The Lion’s Forbidden Mate

Chapter 8

It felt like Denver arrived way too early. When they pulled into the alpine city, she couldn’t help but feel the sinking dread filling her up inside and she wanted to vomit all along the way, and it wasn’t the pregnancy’s morning sickness that was doing it to her. No, it was the fact that everything she knew and loved was coming to a shattering and fatal conclusion here and she was going to be left destitute and alone for the rest of her life.

The hardest part was that she was going to have to raise a child on her own and the entire time she looked at that darling little baby, she was going to be struck with the memories of its father. She would see James’ face every time she looked at the child. That was going to be hard, walking around with the ghost of James in her mind all the time. She would get used to it, she was sure, but inevitably it would wear her down and crush her spirit once in a while. She’d have to explain to her child why mommy was crying so much and why mommy never dated another man and why they never had a daddy.

That was going to be depressing.

She lingered around and was helpful wherever she could be for her last day on the job and she didn’t mind doing little odd jobs wherever she was needed. She wanted to make sure that no matter what people heard about her, they would have fond memories of her when she was gone. She didn’t want people to think ill of her, especially if they heard the rumors that were inevitably going to come pouring through when James found out she was gone.

For the concert, she mostly just stuck around in the back and kept to herself, not wanting to make Violet angry by trying to sneak one last look at the concert and getting a chance to see James on stage, making the crowd feel like they were getting a life altering performance they would never forget. Instead, she stuck back by the trailers and talked with the crew members that she’d become pretty good friends with over the past months in her isolation. They teased her and befriended her pretty easily.

She still wasn’t one of their kin and never shared in any of the glory of knowing the band. But, they figured she was better than any other woman they ended up seeing. To them, Becca was the crimson goddess that could decide whether they lived or died. She didn’t begrudge the fact that they picked on her now and again, but when she counted the last box, she felt a little sad.

She sent the report to Lynn and knew she would probably never get another chance to talk to Lynn. That was okay. She knew Lynn was actually a pretty great boss and she had taken a shot on Lucy when others wouldn’t have. There was something about her that made her feel like she was going to be in high places one day and that no one would probably ever know about the time she had saved the two clans from going to war because she sent Lucy away. The more she thought about it, she figured that Lynn probably wouldn’t care. She was one of those people who genuinely enjoyed and believed in the thankless jobs that were given to them. She could excel where others floundered and failed and she would never need a single person saying thank you to her.

When she sent the report, Lucy knew there was only one person in the world that could do what Lynn did and she wasn’t going to take the woman for granted. She was going to let her know that she did respect her and that she was thankful for showing Lucy what she needed to do. Without Lynn, Lucy would have sparked a war that engulfed everyone that James knew and that he cared about. It would have destroyed their relationship and there was no way that James would ever have been able to forgive himself. She knew that now and she was grateful she wasn’t responsible for that.

“Thank you,” was all she typed with the report that she shot off into space and she hoped Lynn would understand it when she got it.

If she didn’t, Lucy supposed that it wasn’t any skin off of her back. She looked at the crew as they loaded up the last of the trailer doors and she waved goodbye to them. They wouldn’t know it was the last time they were going to see her, but she figured they’d all understand when they found out she wasn’t at the next venue.

When Becca and Justin texted her, asking her to come out to dinner with them, she was more than happy to oblige them, but she was interested in going by herself. She didn’t want to have company as she walked the familiar streets of Denver. This was where she’d gone to college and this was her old stomping grounds. She had friends here and she knew that she could call on any one of them for help right now. Of course, she wouldn’t, but it was great to know she had options available to her if she needed them. Taking a deep breath and sucking in the high mountain air, she felt a rush running through her.

She was oddly okay with this. She was ready for all of this to end and she was already prepared to tell her parents what had happened to her. She was ready to let them know that their daughter had failed them and the Pack was going to visibly be disappointed in her, but they’d never vocalize anything to her. They wouldn’t dare to be rude or hurtful to one of their own, especially when they knew she was pregnant. They would probably tell stories about how the rock star had impregnated her and abandoned her, and no matter how much she told them the truth, they’d still side with her and naively believe that Lucy could do no wrong and the world wasn’t good enough to her.