ROMANCE: The Bad Boy Meeting (17 page)

Allison walked back in to find both men sitting at the table drinking coffee and talking softly between them.  “Whispering about me are you?  Look I have realized that I don’t know anything about either of you.  I don’t know about your families, favorite food, do you like sports?”

They both smiled at her as Xavier patted the chair between then and nodded to Josh to start.

At the end of their stories she looked at them in awe. Both men had come across all odds to be the victor and were very humble about it as well.  She squeezed Xavier’s hand and then looked to Josh and squeezed his as well.  There would definitely be no choosing.  She smiled as she said.  “See now we will all have a family when the three of us join.  I don’t want to hear it.  I am going upstairs to pack for the week.  I will be down in a couple minutes after my shower.”  She didn’t wait as she walked up the stairs to the bedroom.  Both men looked at each other.

“We have to tell her Xavier.”

“I know.  I just don’t know how.  Right now she thinks it is her choice.  She is determined that she will not choose.”

“I know.  I wish she didn’t have to.  Although you are not my first choice as I am sure I am not yours, I do not want to lose her.”

“Nor I.  I just don’t know what to do.  I wish what she wanted could come true but there is no way.”

“Actually maybe there is.  Listen.  What do you think about this?”  Josh went on to tell him of his plan as Allison took her shower.        

It was at Xavier’s camp that she met a man that changed her life. He was older and walked with a limp as he made his way to her.

“Hello my dear.  My name is Armand.  I have a lot to share with you.  I talked to Joshua’s father when I realized you were going there first and he agreed because of my association with your family to let me tell you the story of your parentage.”

“You knew my parents?”  She looked at both men wide eyed.

“Oh yes my dear.  I knew them both very well.  Your mother was an exquisite woman Allison.  Your parents were survivors of a dying pack.  They were the last ones standing and decided to keep you far away from that way of life but knew that one day you would have to embrace it.  They left something for you.  Isabelle the box please.”

A young woman carried in a medium sized wooden box.  He handed the box to her.  “You should open this alone.”  Both men stood to argue but he held up his hand.  “Isabelle show her to the bedroom please so she may have some privacy.  You two men need to sit down so that we may have a talk.  She needs to do this on her own.  Although she may not know it, she needs some closure before she can move on with either of you.  Give her this time then you may go to her.”

Allison looked at both men.  “I will be fine.  Please.”  Both men nodded although you could tell by their looks that they did not like it at all. 

Allison pulled the contents from the box.  There were numerous pictures of her parents together when they were young and her as a baby and child.  Her grandparents didn’t have any pictures of her as a baby so it was good to finally have some.  She pulled a picture out that was of two wolves standing beside each other.  In front of them in a basket lay a baby she assumed was her.  In the basket was a multi colored blanket and a small wooden toy.  She looked in the box to find both objects also tucked safely inside.  There was also a white envelope inside with her name on it.  Opening it she saw that there were two letters.  They were in different handwriting and she finally realized they were letters to her.  One was from her mother and one from her father.  The door opened and the men walked in instantly rushing to her side.  There were tears rolling down her cheeks as she told them about the letters.  Her mother had told her that she loved her above everything else and she knew that she would be the daughter that she always dreamed of.  She said if she was not there to see her on her wedding day and becoming a woman to know she was looking down on her from above.  Her father had told her to embrace her destiny.  She was destined for great things and she should embrace her wolf side for it relayed was who she was inside and out.  He said that he had those close to the family watching her and she would always be protected from anyone.  The three of them sat on the bed with her leaning on Josh as Xavier pulled her legs and feet on his lap.  She felt hands in her hair softly as well as the caresses on her legs.  She sat up and reached around behind her to grasp Joshua’s hand and leaned forward to kiss Xavier.  “Thank you.” She slowly made her way back into the other room where Armand still sat. He looked up as she made her way to him.

She walked to Armand and hugged him tight.  “Thank you so much.  I don’t know how to thank you really.  How did you know my parents?”

