Taming the Alphas: Part Two: Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance (4 page)

After Todd left, I wasn’t sure what to do. On the one hand Dave was miserable, but Todd had looked pretty upset by Dave’s words when he’d left also. It had hurt to see the light in his baby blue eyes dim and his face so unhappy. But Dave had seemed fine with me staying around. If this was going to work, all of us had to be treated equally. Dave couldn’t treat Todd like he was the third wheel. It upset me that both of my men were down, and made me feel like crap.

“Dave, what happened?” 

“Bev, I can’t talk about it right now. Just suffice it to say I didn’t get the job.”

My normally stoic, even-tempered Dave looked completely dejected. I knew he was frustrated with the job search. The roller coaster of finally getting an interview for his dream job and then not receiving an offer was hard to take. I gently rubbed his back with my hands, trying to calm him. I could feel knots of tension in his muscles.

“Hey, there are plenty of other jobs out there,” I said soothingly, pressing the tips of my fingers to his spine.

“It’s not just the job, though that sucks big time, but it’s Gerald also. My mom called and told me he is pretty sick. They thought it was some sort of virus but he’s not getting any better.”

I winced. “Gerald—that’s one of your dads, right?”

“Yeah,” Dave furrowed his brow and put his head in his hands, rubbing his forehead. “It’s just not been the best day.” He glanced up at me. “Look, I know you are off school for the next few days. I’d like to go visit my parents in the Catskills.”

“That’s in New York, right?”

“Yeah, the southeastern section of New York,” Dave replied, glancing at his watch. “It’s about a five hour drive. If we get started soon, we can be there late this evening.”

“Will you come with me?” He implored, giving me a pleading look.

I’d been looking forward to the long weekend to get caught up on some of my coursework, but how could I refuse Dave. Plus, I really wanted to meet his parents. I would just have to take my work along with me. “Yes, yes of course. Let me pack my things.”

Dave got up from the chair and put his arm around my shoulder. “Thanks Bev. I didn’t mean to be rude to Todd, I just…”

“Shhh,” I put my fingers to his lips. “We’ll work it out. We all have bad days. Let’s get packed.” But though I said the words to reassure him, inwardly, I felt bad for Todd. Dave couldn’t just discard him when he was having a problem. We needed to rally together and support one another in both the good and bad times. But with his dad sick and the sucky interview, now was not the time to discuss things.

After throwing a few things in my duffel, I retrieved my credit card from the dresser drawer. Dave didn’t have any money, so it looked like I was going to have charge gas and food. I wasn’t sure how I would pay it off, but I didn’t have much choice. Grabbing my laptop, Dave and I locked the apartment and headed outside. As we climbed in the car, I felt a twinge of guilt. I didn’t feel right leaving town without seeing Todd first.

“Dave, let’s stop at Slice of the Pie. It’s on the way and we can run in and tell Todd we are going to visit your folks. I know we could call, but I feel better seeing him in person. I think we should make sure he is doing ok and is not too upset.”

He shook his head. “Yeah, you can run in. I know I need to apologize, but my head is not in a great place right now. I will wait for you in the car.”

“Dave, if this threesome is going to work…”

Dave waved his hand in the air. “Bev, no! Not now. I just can’t handle anymore.”

We drove the rest of the way to Slice of the Pie in silence. “I’ll just be a minute,” I said, quickly getting out of the car.

I shook my head as I walked into the restaurant. Did Dave want this relationship to work or not? If he did, he was going to have to make the effort to not let everything that happened in life get in the way.

As I walked in I saw Jerry, the nasty guy who had been rude to me the first time I had been in the restaurant. I had seen him a few times since and he knew Todd and I were in a relationship. He was slouched near the cash register, but once he saw me he seemed to perk up, a nasty grin on his face.

“Can I help you, Beverly?” he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I’m just here to see Todd. Is he around?”

Jerry grinned and jerked his thumb to the back. “He’s in the back room. Go right on through. I know he will want to see you…”

I shook my head. Jerry was so annoying. He couldn’t even do something as simple as answer a question without being an asshole. As I made my way to the back, I hoped that Todd was not too upset. I felt horrible about what had happened earlier and wanted to apologize for Dave’s brashness. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the back room.

