Page 101 of Bria and the Tiger

“She broke his heart. You ain’t gonna break his heart, are ya?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Good, good. Jace’s mama can’t stand to lose another of her boys.” Frieda sat back in her chair. “You know about Jonah?”

“Yes.”

“Real shame when he killed himself like that.”

Bria clenched her hands together in a tight fist. “Do you know why Jonah committed suicide?”

Frieda squinted at her. “Jace didn’t tell you?”

“He said that his brother had died but -”

“Jonah hung himself in his bedroom after his mate up and left him. Terrible time for that family. Not all that surprising though.”

“What do you mean?” Bria’s heart was bobbing around in her churning stomach acid.

“Depression runs on Velma’s side of the family. Her sister killed herself when she was – oh I don’t know – thirty-seven or thirty-eight. Then Jonah killed himself and then not six months later, that stupid idiot Tabitha broke Jace’s heart, and he got real depressed just like his big brother. We was all afraid that he was going to kill himself too.”

“Oh God,” Bria whispered. “What – what happened?”

“None of us really know.” Frieda shrugged. “Velma and Bobby are real close-mouthed about it. Most of us think they got Jace into some kind of therapy program, and then pumped him full of drugs to keep him happy. He’s seemed fine since, but he ain’t had a girlfriend since Tabitha and it’s been over two years now.”

She poked Bria on the arm. “You need to be real careful with him, and real sweet to him. He’s a good man but fragile. Velma and Bobby have worked hard to keep their baby boy safe and happy, and you can’t be messing that up. You hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Bria was barely listening to the old tiger shifter. She was studying Jace. She hadn’t known him very long, but he didn’t seem fragile to her. He seemed confident and strong. He grinned at something Reggie said to him, and she felt a surge of affection that was bordering dangerously close to love.

Shit, she wasn’t falling in love with Jace. She couldn’t be.

“Jace obviously ain’t my kid,” Aunt Frieda was still talking, “and I know how worried Velma and Bobby are about him, but I wouldn’t have been putting him on no drugs. He just needs to stop worrying so much and appreciate the good things in life. Not let his mommy and daddy pump him full of drugs.”

“I don’t think they can just pump him full of drugs,” Bria said. “Jace is a grown man and they can’t make him take medication against his will.”

Frieda made a snort of displeasure. “Either way, he don’t need no drugs. Between you and me, I think this depression thing is a load of hogwash. A person just needs to choose to be happy and quit this depression foolishness.

“It’s not a choice. It’s a chemical imbalance in the brain.” Bria continued to stare at Jace. His parents had tugged him away from Reggie and the other shifters, and were talking animatedly to him. “

“That’s just something doctors say so they can charge you for drugs and make a bigger paycheque. Kids nowadays are being drugged for everything. Why back in my day, if you were sad, you just pulled up your pants and got over it. Life can’t be sunshine and roses all the time.”

“Excuse me.” Bria stood and smiled faintly at Frieda before starting toward Jace and his parents. Jace looked both tired and upset, and she couldn’t ignore her tiger’s need to soothe him any longer.

* * *

“You said that Bria didn’t mean anything to you.” His mom was holding his father’s hand in a tight grip. “That’s what you said, Jace. You said she meant nothing to you.”

“No, I never said that. Dad said that.”

“You promised you weren’t dating her.” His mother clutched at his forearm with her free hand. “Honey, you can’t date her. Okay?”

“I’m not.” He hated seeing his mother so upset. “Bria’s here just to keep Marilyn off my back.” He glanced at his dad. “It was your idea, remember?”

“So, you’re just using Bria then, right?” His dad said.

Jace winced. “I’m not using her. She agreed to help me because we’re friends.”

“Just friends.” His mother said anxiously.

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