Unbearable Cage (The Grizzly Next Door 3) Read online

  “Yeah…” Ren said, seething.

  “I know it’s not fair; don’t get me wrong. I’m just pointing out the facts. What you need to do is hit her back harder than she expects. I don’t know enough about the situation to say what you could do specifically, but—”

  “I know she’s having an affair,” Ren said.

  CHAPTER 9

  CAGE

  While working the line, Cage smelled a wolf. He was built and clean shaven, and were he not a shifter, Cage would have let him right in.

  The wolf sniffed at Cage, and Cage eyed him up and down. “Why are you here?” Cage asked.

  “Just want to pick up a chick,” the werewolf said. “I’ve got a thing for human chicks.”

  “What about Mal?” Cage asked.

  “What about what? Huh?” The wolf titled his head like a confused dog.

  “Mal didn’t send you?”

  “I don’t know who that is, man. Come on, help a fellow shifter out and let me in. The girls here are fucking hot.”

  Cage shrugged and let him in. A lone wolf didn’t seem like too big a deal.

  But then an hour later, there was another, but he was with two girls, so Cage had to let him in. He couldn’t tell Zane that he knew him, because he didn’t, and he couldn’t tell him that the dude was a werewolf and should be barred from entering.

  Just as it was coming time for Cage to finish the night working inside, a third wolf arrived.

  Cage had been working here for two weeks now, and there’d never been a single shifter. Now, suddenly, there were three on one night. This was definitely Mal.

  He grabbed the wolf by the neck and slammed him against the wall. Everyone in the line stared in shock, but Cage didn’t care.

  “What’s the plan?” Cage asked the wolf.

  “Huh?” he said.

  Cage squeezed his neck, just enough to make it hard to breathe. “Don’t fuck with me!” Cage said in a loud whisper.

  “Well,” the wolf said, “I want to pick up two chicks. A black one and a white one. Then I want to get them both to go home with me, and I want to eat the black one out while the white one sucks my—”

  Cage gut-punched him. “Fuck off. You’re not getting in.”

  The werewolf rasped and caught his breath. Then he looked up at Cage, smiling. “We’ll see.”

  He walked down the street and disappeared into the darkness.

  ***

  Once he was inside, he kept a close watch on the two wolves he’d already let in. The first was creeping up on a number of women, and the second was grinding up on both of the women he’d brought with him.

  Zane grabbed Cage by the arm and said, “I heard you sucker punched a customer outside? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  “I knew the guy. He was trouble.”

  “You don’t fucking hit him in front of a line full of customers!”

  “Sorry,” Cage said. “He isn’t the kind of guy to just take ‘no’ for an answer.”

  Zane shook his head and said, “You’re on thin ice, man.”

  Cage looked back toward the dance floor, but the first wolf was gone. Fuck.

  He went to the front and gave the wolf’s description to Jared.

  “Nah, man,” Jared said. “No one’s been out in the last ten minutes.”

  Cage rushed back inside, and he saw the wolf again, but he was with the other one that Cage had gut punched. And two more. Fuck. Mr. Lone wolf must have cut the fire alarm and let his pack mates in through the fire exit.

  The wolves scattered, and Cage knew he was in deep shit.

  There was nothing connecting all these men; he couldn’t throw them out as a group, and Zane didn’t even trust him anymore. The werewolves were going to start shit, and Cage was just one bear against six wolves.

  An hour passed, and still nothing happened. Would Mal show up again? Were they waiting for his signal to start?

  Last call was in an hour, and Cage expected whatever would happen would happen before then. The night before, Mal and his friends hadn’t really hurt any of the customers. They’d thrown them across the room and into tables, but they had done no real damage. Cage remembered Mal saying he’d slowly escalate things, so there was no guarantee they wouldn’t hurt anyone tonight.

  They were after Cage, and if he stayed, humans would surely get hurt, and Cage would surely get fired.

  He could just walk out. Leave before the wolves executed their plan. He’d probably get fired for just walking out, but at least no one would get hurt. He’d slip out the back door.

  Cage crept toward the door, trying to make it look like he was just making his rounds. The door was down a hallway, well past the bathrooms and a storage room. As Cage neared the bathrooms, he smelled a wolf through the door. The door swung open, and the wolf cut him off.

  “Going somewhere?” the werewolf asked.

  “Yeah,” Cage said. “Taking a piss.”

  “Looked to me like you were going out the back door.”

  “Get the fuck out of my way,” Cage said.

  The wolf reached down into his pocket and pulled out a dog whistle.

  Cage lunged at him, but the wolf blew into the whistle even as they both toppled to the floor.

  Cage could hear the whistle too, though none of the humans could.

  Nothing happened at first, but as Cage stood back up, he heard shouts and screams even over the deafening music.

  “Looks like you’ve got some work to do,” the wolf said.