“Your parents pack was the one next to mine a long time ago.  Your father was the alpha and my best friend for many, many years.  He gave me the box when they moved to the city and I promised him that no matter what it took I would get the box to you.  I am just glad to see that I lived long enough to see your season come to bloom.  Now my dear comes the important part about your mate and the choice.  Josh’s family have just arrived for the meeting to take place.”

“Meeting?”

Xavier looked at her sadly as did Josh when she turned to him.  She knew then that they were going to force her to make a decision.  She shook her head and sat down as a knock sounded at the front door.  Josh’s family walked through the door towards them.  Josh and Xavier stood in front of her as Armand spoke.

“Allison with your parents gone, I am your stand in representative in all matter revolving around the wolves and their pack.  We have never had the problem that we are now faced with in your situation.  You are a princess of royalty in the packs and the last of your line.  You are refusing to pick a mate between these two men correct?”

“Yes that is correct.  If I can’t have both of them then I want no one.”

“You know my dear if you do not mate then you will die.”

“Yes I understand.  And since I am such royalty as you say I am then maybe we should try to figure this out.   Because I would rather die than give one of them up and have to choose.”

Josh and Xavier nodded as Armand continued.  “We have decided due to the bloodline that you carry you will get your wish.  Both tribal councils have decided to join the packs into one.  Both Josh and Xavier will reign as alphas together.  You will however be the only alpha female and will have to do the work for two tribes.  Do you understand this Allison?  It is a big responsibility especially for someone who has grown up away from the pack.”    

They all assumed she did when she squealed and stood up to enfold both men in her arms.  She kissed one then the other caressing both of them on the cheek.  She finally had her happy ending.

He gasped lifting the weights over his head.

I couldn’t help but stare at him as I pushed the weights against my legs with my own gasp. He was the reason I came here early in the morning, after a night out instead of later at night. He grinned as he caught me looking. I looked away, my cheeks burning. Maybe one day I would work up the nerve to actually go over there and talk to him. Maybe.

Right now though, I was done. My legs were shaking as I stood up, wiped down the bench and made my way back to the change rooms. I slipped into a pair of skinny jeans and a black tank top. It was nothing fancy but it was perfect for the day I had planned.

I tied my thick brown hair into a messy bun and applied some lip gloss before scooping up my backpack and heading out of the change room.

“You’re getting big.”

I turned to the voice, scowling. “Excuse me?” I snapped. I almost gasped as I realized who it was. His voice was much softer than I would have expected it to me. He just grinned.

“Your muscles are coming in.”

“Oh.” I stared at the man in front of me. Up close he was gorgeous. His blue eyes sparkled. My eyes traveled down his arm, trying to take in all the tattoos. “Well, thanks. You’re pretty big too.”

He grinned as he took a step forwards, heading for the door. “Years of work pays off. You’re from around here, right?”

“Yea, just down on 2
nd
Street.”

“I work around there. You should stop by and see me sometime.”  My heart beat double time as he pulled the door open and motioned for me to go first. Was he trying to ask me out? “We could grab dinner afterwards.”

Okay, he wasn’t trying to ask me out he
was
asking me out. I almost stopped in my tracks. “Um, yea. That would be cool.”

Cool? Dammit, couldn’t I have thought of anything better to say?
He glanced over at me with a grin. “Or you know, we could just go out now.”

I stumbled over my own feet, tripped and managed to regain my balance. “I… um, sure.” I managed to finally say.

I took a deep breath. This wasn’t how I’d planned on spending my Saturday weekend but I was very okay with these new plans. I stopped in front of my little black Ford Escort. “Well, I guess I can fallow you?”

“Sounds perfect.” A grin spread over his face as he turned and walked away from me.

I slipped into my car and waited for him to come around. My jaw almost dropped when I saw the Mustang pull up with him in it. I gave him a single nod to let him know I was ready and he took off. Now I felt silly for having this beat up little thing.

He pulled over onto the side of the street. I found a parking space a couple cars ahead of him, put my car into park and slipped the keys from the ignition and into my purse before hoping out. At this hour the streets were pretty bare. “So you work here?” I asked, trying to figure out which place he worked at. There was a hit restaurant, a clothing store, gym, a wedding shop, and a skate shop.

