Alpha Tiger

Chapter 2-1

Chapter 2Her parents had a large house that had been part of her life longer than any other piece of scenery that she had ever been around. She had spent more time running around this house and walking around in the backyard, laying by the pool and thinking over things and crushing on boys, and panicking over homework and finals more than she had been anywhere else. So much of her life was written on the walls of this house and she was absolutely thrilled by its existence. She just didn’t like being locked inside of something that could possibly remember her.

But it was inevitable that she came running here. It wasn’t like there was anywhere else to escape to. She looked out the window at the sunny morning and knew that there was a long day ahead of her and that she needed to find something to do with herself.

She let out a sigh and knew that she was going to end up going into town eventually and that there was nothing left for her to do but to spin around in circles and get depressed about what her life was going to turn into. She figured that she had done enough of that and that it was time to get on with things. She knew that she was going to get depressed and cry sometimes, but she could postpone that until tonight. She was certain of it.

Walking upstairs, she grabbed her sunglasses, her phone, and a pair of wedges that didn’t make her look slutty, but definitely made her feet look cute. She looked at herself in the mirror and she knew that she was going to be fine. She had her debit card and she was set for spending a little bit of money and wandering around the town that she hadn’t seen for longer than driving through it in ten years.

She wished that David were here to keep her distracted. If there was one thing that her little brother was good for, it was to laugh and to take her mind off everything. As she walked down the stairs, she headed for the door and didn’t bother with locking it. You didn’t break into a Shifter’s house and if you did, you were an extremely stupid individual.

She closed the door behind her and she heard across the street as another door closed. She looked up and saw that the mysterious neighbor was coming out of his house. As she walked nonchalantly across the deck and headed straight for the steps, she glanced up and looked at him. He was a handsome man with dark, tan skin. He didn’t look like the Indian that she had been expecting, but he was tanner than she was.

She liked the look of his complexion and the dark black hair on his head. He wore it short and in a messy spike that looked really good for his style. She stared at his body as he wore a vintage Star Wars shirt and she shook her head at the nerdy implications. She loved it when hot guys had a goofy or nerdy side that they weren’t afraid to show. It was a kind of confidence that drove her wild.

It was odd that she was so attracted to him, but as she looked at his handsome features and his strong jaw, she couldn’t help but wonder who he was and what he was doing here. She walked down the walkway to the fence and stepped out onto the sidewalk. There was a part of her that was telling her that her life was a huge mess right now and the last thing that this guy was going to want was a woman who had huge issues and was in no shape or position to deal with her problems emotionally, but she still wanted to meet him anyway.

It felt like cheating on Chris as she walked across the street calmly and with all the composure that she had ever had. It was a nice day to go for a walk and as she crossed the street and mounted the sidewalk, she looked up and saw that she had caught his attention as he was heading for his car.

“Hi,” she said to him.

He was wearing a pair of aviators and pulled them off and looked at her with eyes that were wider and more possessed with emotion than she had ever seen before. They were piercing eyes and she liked the feeling of having them on her, meeting her own intense gaze as she looked at him and felt like she had found the holy grail of men. His eyes were dark, like onyx and they were beautiful, contrasting with the whites of his eyes that were clearly and spotless. She smiled and looked at him as he walked toward her, trying his hardest to keep his composure as he looked at her.

“Hi,” he said with a breathless voice.

She couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t have an accent, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t Indian. He could have been raised in America. What did it even matter anyway? Her father had said that and it was floating around in her mind, buzzing at her thoughts like some kind of annoying gnat that she wanted to swat and kill. She couldn’t think of anything more frustrating or annoying right now than that thought and she was trying her hardest to make sure that she didn’t have to think about anything other than how handsome this man was.

There was something deep inside of her, waking up and thinking that it was time to see this man. There was a primal urge inside of her, calling her to him and just by standing closer to him she felt like there was something better in the world. It felt like everything was right. She wanted to stand here, looking at him all day long, but she knew that she was going to start to freak him out if she didn’t start to speak to him, but there were no words in her mouth.

There weren’t even words in her mind. It was like everything had evacuated, hit the escape pods, and burst out into all different directions, trying to find some way to get away from her and abandon her to her own thoughts. She was terrified and frozen in the headlights. Staring at him and not sure what to say to him, she just kind of looked at him and offered a sheepish smile to him.

“I’m Danni,” she said after a moment. “I’m Jennifer and Richard’s daughter.”

