The Heir (17 page)

"I hope you have a good explanation for
this." Her dad moved his hand in front of him, indicating the
floor, the front doorway and the two guys behind her.

"That was one crazy party!" She quipped and
looked over her shoulder at her two new goons, "Great orgy guys! We
need to do this again real soon."

Christian wiggled his eyebrows, smiled and
nodded but Axel just stared at her without blinking. "You are a
party pooper." She muttered to him.

"Jessica." Her name was said in that tone of
voice that parents had perfected throughout the ages. The tone that
said, ‘I want answers and you are in big trouble.’

"Don't mind him dad, he was on the receiving
end of Christians loving." Jessica quipped.

Christian exploded with laughter, Dani and
Riley came running from the living room at the sound, Axel growled
and her parents looked at them all dissaprovingly.

"He didn't like it much." Jessica added in
mock whisper, drawing another growl from Axel and laugh from
Christian.

"Jessica." This time her dad said her name
with the tone that said 'I'm losing my patience.'

She pouted, "You guys are no fun at all. Come
on then, we might as well get comfortable because it's going to be
a long explanation." She intertwined her arm with Christians and
they led the way to the living room. "I hope you guys have a good
explanation for the door." Jessica whispered and Christian had to
lower his head to hear her.

Christian nodded and broke out in a smile
when, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the look on Danielle’s'
face. He'd tried to talk to her this morning; she ignored him,
asking to speak with Axel instead and her look now was like salve
on his ego. She was glowering at them and Christian wanted to laugh
with joy.

"Just follow my lead." Jessica was telling
him, barging into his thoughts; he nodded and made a couple of
quick gestures to convey her wishes to Axel.

Jessica noticed and she made a note in her
mind to ask him about it later. When they reached the living room,
she sat on the love seat, expecting to be squished between Axel and
Christian; she was surprised when they went to stand behind her
instead.

She looked over her shoulder at them. "What
are you doing?"

"We are protecting you.” Axel told her.

"Protect me from what, the sunlight?" They
both shrugged and Jessica threw her hands up in the air in
annoyance. "Can I rip your throats open now?" She asked sweetly
under her breath.

"Jessica?"

She turned to face her family, all four were
sitting on the sofa, Riley and Danielle on the arms, and she smiled
sweetly at them, "Yes mom?"

"Mind telling us what's going on?"

"No not at all." She cleared her throat, "You
see, yesterday, Shane..." She glanced over her shoulder for some
help.

"Shane quit."

"Yeah," She agreed with Axel, "Shane quit and
these are his replacement."

“They are his replacements?" Her dad asked in
puzzlement, "Why wasn't I notified? They know I like to interview
the prospects myself."

"I'm sure you will be notified about Shane,
but them," she pointed behind her, "I got from my mate."

"Your mate?" The whispered question came from
her mom, Jessica looked at her worriedly. She seemed to have lost
all of the color in her face.

"I think you need to start at the beginning."
Her dad told her, reaching for her mom’s hand and giving it a light
squeeze.

Jessica nodded and did just that. She told
them about Nick's return, her mom remembered him from months ago,
and his first encounter with Shane. Riley helped her recount
yesterday’s altercation between them and Shane. Upon hearing about
it, her parents became furious and Christian and Axel assured them
that Nick had taken care of him.

Jessica made a note to ask them what they
meant by that at a later time and continued with her retelling. She
glossed over the details of their bathroom stay, Nick spending the
night and the way he'd marked her.

Thinking about the mark, she itched to run
her fingers over it but she didn't dare for fear of drawing
unwanted attention to it. She no longer felt pain but she felt it
there, solid like the weight of a necklace lying around her neck.
She felt as if a piece of Nick was with her and would never leave
her.

Jessica divulged everything she learned from
Nick about shifters; Danielle and Riley made sounds of amazement
but otherwise stayed quite, like everyone else in the family they'd
had months to get used to the idea that shifters were real, and
Jessica finished with his wish for her to live with him.

