Chapter 823 Chapter 823
Rory accepted the jacket from Cortney and put it on. She was finally warm but still shaky. It had all happened so fast. One second, she’d been amazed at the speed of the water beneath her feet, and then the next, she couldn’t breathe as her body was being dragged under into the icy water. She had been slammed against chunks of ice and whatever else the river grabbed in its path. It had been the scariest moment of her life.
When she’d grabbed onto the fur, she had no idea it was Jake, just that someone was saving her. Maybe it was the icy water and her body temperature dropping, but as soon as she clung to him, she felt a peace inside herself. She somehow knew that she was going to be all right. It was the strangest thing, and she spent most of the time she’d been soaking in the tub thinking about it.
“Jake will take you back over to Ed’s.”
She looked at Kobie. “Thanks for everything.” Her throat hurt.
Kobie nodded. “Take the tea. It will help your throat and warm you up inside.” She held out a small bag.
“Thank you.”
“You go get some rest now.” Mari came out of the other room. She held out a laptop. “Daisie says these here—” She looked at the screen. “—personal flo-tation devices are what we need.” She nodded and turned the laptop around. “How many do you figure we should get?”
Cortney went over and took the laptop out of her hand. “We can’t just order thirty life jackets, and Daisie knows this. She’s just trying to get out of doing her assignment.”
Mari watched her leave. “That Daisie, I like her. Kind of reminds me of me when I was a young one.” She grinned and then sobered when she looked at Rory. “You’re still here. Go on back to Ed’s and rest. You stirred up plenty of excitement today.”
The borrowed boots were loose on her feet. Her own, which she’d bought to look cute on rainy days, had been claimed by the river. Her legs were unsteady when she stepped outside. She paused and placed her hand against the doorframe for a moment.
Uncle Cooper and a few of the other men stood there. Jake was one of them. Her uncle was talking to him. As if he knew she was there, Jake turned and looked at her and didn’t look away even though her uncle was still speaking.
He’d shifted and jumped into the river to save her. She took a few steps. If he hadn’t been a shifter—a man couldn’t have fought that water and saved her. She watched her uncle come toward her. He smiled at her.
“Little early in the season for a swim, isn’t it?”
She grinned. Was he ever serious? “I thought I’d test the temperature.”
He touched her cheek. “Glad you’re okay. Your mother would have castrated me if you weren’t.”
Rory sighed. “I doubt that. She gave up on me a long time ago.”
Her uncle gave her a soft-eyed look. “No, she didn’t. Your mom is just hard to communicate with—” He grinned. “Trust me. Having her a for a sister is much harder than as a mother.”
Rory smiled. “I remember the stories. She hates when you tell them.”
“Serves her right for being a pain in my behind all our lives.” He turned and looked at Jake. “He’s a good one, Jake.” He motioned to one of the trucks. “He’ll give you a ride over to Ed’s.” He turned back to her and there was such understanding in his eyes, she had to look away or her emotions would get stirred up. “I’ll see you in a while.”
Rory nodded and quickly walked toward the truck.
~
He looked at her at least twenty times and they’d only just gotten out of the driveway. He hadn’t said anything yet and she wondered if he was always quiet. She put her hand against her chest, she wasn’t a shaky now and she knew it had to do with him sitting beside her. “I didn’t thank you.” Her throat still hurt.
“Don’t have to.”
She looked over to see he was gripping the steering wheel and flexing his hands repeatedly. “Are you all right?”
Jake looked at her. “I’m fine. My cat won’t want to swim any time soon, but we’re both okay with that.”
“Did you force it to jump in?”
He gave her a quick look. “No. He was going in whether I was on board or not.” He grinned. “First time I’ve shifted on the run.”
Rory looked doubt the window. “You’re so at ease with all of it.”
“With what?”
“Being a shifter.” She turned back to him.
“Well, yeah.” His facial expression changed several times.
She didn’t know him very well but suspected his internal dialogue was more intense than what he was saying to her. “I know you don’t approve of how I feel about being what I am…”
He shot her an intense look. “It’s not for me to approve or not.”
“Right.” If that wasn’t what he was thinking, then what was it?
He pulled the truck over. She looked to see the laneway was only twenty feet from where they were.
“Listen—” He put the gear into park, turned in the seat, and looked at her. “I wanted to talk—” He waved his hand. “—alone. Which is hard to do around here.”
Rory clasped her hands in her lap. “All right.”
“I’m going to be going to Chicago.” He blurted it out. “To work on the vehicles at the new headquarters down there.”
She felt her insides tense. Taking slow breaths, she forced her muscles to relax. The animal inside her was reacting to what he was saying.
“Rory—” He reached over and touched her arm. She could barely feel it through the thick jacket but still looked at his hand. “I want you to come with me.”
Jerking her chin up, she looked at him. “To Chicago?”
He nodded. “I called Zain, and he thinks it’s a good idea. In fact he was relieved that you had the knowledge of paints and decorating.”
“Paints and decorating?” She knew a lot more than that, but now wasn’t the time to rhyme off her credentials.
Jake nodded. “Yeah. They took the building from Aiden when they got him, and now they’re giving it a makeover, I guess you’d say. To turn it into apartments and spaces for our teams.”
She put her hand up and he stopped talking. “He wants me to decorate an entire building. In Chicago.”
Jake nodded again, and she watched his curls move. He’d jumped in as a cat, so his hair hadn’t gotten wet? She didn’t understand how that worked.
“I just—” He blew out a breath. “Just think about it.”
She studied him. “All Right. I will. When are you leaving?” Her insides tensed again.
“In the next few days.” He looked at the laneway. “I’ve only ever known here, so I don’t want to take off without talking to Ed and Beth.”
She understood his attachment to Beth, she was very nice. Kelsey told her that she had raised her, Jake, Blair, and Gary, along with her son Gage. Beth must have been a very strong woman to do that.
“There’s something else.” He looked worried now. “I haven’t looked into it, but we can call Shaelan if you’d like.”
“For what?” She hadn’t met her, but everyone mentioned her when there was anything health or medical-related. Everyone respected her.
He shook his head. “Right.” He sighed. “There’s a drug that Tomas’ people used to stop people from shifting.”
She knew she looked shocked. “They stopped them? I thought they wanted them because they could.”
Jake nodded. “Yeah, but only under their control, I guess.” He looked down for a moment, and that weight was back in her gut again. What wasn’t everyone telling her? He looked back at her. “Anyway, I thought if that was something you wanted to try…”
She leaned over and put her hand over his. “There’s a drug that stops someone from shifting? What are the side effects? Does it do damage?”
Jake opened his mouth and then shrugged. “I don’t know the details. I do know that Griffin took them most of his life, and he’s this big healthy guy, so I don’t think it does damage.” He put his hand over hers so it was sandwiched between his. “If this is something you want to try, we can find out more information.”
Did she? A week ago, she would have agreed to take them without thought. A lot of things had changed since then. She looked at him, watching her. There was no judgment in his expression. A lot of things, she thought.