City Wolf, page 1
City Wolf
Copyright © March 2009, Tressie Lockwood
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
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Chapter One
Zandrea heaved another sigh and shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she ran a finger around the edge of her cash register. She scanned the cafeteria just beyond the kitchen door and noted how few customers they had tonight. A Friday night meant everyone who could get off had done so, and those like her were stuck working. Then again it was after nine. Night shift staff had come and gone long ago. She imagined that the emergency room would be jumping with activity. It always was all weekend long, like people didn’t have anything better to do than to get themselves injured. If it had been her, she would have been in a club with her girlfriends by now. She blew out another breath and tried not to fall through the floor with boredom.
“Girl, you better stop that sighing and go take your break,” her supervisor said as she bustled past. “It’s quiet around here. When you get back, you can help Lisa in the pantry.”
Zandrea’s eyes widened. “Oh you’re serious? Thanks! Be back soon.”
Before her boss could change her mind, Zendrea closed out her register and practically ran to her locker, freshened her makeup and headed down to the emergency room, her favorite place to troll during break.
“Hmm,” she mused on the way, “I should have become a nurse.” At that thought, she rolled her eyes. She couldn’t stand the sight of blood, probably had a phobia about it. When she saw it, even just a little, all motor function froze in her entire body. She couldn’t move or speak. “Yet, I hang in ER. I have serious issues.”
The moment she rounded the corner and passed through the automatic doors, chaos seemed to jump out at her. Nurses rushed to and fro, and machines in various places beeped. One of the doctors called out instructions for the patient arriving in less than two minutes with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. According to the paramedic calling in, he had lost a lot of blood, and it didn’t look good.
Zandrea’s heart beat kicked up a notch. She considered going back to the cafeteria with that news, but if she stayed near the grouping of desks where the staff wrote up their reports, there shouldn’t be any problem. As long as she kept her eyes averted if any patients were wheeled by.
“Hey, Bev,” she called as she sidled up to the older nurse she’d made friends with in order to avoid being kicked out of the area. “Things are hot tonight, huh?”
Bev frowned. “Oh, hey, Zandrea. Yes, it’s a madhouse in here.” She wiped a hand over her brow and clutched a clipboard in the other. “The only thing making it worthwhile this time around is our mystery man.”
Zandrea’s interest perked up. She leaned a hip on the end of the desk and crossed her arms, thought of the gunshot victim having fled her mind. “Mystery man? Do tell.”
Bev let go of a laugh too loud given nothing was funny. “I thought that would get your interest up.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “Got a guy in a short bit ago. Doesn’t remember what happened to him and won’t give up a name. But damn if he isn’t the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Where at?” Zandrea was about to search for this Adonis, but Bev grabbed her arm. “What? I was only going to say hi,” she complained.
“Yeah right. Zan, you’re desperate for a man, and if I didn’t say this guy was hot, you’d be trolling for the new doctor.”
“New...?” Zandrea frowned, resisting the urge to scan the nearby staff. “I am not desperate for a man. I just come here for a chat once and a while, and—”
“Hello, beautiful.”
She glanced up to the sexy Dr. Evans strolling by. His big brown eyes and dark brown skin made her heart skip a beat. In fact, she might need medical treatment if he continued to call her beautiful. But Dr. Evans didn’t slow down. He winked and walked on. The man didn’t take her seriously, and why would he? She was nothing but a cashier. Another heavy sigh escaped her.
A hand waved in front of her face. “I think I’ve just been proven right,” Bev told her before dropping a hand on Zandrea’s shoulder. “Sorry, kiddo. It’ll come.”
“Whatever.” Zandrea spun away and marched back the way she had come. Now she was feeling like crap, and it was all Bev’s fault. Sure, she had pegged Zandrea right, but damn, a girl couldn’t want a man in her life for a freakin’ change? It had been how long since her last boyfriend—a year and a half? She had needs, and her girlfriends were great, but she couldn’t curl up with them at night. Besides, she knew for a fact that both her best friends felt exactly the same way.
Zandrea’s mind was so focused on her silent justification for being man crazy that she didn’t at first see the man lurking around the corner she turned. Instead, she barreled right into him, and sent them both to the floor. His grunt of obvious pain made her rush to apologize.
“I am so sorry. I didn’t see you there.” From her position of being splayed out on top of him, Zandrea glanced up into electric green eyes. Or were they fevered? Either way, the man was hot. Really hot. She scrambled to get off of him. “You’re burning up. Are you okay? Let me help you.”
“Nurse,” he muttered while he submitted to her assistance to stand, although she felt weak herself at the tight muscle beneath her hand on his arm. She was in no rush to correct his assumption that she was a nurse.
Now that they were standing, she realized he stretched a good head taller than she was, and with him looking down at her, his blond locks tumbled over onto his forehead, blocking one eye. She resisted reaching up to brush it back.
That quick the atmosphere changed. Instead of the man being apologetic, without making a move, he seemed about to attack. She couldn’t put her finger on why she felt that way, but Zandrea tried to step back from him. One of his hands settled on her hip, and he drew her closer. His lips parted, and she could have sworn she saw his canine teeth lengthening and the rest of his teeth becoming sharper. What the hell?
