Page 66 of Bria and the Tiger

“What are you guys doing here?” Jace repeated.

“We were supposed to have lunch an hour ago,” Velma said. “We were worried when you didn’t show up and decided to check on you. You weren’t answering your cell phone.”

“I’m sorry. I forgot, but you can’t just walk into my house without knocking.” Jace ran a hand through his dark hair.

“We didn’t realize you had company,” his father said.

“Um, I,” Jace glanced at Bria, “this is Bria. Bria, these are my parents, Robert and Velma.”

“Oh, we’ve met,” Robert said cheerfully.

“Right.” Jace stared blankly at his bruised and bitten chest. “I’ll just, um, go grab a shirt.”

He turned, and Velma’s horrified gasp echoed through the small kitchen. “Oh, Jace!”

She turned an accusing stare to Bria.

Bria couldn’t hide her own look of horror. Jace’s back was even worse than his chest. It was completely covered in deep slashes, and her pulse beat thickly in her ears as she stared at the torn flesh and bruising. What the fuck had she done to him?

“It’s fine, Mom.” Jace left the kitchen.

Bria, blinking rapidly to hold back the hot tears, gave his parents a sick look of embarrassment. “I – I should go. I’m sorry.”

She ran from the kitchen and hurried into Jace’s bedroom. He was in the bathroom and she dressed quickly before grabbing her purse.

“Bria? What are you doing?” He came out of the bathroom, pulling a shirt over his head. She flinched again at the sight of his chest.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, “I – I didn’t mean to hurt you so badly.”

“You didn’t. It’s already starting to heal.”

“It was worse?” Her stomach rolled and for one moment she thought she was going to barf all over his bedroom floor.

“It’s okay.” He gave her a look of alarm. “Bria, sit down. I just need a minute with my parents and then we’ll talk about -”

“No,” she said. “I – I really need to go. I can’t, I mean I shouldn’t, stay any longer. Thank you for helping me. I’m so sorry about hurting you like that.”

“You don’t have your car here. Let me give you a ride home.”

“I can call an Uber.” She gave him another sick smile of shame. “Please tell your parents I’m sorry for making you miss your family lunch.”

* * *

“Bria, wait!”

Jace cursed under his breath as Bria ignored him and ran out of the bedroom. He punched the wall when he heard the front door slam shut. He took a few minutes to calm his tiger before returning to the kitchen. His mother was cooking some eggs and his father was sampling a piece of bacon from the frying pan.

He grinned at Jace as he crunched the bacon down. “She seems nice. Tiny for a tiger shifter but apparently quite the wildcat.”

Jace blushed and Velma whacked his father with the spatula. “Bobby, you’re embarrassing him. Grab some plates from the cupboard.”

As his father grabbed the plates and utensils, she smiled at Jace, but he could see the uneasiness lurking beneath the surface of her smile. “So, are you and Bria serious?”

“No.”

“You’re sure?” His dad said. “She looked pretty comfortable in your kitchen.”

“We’re not serious. I was just helping her through her heat.”

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