The instant he walked in the bar, he slammed into Virgil.
“Time to leave,” Virgil said in a huff. “Let’s go.”
“Wait a second…”
Virgil shoved against him. “I need to get out of here. If you’re not outside in two seconds, I’m walking. And youreallydon’t want me to walk.”
Archer narrowed his eyes. “Bad trip on the Wild Rabbit?”
“What’s up?” Krys asked, approaching their cozy gathering. “I thought you bailed.”
Archer gave him a friendly pat on the chest. “I can’t leave for one second without all hell breaking loose. I know I’m the life of the party, but this is ridiculous.”
Virgil looked over his shoulder and was breathing faster than usual. He tried pushing past Archer. “I want to leave.”
Archer pushed back, wondering if Virgil had hit on the wrong woman. “What’s bothering you?”
Krys inched toward him, his eyes narrowing. “Who’sbothering you?”
If Krys loved one thing, it was fighting. Decidingthey’d overstayed their welcome, Archer stepped aside to defuse the situation. “Come on, Taz. Let’s go home. I think Calvin’s sick of our faces anyhow. Are we paid up?”
“Money’s already in Calvin’s pocket,” Krys informed them.
Archer walked outside into the blazing summer heat. The Camaro was long gone, as was the girl he was better off forgetting.
Chapter 4
Noah was feeling fantastic when we got home from the Rabbit Lounge. I, on the other hand, was as steady as a pinball getting knocked around in a machine. Not because of our date, but on the way home, Noah mentioned that the wolf who ran up to our car had invited him over to work out.
Invited him!
After that stunt, I knew with absolute certainty that the wolf didn’t remember me. Why would he? He’d been drinking that night and had probably consumed more afterward to block me out. Now I was completely on edge about the whole thing.
And what did I always do when I was anxious? Clean. Noah liked a clean house. Nothing triggered him like a stain or a candy wrapper on the floor.
At sunset, he carried a six-pack into the yard and sat under the stars. Noah avoided me, which piled on the guilt about the book fiasco.
I read for a spell but couldn’t concentrate. Not because I’d read the book nine million times already but because I couldn’tstop thinking about the wolf. Noah hadn’t mentioned the man’s name, only his animal.
Why was I attracted to predators? People had kinks and curiosities, but when it came to settling down, Shifters preferred the same animal. My father told me stories about how all Shifters were once purebloods, but over the years, everyone’s family tree had eventually crossed with other animal types. Supposedly it had changed our powers, but my father’s stories were anecdotal and not based on people he knew. I guessed the reasons most stuck with their own animal were the instinctual and customary differences.
No wonder my mare was so spooked all the time.
The front door slammed. When I heard glass break, I jumped out of bed and found Noah leaning against the fridge with a busted cardboard beer carrier in his hands.
He kicked one of the bottles, and it pinwheeled across the tile. “Nothing ever goes right,” he muttered.
I knelt to pick up the glass. “What do you think about renting one of those empty buildings on Juniper Road?”
“For what?”
“Selling the books. It would give me a chance to go through them all and see what we have. There aren’t any libraries around here, and people need books. We could also rent them out for money. Think of how that could help us.”
He cackled. “You can barely walk into a bar without pissing your panties. And now you want to run a bookstore?” Noah’s smile felt predatory.
I gritted my teeth as I stood and dropped the glass into the trash can. “You know I hate it when you drink.”
Noah grabbed me by the hair and turned me around. Then he gripped my face with one hand. “Andyouknow I hate it when you lie and steal. What do you think drives me to drink? Yourconniving little ways, that’s what. Do I have to sleep with my phone now? Huh?”
