Natasha was both physically and emotionally tired after the day’s events. A late afternoon nap turned into several hours of peaceful rest. She woke up to the sound of someone knocking on her bedroom door.

“Come in,” she called out and sat up on the bed.

“Hi Sweetie.” Her dad pushed through the door. “You didn’t come down for dinner again this evening. Monique said you had a doctor’s appointment earlier. Are you feeling okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

His brows furrowed. “Is there something you’re not telling me? You’re not pregnant are you?”

“Dad! I’m fine. It was a routine doctor’s appointment. I’m still on birth control.”

He exhaled deeply. “Okay. Whew…I was worried.”

Natasha pursed her lips and shook her head. “Any other probing questions?”

“You know what this is about.” He sat on the edge of her bed. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you since yesterday evening.”

“I know you have an issue with me being friends with Jacques,” Natasha stated, nonchalantly.

“Just friends?” he asked, throwing her an unconvincing stare.

“Would it matter if we were just friends or really really good friends? Come on, I know where this is going?”

“A buddy of mine told me that he saw you dropping him off around lunch time,” Dad said. “I was under the suspicion that maybe he’d gone with you on your doctor’s appointment for some odd reason or another.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Dad, you’re getting way ahead of yourself. Jacques and I went to lunch together. Like we always do. And yes, we are friends. We click on levels that I haven’t experienced in a long time with any man or woman.”

“You click?”

“As in, we have things in common. We talk about our issues without arguing and we understand each other,” she added after a look of confusion remained on his face.

He shook his head. “I don’t understand what there’s to understand about that, but we’ll fix that. Don’t worry.”

“Of course, you don’t understand. You’re not even trying to.”

He rose from her bed and folded his arms across his chest and glanced around her room. “I’ve been trying to get you to come out to the Country Club for weeks now. It’s not just a place for us old folks. Plenty men and women your age hang out there, mainly at the fully stocked bar, but I guess that’s self-explanatory.” He grinned.

She groaned inwardly but was silently relieved that he was done trying to convince her that Jacques was a bad person. “I’ve never liked country clubs and you know that. I tried once when I visited during a spring break and the people there were snobbish.”

“That was in another city. It’s a totally different atmosphere here.”

“Of course it is.”

“So you’ll come at least once…?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. I’ll try this if you try to accept that I still make my own decisions now.”

“You don’t need to hang out with that criminal at all, Natasha. There’s plenty of other folks your age that have more in common with you.”

Her face heated and she pressed her lips together for a moment to keep from uttering something rude. Dad was looking out for her, but what did he know of Jacques? Did he even know Jacques at all?

“Why do you have a problem with Jacques?”

“I don’t have a problem with him because I don’t know Jacques at all. The problem I have is that he’s somehow convinced you to trust him.”

“How do you know? I just started working at Reverie, therefore, I just met him. Who said anything about trust? I sometimes have lunch with him. He’s my friend.”

“Your friend?”

“Yes…my friend. So what’s the problem?”

“He was convicted of manslaughter—”

Natasha’s mouth fell open in shock.

“—he’s since been cleared of all charges, but the fact that there was solid enough evidence to convict him is what irked me and several of the other executives of the company.”

“How and why was he convicted?”

Dad tossed a rolled up newspaper on the bed. “This paper is from three weeks ago. In section D, you’ll see where he was held for questioning in the death of a drug dealer. The man was found beaten to a bloody pulp behind a strip mall north of town. After a reward was posted, an anonymous witness came forward saying that drug dealer and your shifter friend competed against each other in an underground fighting ring where the drug dealer lost. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, which made your friend a prime suspect. Days after he was taken into custody, missing several days of work, the strip mall owner turned over surveillance cameras that cleared him of the crime. It turns out the drug dealer was beaten to a pulp by his supplier hours after the fighting competition.”

“This doesn’t explain why you have a problem with us being friends.”

“The fact that he was mixed up in this mess should be reason enough for you to run the other way. This isn’t his first run-in with the law. I’m just warning you that things aren’t always what they seem in this town.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “I know the shifter population in this town in high, Dad. I also happen to know that Aspen Valley has one of the lowest crime rates in the region. I highly doubt you would have moved here with Mom if that wasn’t the case.”

“You’re right. Just like any other place, we have to watch out for our own. I was the one who introduced you to Stephan and I admit that I was wrong about him. I just feel that I have to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again.”

“Dad, I’m responsible for every decision I made with Stephan. It’s not your fault. I learn from my mistakes all the time, but that doesn’t mean that you get to make the rest of my future decisions for me.”

Dad kissed the top of her head and pressed his palm lightly on her shoulder. “Can you promise me that you’ll stay away from this guy?”

Natasha was a little disgusted by his request. No, she was more than disgusted. She swallowed down her displeasure. She wanted to heed her dad’s warning, but in this situation, she knew deep down that he was wrong about Jacques.

“I can’t promise anything like that.” She shook her head. “It’s complicated.”

“Complicated, it is…” Dad mumbled. “…the things we do to protect our children.”

Dad probably meant well and didn’t want to see her get hurt again, but he was known to jump the gun on forming some of his opinions.

Natasha also couldn’t help but wonder why Jacques didn’t think highly of himself. She was used to men with big ass egos, but when it came to Jacques she knew there was no comparison. His ego or lack thereof wasn’t the only thing he had going for himself. His compassion and dedication to see his goal through were something she coveted for herself. She didn’t want to know just one side of him; she wanted to know the real Jacques Shalane Kent. Imperfections and all.