Bear Shifters: Hunt Collection #2 (14 page)

"Well it bothered me that you didn't take my calls. Just had to check," Jackson continued as he made his way into the foyer and took a seat.

As annoyed as Morgan was with this intrusion, he tried to keep his blood pressure down. Soft words were needed, to get him out of the door faster. If things got loud, Mercy may hear and come out, and he
definitely
didn't want that. He'd worked so hard getting her to trust me, even felt her extreme pleasure the other night in the chair. He wasn't going to screw that up now, not after coming that far.

"So how's things been at MakeSoft, still grinding out there?" Jackson asked while fingering the edges of Morgan's book. A simple act that annoyed Morgan even more than Jackson breathing.

"Things are still exactly as they were when you left here, Jackson, what about your work there in New York?" Morgan couldn't understand the need for this intrusion or this conversation.
Is he missing Mercy?

"Well, not exactly the same there in New York. No clinging Mercy and I managed to break things off with Kimberly without her father finding out which was a major coup. Worth every penny of that grand I gave you to get Mercy to stay here and get off my ass," Jackson said a little too loud.

"He paid you, Morgan?" Mercy's silky voice wafted through the air and Morgan was white with horror, while Jackson smirked.

"She was here, dude? Oh man, you should have told me," Jackson couldn't contain his laughter. "Mercy, you played right into his hands, and here I thought he had a difficult task ahead."

Morgan saw her face, a sick and twisted blend of shock and sadness.
She probably feels betrayed from us both.
Morgan couldn't speak; everything seemed to be in slow motion.

"Fuck you two," she said as she walked out the front door still in her night shirt, a tear falling down her face.

Morgan jumped up and went to the empty space where Mercy had been, looking out into the night air. Distant words told him, "Do
not
come after me."

A sweeping glance to the left and to the right told him that she was not going to come back. Wherever she was hiding until he left the doorway, he couldn't see. He only hoped she made it to where she wanted to go without incident. While he knew she had to be away from him to process what she had heard, he couldn't help but worry about her. Morgan shivered, not entirely sure if it was the night air or the revelation that chilled him to the bone.

He knew he could track her, his bear would know where she was. His human, however, would respect her wishes.

He slammed the door with a force that the whole house shook from and turned to look at Jackson.

"Start running or I'm going to rip out your throat without a second thought."

Jackson didn't need to be told twice.

Chapter
Seven: Reflections

Morgan sat there, alone on the couch cushion, thinking back over the past year. He'd came to Montana to escape, to get away from the accusations and the angry stares. No one knew the truth it seemed, yet he was still persecuted as if he were guilty.

At first, he was angry at his exes. Angry for not standing up to the rumors, for not coming forth with the truth when he was accused of abusing them. They were very willing participants during the sex; the sex that left them bruised and sometimes bleeding afterwards. They were sweaty, out of breath, and begging for more and yet couldn't bring themselves to admit it when it could help him.

Once the anger faded he realized he just needed to restart again. Go somewhere that the rumors would not follow. Slide into a drama-free life and find a new church to help out. Being a deacon meant the world to him. It helped him keep a promise to his dying father so many years ago to give back.

"Give more than you take," was his father's final words to him. A dedicated church man, Morgan knew it was a path that would help heal him and make his father, even after his death, proud.

It was the first week of moving to Montana that Morgan found baking to be another deeply held passion that he didn't like to discuss. In baking, he was in control. And with that control came a pleasure much like the pleasure of watching a woman writhe under her bindings.

So after setting up a church fundraiser, he had came back home to bake. Settling on an easy cheese soufflé, he took those 25 minutes of baking time to reflect on all that had gone wrong with Mercy.

Sweet, sweet Mercy that stirred a passion in him that made him harder than a diamond. Stirred a love deep in his soul that made me strive to be a better man. Invoked thoughts of settling down into a committed relationship for the first time in his adult life. It was she that his bear knew he was destined to be with.

Sure his methods were unorthodox, but after she stopped struggling to break away from him, she struggled to get closer to him; closer to those releases. He could feel her get just as turned on by his desires as he did. Mercy wasn't a woman who just went along with his sexual cravings, she enjoyed them too.

Now he just hoped it wasn't too late to win her back. Everyday he left her a voicemail and a text message telling her, no, asking her to come home. He wondered what they would have talked about while he cooked tonight, wondered where she was and if she was happier there.

