Shifter Marriage Pact (Midlife Shifters Book 6) Page 2

  He started spending more time in the city, and I suspected there was someone else, but I didn't ask. I didn't care. When he asked for a divorce, I was fine with it. By the time the house sold, I had moved to my parents' old place on pack lands, eager to get back to the country setting I'd grown up in and lose myself in nature. I hadn't seen my parents in a while. We'd just begun to get reacquainted when they had died, my father of a sudden heart attack and my mother of a broken heart, it seemed.

  Of course, she'd always had a broken heart, her first and only litter of pups stillborn, all but one. She'd never been able to have more and the one she'd clung to had abandoned her. It made me sad to think how my choices had hurt her, but it was nothing I could change. There are no do-overs in life, and now, at the age of forty-two, I was running out of time to start my own family. I'd wasted too much time trying and failing. It was another thing I'd just have to accept, another thing I couldn't go back and change.

  The sound of a truck rumbling down the old backroad that led to my place jarred me from my thoughts. I looked up, squinting against the sun to see. I braced myself for the encounter as I saw the tow truck come into view and pull over behind me on the side of the road.

  "Well, if it isn't Terri Jayne Waters come back to slum it with her old pack. I thought you were too good for this place, TJ?"

  "Your words, not mine," I replied.

  After all these years, Carson McNabb was still an impressive man. He was muscular, but not in that no-neck, I-go-to-the-gym-daily way. His fitness regime came from manual labor, both at the custom shop our pack ran and on his family farm. I'd seen him carry more weight on his shoulders than most men could with a lift. The thought of it was creating an unwelcome sensation that made me quickly divert my attention back to my car.

  "Can you work on her for me?" I asked, nodding toward the car.

  "I'm sure I can. What happened to her?"

  "I don't know. She just sputtered and quit. I managed to get her pulled over off the road before she died completely."

  "I can't believe you still have this thing. It's what? A 74 Sunbug?"

  "Yep. Listen, Carson. I can't afford the work right now. I'm waiting on Mom and Dad's estate to come through, but I'm good for it. Can the shop float me some credit?"

  I realized I had blurted the words out. I hated to ask, hated having to show vulnerability to him like this. I should have asked someone else, but despite how Carson and I might feel about one another, I trusted him. He transcended our childhood friendship and the fling of our youth. That had been over twenty years ago, water under the bridge.

  "I'm sure we can, TJ," he said, not commenting further.

  Instead, he opened the back of the VW and looked around for a moment before closing it again, turning to her with a grimace.

  "Looks like a real shitshow in there, TJ. I'm not sure it's worth fixing."

  "I can't afford a new car, and you know this one was my mother's."

  "Yes, I remember. I'll do what I can. Let me get her hooked up and I'll pull her to the shop. I'll do the work myself and just charge you for parts, no labor."

  "You don't have to do that. I'll pay whatever it costs ... eventually."

  He didn't reply. Instead, he walked back to the truck and jumped in, turning it around and backing it up into position to retrieve the car. I watched as he hooked up the tow bar and locked everything into place, once again struck by how incredibly attractive he still was after all this time. I felt that old pull toward him and bit my lip to recenter myself. Carson McNabb was not what I needed in my life right now.

  "Alright, hop in the truck and I'll take you back to the shop with me. I was about to leave when Josh told me to come fetch you anyway. I can drop you off at home on my way to my house once we've dropped off the car. I'll look at it in the morning."

  "Thanks," I replied, not looking forward to spending too much time with him but stuck with it.

  I thought he was just being neighborly, as his farm sat beside my parents’ property, well mine now, I guess, but I soon found out he had other things on his mind as we traded the tow truck and my car for his shiny new Ford F150 and headed out again. There was an awkward silence as both of us seemed to be lost in our own thoughts. We were nearly at my place when he finally spoke.

  "Listen, I've got a proposition for you," he said.

  "A proposition?"

  "Yeah. You need your car fixed up, and let's face it, I could do some patchwork, but it needs a whole new engine and some other stuff. How about we barter a bit?"

  "I can't imagine what I have that I could barter enough of to pay for that kind of car repairs. I'll be growing your vegetables and making you pickles for the next century."

  "No, there is something else I need, and I hadn't considered it fully until I saw you sitting there on the back of your Mom's old bug."

  "Well, spit it out then, McNabb," I told him.

  "I need a wife."

  I just stared at him for a moment, bewildered. Was he asking me to marry him? Or was he asking me to fix him up with someone who might want to marry him? Either way, it was awkward.

  "I, um, I don't understand," I stammered.

  "No, not a real wife. I need someone I can trust to pose as my wife. Well, technically, we would get married with all the paperwork and stuff for proof, but when it’s over, we will get a divorce and go our separate ways."

  "I just got a divorce two years ago. What makes you think I want to fake-marry you, and why would you even want me to?"

  I listened as he explained the Alpha position and why he needed to be married to even participate in the selection games. Still, it was a lot to consider. Marrying Carson was far from what I'd had in mind when I'd come here, fake or otherwise.

  "Carson, that's crazy."