“Food,” he muttered.
“Wha-?” She blinked and shook her head. Maybe she hadn’t heard right.
He lowered his head and gently thumped her chin higher with his nose. His deep inhale of her scent took the strength from her legs. She would have crumpled to the floor, but he held her in place.
“I smell food on you,” he told her.
Can he be anymore unsexy with that statement? she complained silently. “I think you need treatment. Let me go get someone to help you.” He didn’t let go, and Zandrea was torn between wanting to run and wanting to just remain wedged against his hard body. She went with her usual boldness. “What’s your name?”
He leaned up from her neck and snapped his lips together. This must be the patient who wouldn’t admit who he was or what happened to him that Bev had been talking about. Zandrea was about to ask him, when she saw it. Blood. Seeping through the white shirt he wore. On some level, she wondered where he had gotten the clothing and why he wasn’t in the unfashionable hospital gown, but she stood quietly in his arms.
The man tipped her chin up. “I have to go. Don’t tell.”
Zandrea didn’t respond.
“Are you okay?” He glanced down at his shoulder. “Damn! Don’t worry. I’ll heal. Hey, did you hear me?”
His voice came from far away now.
He pressed his mouth against her ear. “You’re afraid of the blood. Don’t be. I guess it’s natural for me. I’m used to it. I have to go. Don’t fall.”
From the corner of her eyes, Zandrea spotted another man, this one all in black. His hair and even his eyes were dark. His eyebrows were low over his eyes, and his jaw was set in an angry expression. “We have to go,” he commanded.
The mystery patient propped Zandrea against the wall, began to walk away and then came back. He caught her under the chin a second time and then kissed her full on the lips. As he and his friend disappeared out an emergency exit, setting off the alarm, Zandrea’s one thought was why did her first kiss from a white man, which she’d fantasized about in secret, come when she couldn’t even kiss him back.
Chapter Two
“Girl, are you serious?” Nita shrieked.
Zandrea nodded and bit into her apple, savoring the delicious sweetness. “Yes, I lie not. He was so fine—weird—but fine. He was losing a lot of blood, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Bev doesn’t tell me he was brought back in either dead or close to it.”
“Try not to be so flip about it,” Stacy told her irritably. “Besides, you were no help to the poor man with your phobia.”
Zandrea rolled her eyes. “I can’t help it. If I could have I would. And on top of that he kissed me.” She sighed, her vision blurring with the memory. “I didn’t enjoy it like I wanted to because I was so scared. Then again, I’m not sure what he was.”
Stacy stood up and peeled off her dress for the fourth time. She hadn’t yet decided on what to wear to the club that night. Zandrea had a habit of mentally choosing what she would wear, and Nita couldn’t care less as long as it was comfortable. They always ended up waiting for at least an hour for Stacy.
“What do you mean by ‘what he was’?” Stacy questioned her.
A chill ran down Zandrea’s back, and along her arms goose bumps popped out. “He said he was used to blood, that it was natural for him. What the hell could that mean?”
“Maybe he’s a vampire,” Nita suggested.
Zandrea rolled her eyes. She stood, marched over to Stacy’s bed and twitched a skimpy aqua green mini-dress from the pile of clothing. Stacy had the best body of the three of them, and she might as well show it off. Zandrea pressed the garment into her friend’s hands. “Here, wear this, and let’s get out of here. I have a desire to shake my ass on the dance floor so I can forget my troubles.”
Stacy smiled her thanks and slipped the dress on. While she sat applying her makeup, Zandrea arranged her hair. Stacy’s thick long hair that extended down her back was another feature Zandrea admired. She kept her own hair cut short in a simple style that complimented her face. She’d been told her rich cocoa brown skin tone looked great with her large brown eyes. While she knew she wasn’t ugly, she didn’t think she was all that either. If she looked like Stacy, the men would be crawling over each other to get to her. Then again, Stacy wasn’t beating them off. Not one of them had luck with the opposite sex lately.
“So, Stacy.” Nita interrupted Zandrea’s thoughts. “Did you meet anybody interesting on the road today?”
Stacy grunted. “Nope, I only drove with Kevin down to Norfolk, and the customer was this old guy, but he did grab my butt on the way out the door. I resisted slapping him, and that dumbass Kevin made fun of me the whole way back.”
Zandrea laughed. No matter how many times Stacy dropped off or picked up a car in her job of working for Circle Rent a Car, she did not meet any available and interesting men. Yet, Stacy never gave up hope. Zandrea thought the girl should open her eyes to how much her co-worker, Kevin, liked her. If she dated him, at least she could get some, unlike Zandrea and Nita.
“Did you kick his ass?” Nita asked.
Both Zandrea and Stacy stared at Nita in the mirror above Stacy’s bedroom dresser and then burst out laughing. After clutching her stomach on the floor for a while, Zandrea fought to catch her breath.
“Oh no she didn’t just say that.” She glanced at Nita again. Nita’s face, which they called ‘high-yella’ was almost beet red. Zandrea jumped to her feet and pulled her friend into a hug. “Aw, sorry, girl. You know you don’t speak that way. It just sounds funny when you try to get all ghetto on us.”
