The Bigger They Are… (Lovers on the Fringe, Book Two) (9 page)

“But Jenna—”

“Don’t ‘but Jenna’ me.” She held up her index finger and Mike looked like a puppy she’d just taken the newspaper to. “Open. The. Car.”

With a huge sigh, Mike trudged over to the car, pulled keys out of his pocket and fumbled around until he got the right key in the slot.

The hatch popped open.

Fry didn’t move and a quick blast of fear swept through Andy that his friend was actually hurt. Then he caught a whiff of alcohol.

Not hurt. Drunk.

How the hell much did Fry drink last night? Not that it took much to knock the guy out. Alcohol did funky things to the fae.

“My god, Mike, did you hurt him?”

“No! Of course I didn’t.” Mike actually looked affronted that she’d even think that. “But I let him have the bottle of moonshine I had in the car. You remember that trip your brother and I took to Kentucky a few months ago? To track down that Bigfoot sighting? Well, we kinda got lost and stumbled onto this illegal moonshine ring. They held us hostage for a few hours before they realized we weren’t with the Feds. Then they gave us a couple of bottles and told us where they’d actually seen a Sasquatch. We didn’t find anything that night and it took us two days to find our way out of the forest. We must not have followed their directions right.”

Andy choked on another laugh. He’d bet those moonshiners had been hoping Joss and Mike would never make it out alive. Probably figured the moonshine and the forest would take care of them. Joss’ uncanny luck had struck again, apparently.

Jenna lifted one hand to rub at her temples as her eyes closed and a long, deep sigh issued from her lips. When she spoke, she formed each word carefully, as if she might trip over them.

“Mike. Please help the man out of your trunk.”

Mike’s mouth fell open in shock. “But he might fly away.”

Another sigh and her cute little teeth sank into her bottom lip before she took another deep breath. “Mike. If you don’t get that guy out of your car, I’m going to call the cops and the only flying anyone will do is you through the legal system and straight into the loony bin!”

Looked like Jenna had reached her breaking point. Not that Andy could blame her. He’d get frustrated if he had to deal with this yahoo.

Mike blinked up at her, frozen like a deer in headlights. An angry Jenna definitely was a sight to behold. Her eyes blazed with heat, her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. When she put her hands on her hips, her breasts jutted out and nearly made his tongue fall out of his mouth.

Fry chose that moment to regain consciousness. He yawned, tried to stretch before he realized he didn’t have enough room then sat up with a jaw-cracking yawn.

He had Jenna’s and Mike’s full attention as Fry threw his legs over the end of the car and rubbed at his eyes…with the ends of his wings.

Andy heard Jenna gasp. And Mike said, “See? I told you he was a fairy.”

Then Mike turned to Andy, his head cocked to the side. Andy had seen that expression before.

It was the look true believers got when first confronted with proof that there were little green men. Only they didn’t come from Mars. More like Ireland.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Andy just stared back.

Then, since he couldn’t resist, he flipped the switch. For five seconds, with Jenna’s attention solely on Fry and Andy completely out of her sightlines, he shifted into his Yeti form.

His body grew taller and broader, his form closer to a bear. His shaggy white fur gleamed in the sunlight and Andy bared a mouthful of sharp teeth in a shit-eating grin.

Five seconds was usually all it took for the yokels to realize what had happened. Unless they were dumber than the average yokel.

Apparently Mike was average. His mouth dropped open as his eyes widened. He literally froze, like a kid playing statue. Andy wanted to laugh but knew he’d give himself away with his growl.

Then Andy flipped the switch again and Mike gave a high-pitched squeal worthy of a tween girl who’d just found out her parents still had sex.

Jenna didn’t appear to hear him or, if she had, she totally ignored him.

Moving to her side, Andy knew it was time for the reckoning. Because Jenna was not your average yokel. She might be the smartest person he’d ever met. Her brain never stopped working.

Except for right now when she looked like Eymorgs had stolen her brain, just waiting for someone to press a button and turn her on again.

“Hey, Andy.” Fry grinned up at him from the car, his eyes bleary and his grin lopsided. “What the hell happened to you last night, buddy? You disappeared and I had to take care of those tengu all by myself.”

Jenna blinked again then looked between him and Fry. Between that blink and the next, Jenna’s brain began to compute.

And what she came up with equaled a hell of a lot more than four.

“Why does this man have wings?”

“Jenna…”

Mike tried to break into the conversation at that point but Jenna held up one hand and Mike closed up like a clam when she turned her sharp gaze on him.

“How did you know to look for me in Andy’s cottage? Joss called this morning to tell me to go home. After he practically begged me to come up here and check out…this town.”

Andy caught her slight hesitation and knew exactly what she’d been going to say. Joss had somehow found out about the Mystyk and sent Jenna to investigate. She’d been blissfully unaware of what she’d been about to stumble onto and now she was going to be either pissed off or scarred for life.

There was no way out of this situation without a little heartache for either of them. He just hoped Jenna didn’t freak. He hated when women he really liked freaked out because they’d slept with him.

He’d been hoping he could see her again.

Damn it, he really didn’t want this to be the end of their relationship. He
liked
Jenna. They had a connection that went beyond a geek’s love of
Star Trek
.

But first he had to deal with Mike, because ole Mikey was hiding something.

And he wasn’t doing a very good job of it if the flush covering his face was anything to go by.

“Joss was worried about me. Why was that, Mike?”

Seems Jenna had come to the same conclusion Andy had. That the only trouble Jenna was in was from Mike.

Which proved to be only too true when Mike pulled a gun. The hand holding the gun shook so much, Andy didn’t think the guy would be able to hit the broad side of a barn. But at this close distance, he wouldn’t even have to aim. A wild shot could hit any of them.