  "Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but I don't know anyone else I can ask for such a thing."

  "And you think that I would do it just because I need my car fixed?"

  "You do need your car fixed, but I think you would do it because we have history. We ended things on a shit note, but we used to be friends. We used to be a lot more than that."

  "‘Used to be’ is right. We've been avoiding even talking to one another for years, and now you want to get married? Who would even believe we were legit?"

  "We would make them believe. Come on, TJ. I need this. I'm getting older, and I want to do something besides work on cars for the rest of my life. I want to build this pack back up to what we used to be before we turn into some mangy mutts like the Sugar Creek Wolves."

  We had arrived at my house but sat in the driveway in his truck, still talking. I pursed my lips, considering it, and then sighed. It was a lot to think about.

  "Why don't you come in for a bit? I'll make us some dinner and we'll have a few drinks. I'm not making any promises, but I'll discuss it with you. Besides, I owe you a meal for helping me out with the car."

  "I'll take you up on that," he said, turning off the truck.

  Over dinner, we talked about it from all angles.

  "How long would this go on?"

  "A year and a half at the most," he replied.

  "A year and a half?” I gasped.

  "Well, the games are in a year and I'd need you to stay with me for at least six months afterward for the looks of it. After that, we could just say you didn't like being the wife of an Alpha and we'll file for divorce. No one will be the wiser. Of course, if I don't get Alpha, then it would be over once the games are decided.”

  I took a sip of my wine and considered this. I didn't have another year and a half to lose. Of course, the downside was that it might take me that long to find a suitable mate to have children with. I could go to a donor bank and get human sperm, but some part of me wanted my child to be a part of this pack, and that meant having a Black Fang as at least a sperm donor.

  "TJ?"

  I realized I'd zoned out for a bit, my thoughts running rampant.

  "I'm sorry. I was thinking about something else for a m
oment."

  "Just tell me what it would take to get you to do this for me," he said.

  I could hear the desperation in his voice. Like me, he had no desire to be in a relationship and just needed things to appear a certain way. I realized that we both needed something, and this might be the answer to getting what we both wanted.

  "I want children."

  "I'm sorry. What?"

  "Children. That's my price. I will fake marry you, but in exchange, I want children."

  "So, you're putting sex back on the table?"

  "No. No sex. We will do some sort of artificial insemination. There's a clinic up in Nashville we can go to that will do it discreetly, and no one will ever know."

  "Wow, TJ. I'm not sure becoming a father fits into my whole fake-marriage-and-cut-ties scenario."

  "You won't be a father. This will be my family, not yours."

  "So, you want me to be a sperm donor for you to have babies with no strings attached to me as the father?"

  "Yes. Once I get the settlement money from my parents’ estate, then I will be able to afford to care for them on my own. We'll sign an agreement that you give up parental rights."

  "I don't know, TJ. An Alpha that gives up his kids?"

  "No. An Alpha who married a woman who decided to divorce him and have kids on her own. We can wait until we are near the end of our agreement to do the insemination."

  "That might work. Okay. Deal. Let's work out the details and do this."

  I picked up my wine and took a huge drink. What the hell was I doing? A part of me was terrified, but another part felt nothing but glee that I might finally become a mother. Having Carson as the sperm donor was just a bonus. On the practical side, he was good-looking, smart, witty, and physically impressive—all the things you could ask for from a genetic standpoint. From a more personal angle, I trusted him to keep up his end of the bargain.

  He would never try to take my kids or cause problems for me after our deal was done. He might have broken my heart once, but we had both been young. We’d avoided each other for years, but I’d never once doubted that he would have my back if I ever needed him for anything. We had a love-hate relationship, which is why I had called him for the car and dreaded doing so.

  “Also, I’ll need a car until mine is fixed.”

  “Well, you aren’t getting my truck. I don’t want to be Alpha that badly.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Positive. Some things are sacred. You don’t just ask a man for his truck.”

  “So, you’re saying your truck is more sacred than the holy bonds of matrimony.”

  “Damned straight.”

  “You’re going to hell, Carson,” I teased.

  “That’s fine. I’ll be driving a really nice truck on the highway there,” he shot back.

  I laughed. For a moment, it felt like old times, but then there was silence. It was awkward again.

  “All right, I’ll stop by and pick you up in the morning on my way to work. We’ll find you a vehicle to take while yours is getting work done. Do you need anything else before I go?”

  “Nope. Are you safe to drive?” I asked, eying the two empty bottles of wine we’d finished off while hashing things out.

  “Probably not. I’ll just take the path.”

  “You could leave your truck here and just walk across the path.”

  “Fat chance,” he said, laughing as he headed out the front door and walked to his truck.

  I watched him leave, wondering what the hell I thought I was doing agreeing to this with him. At the end of the day, we were both getting something, and no one would think twice about two old flames suddenly reuniting and getting hitched. I’d been here two years now, and we lived within sight distance of one another. For all they knew, we’d been seeing each other for a while now.