“Todd?” I gasped. He was sitting on top of his desk, a boyish grin plastered on his handsome face. A cute, redheaded waitress leaned into him. Her full breasts were adorned with the tacky Slice of the Pie logo tee and she was pressed against his muscular pecs. She appeared to be cooing in his ear, and her hands were wrapped possessively around his chest and back.

Todd’s face fell as he caught my eye and he quickly unwrapped the redhead’s arms.

“Beverly!”

“Sorry to have interrupted Todd … Dave and I, well…” my hands fell helplessly to my side, and tears welled in my eyes as I turned to go. I felt like an idiot. Here I thought that Todd was into Dave and me. I actually believed I could have a relationship with two men at one time and we could grow old as a loving threesome together like Dave’s parents. But apparently, that was not the case. Mr. Beach Bum Todd was probably out hunting all the pussy he could get and Dave couldn’t seem to handle the three of us together anyway.

I brushed the wetness away from my eyes as I quickly walked to the exit. Jerry was standing nearby, a smirk on his face. “Leaving so soon? Let me get that door for you.”

I could hear Todd behind me, practically on my heels. “Beverly. Wait! Jenna’s just a friend. That wasn’t what it looked like.”

Yeah, right, I thought. She’s just a friend who presses her boobies all over you. I turned to face him. “What exactly was that then, Todd?” my eyes narrowed as I glared at him.

The grin was erased from his face and replaced by a look of disbelief. “Jenna just came up to me and…” he paused, thinking. “Nothing was going on. She just came up to talk to me…”

“Just don’t, Todd. Don’t say anymore. I stopped by to tell you that Dave and I are driving up to see his parents in the Catskills. But it looks like you have plenty to keep you occupied and you wouldn’t notice anyway…”

I could see the redheaded Jenna in the background, a huge smile on her face as she pretended to be busy at the register. She had seen Todd and me together before, and if she had a brain in her head she probably had guessed that we were in a relationship. However, it was obvious she didn’t care and that she just wanted him for herself.

“Bev, I…”

“Forget it Todd!  Have a great weekend.” I stormed out of the restaurant, slamming the door on the way.

I was seething when I climbed back in the car with Dave.

“What is it, Bev … what’s going on?”

“Just drive, Dave. You are not the only one having a rotten day. Right now I don’t care if I ever see Todd Becker again!”

“Ok Bev, let it out. What happened with Todd?”

I didn’t want to say anything, but it just gurgled out of me. “That Todd Becker is an asshole. I thought he wanted to be in a committed relationship with us. When I went in there, he was in the back with one of the waitresses. She was draped all over him, rubbing up against him like she was some kind of bobcat in heat.”

“Did she have red hair?”

“Yeah.”

Dave took one of his hands off the wheel and made a cupping gesture under his chest. “Big, full boobs?”

“Yeah,” I muttered. I sometimes felt bad that my boobs were on the smaller side, and seeing Ms. Redhead with her huge tata’s smooshed up against Todd’s muscular chest didn’t help much.

“Is her name Jen … err, Jennifer?”

“Todd called her Jenna. Do you know her?”

“Todd doesn’t like her
that
way.”

“Wha … how do you know that?”

“I stopped in there one day to say hi and she was fawning all over him. We had a man to man and he told me.”

“Well, he sure had a big fat smile on his face,” I frowned, thinking of Todd’s sexy grin.

“Look Bev, Todd’s cut from a different cloth than us. We don’t like something we say so. We call it like we see it.”

That was certainly true. Dave was about as blunt as anyone could be, and I was usually pretty open about my feelings.

“Todd’s different than us. He is easy going and never wants to hurt anyone’s feelings. When I went in the restaurant, I saw her coming on to him. She was in his face, trying to press up against him.”

I nodded slowly. Yeah, I had just witnessed that, that’s for sure.

“So, I asked him about it. He said she was just a friend and he was committed to us.”

“Right,” I muttered.

“Bev, I believe him. I think that is one of the reasons we all get along so well. He compliments us because he is so easy going and gentle. It softens us up.”

Dave cleared his throat. “Beverly, I love you. I don’t want to see you hurt. But I don’t think Todd meant to hurt you. I think we just have to learn to accept his natural, easygoing ways.”