"Live with him?!" Her mom shook her head "No,
you are too young."

Jessica sighed "Mom, you were my age when you
met my father." She pointed out.

"No, I was older." Her mom replied.

"Only by a couple of months." She retorted
and then took a deep breath to calm down.

"You don’t know him," Her mom continued to
argue; "we don't know him."

"Mom, you didn't know my father that long
either, you told me so." Jessica reminded her.

Lauren gave her husband a sideways glance and
fidgeted nervously in her seat. "That was different." She confided
with finality in her tone.

Lauren didn't feel comfortable talking about
Cade at the moment. She didn't know how to explain her relationship
with Cade to her daughter and the rest of them without hurting her
husband’s feelings. She just couldn’t explain the deep and never
ending love she felt for Cade to her husband and children.

Jessica looked over her shoulder at Christian
and Axel. "I need a minute alone with my family, mind stepping
outside for a couple?"

"Why?" Christian asked her, "We’ll still hear
you." He pointed at his ears to remind her of their superior
hearing.

Jessica groaned, slouched back on her seat
and closed her eyes, trying to figure out a solution. "Did you mean
it?" She finally asked after a couple of seconds of thinking and
failing to find an answer to her dilemma.

"What?" They both asked.

"The loyalty thing." She looked up at them,
standing above her "Did you mean it?" They both nodded and Jessica
decided to believe them-really she had no choice. "Well then this
is your first test, from here on, whatever you hear, not a word to
Nick." She raised her hand over her head to shake theirs awkwardly,
"deal?"

Christian nodded quickly and shook her hand,
"Deal."

She moved her hand in front of Axel but he
didn't shake it right away.

"Deal," He finally told her, "unless our
silence compromises your safety."

Jessica rolled her eyes but didn't disagree
she knew it was the best she could hope for. "Fine" They shook
hands and Jessica turned back to her family who were looking at her
with laughter lurking in their eyes. "They are stronger than me."
She accused, "I doubt I can get them off me as easily as I did the
others."

"Can't beat 'em, join 'em?" Riley asked
her.

She nodded emphatically and pointed.
"Exactly!"

"Is that really how you feel?" Her mom jumped
in, leaning forward in her seat, "like you have no other
choice?"

Jessica sighed. "Mom."

"Because if you do," her mom continued, "then
we will do everything we can to get you out of this. You don’t have
to go anywhere."

Jessica got up, went to kneel in front of her
mom, and reached for her hands. "Mom, this is it." She whispered
with conviction. "This is my chance. What I've been looking for
this whole time. There is no way I am going to let it slip away.
Living with you and getting to know you has been great, it helped
me learn about myself" She placed a palm over her chest, "but there
is still another half of me that is closed off from me. I have to
go."

For the last couple of months they'd been
looking, to no avail, for anyone who could answer all her questions
about her gifts and she'd finally found him. Like she'd just told
her mom, there was no way she was letting her chance slip away. She
would do it, even if it meant putting up with the egotistical
maniac.

"Living with some guy is a small price to
pay,” Jessica continued, “and when I think I've learned everything
I need to learn I'll find a way out of the deal." She shrugged,
making it sound easier than she thought it really would be, as if
the thought alone wasn't splitting her in two.

Axel and Christian looked at each other,
wondering if they should tell her that Nick was too possessive to
ever let her go. Christian raised an eyebrow in question and Axel
shook his head, as her bodyguards they had to do what was best for
her and he believed that was Nick. No need to scare her into
running from him.

"It'll be easy." Jessica finished
confidently, missing the look between her bodyguards but when
Christian snorted, she snapped her head around to glare at him.

Lauren shook her head. She didn't want to let
her daughter go. She didn't understand why Jessica had to move out
to learn more about her father’s side. She wouldn't be so set
against it if Jessica told her that she felt for Nick at least a
sprinkle of the feelings that she'd felt for her father. Instead
all she was worried was about her past.

