ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (29 page)

“So, go keep an eye on your sister!” 

“Look, Jack, she’s
your
problem when she’s here.”  The woman accentuated the word
your
by pointing a small finger at the man’s chest.  She crossed her arms over her black t-shirt.  “I can’t watch her
and
the kitchen!” 

Blaine took a moment to admire the woman as she and “Jack” had a stare off.  He liked the way her petite form fit in her black jeans, and he equally liked that her feet clad were in combat boots.  She was tough, but her curves and nice round butt ensured that she was all girl. 

Jack lifted his arm in a dismissive gesture.  The girl breezed back into the kitchen, but Blaine hoped she would come back out soon. 

I’m supposed to be looking for a mate, not sitting in a bar ogling humans! 
Blaine dismissed his thoughts.  After all he didn’t expect to find his mate overnight, and he hadn’t even contacted a pack in the area yet.  Why not enjoy the show while he was there?

Jack wandered his way with a wet pilsner glass in one hand and a white rag in the other.  He began drying the glass furiously. 

“Do you have children?”

Blaine shook his head.

“Good!  Don’t have any!  Especially not girls!” 

“I’m surprised that their sisters.  They look nothing alike, and she called you Jack.”

The man nodded, setting the now dry glass on a shelf behind his head.  “Yeah, I get that a lot.  They’re actually half-sisters.  She calls me Jack when she’s mad.” 

Blaine nodded his understanding, shoving several fries into his mouth.  He chewed thoughtfully, scanning the bar again.  His eyes rested on a man that had come in alone.  He sat in a casual manner beating one thumb lightly on the wooden table.  He met Blaine’s gaze.  His thumb stopped for a split second, before the tapping began again, and his eyes moved away. 

“I think that guy wants to order.”  Blaine said, indicating who he was talking about with a tilt of his head. 

Jack looked out over the bar.  His frown quick and deep. 

“I wish I knew what this guy wanted.” 

“What do you mean?”  Blaine asked around a mouthful of burger. 

“He’s been in here for three nights.  He only orders one beer, nothing else and leaves just before closing.” 

Blaine shrugged.  It didn’t seem odd to him. 

Jack walked to the other end of the bar and out onto the floor, making a beeline for the dark haired man.  They only spoke a few words before Jack returned and pulled a beer from the tap, and took it out to him.  The man’s eyes shifted to Jeanette as she made her way from the back room and into the kitchen.  She hurried back out only to return to the pool room as quick as she could.  Five minutes later the blonde woman emerged with a plate of steaming fries, and headed to the pool room herself.  Blaine looked at the man again, and noticed a subtle change to his body.  He sat a little straighter, keeping his eyes on her.  He didn’t shift his gaze from the entrance to the pool room until she reemerged, and he watched her until she vanished into the kitchen again. 

Blaine popped the last of his fries into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully.  He glanced at the man several more times.  No one else seemed to notice, but he had.  The air in the room had changed.  It no longer felt relaxed, there was a tension emanating outward from the man, and Blaine didn’t like it. 

“Can I get you another beer?”

“Sure, why not?”  Blaine smiled.  His decision to stay until closing already made. 

Closing came and Blaine paid his tab, promising Jack he would come back the next night if he could.  He had enjoyed talking to the older man while casually watching the loner at the table. 

The night air was humid, but a light breeze made it pleasant.  He moved his pickup to an empty parking lot across the street, which gave him a good vantage point of the front of the bar. 

Thirty minutes later the front door opened and Jack walked out with his two daughters, and a Hispanic man he hadn’t seen before.  He assumed he was the cook, judging from the dirty apron he had slung over one shoulder.  Jeanette and Jack climbed into a silver car, waving to the blonde and the cook as they drove away.  The cook began walking down the street at a leisurely pace, while the blonde stood against the front of the building.  She turned her slender wrist up and looked at her watch. 

Blaine sat up straighter in his seat as a shadow passed in the alleyway on the opposite side of the building.  The blonde woman didn’t show any indication that she had seen or heard anything.  A moment later, the man who had sat by himself emerged from the alley and walked up to her.  Blaine could see her hesitation as the man began talking to her.  She shook her head once, her eyes moving from one end of the street to the other.  It only took a split second.  The man had his large hand over her mouth, and had her off of the ground in a type of bear hug.  He pulled her into the dark alley, as the woman kicked at him with the heels of her feet. 

Blaine was out of the truck in lightning speed.  He ran across the street only looking both ways in a cursory manner.  When he reached the mouth of the alley, he could already feel his body demanding the shift.  Adrenaline was the hardest to control.  All of his hairs began to burn and tingle as he caught sight of the man push the woman hard against the brick wall of the adjacent building.  The smell of trash and fear filled Blaine’s nose as the man pushed her to the ground behind the dumpster.  The woman’s screams were all it took for his body to take over. 

Blaine jumped onto the dumpster just as his body began to change.  The severity of the situation made it quick, and he was shrugging out of the shredded clothing, roaring down at the two of them in less than ten seconds. 

The man’s hands froze from where he had been pushing against the woman’s esophagus with a hand holding a knife, while the other hand was fumbling to get her pants pulled down over her hips.  The man’s eyes were huge with terror as he looked over his shoulder at Blaine. 

Blaine let out another roar, letting his body jump from the dumpster onto the ground beside the man.  The woman screamed hoarsely, and scrambled against the wall as the man who had been about to rape her jumped to his feet and attempted to run.  He let out a strangled cry as Blaine grabbed him by the back of his hair and ran him face first into the wall on the opposite side of the alley.  The man groaned once before crumbling to the ground and rolling onto his back, his forehead cut and bloody.             

