Her Wolf

Chapter 7

The silence in the room was deafening and Catherine sat at the table beside Ryan and in front of Alan with her brows raised. No one wanted to break the awkward streak for fear of submission. Ryan hadn’t removed his eyes from Alan for a solid ten minutes while he kept a firm hold on Catherine’s wrist as if he was protecting her.

Every now and then Catherine would swallow, securing her the attention of both Alan and Ryan.

“I hate to be the one to break this riveting conversation we seem to be having,” Catherine said quietly. “But don’t you think we should be doing what we’re supposed to be doing? Talking about the development and making our points?”

“You can make all the points you want, Sweetheart,” Alan rebutted. “I’m not changing my mind. My client wants what they want.”

Catherine watched as Ryan assessed Alan like he was a predator about to attack his prey. The vein in his forehead throbbed unnaturally and there were beads of sweat that formed on his forehead the more his temperature rose.

“What is it with men?” Catherine thought to herself, emitting an audible sigh. “Even when you’re supposed to be grown up, you still act like children.”

The scraping of Catherine’s chair moving against the linoleum flooring echoed throughout the room and she stood to her feet, with Ryan following suit. She crossed her arms over her chest and dropped the envelope on the table, deciding that it wasn’t the right time to use whatever—if anything—was stacked inside.

“And who exactly is your client?” Catherine asked. “I highly doubt it’s the Hilton.”

Alan barked out a laugh and Ryan sneered.

“No can do, lady,” Alan answered. “That’s privileged information. You can find out when everyone else does. They want their resort, their casino and their money; it’s as simple as that.”

Catherine watched as Ryan sat silently in his seat with his eyes securely focused on Alan. Catherine was certain he would have taken over the conversation by now to act as her backup, but he said nothing. He sat and he watched like a guard dog parked at Catherine’s side.

“If you have your client contact me, Mr. Nichol, I can offer an amount I’m certain they would be pleased with,” Catherine said. “I have some personal ties to that park. It would mean a lot to me to save it. This isn’t just about the wildlife.”

“I know what your personal ties are, Miss Goldberry,” Alan replied with a moderately professional tone. “I know you’ve done your research, just like I’ve done mine. Though I’m sure when this meeting is over, Ryan will tell you more than you need to know. I’ll leave that to his discretion.”

The conversation shifted towards Ryan and instead of offering up anything that might help their situation, he remained rooted in his seat, still and quiet. Catherine’s eyes narrowed at the edges as she watched him play no part in the meeting, deducing it down to not wanting to converse with someone he didn’t like. He was being selfish and Catherine knew it.

“Look, Alan,” Catherine started after tearing her eyes away from Ryan. “You don’t know what your client would want until you let them hear my offer.”

“Let me just stop you right there,” Alan stood from his seat and Ryan immediately rose to his feet. “It doesn’t matter what you offer or how much you offer, at the very minimum, half of that land is being cleared out and a nice resort and casino will go in its place. Do the smart thing and invest in the right project instead of boosting Ryan’s do-gooder ego. Join the winning team, babe. You’ll do better over here.”

Alan ignored Ryan’s glare that was penetrating the back of the neck as he exited the room without another word spoken. Catherine emitted a heavy sigh and drummed her fingers against the table, side eyeing Ryan and wondering just when he was going to speak up.

“You can say something now,” she thought to herself, carefully assessing his movements.

“We need to talk,” Ryan pushed out, flopping down into his chair in exasperation. “I don’t know whether or not I should be telling you this, but I think now it’s important that you know. Especially since he’s seen your face.”

Catherine propped herself against the desk and folded her arms across her chest. She wasn’t sure what it was that Ryan needed to tell her, but as she watched his gaze lower to the floor, she found herself nervous and unprepared for bad news.

“Okay,” Catherine replied with her icy blue eyes locked on Ryan. “What’s going on?”

“You’re either not going to believe me or you’re going to flip out.”

“Ryan,” Catherine urged. “Come on, you’re making me nervous. I don’t like being nervous.”

Ryan nodded his head as he so obviously put himself in Catherine’s shoes and inhaled a deep breath of air. She had been about to step forward to stop Ryan in his tracks as he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor, but instead she stood silently.

The discoloration of Ryan’s chest was something that Catherine had only seen in movies. Purples, blues and blacks stretched across his chest, along his side and wrapped around to his back and created a river of bruising. He looked as if he had been beaten up in the back of an alley and Catherine’s eyes watered at the sight.

“Oh my God,” she whispered as she stepped forward, her flighty fingers moving tenderly across Ryan’s distressed flesh. “What happened?”

“This is what I wanted to talk to you about,” He replied as he casually gauged her reaction. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking about what did this to you,” Catherine breathed, the palm of her hand pressed against his bicep. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” Ryan replied. “I heal fast, so it doesn’t cause pain anymore. Unfortunately I heal faster than my body actually thinks so I’m still left with the bruises. They’ll be gone in a day. Two at the most.”

Catherine stepped back and looked at Ryan as if he had two heads. His body was covered with a thick armor of bruising and he expected her to believe that it was all going to disappear. Something had happened, Catherine was sure of it. She was also sure Alan had something to do with it.

“You can’t possibly believe these bruises are going to go away in less than two days, Ryan!” Catherine exclaimed, her voicing growing patchier the more her emotions came through. “You look like you’ve been beaten up! You could have internal bleeding! We need to get you to the hospital, right now.”