If she was there he could be spoon feeding her warm soufflé as she was bound to a T-bar with a Hitachi magic wand strapped to her. He could be caning the perfect roundness of her ass, bringing a spreading warmth and redness.

He missed everything about her. He was so much in thought about what he had lost by not telling Mercy the truth from the very start that he almost didn't see the blue and red lights pull up hot and heavy into his driveway.

Chapter
Eight: On the Outside

Morgan was hauled off by two police men. As if the night couldn't get any worse, the men were actually friends of his from back home but both of them had been quite blunt about their career as a policemen coming before their friendship. Morgan sat in the back of the police cruiser thinking that they had nothing on him; it was consensual. Both officers, Jay and Larry, weren’t talking a single bit and an obvious tension was strong within the car as they drove off.

“So you really believe that bullshit?” Morgan asked, looking up at Jay in the rear view mirror, “Jay, for real man it’s not how you think.”

“Then tell me how it is then man ‘cuz by the way I see it you’ve been beatin’ your girlfriends and brotha, let me tell you this, had I not made an oath to do things by the book your ass would be getting kicked right now. So tell me Morgan, how is it
really?
” Jay replied, obviously quite irritated by the accusations that Morgan had been abusing multiple women.

“It’s consensual. The sex is rough, but I swear it's all consensual.” Morgan said nervously. He sat in the back of the police car and wrung his hands, wondering how bad this was going to be for him.

Jerry gripped the steering wheel as he drove the police cruiser into the station in Montana. A courtesy loan had been extended, and then he was to take Morgan straight to California to answer the charges.

“Yeah, then where the hell is your new girlfriend. Had a report filed yet?” Jerry asked, glaring up at Morgan for just a moment through the rear view mirror before he looked back down.

“Mercy left because we got into an argument over stupid shit. We needed our space to work through a few things, is that illegal?” Morgan replied with a cockier tone than he meant to do, getting frustrated the closer he got to jail, “This is bullshit and you know it.”

“I don’t know what happened to you, Morgan. You used to be one hell of a cool guy. Maybe I was just blind though,” Jay said before he hopped out of the police cruiser and opened up the back door, “Blind to the fact that you’re a douchebag womanizer.”

“So you
do
believe it.” Morgan said with a scuff, “That’s bullshit man. I know you've really not liked me since I dated your sister, but..."

"Look Morgan this has nothing to do with her, all we know is that we have to take you back to Cali and get you settled on these warrants. We've got to head back, it's not a quick trip you know. You went pretty far to escape these charges."

"I wasn't escaping anything, I was tryin'...."

“Enough, you’ll get your time to talk when we formally question you.” Larry said, already getting irritated with Morgan trying to defend himself, “We’ve
seen
the bruises, Morgan.”

Morgan used his right to remain silent as what was coming to mind to say became increasingly hostile. He knew he wasn’t making his case any better by mouthing off to his former friends. Morgan wondered why Larry and Jay really believed that he was beating these women, they used to be so cool together in school.

Morgan wouldn't be surprised if Jay was using the badge to do a little pussy grabbing himself on occassion. He may
say
he was about protecting the public but he was out for himself like he always was. Larry, on the other hand, was a pure good guy. The only vice that man had was drinking and gambling but he was at least good at keeping himself from drinking or spending too much. The fact that Larry was mad at him really got to Morgan because that meant they really
did
believe it. It wasn’t just Jay being a jerk like usual. While they may have been friends in the past, it was clear that was not the case anymore.

The trip had been long, and silent, but finally after hours confined in close quarters together, all three arrived at the California correctional facility that had originally served Morgan with the warrants.

“Alright, you want to talk? Now’s your chance to run your mouth.” Larry said as they walked up to Larry and Jay’s desks. Jay sat Morgan down and handcuffed him to the chair before going over and sitting at his own desk but Morgan didn’t say a word, “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

“Go ahead Morgan, explain yourself. Tell me how it is.” Jay said, sitting back in his chair.

“It’s consensual.” Morgan explained.

“Seriously?
That’s
your excuse?” Jay asked before scoffing, “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Well it’s the truth, it’s what I’m supposed to say when asked a question, especially by police. You asked me a question, I told you the answer.” Morgan said, “I didn’t beat her like you keep insinuating. Did you get to see the scratch marks on my back after I was done? No, I can assure you didn't. You may not understand it, but it's damn fine to have sex like that.”