“Over my dead body!” I yelled. But thinking about it, it made sense. Todd had boyish good looks and a friendly charm. If a woman put her arms around him, he wouldn’t push her off; he would just grin and put up with it. Of course, when I looked at that sexy ole smile of his, my brain ran in overtime and I imagined the two of them in bed together doing all sorts of luscious, naughty things. I thought he liked her, but it was probably just Todd being Todd. That was his style. But still, it hurt.

I shook my head. Pretty ironic that I was allowed to have two men, and Todd and Dave could only have me. But, we were either going for a threesome or not, this wasn’t a foursome. I resolved to have a serious talk with Todd when we got back. For now, I didn’t want to think about that redheaded bitch with her arms all over my man—well, one of my men.

“So Dave,” I asked gently, changing the subject, “tell me what happened at the interview.”

Dave gripped the wheel tightly. “It was just infuriating. I admit, I really wanted the job. I was pretty psyched when I went in for the interview…”

“Well sure, of course you were. It’s a dream job for you.”

“But they barely looked at me,” he added glumly. “I just knew in my gut they already knew who they were gonna hire. I was just there to fill some kind of quota.”

“Like, they had to interview a set number of people?”

“Exactly.”

“That sucks,” I frowned, “not fair.”

A scowl crossed Dave’s face again. He tended to be very even tempered and things didn’t rile him up, but it was obvious the interview had really bugged him.

“Look, you’ll find something else that will be even better.” I ran my finger lightly along the curve of his neck, stroking it. I really wanted to cheer him up, but it was hard. What could I say? I knew how frustrated he was. All I could do was cross my fingers that something better would come along and try to make him feel good now. “So, tell me about your parents. How did they wind up in the Catskills and you at Camp Vickers?”

“My parents actually met at Vickers. They all grew up there and they’ve known each other since they were just werepups. My dads, Ian and Gerald, are about a year apart in age. They always did everything together. They were inseparable as kids and when they grew up they hung out with each other all the time. They directed the plays and events at Camp Vickers.”

“I didn’t know Vickers put on shows?” Wow, who would have thought that weremen and women would take the time to put on theater productions? Then again, I guess, they do pretty much everything that normal people do, so why not. They just did some things, like running, hunting, fucking … a lot better.

“Well, the theater group was not super active while you were there—too much going on. Anyway, my mom, Madge, starred in several of their productions. They all fell in love and the rest is history. They had me and my kid sister Rosalie, and eventually when we were grown they left Camp Vickers and moved to the Catskills.”

I cocked a brow at him. “You didn’t want to move with them?”

“Nah, I was pretty happy at Camp Vickers.”

“Why did they pick the Catskills?”

“They all love the theater and wanted to expand their horizons. The Catskills are the home of some world famous acting camps for kids. So Ian applied at several of them, and based on his experience at Camp Vickers he was hired as a vocal coach. He didn’t tell them that Camp Vickers was really a campground for werewolves though. Eventually after they relocated, my mom was hired in the wardrobe department and Gerald was brought on to direct several productions each session. So they all work there now.”

“They have all these things … a wardrobe department, directors … at a kid’s camp?”

“These acting camps are not your garden variety camps, Bev. They put on full-scale productions with extensive makeup, wardrobes, and props. Some of the shows are better than what you would see on Broadway. Kids come from all over the world to attend and it ain’t cheap. It runs thousands of dollars for a session.”

“Wow, I had no idea,” I giggled. I could just imagine how the parents would feel if they found out they were paying big bucks for their precious children to learn acting and singing from werewolves.

“Have they ever done the play ‘Little Red Riding Hood’? I bet they could do a fantastic job with that!”

Dave snorted. “Very funny, Bev. But seriously, a lot of celebs got their start at these camps. You’d be surprised.”

“It seems to be in the middle of nowhere, though,” I said thoughtfully, looking out the car window. I had never been to New York and had expected to see skyscrapers, tons of people, and lots of action. Instead, I was seeing miles of lush green hills and valleys. I felt myself getting sleepier by the minute; it was a long drive.

“We’ll be there soon, babe,” Dave reached over and squeezed my knee. “Are you doing ok, or do you need to stop and stretch?”

“I’m good. But I do need to go on a run when we get there. I need to unwind and let my wolf out.” I glanced down at my phone. There were several calls from Todd. I didn’t want to play games with him, but for now, he would have to wait for me to call him back. He needed to learn that letting girls splay their boobies all over him was not acceptable,
unless of course, that girl was me
.