Blaine grunted with satisfaction and turned his elongated snout towards the woman.  She was shaking uncontrollably while staring up at him with large blue eyes.  Blaine hesitated only a second before trotting back across the road to his truck.  He knew he couldn’t drive in his current state, but needed cover to make sure the woman made it out of the alley.  Luckily for him, no cars drove past to see him. 

The woman emerged from the alley a few moments after him, obviously shaken.  A blue hatchback screeched to a halt in front of the restaurant.  A woman with short dark colored hair jumped from the driver’s seat and ran to the blonde, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. 

“Oh God!  I’m so sorry that I’m late!  What the hell happened?” 

Blaine perked his ears up trying to catch the woman’s nearly inaudible response. 

“I was attacked.”

“Oh God!  Where’s the guy?”

The blonde shrugged, her eyes moving across the road to the pickup.  Blaine tried to flatten himself further under the truck, but he knew she had seen him. 

“I…don’t know.” 

“We have to call the police!”  The other woman let go and began running to the car.” 

“No!” 

The other woman stopped and looked at the blonde with concern.

“Are you crazy?”

“I don’t….I don’t know where he is because another man scared him off.”

The other woman slapped her leg impatiently.

“Ok…where’s
he
at?”

The blonde shrugged and hugged herself around the middle. 

“Probably still chasing him.” 

Blaine could feel his body cooling, and knew he would turn back soon.  He hoped the other woman wouldn’t want to wait for the blonde’s savior to come back. 

“Alright.  We better wait for him.” 

Blaine hung his head for a moment. 
Shit!
  

The blonde glanced at the truck again and shook her head. 

“No.  I just want to go home.” 

Her friend looked doubtful. 

“Really…I’m fine.  I think he thought I was a waitress and could get my tips.”  Blaine had to admire the brave front she was putting on. 

Her friend nodded reluctantly and opened the passenger door for the blonde.  Blaine saw her look towards the truck once more before the little car pulled away from the curb. 

Blaine pulled into the motel parking lot, naked and starving.  He normally kept a change of clothes in the truck for such occasions, but the best he had was a pair of boxers shoved under the seat.

He slid them over his hips and took a deep breath before climbing out of the truck.  With wallet clenched tightly in his hands (Thank God
that
was on the seat before the shift!) he pulled the room card out and trotted up the stairs to his room.  An aging African American woman was walking down the stairs with an ice bucket in her hands.  She took one look at him from head to toe before murmuring, “Mmmhmm” and winking at him.  Blaine simply shrugged and went to his room.

Once inside he sat on the end of the bed and ran a hand over his closely cropped dark brown hair. 

What a night.   

Blaine awoke the next morning before eight, even though the night before had been a long one.  He dreamed of the blonde woman over and over again.  He knew he needed to contact the closest pack in the area, but all he really felt like doing was heading to IHOP and eating the biggest breakfast they offered.  He also knew, without taking the time to really think about it, that he was going back to
Papa’s
as soon as they opened.

Blaine tried to convince himself that it was just to make sure the woman was alright, but he knew better.  He just wanted to
see
her again.

His cell rang as he left the restaurant.  He felt full and the effects of the near sleepless night were tugging at him.   

“Hello?”

“Hey!  How’s it going?”

Blaine closed his eyes. 
Gerard.
   He hadn’t even been gone quite a full day, and the man already wanted an update.

“Fine.  I’m in Williamsburg.”

“Williamsburg?”  Gerard said doubtfully.  “Are there packs there?”

“Don’t know.  I just got here last night.” 

“Well, you probably should find the closest one, and soon.  You know how territorial some of our kind can be.”

“Yes, I know.”  Blaine replied tightly.  “I plan on finding one today.”  Blaine took a deep breath before continuing.  “How are things there?”

“Fine.  Everyone’s glad you went.” 

“I bet.  I’ll call you with an update tomorrow.”  He didn’t wait for a response. 

Blaine spent the rest of the day napping and took a trip out to replace the clothes he had ruined the night before.  The day drew out and every time the thought came of finding a pack, he pushed it aside promising himself that he would look tomorrow. 

He made his way to
Papa’s
just after seven, a nervous flutter in his stomach that he couldn’t justify.  Why would he be nervous about seeing the woman again?  She certainly had no way of recognizing him, yet there it was. 

The bar was significantly busier than the night before, but he was pleased to see the same bar stool he had sat on previously was vacant.  As soon as he sat down he saw the blonde woman at the far side of the room taking an order.  Jack came to his end of the bar with a large grin. 

“Ah, the upcountry traveler!  What can I get you tonight?”

“Just a Heineken for now.”

Jack took a moment only to get the beer. 

“I see your other daughter is waiting tables tonight.”

“Yeah, they both are.  My other waitress will be here soon, and I’ll pull one of them off the floor; although it’s a little busy tonight.  I may need all of them out there.” 

The blonde walked into the bar and began making mixed drinks.  Jack, in his current good spirits, called her over to where he was leaning on the bar. 

“Brooke, this is…”  He gave Blaine an apologetic look.  “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name last night.”

“Blaine.  Blaine Butler.”

“Well, this is my daughter Brooke Compton.”

Blaine held his hand over the bar, keeping his eyes steady on her pale face.  She hesitated, then took his hand and shook it lightly. 

“Blaine was in last night.  He’s here visiting from West Virginia.”

Blaine laughed.  “Actually, my home is near the border.  I’m a Virginia resident.” 

The woman nodded absently.  Jack looked at her with concern, touching her cheek with his fingertips.