Page 30 of Beau (Sheppard’s Shadow #5)

“What are you anyway?” He told her that he was a light colored jaguar.

“I don’t know what that means either. Light colored?

” He explained to her what he meant and how Rogen, his brother Weston’s wife, was a dark jaguar.

“I see, but that still doesn’t mean that I want to be your slave.

Or have anything to do with you at all.”

“I don’t blame you.” He moved to get more of the furniture, and she let him.

When he pulled off one of the last few pieces, she helped him load it on the trolley that they were using to get things up the front stairs.

“I’m considered quite a catch by some of the women in town.

Not that I have dated all that many of them. But that’s what I heard.”

“Like I care.” Once he had it up the stairs, she went back to the truck to help with something else. He disappeared into the darkness of the house, and she tried her best to forget about him and being his mate. Like that was going to happen anytime soon.

When the truck was empty she closed the doors and waited for someone to sign off on the work order.

She had to have someone sign it, or she didn’t get paid.

As he came out of the house, she noticed that he was better looking in the bright light of the moon.

Not that she’d say that to him, but it was something that she could think about.

Later, not tonight. She still had to go to the warehouse where she had to bring a load back from.

And she was going to leave tonight if she had enough hours to go.

By the time he’d signed off on the paperwork, she was about as pissed off as she could be. Who the hell did he think he was telling her that she was his mate? She didn’t need a man in her life, nor did she want one.

Getting in her truck to leave, she was stopped once again because she forgot to get the furniture blankets that had wrapped the things up that she’d brought.

As she was pulling out of the driveway, she saw him staring at her through the side mirror.

She wondered what he could be thinking and decided that she didn’t care.

As she’d told him, her life was fine just the way it was.

It took her less than an hour to get to the warehouse, where she was picking up a return load.

Since they were closed up to loading, she decided to get into her bed and try to get a little rest. It wasn’t as stressful as it used to be driving a big rig; she was getting used to it, but it did exhaust her when she had to help unload something like furniture.

She was just waking up when her cell phone rang.

Groaning when she realized it was her father, she answered with her name and nothing more.

He’d either be pissed off and hang up because she only said Rothchild, or he’d talk to her about whatever was going on in his life at the moment. She didn’t want to talk to him today.

“I think I have the gout.” She asked him what his symptoms were. “I don’t have any that the internet says I should, but I know that I have it. It’s in my feet. That’s the most common one.”

“What does it tell you to do to get rid of it? And so you know, I’m working right now and don’t have time to go over all the symptoms that you might or might not have.” He called her ungrateful. “Of course I am. Why do you even bother calling me when you have some kind of ailment?”

“I wish you were a son. He’d have more sympathy toward my illnesses.” She said he had a son. “Well, he’s busy working. What you do isn’t work, Demi. It’s a waste of time with your education that I paid for.”

“You didn’t pay anything for my education; I had scholarships.

And I like this better than being a doctor in a place that doesn’t appreciate me.

Sort of like you don’t.” He sputtered around, calling her ungrateful again.

“If I’m so ungrateful, why do you call me all the time?

I’m sure you have better conversations with Liam and Dan. ”

“I do, but they don’t have the wherewithal to help me when I have something wrong with me.

You’re just jealous because I love them more than I do you.

” He’d said that to her before. And while it still hurt deep in her heart, she didn’t say anything to him about the pain he’d inflicted on her. “Did you hear me?”

“I heard you, and believe it or not, I don’t care anymore.

It’s not like you’re going to take out an ad in the newspaper about how much you dislike your daughter.

And if you did, what good would that do you?

None. If you have gout, which I don’t believe that you do, then stop drinking, lower the acidic foods that you’re eating, and see a real doctor, as this one is no longer going to be yours. ”

Hanging up on her father always felt good for about two seconds, then she felt terrible and wanted to call him back and tell him how sorry she was.

She wouldn’t. She’d done that once before, and all it had caused her was grief.

Getting out of the truck to see when she was going to be loaded, she left her cell phone in the rig and walked the distance to the building to get her information.

By the time she was ready to leave with her load, she was pissed off again.

They’d made her wait until noon even though she’d been at the door since eight in the morning.

Getting her paperwork finished up, she was finally on her way at one in the afternoon and wondering how she was going to be able to make her truck payment without having to dip into her savings.

It couldn’t be helped, she supposed. But then there was plenty of money in her account to pay off the truck; she just liked living on the edge.

Laughing at herself, she was nearly to the next stop when her cell rang again.

She didn’t recognize the number, so she didn’t answer.

It would be just like her father to use someone else’s phone just to trip her up.

Being off on the weekend made it so that she could go to her condo for a few days.

She had plenty to do there, laundry and cleaning up her rig.

She wasn’t messy at all, but she did like to get her sheets washed when she could and clean the windows of the rig.

They’d get really dirty when she was traveling.

The windows, she told herself, not her sheets.

She’d nearly forgotten to check her messages when she got home.

There were two from the estate that she’d picked up things from.

They wanted her to take the next load to the client, and she was going to refuse.

All she needed was to hang out with Jameson again so that he could begin his knocking her around as his slave.

She had more important things to do, like going to the dentist rather than being around a jerky guy like him.

The next time her phone rang, she answered it knowing that it was going to be either her father or her brothers.

They would want something from her, and she’d turn them down, then they’d call her again.

It was a never-ending thing with them, trying to get off the phone for one ailment or another that they claimed that they had.

Answering the phone with a snarl of her name, she was surprised when the person at the other end laughed.

“It’s Jameson Sheppard. You have wonderful phone manners.

” She asked him what he wanted. “They said that they’re having trouble with the delivery of the rest of my stuff, and I was to call you and convince you to take the load.

I have no idea why they thought that I could get you to do it, but I said that I’d try. ”

“It’s my days off.” He said that he was sorry and would get someone else to deliver it. “Never mind. I’m hiding from my family right now, so I’ll go get it. I can have it for you, provided that it’s loaded for you tomorrow morning. Will that suit you?”

“That’s perfect. I’ll have my brothers on standby to help again. They sort of owe me.” She didn’t want to ask, but found herself asking if it had been a joke, her being his mate. “No, that part is true. But we can talk about it when you get here.”

“No, thanks. I told you that I don’t want a mate at all, and that’s the way it’s going to be from now on.

” He didn’t say anything, and she thought about the way she’d said it.

No wonder she didn’t have any friends, she thought that if that was the way she spoke to them all the time.

“I’ll be there tomorrow morning. We can talk if you want, but I’m not going to be your mate.

As I said, I have better things to do with my life than to be a slave to some man who thinks I’m stupid. ”

“All right, we’ll talk then. But I know you’re not stupid, so I would never say that to you.

” When he hung up the phone, she felt angry.

Then the guilt that she’d treated him like she had her father settled in.

Christ, she thought, she was never going to be in a good mood for more than an hour at a time if she kept this up.