Behind The Alpha Book 5 Deacon

(Chapter song ‘Juke-Joint Jezabel’ by KMFDM, ‘The Hanging Tree’ by The City of Prague philharmonic orchestra)

JENNY

I don’t know what I was thinking. I was caught in the moment. Kissing Deacon was the furthest thing from my mind when the race started, but after, I don’t know what came over me. Now, he’ll never let me live it down. He’s going to expect something, I can feel it.

I need to handle this responsibly. I’ll just tell him it was temporary insanity. I could never be interested in an immature, attention seeker. Never. Nope. Deacon Riley is definitely not the guy for me. His impulsive actions are not a good fit with my elegant, quiet lifestyle. My life would be chaos. It’s already a ball of stress and I’ve only known him for a couple of months. No. Alpha Riley is dangerous and the last thing I need is danger.

The bell above the door rang. I installed it to stop Deacon from scaring the crap out of me again. It’s most likely him.

I place the last of my books in the back alcove and walk to my counter. I curiously tilt my head at the people who have walked in.

Three men and a woman stand in the middle of the store. The man in front is much older with graying hair. The other two men are much younger with light brown hair and the young woman has shoulder length black hair. They kind of have a regal look. I’m sure I’ve seen it before, I just can’t remember where. They glance at me as I reach my till.

It wouldn't really bother me except all of them are in rather loud, colorful suits. Purples, blues, reds and pinks. Stripes and checkers. They certainly let their presence be known.

"Hello." I greet. "Welcome to Jenny's Bookshop. Can I help you with anything?"

The old man looks me over. "No, thank you, young lady. Just...browsing, as it were." He has an old English accent that I just can't place. Usually, I'm pretty good with accents.

He nods to the others and they break off to various places in the store.

I watch them carefully as they search the shelves up and down.

The old man walks to the back alcove and stops with his hands behind his back. He looks the room over. I approach his back. "Are you sure I can't help you find something?" I check where all the others are.

A young man stops at a shelf, lowers his head and places his hand on the books like he's listening.

The man smiles. "I'm not sure if what we're looking for is even here."

I find his eyes. "I can order it for you. It would take about two weeks."

He meets my eyes and smiles again.

"Windum."

We both turn to one young man. The man shakes his head no, slowly, and motions his head to the door.

Windum turns to me. "That won't be necessary. Thank you. Have a wonderful day." He slightly bows.

"You too." I say with a curious look.

Just as they came in, they gathered and walked out the front door. After a beat, I walked to the door, opened it and stepped out. There's no sign of them. I get a weird shiver and check the sidewalks one more time. The street is empty.

"Strange." I says to myself and walk back in.

I put the mysterious people out of my mind and Deacon creeped back in as I puttered around my day.

As I think on it more, I wanted the kiss, I’m just scared. He’s so popular and loved, I wish I could live in his orbit. I’m not that strong and it would take a strong, independent woman to completely satisfy a man like Deacon. He won’t be happy with a quiet bookworm. He wants someone who’s fun, outgoing and going to challenge him. I don’t like to challenge things. Taking risks get you hurt.

The sun was setting as I let the last customer out and flipped the lock on the front door. I shut the lights off and climbed the dark wood stairs to my apartment.

I’m not going to think about Dea anymore. Every time I do, my anxiety rises and all I want to do is relax.

When I get home, I kick off my heels, take my bun out and undress. I have a shower and put on my sleep pants with a t shirt. I climb into bed with ‘Romeos Revenge’. I haven’t been able to stop reading since Deacon read from it. Now, whenever Romeo talks, I hear Deacons voice. I don’t know why I like that, but I do. Romeo seeking revenge on his family for having Juliet killed in Deacons voice, it brings life to the fantasy in my head. It may help that Deacon is just as sexy as Romeo. Yes, I said it. He’s sexy.

I wake with a jolt. My glasses and my book are on my chest. I don’t even remember falling asleep. I lift the book, close it and put it on my nightstand. I put my glasses on top of it. Just as I do, I freeze.

My eye searches the room. My brows cinch together, I slightly tilt my head and my wolf spins in circles. I train my ear.

Is someone…singing?

I roll to a sit as the quiet sound meets my ear. It’s muffled, but echoes and sounds almost…ghostly. It’s singing about a hanging tree?

I get out of bed and pad across the floor. I place my hand on the handle of my bedroom door and the song stops. I pause, lower my head and listen.

Like a rising wind, it starts again. It’s a dark sound. The song makes my skin rise in goosebumps.

I turn the handle and open my door. The song grows a tad louder from my apartment down the hall. I slowly follow it into the dark. My ear is tracking to see where it’s coming from.

The sounds seems to float through the air. I approach my front door and lay my ear to it. It’s definitely coming from the other side.

I open my apartment door and step out. I’m the only one on this floor. I look up and it doesn’t seem to be coming from above. My head turns to the door to the store.

I wrap my arms around myself and walk to the door. The sound gets increasingly louder with every step. Is someone in the store?

