Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 141

Lana

Briar was up before her alarm; she was dressed and putting makeup on in the bathroom. She looked tired. I plopped down on the toilet to pee before she could step out. She just shrugged and went back to darkly lining her eyes and ignored my complete lack of caring. I yawned, getting up and taking care of the obvious.

“You're not sleeping, are you?” I asked. She looked down and admittedly shook her head no. I squeezed her shoulder. And moved to the kitchen in search of food and coffee. There were muffins! Briar wasn’t far behind me and started coffee. I pushed a muffin at her, and she pushed it right back. She looked like the idea of eating was going to make her physically sick. She turned her back to me.

“The nightmares are bad? I asked. She just nodded as she poured us each a cup. I took mine and dumped some sugar in it, putting a little extra to make it even more awful, just to get a reaction from her. She didn’t even notice.

“Hey,” I said, grabbing her arm to try to jolt her out of whatever trance she was in. She set her coffee down and turned to run down the hall and hurl in the toilet. Shit, this was getting bad fast. I held back her hair and was quiet as she finished, flushed and rinsed out her mouth. She fixed her makeup in the mirror before she looked at me.

“I’m not sick, it's just stress, the nightmares are getting worse instead of better,” she informed me.

“You know it’s your bond with him doing this, and now you’ve added weakening your bond with Carter, it’s only going to get worse as long as you keep this up I told her honestly. She sighed.

“How about we get going? Maybe a change of scenery will help, I don’t want to be a buzz kill,” she said, trying to change the subject. 

“You're a wolf Briar, you need to eat. Your wolf is already weakened by what you’re dealing with. You have to feed your body to keep her strong enough to stay present or she will recede again,” I told her.

“Let me guess, you know this from experience?”

“I do,” I said, looking her in the eye.”

“Then hopefully my stomach will settle before we get there. My appointment is at 1, so we have till then to shop and eat, then you can do what you want till I’m done.

“Please, I’m not leaving you alone, it’ll be fun anyway, I love tattoo shops, tons of portfolios to rummage through and I want to see this artist in action,” I said honestly. I never knew when I’d get inspiration for my next piece. I wasn’t completely inept; I sold my metal sculptures of junk I made into art online. I was saving up to take Mazzie on an overdue vacation. Art was something up to the interpreter; everyone saw something different and unique to them in something an artist created. It was a form of therapy for me. The act of creating something takes the thoughts of the past away, when I am creating it’s like a spiritual quest to become whole again, my wolf relaxes and I feel free, almost like running with her.

It was noon and Briar and I sat at a mom and pop place we had come across and she was staring at her panini sandwich like it was her enemy. We had managed to do some damage in the shopping department. Clothes mainly, but Briar seemed to be attracted to some interesting places. She bought some jewelry from a place that hand-made stuff out of natural stones, dangly earrings now hung from her lobes, silver feathers with a chain ran up to her cartilage, where I realized she also had a piercing. She forced a bite into the sandwich. Apparently, it was palatable enough, or she was hungry enough, because she continued to eat slowly.

I glanced at my phone when it chirped. A message from Mazzie, I scanned over her update and typed a reply. Creedon had sent two men, he was unable to come personally due to business that required his attention. They were staying the night in a hotel and leaving in the morning if they didn’t find what they were looking for. I growled under my breath, but took the curveball in stride. I’d have to convince Briar to stay in a hotel tonight. Thankfully she managed to keep down her lunch and we headed to her appointment.

The tattoo parlor smelled of incense and antiseptic, the vibe was chill as the older woman greeted us before her eyes took Briar in, assessing her.

“I didn’t expect to see you so soon but a lot can change in a short time, do you know what you want?”

Briar shook her head no. “I know where I want it and what I want it to mean.”

Briar explained she wanted it over her ribs, where the worst of her physical damage had resided, and that she didn’t want to be bound by the memory of that feeling anymore. The woman nodded.

“I have just the thing,” she motioned Briar into the other room, and I scooped up a few of the binders off the table. I was surprised she didn’t use a stencil when Briar unexpectedly rid herself of the hoodie and her shirt; she just lay on the reclined chair in her bra, and the artist went to work. I was transfixed with the process as the phoenix came to be born out of the flames in a graceful, feminine representation over her ribs. Soft, thin lines elegantly curved over Briar’s body, and the binders I had been going through lay forgotten. As the artist worked, Briar relaxed, and her aura settled as if her mind eased with each needle that punctured into her skin, setting the ink to manifest into the masterpiece. I lost track of time, and several hours later, the sun had already set as Briar paid and set her clothing to rights.

I feigned a yawn. “I think we should get a room and go back in the morning, we can stop at that coffee shop I told you about before we leave,” I said as we stepped out of the shop. Briar’s brow scrunched up, glancing in the direction of home.

I knew what she would be thinking, that the wolf protecting her door would be worried; however, I knew he would be thankful she was miles away from the bastards looking for her.

“He will be fine, Mazzie will tell him we stayed over,” I let her know. She nodded and relented. 

When we got to the room, I skimmed through the dinner options for delivery and chose for us because I knew Briar wouldn’t care. She went to shower, and dinner was there before she was out. She sat to attempt to eat, but the first scent of it sent her right back into the bathroom. Something was wrong. As I held her hair out of the way, I bent forward and took a whiff of her at her neck. This wasn’t happening!

After she rinsed her mouth out, I told her I was going to get her some ginger ale for her stomach.

This was the last thing she needed right now, but what else could I do?