Page 7 of Cold Foot Sentry (Wreck’s Mountains #6)

Tawk couldn’t keep his eyes off her.

Tammy was so easy with her words, and her smile was back now that her ex was gone.

He hadn’t planned on staying this long, and his social battery was drained, but he liked just sitting here with the Cold Foot Crew as they talked and sometimes hit the dance floor.

Most of all, he liked to watch Tammy do her thing behind the bar.

Her eyes were the prettiest he’d ever seen.

They were vibrant blue, like the ocean, and looked even brighter under her dark bangs, and with her shimmery dark eye make-up on.

Tonight, she was wearing a burgundy tank top with a dainty gold necklace that had a hummingbird charm.

She had little hummingbird earrings to match, and he wondered if she was one of those birdwatcher humans or something.

“She’s on a good path, man,” Kade said, sitting down in the seat next to him.

“She’s old to be in school.”

“Maybe don’t lead with that in a conversation with her,” Kade advised.

“She can’t hear me. She’s human.” Although she had heard him just fine when he’d been talking to Wreck outside of her house.

“She wants a steadier job. She doesn’t want to struggle with money forever.”

Tawk nodded. He respected that. Independent woman doing better for herself. His mom was like that too.

“Why doesn’t she have any offspring?”

“Dude, be cool. That’s not something we’ve asked her.”

“Who is she close to? Harley and Jess? Can they ask her?”

“No. It’s rude to ask those kinds of questions.”

“Why?” Tawk asked.

He could see Kade struggling to come up with an answer. “It just is.”

“I don’t have offspring because I haven’t found a mate to bear them for me and continue my line. You don’t have any offspring because you were meant for Jess, and you are a new pairing. There’s nothing weird about that.”

“We’re males,” Kade said. “It’s a harder question for women. Sometimes the answer hurts them to talk about.”

“You know something.”

“Don’t be a thief, Tawk. If you want information about her, ask her. You don’t want details about her that she didn’t offer.” Kade got up and clapped him on the back. “I’m glad you’re out of Sister’s Edge, man. Even if you can’t stay here, anywhere is better than that place.”

“Not shifter prison,” he pointed out.

“Cold Foot Prison was a good place to clear my head,” Kade said easily as he grabbed Jess’s hoodie off the back of a chair.

“Leaving?”

“Yep. I think we’re all heading out. See you later.”

Tawk watched him and the others filter out of the bar. They didn’t say goodbye, but he was glad. He’d always thought goodbyes and hellos were a stupid and a waste of words.

Slowly he stood and made his way to the door. He hated goodbyes, but he felt weird just leaving without saying something to Tammy. When he turned around, she was approaching. He didn’t often get surprised, but seeing her pretty, shy smile definitely froze him into place.

“You forgot this,” she said, handing him a coaster. The logo was facing him.

Huh. Funny girl. “Why do I need this?” he asked.

Tammy shrugged. “Figure it out.”

She walked away and offered one pretty glance over her shoulder before she started taking orders behind the bar again.

Confused, he turned the logo toward her, trying to figure out why she had given him this. Was it something sentimental? His mom had tried to explain sentimental things when he was younger, but she’d given up somewhere along the way. He didn’t attach emotion to material things. Never had.

He flipped the coaster over, and there it was.

A phone number was written on the blank back of the little cardboard coaster.

His heart drummed against his chest faster, and he jerked his attention up to Tammy. She was blushing. Her cheeks were pink as she awkwardly fumbled behind the bar top, glancing at him once, twice. Her smile seemed shy, and fuck…what was this feeling inside of him?

It felt like when Jess fed him power.

He turned to leave, but Cash’s stupid voice was in his head saying, tell her goodbye .

So, he turned and said, “Hey, Tammy?” His voice was loud, and the bar got quiet around him.

“Yes?” Tammy asked, looking flustered.

He looked around at the people staring expectantly at him, and then back to Tammy. He straightened his spine. “Goodbye.”

The slow smile that spread across her lips was prettier than a sunset. “Goodbye, Tawk.”

And then he left that bar feeling filled to the brim with something he didn’t understand.

Something big.

Something as powerful as a witch’s spell.

Something that made the sickness inside of him feel less.

Something as powerful as the cursed locket he’d devoured those months ago.

Now, he wanted to stay near Wreck’s Mountains for Jess…but he also wanted to stay for Tammy. He wanted to know more about her.

He wanted to say more goodbyes and hellos, and see the way she smiled when he talked, and he wanted to know all the answers to the rude questions he needed to ask.