One thing she'd learned that the past didn't
keep you warm at night. Still shaking her head, Lauren sighed in
defeat; she knew that once her daughters mind was made up, there
was no changing it. If Nick was anything like Cade she knew that
Jessica would have a fight on her hands.

"Listen mom," Jessica squeezed her hands, her
voice intruding into Lauren's thoughts and pulling her out of her
haze. "It's not like I'm going right away. I promised to stay until
my birthday and I'm keeping my promise." She smiled at her, "I
might even stay longer and give you a chance to get to know
him."

Reassured, her mom nodded and smiled. Jessica
silently hoped that he made a better first impression on her mom
then he did on her.

"That's a great idea." James cut in. "Now why
doesn't someone tell me what happened to my door."

Jessica looked at Dani and Riley then over
her shoulder at Axel and Christian; she'd forgotten about the door
and had no idea how to explain it. Mainly because she really didn't
know what happened to the door.

"You see, uh..." She scrambled to come up
with something but she was only drawing a blank.

"I broke it." Riley claimed and Jessica's
mouth dropped open, she'd thought that yesterday had been an
aberration but here he was again, helping her out.

"You broke it?" Her parents asked him
skeptically.

Riley fidgeted, "well, no not I per say, you
see Shane, he uh...”

"Shane broke it when he slammed Riley into
it!" Christian exclaimed, bouncing and pointing as if he was
answering the million dollar question on a trivia show.

"It's true," Dani, who'd been silent up to
that point, admitted. "I was upstairs when I heard the crash" Well,
that part was true, Jessica thought wryly and wondered why they
were all working so hard to cover for Nick. "When I came down it
was to see Riley unconscious on the floor. Luckily for us Nick came
and helped us out." She gushed and Jessica couldn't keep her eyes
from rolling.

"Is something wrong Jessica?" Her mom
asked.

"What? Oh, sorry," She rubbed her eye, "Just
have something in my eye." She leaned back, looked up and snapped
her fingers. "Blow, please."

Christian leaned down and blew gently into
her eye. A sound of disgust came from the other side of the room
and he winked at Jessica. They righted themselves again just in
time to watch Dani storm out of the room.

"What's wrong with her?" She asked no one in
particular.

Riley shrugged, "Beats me, she's been in a
bad mood all morning."

Jessica looked thoughtfully at the doorway
before getting to her feet, "Well I'd like to go ask her but I’m
going to be late for work. Are there any other questions?" She
looked at her parents. "No? Then I'm going get ready." She walked
out of the room with Christian and Axel following close behind.

"Don't worry about the door! Nick said he was
sending someone down to fix it, on him!" She yelled half way up the
stairs then whispered over her shoulder with a mischievous glint in
her eye.. "Make it happen."

Axel nodded but she was already looking away.
Axel was thinking that for a new Alpha, she had the ordering part
down pat. One thing he was sure of was that he was going to enjoy
being her bodyguard; she wasn't as serious as Nick was and he was
looking forward to some fun times; beginning with the ride to her
job.

Jessica stopped at the top of the stairs and
they looked at her questioningly.

"This is as far,-" she hadn't finished her
sentence and they were already shaking their heads,"-as you go.
Don’t shake your heads." She pointed a finger at them, "I'm taking
a shower and I don’t want you creeps listening in on me."

"The hall door-"

"-Or the bathroom door." They told her.

Jessica knew a losing battle when she saw one
and conceded gracefully. "Fine but you better act like your
deaf."

They smiled at her indulgently. “We
will.”

Five minutes later Jessica made them sorry
for patronizing her. In the shower, smiling diabolically the whole
time, she belted out a sounding rendition at the top of her lungs
of the songs "I will always love you" and "Pocket full of
sunshine."

Out in the hall, Christian and Axel were
cringing, their ears ringing.

"I wonder if anyone has ever told her that
she is tone deaf." Christian asked and silently asked the gods for
mercy. It never came, she sang until she finally opened the door to
her room, ready to go to work. She said goodbye to her parents and
opened the front door.

“Oh my god!” She shrieked like meeting her
favorite artist.