Furever: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (6 page)

I could feel my blood boiling as I left Steve’s office. This was much worse than I had ever imagined. He didn’t really care about the residents at all. He just cared about what the board thought of him, and getting his rocks off. I shook my head as I walked through the hallway and pushed open the heavy doors to leave the building. How could I have been so blind to the true nature of him before?

I had planned to visit Nana, but the confrontation with Steve had upset me so much I didn’t want her to see how shook up I was. Right now, I wanted to get as far away from Steve Carlson as possible. I needed to clear my thoughts so I could decide what I should do next.

As I started towards my car, I almost tripped on a small board next to the scaffolding.

“Hey, are you alright?” a man wearing a hard hat called out to me.

“I’m ok…” I said, steadying myself.

He had several boards piled up and more in his hands. 

“Are you finishing up the construction?” I called out.

He shook his head. “Sorry to say I’m not. I’m just picking through the material to see what’s here.”

“Well, when are you all planning to finish this up? It’s dangerous for anyone to be around this, let alone senior citizens. They could easily fall and hurt themselves.”

He shook his head. “I hate to tell you, but this project has been cancelled.”

“What?”

“Yeah, Mr. Carlson, the director here, told us that funding had been withdrawn so we won’t be able to complete the job.”

“You have got to be kidding me?”

“I’m afraid it’s true, lady,” he said, scratching his chin.

“But what about the residents, they can’t live with this mess!”

“I guess they’re going to have to. Project’s been canned. I’m just trying to salvage any materials so it’s not a total loss for my company.”

I shook my head. This was just crazy. No money to finish the project? Where the hell was the resident’s money going?

Wow, just wow. What the heck was going on here? My natural instinct was to raise heck and try to get Steve fired right away, but this was where my grandmother lived. If I didn’t handle things right and Steve continued on as director, he might make her life a living hell just to get back at me. I was going to have to think of some way to fix this. I glanced at my watch. It was almost time to meet Evie at the Bite Me Bar. Evie always had great advice, and I decided I would pick her brains.

This whole situation was upsetting and infuriating. As I got in my car, I had to take a minute to try and calm myself down before I started driving. I could feel my heart beat rapidly. Steve Carlson was just sick, and it was worse than I had imagined. His offensive behavior towards me, his total disregard for the residents…he made me want to puke.

It was bad enough how he came on to me sexually, but there was no way I was going to let that man take advantage of the seniors, no matter how much power he thought he had. As I finally put the key in the ignition, I heard the ding of a text coming in and glanced down at my phone.

“Damn!” It was a text from Evie. That cute guy at the post office had invited her to dinner, so she asked if I minded if we skipped our dinner date. I really needed to talk to Evie, but I understood. She had been hoping Tyler aka Mr. Hottie Tottie would ask her out for a while.

I quickly texted her back and told her to have a good time. I debated if I wanted to go to the Bite Me alone or just head home, but decided I needed a hot meal, and more importantly, a stiff drink.

I stopped at the drugstore to pick up a few things before going to the bar, and by the time I got there I had calmed down a bit. As I slid onto a stool, Chloe came over to confirm I wanted my usual Howling Martini. Before I had a chance to say yes, I could feel hot breath on the back of my neck.

“I figured you’d come here. Let’s go to my place, babe.”

Ugh! It was the familiar voice of Steve Carlson.

I whipped around.

Steve took a sip of beer and held it up for a cheers. “What do you say? Or would you rather go to your place?”

“What the hell! Did you hear anything I said today, Steve?”

“Look, I heard what you had to say and I’ll see what I can do,” Steve said.

“Yeah, right,” I replied.

Steve gave me a smug grin. “I will think about it even harder if you come warm my bed up.”

“That’s the last thing I plan to do,” I said, turning away. “You’re nothing but a gross creep.”

Steve pursed his lips. “Hey, how often does a big chick like you get a hot guy like me to offer to do her? You should be on your knees thanking me and sucking this big thing I’m packing.”

I looked back at Steve. He was so pathetic. I felt sick that I had not seen him for what he was to begin with. It made me question my judgment that my desires could lead me so astray.

“Just get lost, Steve.”

Steve grabbed me tightly by the arm. “Now you listen to me, bitch. I marked you, so deep down you will always be mine to do whatever I want with. And who else would want you anyway—you’re fat and marked.”

“Step away from her,” a deep voice growled.

“Marco, Franco!” I looked up to see the men’s handsome faces.

“What kind of names are Marco and Franco?” Steve asked, jerking his thumb towards the men. “Who are these jokers?”

Before I had a chance to answer, Franco jumped in.

“Let’s just say we are two men deeply in love with this beautiful woman,” Franco said.

“And we are hoping she will agree to spend the rest of her life with us,” Marco added.

Steve did a double take. “What the hell? Do you two have a share-wear pact?”

Franco nodded.

Steve grinned nastily. “Well, I can tell you I already marked and branded her. So she’s used goods, which is perfectly fine if you like sloppy seconds.”

Franco glared at Steve, his eyes shooting daggers.

I knew Marco and Franco had to have seen the bite marks on my neck and smelled another’s essence on me when we made love, but they had said nothing. Now here Steve was, throwing it directly in their faces. Knowing that I was branded and the fact that it had been Steve made me ill. I could feel myself tearing up and I sniffled it back. I would not let this monster see me cry.

I started to turn my back to him, but Steve just wouldn’t let it go. “Yep, me and the little lady—or should I say big lady,” he chuckled. “Well, we were an item for a while.” He gave me a sly look. “She got a mouth on her that likes to eat and that mouth, oh boy—she knows how to work it. She gives a damn fine blow job,” he licked his lips.