I open the door and it’s now loud enough to assume someone is in here, but where?

The spectral sound wisps up the stairs as my hand reaches the decorative, scrolled railing. My bare feet step lightly, slowly and cautiously. My concerned face scans the dark store. I know I should call someone. If it’s someone dangerous…but then what robber would be singing like this.

The balls of my feet take each cold, wood step as I try to find the source. The store itself, feels 10 degrees colder too. I have to rub my arms to feel warmth.

I step onto the main floor and follow the song. As I walk around, I find myself heading to the alcove in the back. My head tilts to the farthest book shelf against the back wall. My brow furrows more as the song grows behind the books. It’s muffled, but clear at the same time.

I stop in front of the shelf. It’s definitely coming from here. I look around for a source. A phone or radio or something. My hand rests on the book spines and I think I almost feel a vibration coming from them.

The song continues as I lay my ear to the shelf. It stops as I listen. I blink a few times, I look curiously at the floor and listen harder to the silence.

I swallow. “Hello?” I say, quietly, to the books.

Silence.

I lean a little more.

A loud bang had me shoot back with a yelp. My head whips to the neatly lined up spines. It sounded like something big and heavy hitting the wall. It echoed through the store and competed with the banging of my heart against my chest.

I wildly look around the shelf.

BANG!!

I yelp again and jump back a few steps. The books rattled on the shelf. I start to walk backwards.

BANG!

Again, I let out shock and surprise as I jump out of my skin. The books jumped and some fell off. The song grows loud and I cover my ears. Terror fills me as I run for the stairs. The song feels like multiple people singing at once as it follows me up the stairs.

I’m whining and my breath stutters. I’m shaking as I throw open the door to my apartment.

I run to my bedroom and slam the door. The song penetrates it as I walk backwards. Then three more loud bangs that I can feel in my feet.

With a loud yelp, I jump into my bed and hide under the covers. I don’t know why I think this helps, but it did when I was a kid. Blankets mean safety in my mind.

I slam my eyes shut and feel my racing heart as the song continues its assault.

I press my lips together to stifle the fear in me. I cover my ears to muffle it as I shake uncontrollably.

Then silence. Dead silence.

I open my eye and look at the blanket covering my head. I peel it back and my mouth drops.

I lift the blanket off and look to the sun beaming through my window. What? Was it a dream? I get up and listen. Nothing.

It felt like seconds. It must have been a dream. That’s the only thing that makes sense right now.

I walk down to the store. Still no song.

In my pajamas, I walk to the alcove. I look on the floor and there’s several books on the floor. I walk over, pick them up and put them back. My face grows in confusion as I try to work out what’s reality and what’s fantasy.

I don’t have time to think about this. I have to open up. I start back to the stairs and look back one last time, then shake it off.

It was just a dream, Jenny. Just a dream.

Later, not being able to quite shake it, I decide to look up the building. I’m trying to see if there’s any kind of history here. Aside from it being one of the first buildings 200 years ago, there’s not much. No major fires or misdoings. Nothing to suggest what I experienced last night was anything short of a dream. I sip my coffee to go and scroll through the pages.

“You look beautiful.”

My eyes flick to a handsome face as I sip my coffee.

I shake my head. “I’m a mess.” I mutter. I am. I feel like I slept, but didn’t get enough at all.

“True, but you’re a hot mess.” Deacon grins as he leans on my counter.

“Why are you here?” I tilt my head to him.

“Well, I can see you’re a tad stressed so, I want you for dinner.” He rocks a bit as he tucks his arms under his chest.

I huff a chuckle. “Have me for dinner?”

“Yeah. My house. Tonight. A nice, quiet relaxing…dinner.” He ticks his brow up and smiles sweetly.

I lean my hands on the counter. “Nothing about you is relaxing.” I tilt my head to him.

“Is that a yes?” He asks.

I suck in my top lip. I said I wanted to handle this responsibly, but seeing his brown eyes sparkle and his toothy grin, I almost feel guilty saying no. I give it one last thought. “OK. Just us.”

“Just us.” He pushes off and walks around the counter. “I promise it will be romantic and quiet.” He rests his hand on the counter and stops in front of me.

I smile. “Sure.”

He leans down and kisses my cheek. “I’ll pick you up at 9.”

“OK.”

“Great.” He taps the counter and walks back around. He spins on his toes. “Don’t worry about a thing, I’m making this night magical.” He spreads his fingers out, floats them in front of him and smiles.

I giggle and shake my head. Our eyes lock and he spins back around. He heads for the door.

Some customers come in and he bows. “Good morning!” He says dramatically.

The couple chuckle. “Good morning, Alpha.”

I chuckle too. He walks out and waves to me from the other side of the glass. I wave back. He blows a kiss to me and I do the same. Deacon Riley is really surprising me. I felt safe when he was with me. Is it possible?

Can I survive in Deacon Riley’s orbit? I guess it wouldn’t hurt to find out, would it?