  I went inside and closed the door, pulling another bottle of wine out of the cabinet. I only had twenty dollars, but I had a whole cabinet full of liquor I hardly ever drank. My parents had left it behind, and I didn’t like drinking alone. I hadn’t made any friends since my return, so it had been going to waste. It was nice to have someone to share some of it with, even if that person was Carson.

  Chapter Three

  Carson

  "So, I hear good news is in order and you've been banging your old flame," Josh said as I handed him the final tally on the '65 custom work.

  "Don't talk about TJ like that," I replied, trying to sound offended and pulling it off since I did find it a bit rude.

  "Whoa. A bit touchy today, aren't you, buddy?" Josh teased.

  "Did I ever tell you that I fucked your wife once before you got married?" I said in a flat tone.

  "What the fuck?" Josh replied, his face turning red with anger.

  "See? No one likes to hear someone talk about the woman they love in such crass terms."

  Josh continued to look at me with a hint of suspicion as I finished up the work on TJ’s car. It had taken me nearly a week, and I'd given her the promised loaner to get around in while it was in the shop, but I'd completely rebuilt the engine and upgraded it as much as was possible with a car older than she was. I'd added a set of new tires to replace the bald ones she was rolling around on, as well.

  "You didn't, though, right? You're just fucking with me," Josh persisted.

  "Yes, Josh. I'm just fucking with you. Your wife is an angel. Listen, I'm gonna knock off for the day and take TJ's bug back to her. I'll pick up the loaner and bring it back tomorrow when I come in, so don't strip my truck down for parts before I get back."

  "We'll see."

  He smiled and clapped me on the shoulder before walking back to his office. I wouldn't be surprised if he called her and asked if she'd ever had a thing with me. Josh was mostly a good guy, but he forgot about boundaries sometimes. It was good for him to get reminded a bit harshly, and his wife would certainly set him straight, which made me chuckle.

  I arrived at TJ’s to find her crawling around her garden on her hands and knees, pulling up weeds and tossing them out to one side. How she managed to look drop-dead gorgeous with her hair on top of her head in a messy knot and covered in dirt was beyond me, but I couldn't let her good looks distract me from my goals. We had an arrangement, nothing more and nothing less.

  "You're going to shower before the wedding, right?" I asked.

  "I don't know. I was thinking I might marry you looking just like this," she replied, hauling herself up to stand in the middle of her patch of whatever it was she was growing there.

  Despite having grown up on the farm next door, I had no clue about vegetables. We'd been more into livestock than greenery at our place. Her parents had grown world-class produce and sold it to the locals. They'd both been teachers, and gardening was just a part-time gig for them, but they seemed to have passed on their green thumbs, if not their thirst for higher education. Unless she'd done so later in life, TJ had chosen marriage over college. I’d heard from my parents that she’d started but then dropped out to marry the human she’d run away with. It was only later, during the marriage, that I’d returned to finish my degree.

  "Doesn't exactly scream giddy bride, does it?"

  "Where's your sense of humor, Carson? Don't worry. I'll play my part. I bought a dress and everything."

  "A dress? For a bar wedding?"

  "Just because we're having a quicky fake marriage in a bar doesn't mean I can't look like a proper bride."

  "Does this mean I have to go out and buy a tux and shit now?"

  "Don't be ridiculous. It's just a simple dress, nothing like the monstrosity I got married in the first time. Anyway, what brings you by?" she asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead off onto her sleeve.

  "I brought you your car. I'll take the loaner back with me."

  "Great. How much is this going to set me back then?"

  "Nothing."

  "Nothing? Did you steal the parts?"

  "I did not. Consider it a wedding gift for my futur
e wife."

  "Now you're just being sarcastic. Come on, give me a price. I didn't ask you for charity."

  "It's not charity. It's a gift, like I said. You're doing me a huge favor, and this is a little extra payment for it. That's all."

  "Stubborn as always, I see," she shrugged. "Well, thanks then. I'll go get you the keys to that Mom wagon you loaned me."

  "Shouldn't you get used to having a Mom wagon? I mean, you aren't going to be able to fit a litter of pups into your mother's Volkswagen."

  "True, but I don't have to worry about that just yet, now do I?"

  "I suppose not."

  She retrieved the keys from the house while I waited outside, looking around at how much work the place still needed. She'd be working on this place until she died. It had really been let go in her parents’ later years. I'd been shocked when I heard she'd moved back into it and felt bad when I learned they’d died shortly after that. I’d wanted to go to the funeral, but it felt somehow out of place considering our history and her newly divorced state.

  I think I was afraid that the part of me that would always care about TJ would forget himself and try to console her in the wrong way. The last thing I ever wanted was for her to feel I’d taken advantage of her during a tough time. Then again, that wasn’t far off what I was doing. I was kind of glad she asked me for something that was a pretty big deal in exchange for her help. It made it feel less one-sided. We were both doing one another a huge favor.

  I was jarred from my thoughts as she jingled the keys to the minivan in front of me. I realized I’d been in a zone, lost in my thoughts.

  "Here you go. Thanks again," she said, looking at me awkwardly once I took the keys and didn't turn to leave.

  "I guess I'll see you Saturday then," I told her.