“We’ll come back. I was actually thinking how silly it was that my family owned these places and I never used them. Maybe we can make it a yearly trip.”
The feelings I already had for Nico were surprising. I cared for him. Deeply. I wasn’t used to that. It had been such a long time since I’d done any kind of dating. I liked it. It made things even more special. I really and truly did like him. It wasn’t just that he’d saved me, or that he was gorgeous, or fucking amazing in bed, or even that our wolves were fated mates. It was that he was exactly the kind of person I’d always wanted in my life. As we made our way home, a voice in my head—this time, not my wolf—started to think I might be on the way to more than just liking him.
The trip back was bittersweet, but we made it fun anyway. We stopped at a gas station halfway through Georgia and bought enough snacks, candy, and soda to put an entire kindergarten class into a food coma. We listened to each other’s favorite songs and listened to most of the firstHarry Potteraudiobook. It was like an amazing dream I didn’t want to wake up from.
We got back home safe and sound. The real world couldn’t wait anymore. The day after we returned, it was back to work. I went into the bar that afternoon with Sebastian. Everything was exactly as it should be. Everything except Abi. The entire time we prepped to open, she seemed off. Kinda pissy and easily irritated. Not at all like herself.
“Hey,” I said, nudging her halfway through the night. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing.”
The one word answer without the hint of a smile told me thatsomethingwas wrong. Later, while I was cleaning up spilled beer, I saw Sebastian chatting up a young woman at the other side of the bar. Even though he was flirting with her, I kept seeing him scan the room, like he was looking for someone else. Abi was near me, staring daggers at the two of them.
“Piece of shit,” Abi muttered.
I did a double take and made sure she actuallywaslooking at Sebastian. She’d always seemed sort of smitten with him. “Abi, what the hell is going on here?” I asked, gesturing to her and then over to Sebastian.
Abi sighed and threw her bar rag onto the floor and came over. “So…Sebastian and I…might have hooked up over the weekend.”
Remembering that shifters had enhanced hearing, I glanced over at him, knowing he could hear the conversation. We locked eyes, and I gave him a look that basically said,shut your fuckingears and stop eavesdropping.Sebastian looked like a whipped puppy and looked away.
Abi leaned against the bar and crossed her arms. “You know, I realized it was going to be a casual thing. Something fun that we could enjoy. Still…” Abi gave a dejected shrug and let her arms flop down to her sides. “I really kinda thought Sebastian might actually like me. Now I’m pissed at myself for getting my hopes up.”
My heart hurt for her, and I also wanted to kick Sebastian in the nuts. I put a hand on her arm and lowered my head to look into her downcast eyes. “Don’t beat yourself up over this. Did you have fun?”
Abi rolled her eyes. “Yeah. It was pretty great. A couple of pretty great times actually.”
“Well, that’s something. You had fun and nothing came from it. That sucks, but at least you have some good memories to think back on.”
“Ugh.” Abi grunted and threw her head back dramatically. “You’re right. I guess two adults should be able to handle a little fling.”
“Right. Now, can we get back to work? It’ll get your mind off it?”
Abi nodded and picked her towel up off the ground and went to help the bartender. Throughout the night, I kept catching her glare at Sebastian. It was a little exhausting and I wasn’t even involved. I’d probably have to talk to him about not having sex with my employees. It was nice that he was here watching out for me, but I didn’t need him causing drama. That was not okay. I didn’t fully blame him, though. I’d seen how Abi had been eyeing him up like a juicy steak. I was sure they both played a part in whatever had happened.
The rest of the evening passed by pretty uneventfully. No fights, no shifters, nothing that would cause any problems. Atleast until an hour before closing, when the old guy walked in. I noticed him as soon as he set foot in the door. My place sort of catered to a younger crowd. We rarely got anyone over fifty trying to come in. Part of that was my marketing—I wanted my place to be hip and cool. The other part was I’d only been open a few years, and most of the older clientele already had watering holes they’d been frequenting for decades. Once someone was loyal to a bar, tavern, or pub, they tended to stay there.
The guy who’d walked in was in his early to mid-sixties, if I had to guess. I’d never seen him before, but he walked in like he owned the place. He pushed through the doors and walked straight toward the bar. People were generally suspicious and cautious creatures. The typical habit for humans was to get the lay of the land and check out the area before getting comfortable. This guy just stepped right in like he came here every day.
He pulled up a stool and started eyeballing the rack of liquor behind the bar.
One of my bartenders turned to see what he wanted to order, but I held him off, putting a hand on his arm. “I’ll get it, Kyle. You take care of those sorority girls at the end of the bar. They think you’re cute.”
I turned to the man. “What can I get for you, friend?”
He seemed to be looking at our gin selection. I thought he was ignoring me at first, but finally he pointed a finger to a bottle on the top shelf. “I’ll have a Tom Collins, if you please.”
I nodded. “Coming up.”
The bottle in hand, I poured it, the simple syrup, and the juice of a lemon into a shaker. While I prepped the drink, the older guy turned and scanned the crowd. Was he meeting someone here? Maybe an online date? No reason it couldn’t happen even if he was older. But there was something about him that was…off. I couldn’t put a finger on it, but it was very pronounced. I poured the shaken ingredients over ice in achilled Collins glass. I grabbed the soda gun and filled it the rest of the way with soda water. Putting a lemon wedge on the edge of the glass, I set it in front of him.
“That’ll be fourteen dollars. Do you want to pay now or start a tab?”
The man squeezed the lemon into the drink, then took a long sip from the straw and smacked his lips together. He spoke without looking at me. “You know, you don’t look like some kind of evil beast. I guess looks can be deceiving.”
The world seemed to collapse in on itself, everything in the periphery vanished, and tunnel vision set in. All I could see was this man. The one who’d called me a beast. He wasn’t a shifter, so how did he know about me? Who was he? Was he here to kill me? Maybe Javi had hired a hitman or something. My heart slammed as I glanced around his body, looking for the bulge of a gun or something.
Before I could force myself to speak, Sebastian was there. He’d obviously used his enhanced hearing to make out what the man had said. He slapped a hand on the old guy’s shoulder. “Is there a problem here?” he asked.