  Cage turned and saw fights breaking out all over the club. He didn’t have time to waste on the dog whistler.

  Cage spotted two wolves fighting each other, but all their swings were missing and hitting bystanders. One wolf made to dodge a swing and, in doing so, slammed his shoulder into a big bald man next to him. The bald man fell over, got up, and shoved the wolf.

  Shit! Cage pulled the bald man back before he could get a hit in and then put his body between the bald man and the wolf. Before he could do anything more, a woman screaming and crying caught his attention.

  He rushed toward her and saw her red-faced with tears streaming down her face. One of the wolves was choking a man to death. The man’s face was blood-red, and veins bulged all across his forehead. Three or four human men pulled on him, but the wolf was too strong and didn’t budge. The man would be dead in a matter of seconds.

  Cage ran up behind the wolf and slammed him upside the head. The sideways hit spun the werewolf around and knocked him out cold in an instant.

  Suddenly everyone was screaming, and the music had cut out.

  “What the fuck!” Cage heard Zane shout.

  The man who had been choked stood up and winked at cage. Fuck, it was a werewolf.

  The woman who had been crying suddenly turned to Zane and said, “My boyfriend was trying to break up a fight, and then this asshole came and knocked him out cold!” She was on the ground with the man Cage had knocked out, holding his hand. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “He’s breathing, but you have to call an ambulance! He might have a concussion!”

  A number of the wolves came over and showed mock concern.

  “It goes without saying,” Zane said to Cage, “that you’re fired.”

  One of the wolves grabbed Cage by the arm and then flashed a badge. “Police...I’m off duty, but I saw what happened. If you want to press charges, I can bring him in.”

  The woman nodded. “Yes. Press charges.” She winked at Cage.

  The police officer hissed into Cage’s ear as he cuffed him. “Don’t worry, I’m letting you off with a warning. From Mal.”

  He walked Cage through the club, and the wolves all scowled at him in mock indignation as he was escorted outside.

  The cop smelled like a werewolf, and Cage had never in his life heard of a werewolf cop. A bear cop, maybe, but not a werewolf.

  The wolf took him down an alley and uncuffed him.

  Mal stepped out of a shadow. “I guess your bouncer career is over. Lucky for
you the pay was shit, and I’ve got a nice opening for you, but the brackets are going to be locked in on Monday...so you better join soon. What do you say?”

  “No,” Cage said.

  “Fine. Your choice. But I’ll escalate things. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  CHAPTER 10

  REN

  Sales and marketing had a joint meeting, and Ren was excited. Andrea was supposed to follow up with Cabber—some Uber competitor—and set a meeting with them. She’d fallen behind and hadn’t done it, and she was likely to get called out on it during this meeting.

  Greg, the head of marketing, rambled about various accounts, and Ren paid attention, but only halfway. She was looking forward to her date on Saturday night, and the stuff Greg was talking about was only tangentially related to her anyway.

  “So,” she heard Greg say, “Andrea, where are we with Cabber?”

  Andrea sat bolt upright but didn’t look nervous. Ren smiled, waiting for her to bullshit and look bad.

  “Well,” Andrea said, “I’ve assigned Cabber to Ren. I haven’t had a chance to catch up with her on it, but I’m sure she’s made good progress.”

  What. The. Fuck. Was she seriously doing this?

  Ren stammered something and then said, “You didn’t assign that to me.... When did you—”

  Chad spoke up. “I was in the room, Andrea told you over a week ago, and you said you were on top of it. Did you not get around to it?”

  Ren opened her mouth but nothing came out.

  “Greg,” Andrea said, “I’m so sorry about this.... I shouldn’t have assigned this to Ren. She’s been struggling lately with time management, so I should have kept better tabs on her. I won’t let this happen again.”

  Greg sighed. “Fine. Ren, please take care of this by tomorrow. Now, what about Jibbler?”

  Andrea smiled at Chad.

  ***

  After the meeting ended, Ren stormed into Andrea’s office and slammed the door behind her.

  “Oh, my,” Andrea said. “If you ate doughnuts for breakfast—which I’m assuming you did—your blood sugar will crash and—”

  “Shut up!” Ren said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I said shut the fuck up!”

  “Ren, that is wildly inappropriate—”

  “You threw me under the bus. You and I both know you never assigned Cabber to me.”

  “Well, I’m pretty sure I did, and you just don’t remember. Chad said he remembered”

  “Chad? Really? The dude you’re having an affair with remembered hearing it? When are the three of us in the same room, anyway? The last time I remember that happening was when I saw him pinning you up against the wall in the copy room.”

  Andrea’s face flushed red.

  “Yeah,” Ren said, “I saw you. And I doubt your husband would be too happy about it.”

  “You wouldn’t—”

  “I would. So, if you don’t want that getting out, I’d recommend you stop bullying me. No more covering for you and you getting my sales, and I don’t want to hear a single fucking word about my weight or what I choose to eat. Got it?”