Tawk got into his truck, but he hesitated to leave the parking lot. He looked down at the coaster. He’d already memorized the number, but she’d written that out, in her own handwriting. And she’d given it to him. It felt like a present.

He didn’t want to wad up the thin coaster or toss it in the passenger’s seat. He didn’t even want to shove it in his pocket to throw away when he got to the hotel. It would get all bent up.

Instead, he put the coaster into the cupholder and then gripped the steering wheel as he stared at the number written there.

He kind of wanted to keep this little piece of trash, but he didn’t know why. This was no treasure, and dragons only understood treasure.

Maybe Tammy was secretly a witch. Maybe she was witch-blooded and she’d charmed this thing. That would make sense.

The only way Tawk could care about something is if it had the potential to feed him.

Keeping the little coaster felt like he was feeding.

He frowned at it. Times like these, he wished he still had access to his father.

He could use clarity. His father had been a Sentry dragon, but he’d left when Tawk was a little kid.

There hadn’t been enough time for him to teach Tawk all about what he was, so Tawk had learned most of what he knew the hard way.

Still, at times like these, he wished he could just ring his dad and ask him why a coaster would feel like a feed?

Why was he thinking about his father? Tawk forced his gaze away from the coaster and stared at the door of the bar. He hadn’t thought about his father in months.

The coaster had to be charmed. That’s why this strange sensation in his chest was being dredged up. He wouldn’t want his father anywhere near Tammy Ray.

What?

Why was he thinking about any of this?

Angry and confused, Tawk rolled down his window and flicked his wrist, threw the little coaster like a miniature Frisbee. It hit the gravel parking lot and skipped twice, flipped over and landed where the logo was facing him, just like Tammy had been putting it tonight.

He hit the gas to get away from the swirling, desperate feeling that was growing in his chest.

He was going crazy. As he drove off, the hole gaped bigger, and the dragon rumbled through him, filling the cab of the truck with the rattling sound.

He couldn’t drink beer anymore.

Go back.

Tawk slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop in the parking lot.

“What?” he demanded. His dragon never spoke in words like this.

Go. Back. I want it.

“Want the coaster?”

Yes.

What the hell? “It’s not treasure!”

It is to me.

Tawk checked his rearview mirror, and pulled a U-turn, pulled up beside the coaster. It had landed under one of the parking lot lights and was now covered in a thin layer of dust.

He pushed open the door and slid out, bent slowly and knelt beside it. He hesitated before he picked it up.

It was just a little circular piece of cardboard, but it was filling him up with such confusion. He had the number in his mind. He didn’t need this to contact Tammy.

“What are you doing?” Tammy’s pretty voice rang out.

Tawk jerked his attention from the coaster to her. She was just a few yards away, a baffled smile on her face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m…” He looked at the coaster and back at her. “I got stuck.”

Her bright ocean-colored eyes darted to the piece of cardstock in his hand, then back to him.

“Trying to throw away my present?”

“I don’t like presents. I don’t need them.”

“Mmm. You’re being rude. If you didn’t want my number, you could’ve just left. You were the one who asked for it.” There was hurt in her eyes.

Tawk recited her number from memory.

She cocked her head, eyes steady on him. “Do you want me to drive you home?”

“Home,” he murmured.

The memory of his room in the house he shared with a few others in Sister’s Edge flashed across his mind. It didn’t feel like home anymore. The hotel he was staying in was dim, small, and cold.

“I don’t think I know where home is yet,” he uttered honestly.

A smile took her lips, and she shrugged. “Same. Maybe we’re both just in transition. We are stuck right in between our old selves and our new selves.”

“I don’t like it.”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“Because of the possibilities. I know I’m not going back to the old me, but I haven’t met the new me fully yet. There’s a possibility she’s going to be great.”

“She already is.”

The smile faltered on her lips. “You say that so easily, but you don’t know me.”

He huffed a breath. “I know you enough.” Tawk dusted the coaster off and held it up. “Thank you.” He didn’t really know what he was thanking her for. The words had just spilled out of his mouth without thought behind it.

“Listen, I am getting off my shift right now. My replacement just came in to close the bar down. I have this thing I have to do tonight.” She shifted her weight to the other side, looking nervous.

“What thing?”

“I have to make cupcakes for this community bake sale tomorrow morning.” She shrugged her shoulders up to her ears and held them there. In a small voice, she asked, “Do you want to come over?”