Franco looked like he was going to rip Steve apart, but Marco put his hand up. “Trust me, any branding you did is meaningless to us. You are a big fat nothing—a true zero. Any marks and scent that you left will be easily overpowered by ours.”

Steve grimaced.

“Are you ok?” Franco asked me quietly, his blue eyes heavy with concern.

I nodded. “This is the director of Werewolf Haven, Steve Carlson,” I said. “He’s the one responsible for the construction projects that never get completed, the lousy food, and…”

“So this is Steve Carlson.” Marco frowned. “We’ve been trying to get in touch with you.”

“You’ve got a hell of a lot of explaining to do about the retirement home, Steve, and you owe the lady an apology,” Franco added.

“I don’t have any more to say to any of you,” Steve replied as he started to walk away.

“Steve!” Franco yelled.

Steve turned back towards us.

“Did you hear what I said?” Franco raised his brows at Steve. “Tell the lady you are sorry or I’m gonna rip your ass to shreds.”

“Fuck you and your fat, slutty woman,” Steve growled angrily.

I could feel the steam rising in my body from anger and embarrassment. I could sense Franco and Marco’s anger, but my baby brother Chad had been in enough fist fights that I knew nothing good ever came from it. “Let him go guys. He’s not worth...” 

Before I had a chance to finish my sentence, Marco had grabbed Steve’s arm and twisted it around his back. Despite Steve’s natural strength, he was no match for Marco and I could see the pain in his eyes.

“Owww,” Steve howled, “let go.”

“Say you’re sorry.”

Steve said nothing, so Marco twisted harder.

“Owww, alright, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Steve whined.

“Louder!” Marco insisted. He bent Steve’s arm a little tighter and forced him down to the ground so Steve had no choice but to kneel in front of me.

“I…I’m sorry, Alicia. I really am. Will you forgive me?”

It felt great to see this man groveling in front of me, but I could look in his eyes and see he was not sorry. He just wanted to be released from his pain.

“Let him go, Marco. He’s just not worth my time.”

Marco reluctantly let go of Steve’s arm.

Steve rubbed his arm gingerly. He started to complain, but thought better of it and shut up. “I’m going now,” Steve spat.

Franco narrowed his eyes. “We have some questions for you. We called your office several times today, but you were never available to take our calls. So we did some digging…”

Steve groaned.

“We want to know why you were raising money for Angel Sue when there was never an accident.”

“What!” my jaw dropped open. “Angel Sue wasn’t in an accident?”

“Well, we couldn’t find a record of one,” Marco looked suspiciously at Steve.

Steve shifted uneasily.

“When we couldn’t get in touch with Steve earlier today,” Franco said, pursing his lips. “Marco and I decided to call the hospital and get a feel for how much money Steve had raised for Angel Sue and how much they still needed.”

“When we called,” said Marco, tapping his fingers lightly on the bar, “the hospital had no record of an Angel Sue as a current patient, or record of anyone by that name being admitted for the past several months.”

Steve’s face had grown pale, and I could see he looked very uncomfortable.

“So, we did a little online checking,” Franco added. “We pulled up the local paper and there was no record of an accident in Thurmont on May 1
st
. In fact, there was no record of any tractor trailer accidents for the past year!”

Steve bit his lower lip. “I may have gotten the location wrong,” he mumbled.

“We think you got a lot more than the location wrong,” Franco said thoughtfully. “It’s our belief that you are trying to scam some innocent senior citizens out of their life savings to raise money for yourself!”

“Well, I… How dare you accuse me… I…” Steve stumbled over his words.

I glared at Steve. “I can’t believe you made up the accident—taking advantage of those trusting people. That’s unreal Steve! And what about the construction? Are you putting the money for that into your own wallet instead of having the job completed?” I was so angry I could barely spit the words out.

Steve looked down at the ground.

I bore into him. “Are you cutting staff so you can look good in front of the board by slashing costs? I bet you are pocketing most of that money too!”

“I’ve had enough of these false accusations,” Steve said shakily. “I’m leaving now.” He smacked his beer glass down on the bar and hurried towards the door, rubbing his arm as he exited.

“God, I am so pissed!” I hissed.

“Calm down, Alicia.” Franco sighed.

“Take a deep breath,” Marco said, gently rubbing my arm.

I let out a deep exhalation. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he tried to leave town.”

“He won’t get too far. We alerted the authorities as soon as we saw the accident was all made up bullshit. They are planning to pick him up for questioning within the next hour or so,” Marco replied. “Man, he really has some nerve.”

“Do you want another drink, Alicia?” Franco asked.

“Please. After dealing with that idiot I need one!”

“It sounds like Steve tried to pull a number on you,” Marco said softly.

“I guess I thought we were going to get married and have kids and live in a little house with a white picket fence. There were signs everywhere that he was not the one for me but I ignored them,” I stifled back a sob. “He branded me as his and I let him.”

I had made a terrible mistake and it was hard to trust myself.

“Alicia, Steve’s a jerk.”

“Most of the men I meet are jerks,” I said angrily.

“We’re not all like that, I promise,” Franco said. “Won’t you give us a chance?”

“No, I just can’t.” I shook my head. Who was to say these two men wouldn’t turn out just like Steve or one of the other losers I had dated?

“Admit it, you feel something for us, don’t you?” Marco asked, a neediness in his voice.

It wasn’t fair to encourage them. I hated to lie, but I did because in the end that would be the easiest. “It’s all purely physical. I feel no emotional attachment to either of you,” I said coldly.