  Andrea nodded. Her lips were pressed tightly closed.

  Ren turned her back to Andrea and burst back outside with a spring in her step. Her heart was racing, and adrenaline surged through her. Holy shit, it felt good to put that bitch in her place.

  She felt a pang of guilt for resorting to blackmail, but really, what else could she have done?

  She had to go outside and get some fresh air...and text Mal.

  you’ll never guess what i just did

  She held her phone in her hand, waiting to see if he’d respond. Her hands were trembling. She saw the little “...” that indicated Mal was typing a response. Her eyes were glued to the screen.

  did you kick someone in the balls?

  She laughed and typed her response:

  yes! in the fucking ovaries! i can’t wait to tell you all about it

  His response came a few seconds later.

  and i can’t wait to hear it. see you saturday ;)

  She was tempted to call him and tell him all about it, but then she’d waste the story. She wanted to see his face when she told him. He’d be so proud of her, but better yet, she was so proud of herself. She’d taken his advice, and the results were amazing. Why hadn’t she stopped taking Andrea’s crap way before this?

  Mal was good for her, and she couldn’t wait to see what else he would do to her life.

  ***

  Ren didn’t walk home at night anymore. She’d finally confronted Andrea—with Mal’s help—and that showed she had strength. That was mental strength though. Mental fortitude wouldn’t stop the next guy who attacked or mugged her. She needed to learn to fight, and she still wanted Cage to train her.

  She’d worked out what the papers were all about by teasing the information out of Lisa during the pub roll last weekend.

  She waited in a well-lit area near the office for the cab she’d called. She gave the driver Lisa’s address, and during the short ride over she brainstormed her strategy.

  Lisa always got home sooner than Ren, because she was allowed to edit her transcriptions at home. Maybe Ren would need to learn to type 300 words per minute.... It seemed like such a cushy job.

  “Hey, Ren,” Lisa said. “Just dropping by?”

  “Yeah!” Ren flashed a winning smile. “Isn’t that what friends are for?”

  “Sure,” Lisa said. “Let me just tell the guy I was fucking to put some clothes on before you come in.”

  Ren’s face turned beet red. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry to barge in...I’ll go—”

  Lisa snickered. “I’m joking, but it could have happened! Remember that embarrassing feeling next time you don’t bother to at least text.”

  “Okay, point taken,” Ren said.

  They went into the living room, and Ren collapsed onto the couch. “Man, I’m so exhausted. Kicking my boss so hard in the balls really wore me out.”

  Lisa poured some coffee and handed Ren a cup. She seemed to always have hot coffee ready, regardless of the time of day. “You mean Andrea? Isn’t Andrea a woman?”

  “Figure of speech...but basically I blackmailed her, told her that I’d let leak her affair with Chad if she doesn’t stop bullying me. It was awesome.”

  Lisa sipped at her coffee. “Of course his name is Chad. Anyway...it sounds like you just bullied her back. Isn’t blackmail bullying?”

  Ren felt some anger flare up. Lisa was supposed to be on her side. “You know how she’s been treating me, Lisa. And it’s so hypocritical of her to use her family as an excuse for doing it when her actions show she doesn’t give two shits about her family.”

  “Did Mal put you up to this?”

  Why did Lisa always have to be so damn perceptive?

  “Uh,” Ren said, “if you’re not going to just cheerlead me on this, I’ll change the subject. Your brother put me up to something, and that’s why I’m actually here!”

  Lisa wheeled over to the table and grabbed some papers. “You’re talking about this?”

  So perceptive.

  Lisa sighed. “Like I didn’t know what you were fishing for the other night. Anyway, you realize that as soon as I sign these, he’s gone again? I’d rather have my brother than some empty house. Do you really want him gone that badly? As if you weren’t totally salivating over him when he rescued your ass?”

  Ren stood up and paced. The coffee was strong. “Here’s my plan. I made a deal with him, that if you sign those papers, he has to train me. I’ll just be sure that I learn very, very slowly. It will give you and me time to work him, to get him to want to stay here.”

  “I don’t know, Ren. Cage thinks it’s his fault I was hurt. Some fight he was supposed to throw but didn’t.”

  Ren stopped. “Seriously? That’s why he left? What if that’s true though?”

  “It’s not,” Lisa said.

  “Right,” Ren said, “because
the guy that hit you was drunk...and died in the crash.”

  Lisa sighed. “Well, Cage is paranoid. I think he does believe what he does, but deep down, it’s easier to not face something like this. I didn’t have the choice to run away from this.” Lisa tapped on her wheelchair. “So I did the only thing I could. I faced it. Cage had a choice to make, and he made the wrong one. I suppose it’s pointless to try to trap him here. I can’t force him to make the right decision.”