“Yeah,” Stacy echoed. She stood up. “Okay, girls, I’m ready to go shake my thing on the dance floor.”
* * * *
Half-hour later, they pulled up to their favorite club in Nita’s smokin’ red Shelby GT500. Zandrea had to struggle to unfurl her legs without showing the long line of club goers at the front door all her goods because her short skirt rode up. Nita tossed the car keys to a valet, and the three of them strolled toward the front of the line.
Zandrea hooked her arm through Nita’s, and Stacy took the other one.
“It’s so great to have a friend with family connections, huh, Stacy?” Zandrea asked.
“You know it.” Before they reached the front of the line, Stacy pulled them to a stop. “Hey, y’all, look at that.” She nodded toward the corner of the building where a sexy man in black slacks, covering an ass that should be illegal, was escorting a woman around the corner.
They sighed in unison, knowing what was about to happen. With unspoken agreement, they followed the couple into the alley. There was lots of sex going on inside the club these days. Everyone knew that, but sometimes, people liked to really be dirty about it, like fucking outside.
Zandrea shuffled along the best she could in her high heels so close to Nita while trying to move in silence. Not too far down the narrow opening, they found the couple engrossed in each other to the point that they were attempting to swallow each other’s tongues. Zandrea and her friends watched.
Nita speculated, “Do you two think we don’t get any because we’re too immature for our age?”
“Too wild,” Zandrea piped up.
“Too stupid,” Stacy concluded. “We always run behind these guys who either already have a woman they’re devoted to or—”
“We won’t be home wreckers even if they aren’t married,” Zandrea interjected.
“—or we try for men who are too far out of our league. Well out of Zandrea and my league. Everybody can’t live off a trust fund like you, Nita. I remember that guy I went after in Jersey.”
“You mean the one with the Porshe? Girl, you know damn well you wasn’t getting any of that.” Zandrea shook her head. “The problem is that we can’t find the right combination.”
They all commiserated as the couple finished up. With no shame, Zandrea and her friends stayed where they were as the two people moved by. Zandrea had the nerve to toss the guy a look of approval. He winked and wrapped an arm around his girlfriend’s waist before they disappeared back around front.
Zandrea sighed. “To find a guy like we like, who is hot, not a loser and doesn’t mind a little too much junk in the trunk...”
Nita winced. “Give me a break, Zan. Your butt isn’t that big. You shouldn’t put yourself down.”
Zandrea rolled her eyes and slapped her ass. It jiggled, and she gritted her teeth. “Whatever.”
They headed back around front and were soon in the midst of the pounding beat of the music. Near the door, they paused to take in the scene. Zandrea was satisfied to note that there were plenty of people packing the small club, and there was a nice range of social statuses so she didn’t feel like she was in the midst of people with money and didn’t fit in. That’s what she liked about the club. It was higher class but not so high that it was exclusive.
With two dances down and a drink in her hand, Zandrea was able to breathe out the stresses of the week and just relax. With an elbow on the bar behind her and her friends lost in discussion about which guy looked approachable, Zandrea scanned the dim interior of the club. Just because of her experience the night before, she was starkly aware of all the good-looking white men. In fact, the group to the right of where she and her friends were standing looked especially fine. They were all in dark slacks and white or light colored collared shirts. Stretching at least a half head taller than every man in the place and with well-toned muscled bodies to match, they stood out from everyone else.
Zandrea drifted a few steps in the men’s direction, a feeling a familiarity coming over her at the closest man with his back to her. She leaned out a little to her left trying to see his face and hoping no one would notice. The guys threw their heads back and laughed at something funny one of them had said. Zandrea caught her breath.
She backpedaled to her friends, hooked their arms and dragged them along in the opposite direction. When they had almost completely circled the place, Zandrea bothered to respond to her friends’ continued complaints of being dragged around.
“Girls, over there.” Zandrea nodded with her head. Stacy and Nita turned in the direction that Zandrea pointed. “That guy, the one on the right end facing the others. The blond. See him?”
Stacy let out a low moan. “Yummy. They’re all hot. Didn’t know you wanted a white boy though, Zan. Guess after last night though, who could blame you. You’ve chosen the blond?”
Zandrea shook her head. “No, that’s him!”
Nita frowned. “Him who?”
“The guy from the hospital. The guy who was bleeding all over himself. The blond is him!”
Chapter Three
“Don’t look now, Brant, but you’ve got three pairs of sexy chocolate eyes all over you,” Lucas quipped.
Brant turned, ignoring the warning. He spotted the three women in the corner right away. All three lovely faces were frozen in shock, mouths hanging open and eyes wide. When they caught him looking, they grabbed each other and spun away, whispering furiously.
He had a hard time filtering out the noise around him to pinpoint what the ladies were saying, but he did catch one sentence from the biggest, sweetest eyes he’d ever seen. His groin tightening and his attention arrested by the curve of her ass facing him, he almost didn’t process what he had heard. Then it hit him. “I’m not mistaken. That is the guy I met at the hospital, and he was for damn sure bleeding too much to be here tonight!”