“Joss was worried I’d find the truth about the Mystyk before you did. And he was right. Now I’m going to be the one who gets the TV and book deals. I’m going to be famous. Everyone will talk about me when I show them a real, live fairy.”

“I do prefer fae,” Fry pointed out from the back of the Gremlin, where he continued to sit. “Fairy has such a distasteful connotation these days. Of course—”

“Fry.” Andy kept his voice in a pleasant,
everything’s just fine
tone. “Could we discuss this after the nice man has put the gun away?”

Fry hiccupped then covered his mouth with his hand to cover a burp. “Of course. But why does the nice man have a gun? That doesn’t seem very nice to me.”

Mike waved the gun in Andy’s direction as if he was going to twirl it baton-style. “I have a gun because I’ll shoot you with it if you don’t do what I say.”

Andy would do anything as long as the guy didn’t point the gun in Jenna’s direction again. He held up his hands in classic “Dude, don’t shoot me” position.

But Jenna… Jenna wasn’t taking any shit.

Before he realized what she was about to do, Jenna pulled back her arm and cold-cocked Mike.

In a scene worthy of an 80s
Power Rangers
episode, the gun flew out of Mike’s hand and landed in Fry’s lap, who brushed it onto the ground and under the car. Mike went down in a heap.

And Jenna began to curse like a sailor as she shook out her hand before she turned to him.

“I want to know what’s going on right now.” Without glancing away from Andy, she put her hand out toward Mike, who’d made a slight motion toward getting up. “You move and I will make sure you sing soprano for life.”

Andy sighed. “You know all those things you’re brother believes in? They’re true.”

Then he flicked the switch again.

Jenna didn’t think her mouth could open any wider than it was right now.

I
so
owe Joss an apology.

It was the only thing she could think as the creature that had once been Andy raised a shaggy paw and waved at her.

Like Chewbacca. Damn, he looked like a freaking Wookie.

A white wookie, actually. And strangely…cute. Shaggy white fur that didn’t look straggly at all. Actually it looked as if it’d been recently brushed. Like a show dog before judging.

Behind her, she heard something fall to the ground. And the fairy—sorry, the fae, began to laugh. “Well, that’s one way to shut the guy up.”

“I…I…”

Her brain kept trying to tell her that that…creature…was Andy.

Andy was the Abominable Snowman. No, wait…what did Joss call them? Yetis.

Yeah. Sure. Andy was a Yeti. Made perfect sense.

Bumbles bounce.

She blinked as the world began to darken, despite the fact that the sun was shining overhead. Passing out became a distinct possibility.

“Uh, Andy? She’s looking a little…pasty.”

She turned to look at the guy with the wings and couldn’t help but grin when he waved at her with the tip of one of those beautiful, blue-tinted appendages.

Holy crap. The guy had blue wings.

And the man she’d slept with last night was a Yeti.

She had to tell Joss. She had to apologize for not believing in him. For occasionally thinking he was a crackpot and secretly patting herself on the back for being the sane sibling.

Joss was going to be a millionaire. A superstar. Forget about a cable show, he was going to make movies and…and…

She blinked and Andy stood in front of her again as a man. The hunky man he’d been before he’d turned into a seven-foot, white-haired snow monster.

Or—

No. She was going crazy. That’s all there was too it.

“Jenna, I think you need to breathe,” Andy said.

She automatically sucked in a deep breath and realized she’d been about to hyperventilate.

“What are you?”

She had to hear him say it. Had to know she wasn’t going crazy and seeing things that weren’t really there.

Andy’s chin went up and he drew himself to his full height, an impressive sight.

Then he bowed and Jenna had the urge to curtsy.

“I’m a member of the Yeti tribe. My home is in Nepal but most of the younger tribe members no longer live in the village of our ancestors.” His voice had taken on the cadence of the guy who narrated a lot of the whacked-out shows on the History Channel, odd breaks and all. “Now we travel the world, spreading—”

Fry reached out and smacked his arm.

“Please excuse him.” Fry’s words still slurred a bit and, combined with the accent, she was charmed. “He tends to get a little ferklempt,”
hic, “
when he talks about his roots.”

Andy shrugged. “Well, it’s kind of cold in Nepal and we get kind of sick of snow and all the freakin’ tourists. Yeah, we’ve got fur coats when we want them, but it’s still getting crowded in our neck of the woods.”

“And you’re really a…a Bigfoot?”

“No, my cousin’s a Sasquatch. I’m a Yeti.”

“Of course he is.”

“Jenna, you know I would never hurt you, right?”

She rolled her eyes at him. The thought hadn’t even had time to cross her mind, and now… Well, of course he wouldn’t hurt her. The guy who’d rocked her boat last night wouldn’t hurt her. And neither would the hulking, seven-foot white wookie. “Did you ever meet George Lucas?”

As Fry nearly fell out of the back of the car laughing, Andy’s adorable face screwed up in a frown. “Uh, no, I don’t think— Oh, wait. You think I’m a freakin’ wookie?”

Uh-oh. Jenna bit into her bottom lip at his offended tone. “I’m sorry. I actually think they’re cute.”

Fry did fall out of the car then, blue wings wrapped around his shoulders as he howled with laughter.

“Jenna,” Andy started then stopped to shake his head. “I’m sorry too. I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”

Damn, she totally knew where this was going. When a guy started telling you he was sorry for something, either he was about to tell you he’d cheated on you or he was dumping you.

And since it couldn’t be the first, all things considered, it had to be the second. Which totally sucked, even though she understood. Really, she did.

What had she been expecting anyway? A lifelong commitment? She’d gone into this with the idea that it would be a fling and that was what she’d gotten.