“Yea, but I’m not taking you to the shop.” So it was the shop, but which one? “We agreed on food.”

“I guess we did.”

I let him lead the way to the restaurant, this time I was the one who reached the door first. I pulled it open and motioned for him to go first. He scowled but made his way inside. “Hey Josh,” He nodded to a black haired guy who approached us. “Mind if we take a back seat?”

“Not at all.” He grabbed two menus and led the way to the back of the building.

The entire thing screamed hip.
Jessica is going to scream when I tell her I came here.
The walls were a deep red, with stainless steel tables and big fuzzy black benches. I fallowed…
oh god, I don’t even know his name.
I fallowed him towards the back of the room and took a seat across from him. He looked around happily as the waiter lay the menus down in front of us.

“So, do you have a name?” I asked reaching for the menus.

“Ken,” He held his hand out to shake.

“AJ.” I shook his hand. He looked me up and down.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too.” I glanced down at the menu. I wasn’t surprised to see the price on these things, but I was surprised that he’d decided to take me here. I mean, it wasn’t even an official date and he was taking me somewhere like this?

“What do you do for a living?” He asked casually.

“I… am in the retail business.” It was a common lie I used, not really a lie I guess. I
did
sell things, just after I um, acquired them first.

He smirked. “I thought so…. See, I’m looking for someone. A friend of mine suggested her to me. AJ Jones.”

I stared at him. Who was his friend? I tilted my head. “Who’s your friend?”

“His name is John Mackly.”

“Oh! John, you should have just said so.” John was a good client.

Ken grinned. “Maybe I wanted to make sure I got dinner in with you first.”

“Trying to win me over?”

“Do I need to?”

“Depends, what are you looking for?”

“A black necklace. I’d rather not go over it right here, if that’s alright with you.”

“Of course.” Most of my clients didn’t like talking about our transactions in public.

“Good, you can come over tonight and we will go through all the details.”

“I go over client proposals at my own place.” I raised an eyebrow but before I could say anything Josh approached us. “Are you two ready to order.”

“I’ll take the usual.” Ken piped up. Josh turned his attention to me.

“I’ll um, I’ll take a chicken burger please.” I closed my menu and handed it to him.

“It will be out in a jiffy.”

I waited until he was gone before I turned my attention back to the man I was sitting with. His black hair was pushed out of his face and fell to his shoulders. His tanned his looked smooth, other than a couple scars. It made me wonder what his deal was. After all anyone who came to me about acquiring anything had a deal. I didn’t dare ask in public.
I’ll do that later.

* * * *

The meal went very well. Apparently we had a lot in common, though I still hadn’t found out what he was. He even invited me out to some boxing match tonight after we get everything sorted out.

I hadn’t given an exact answer but I was considering it, and even trying to decide what to wear.

Now, I was just waiting for him. We’d agreed to meet at 7:00 and it was 6:59 when I heard someone knocking on my door.

I jumped to my feet, my hunting knife on my hip and rushed for the door. My fingers curled around the handle and I opened it as quickly as I could.

He stood there in a suit. I swallowed looking him up and down. My gods above and below how could a man look so good in a suit? If it were up to me I’d jump him right then and there

“Hey.” I forced myself to step aside. “Come on in and we can get everything sorted out.” I waited for him to slip out of his boots. He carried a briefcase with him.

“So…” He looked nervous.

“Come on, let’s go to my office.” I led the way down a small hallway off the living room and into my equally small office. I sat down at the desk facing the door and motioned for him to take the large comfy chair.

He sat up straight as he laid his brief case on the desk. I poured us a glass of water from the pitcher on the desk and motioned for him to have a cupcake. Something I had just baked today. “So,” I slid the glass over to him. “Let me just walk you through this real quickly. I assume it is your first time?”

“Yes.”