“So let me get this straight… your sex is so rough it leaves bruises on the women you do it with, eh?” Larry asked, glaring at Morgan from across his desk with his hands clasped together. Larry looked over at Jay and clicked his tongue before looking back at Morgan, “We should tell you that we spoke with a few of your other exes and their accounts of your sex life isn’t that… exciting you could say.”

“What are you saying?” Morgan asked, shaking his head.

“He’s saying your sex wasn’t as rough as you claim, Morgan.” Jay replied angrily, glaring at Morgan from his desk, “They didn’t say their bruises came from sex either.”

“Yeah? You’re talking about women that don’t like me. They needed to make an excuse and they set me up for the fall.” Morgan replied, glaring right back at Jay.

“So tell me, how is it that your sex gets… violent, for lack of better terms. How could it end up leaving women bruised?” Larry asked, getting Morgan’s attention back on him but it was brief before Jay opened his mouth again.

“What about you would drive those women away and make them want to get back at you? What would make them want to say whatever they needed to get you in trouble?” Jay replied, cocking his head to the side as he continued to glare at Morgan despite Larry slightly glaring over at Jay.

“My sex life, if you’d give me just a moment at least to explain myself, gets rougher the longer I'm with someone. We may start with some rope and nipple clamps but we'll progress to a cane and a St. Andrew's Cross.” Morgan replied as he sat back in his chair, focusing on Larry because he didn’t piss him off like Jay did. Morgan knew that they were playing the good cop bad cop routine on him but it fit their personalities to a T.

"What the hell is a St. Andrew's Cross?," Jay and Larry asked at the same time. Morgan merely shook his head at the reply.

“And not that it has any bearing on the warrants but like I said, it wasn’t the sex that drove Mercy away. She left because we got in an argument. There was some miscommunication. We'll work it out if I ever get back home.”

“Your truth doesn’t explain why your exes, without being around each other mind you, all told us the same story.” Larry said, getting Morgan's attention. When he looked at Larry he could see the rage in Larry’s eyes but the older guy held his composer like a champion, “Why did they all say you tied them up and beat them?”

“For one, I didn’t even start getting into D/s relationships until a few years ago so if you talked to Janna or Danielle and if they said that they’re flat out lying. Britney and Lori-Anne were the first two women that tried any kind of rope or canes with me, but it is consensual."

“You’re a freak.” Jay said, glaring over at him.

“We’ll talk to you in a bit.” Larry said as he got up and uncuffed Morgan from the chair before re-handcuffing him. he started hauling Morgan away towards the holding cells, “You’re going into holding.”

“Jay!” Morgan yelled out as Larry hauled him away but Jay sat at his desk. Morgan spun around and looked at Jay anxiously, “Jay, you asked me where Mercy was but I don’t know.
Find her!
Find her Jay! She’ll explain all of this the same as I have. You can’t take my exes word as evidence!”

“Enough Morgan, get ahold of yourself.” Larry said, yanking Morgan forward as he walked him to the holding cells, “I’d keep you here to yourself Morgan, but nobody likes a woman beater so we'll put you in with the others.”

“It's not beating, it's…” Morgan started to say but Larry just shook his head and shoved him into the holding cell meant for seven people but Morgan was the ninth.

“What are you in here for?” A homely looking man asked in a raspy voice as soon as Morgan sat down on the bench, Morgan looked over at the older man and then over at the more muscular angrier looking guys in the cell with them, “Not many people hold in why they’re in here. Only people with crimes against women or children so I guess the question is more simple than that, was it a woman or child?”

“A woman, but I didn’t do what they think I did. They think I beat her, but it wasn't like that at all.” Morgan replied, sitting against the cell wall.

"Nobody likes womanizers or molesters so get used to the attitude shithead.”

“I’ve gotten past it already. I don’t even try to explain myself anymore.” Morgan said as he shook his head, “None of you would understand anyway.”

He thought about his sex life, or at least his passion for D/s play. Could he give it up?  Mercy was into it herself now, he knew that by the way she responded under his touch. He assured himself that the sex and more importantly the so-called "violence" was consensual. He was confident, somehow it would all work out.