“Oh,” he said, his voice was smooth and strong, like a stone that had been polished and cleansed by the river running over it. It was like his voice had been crafted by the words that had passed through his lips over the years and now he was given this deep, wonderful sound that she appreciated. “I’m Ty,” he said, holding out a hand for her.

She instinctively reached out and took his hand, something that she knew that she would never do if she wasn’t suddenly infatuated with the strange man who lived across the street. She took his hand and felt his strong grip, but it was restrained so that he wasn’t crushing hers. His fingers were powerful, but they were smooth, like he was a man who understood how to protect his hands and why it was important to take care of yourself. She liked the implications and as she felt her heart melting as she looked at him, she forgot where she was and that she was grinning like an i***t on the sidewalk.

“Hi, Ty,” she said, feeling his name in her mouth and tasting it. There was something that was just right about it and she loved that she had it right now. She wanted to hold on to it and to keep it safe on her lips. God, she looked at his lips and couldn’t help but wonder what it was like to feel his lips. Again, she felt the banging of reality, trying its hardest to get her to snap out of it and she did the best that she could. She blinked and smiled back at him again.

“My parents are having this block party for the street on the Fourth of July. They’re going to have dinner and I think you can see the harbor’s fireworks show from the back yard. I know that I used to be able to when I was a kid.”

“You lived there your whole life?” he asked her, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking at her like she was the only thing in the world right then and she loved the feeling that it buried deep in her heart. She liked feeling like she was the only woman out there.

“Yeah,” she said with a shrug. “I used to watch the fireworks by climbing out my window and sitting on the rooftop.”

“Sounds like a good time,” he said with a smile that was impossibly white. God, she felt like she was being pulled toward him. She felt like there was something magnetic inside of him that was calling to her, dragging her closer and closer to him without any way of fighting it. She didn’t want to. She liked that he was making her forget everything that was wrong with her life.

She liked feeling like there was hope in her life and that was all given to her from him.

“Maybe I’ll stop by,” he said with a shrug.

“That’s a weak answer,” she said with a playful frown. “Are you going to brush a girl off?”

He looked at her as he stood there and it was just a long enough pause that she wished that she had tried a little harder today and maybe he wouldn’t have been able to resist her. Damn her laziness and her wanting to mope around all day. As she languished in his gaze, she felt his smile spreading across his lips and it was like sunshine parting the clouds on a cold winter day.

“I wouldn’t dare,” he said.

“ ’kay,”she said with a goofy grin that felt like it was glued on her face and that she couldn’t get rid of it. She hated that it was there but she took that as her cue to leave. She had said her piece and she had seen what it was that she had come over here to see. She wanted to know what the new guy living in the Jenkins’ house looked like and she had found that out, to her own dismay. Now, she didn’t want to bore him by lingering and she didn’t want him to think that she was weird, which he probably already did. Figuring that she had done a lifetime of damage, she decided to head out on her way. “See you then, Ty,” she said warmly.

Turning and heading into town, her mind felt like it was getting ripped in two by the warring factions of her mind. As far as she was aware, there were three distinct and powerful forces at work in her head right now and they were vehemently fighting for control over her thoughts and her mind.

All she could think about was the fact that she had just met the most amazing guy in the world and that he was the most mysterious person that she had ever met and that intrigued her beyond control. She wanted to talk to him and she wanted to flirt with him. She wanted to find out if he had a girlfriend and if so, how serious was it? She wanted to know if she had a shot with him or if they would be doomed immediately. She wanted to know other things—deeper things, things that made her blush when she thought about them.

She wanted to have experiences with him and to be able to have someone here who could distract her from the troubles of her life, but she wanted more than that. She wanted a man who was there and would be willing to help drag her out of her problems and give her hope. She couldn’t help but wonder if Tyler was that man.

But there was also the thoughts in her mind that she was distracting herself from the realities of the situation and that was why she came there to run away. She was here, in her hometown, for the sole purpose of recharging, regrouping, and coming up with a strategy that was going to get her out on her own might and to give her something that she could fight for. If she was going to sit here and languish, she was at least going to figure out how she was going to get out of this situation on her own.

She knew that whatever guy she met to try and rebound with or to justify herself was only going to distract her and give her an emotional crutch that would eventually be pulled out from under her and she would then inevitably be left to face the struggles and the problems of her life that were still there. She was going to have to deal with these problems eventually and she had come here to be a strong, independent woman who could handle things on her own. She could get over this and she didn’t need a boy toy to do that.

But then the third and final faction reared its ugly head and she was left with the understanding that she was here because she was grievously hurt and she was afraid that the end was nigh. This morning, she was worried and horrified about what the implications of her running away meant.