and was living a double life? It happened, perhaps more often than society realized.
“So I’m going to do it.”
“Do what?” I gulped, thinking Jackson was going to drop his pants. Yikes, how had I missed the signals after so many years?
“Show you part of me that’s similar to part of Remy.”
I slapped both hands over my eyes. “Can you do it with your clothes on?”
“No.”
Shit, that confirmed my fears. “Jackson, you’re a good friend but—”
“Ewww, no, boss. Not like that.”
“Like what then?”
He explained that he did have to remove his clothes so they didn’t get damaged, but he wasn’t interested in us as anything other than a boss, colleague, and friend.
“Glad we got that sorted.” Though I didn’t understand why he had to get naked. I considered that I might be getting punked but doubted Jackson would do that to me.
“Pick me up at nine tonight and all will be revealed.”
I wished he’d stop using that word because I cringed and blocked out images of naked Jackson from my mind.
Unlike most of my work days that sped by, the minutes and hours were longer than usual. Someone was messing with me, and it was the universe. It had warped time, and the day would never end.
When 9 p.m. finally arrived—I was certain it was delayed by twelve hours—I was outside Jackson's place with the car engine idling and the phone in one hand. Whatever he had to show me had to be caught on camera so I could replay it.
But Jackson got into the car, looking and sounding as he always did, though he was dressed casually in jeans and a hoodie.
“Where is it? What’s this vital information you’re going to divulge?”
“Not here. We have to be in the woods.”
My hand gripped the gear stick because this was getting really weird and more than a little uncomfortable. Being alone in the workshop at night with the lights off and wandering between half-finished projects and shelves of wood wasn’t scary. That was my place, it was where I belonged.
But trees, lots of them, where my beloved wood originated, with creepy crawlies, largish mammals, and slivers of moonlight. That was not my domain.
“Can’t you do it here?”
Jackson put a hand on my arm. “I’ll protect you. I can give you a hundred percent guarantee nothing will happen to you.”
I couldn’t figure out what this had to do with Remy. Oh wait, they were both nudists, and this was where they met? But at night? And what about stinging nettles and other nasties? Ouch!
My palms ran with sweat as I hunched over the wheel and drove out of town. Once we left the freeway, I followed Jackson’s directions. The road narrowed until it was a one-lane track, and there was no moon, so it was pitch dark other than the beams from my headlights.
When he told me to stop, I was so freaked out, I waited for him to get out and I was going to take off.
“You can stay in the car. And don’t worry, if you want to leave, I’ll find my own way back.”
I was glad the darkness hid my face because he had just read my mind.
He instructed me to leave the headlights on, and he got out and stripped off his clothes.
My friend strode in front of the car, and I leaned on the wheel, straining to see because while he was naked, he appeared to have some grayish bits spreading over his shoulders and chest.
And oh shit, claws and a muzzle, and he fell on all fours, and Jackson, my friend and colleague, vanished amidst teeth and fur.
My body jolted and the horn blasted, making me scream. I locked the doors because that wolf wasn’t getting in here. Even if it broke the glass, I’d speed off and ram the wheel from left to right until the animal was flung off.
But I couldn’t get the car in reverse. My hand was shaking so badly. And as I fumbled, the wolf kinda retracted. The fur disappeared and so did the claws and pointed ears, until Jackson appeared with no sign of a wild animal.
He slipped on his jeans and got in the car while holding the hoodie.
“It’s a secret I kept from you because I was never allowed to tell.”
He said words, but they were jumbled, and I tried to piece them together.
“What do you want to know?”
“W-Where’s the w-wolf?”
He tapped his chest. “Here. He’s always with me.”
“Are you going to let him out so he can attack me?”
“Never. He likes you.”
Yeah, that didn’t sound plausible.
Jackson asked if I wanted him to drive, but I needed to be in control of something, even if it was only my car. He told me tales of a human-like people who had animals inside them called shifters. They weren’t a threat to humans and had lived among us since time began.
“And why did you chose now to tell me this?”
“Because you were so torn up about Remy.”
Great. My problems with the guy I liked were so significant that Jackson decided to alter my world view. Gods, I must have been such a pain lately and so self-centered.
“That doesn’t compute.” I rested my head on the wheel because as a human, I was a tiny cog in the wheel of life, but learning I’d been sharing the world with shifters was life-altering. I’d always look at people and wonder if they were going to sprout fur.
“Remy is a shifter too.”
Oh shit. I’d fallen for a guy who did have a significant other, but instead of it being another guy, it was a four-legged beast.
“Do your wolves have a club or something?”
“I’ve never met the guy, but his scent gave him away.” Jackson turned to face me. “And he’s not a wolf.”
I banged my head on the wheel, thinking the pain might bring me back to reality. Whatever this was, whatever Jackson was telling me, was fantasy.
“He’s a koala.”
That one word took me back to Remy talking about gum leaves. Holy shit, the animal inside him needed to eat gum leaves.
“Koalas are so cute and cuddly. They’re not scary like wolves.”
“Wait till you meet tigers and bears.” Jackson chuckled, but the laughter died when he took one look at my face.
“He said he only likes them on the tree, not on a plate.” I pictured me waking up at his house and sticking my head outside and waving to my husband who was in a tree munching his breakfast.
“He’s unlucky in that he can’t find his food in the woods as I can.”
I had to confront Remy. We couldn’t go on with him pretending he was human.
I turned the car around and sped back to town.
Jackson talked about shifters and the different animals and how he only told me because Remy was my one and only.
He didn’t know that. Heck, I didn’t either, and how did I make a life with a koala shifter?
“You need to have the talk.”
I nodded and drove off. It was five minutes from Jackson’s to Remy’s, but if he wasn’t in the house, I might have to climb the trees in his back yard.