Was it just me or did he sound nervous? For such a muscular man it was kinda cute. Until I saw his muscles flex under his suit. Cute turned into sexy pretty fast.  I cleared my throat as I looked away from him. “So, first we talk about what you need me to get for you. If you have any research on it then now is the time to give it to me. I take a good look at it and normally have to review the research and do some of my own before I can actually give you an answer on whether or not I can do it. If it’s something that will be hard for me to acquire then I will need more time in this world time is money so I work that into my price. I don’t work based on hours I put into the job but it does fall into my price.” I grabbed a piece of paper from under my desk. “An easy job, one that takes me a day or two,” I pointed to the first line of text on the paper. “Will cost about $2000. Of course that is assuming I am not going into a heavily guarded area and that the object is somewhat easy to get. But that is where my price starts. If I require travel you will have to pay for my flights there and back.”

“It’s in California.”

I worked hard to control my eyes so they didn’t bulge. “Alright. Well, at least I won’t have to track it down-”

“Look,” He cut me off. “John told me how good you are and I
need
this necklace. I’m willing to pay you whatever you need, and you will receive an extra $5000 if the job is done within the week.”

This time I couldn’t control my eyes widened. “Um, excuse me?”

“I’m serious about getting this necklace. All the information on it is in that briefcase. I will pay for any tools you need.”

I sat back studying the man in front of me. “Why do you want this so bad?”

“Do you always ask your clients that?”

“No.” I admitted.

Ken smirked. He pushed himself to his feet as he checked his watch. “I’ve got to get going. Will you be joining me at the fight?”

I stood. “I don’t date clients.” I knew it was the right thing to say but after all these years this was the only time it was hard for me to say.

“I’m not a client yet.” He glanced down at my desk. “You said yourself that you will need at least a day to go over everything.”

Using my own words against me. I kinda liked it.
You should say no.
I knew what I should do… but I also knew what I wanted to do. “Just let me get changed.”

I stepped out from behind the desk, let him make his way back into the hallway and locked up my office. With such sensitive stuff in there I kept it heavily under lock and key.

I made my way into the bedroom. I paused at the door, wondering if I wanted to close it. Part of me didn’t. The living room wasn’t in direct line of sight to the bedroom, but I liked the idea of him catching me changing. I knew the right thing to do was close the door but I chose to only half close it.

I changed into a black pencil skirt, applied some lip gloss, pulled on my blue shirt that made my boobs look great, slipped into my black 5” pumps and, after scooping up my black clutch, made my way back out to the living room.

Ken was waiting for me by the door, his shoes on and his pockets in his hands. He saw me, a grin spread over his face as he looked me up and down. “You clean up well.”

My cheeks burned. “Thanks.”  I let him lead the way out of my place and towards his streets. “I can fallow you.” I said. I looked around. “Where’s your car?”

“Oh, I’m driving another one. Please, let me drive you.”

“No it’s fine. I can drive myself. That way you don’t have to drive back here.”

He turned on his heal and made his way over to a Jaguar. “I don’t mind at all.” He popped the passenger side door open. “In fact, I’d be honored if you let me drive you there.”

I swallowed dryly. I couldn’t make myself speak so I just made my way over to the car and dropped down into the seat.
He has more than one car?
And not just any ratty old cars. These were luxury cars.

I watched as he circled around the front and came over to the driver side. 

The actual drive didn’t feel like long at all. “So are you going to tell me why you want the necklace?”

“It’s… personal.” Ken stared out the front window. “I just… need it.”

“You
need
it?”

“No. I really want it. I… the necklace was stolen from my family. I want it back.”

“A family heirloom?” That’s what he was paying me so much to get for him? It wasn’t something I was used to having to get. There must be something more to it.

“Yes.” But clearly he wasn’t going to expand on it.

He came to a stop outside a small bar.

“I thought you said we were going to a fight?”

“We are.” He turned the car off and hopped out of the car. I popped my door open and by the time I was out of the car he was waiting for me. Okay, he wasn’t human. Humans don’t move that fast. He held his arm out to me.

I took it and let him lead the way around the back of the building. We came to a stop in front of the back door and he knocked twice.

Seconds later someone opened the door. The elderly woman glanced at me, then at Ken and stepped out of the way to let us in.

“I wondered why you were late.” 

“I’m not late.” He shook my hold off him and pulled the woman into his arms. “Grace, this is AJ. She’s helping me with some… stuff. AJ, this is my boss Grace.” She looked me up and down before extending her hand to me.