Page 13 of Leave Me (Shift MC #1)
Chapter twelve
Riley
G etting ready, I had to shower a second time that day because I was sweating through my shirt. When I finally settled on a basic white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans that showed off my ass, I didn’t know whether I was excited or nervous.
Saying goodnight to my mom, a sense of…something lingered over me.
I couldn’t tell if it was the fear of future regret or if there had been some cosmic shift in the universe, but I felt odd.
I’d learned as a reporter in strange new places to listen to my instincts, but mine felt scrambled instead of focused.
The chance to see Fowler again overrode all my misgivings as I laced my boots up and headed out.
Walking down Wolf Creek Road and turning onto Main Street—across the street from the King family shop, Motorvated—the unnamable feeling kept gnawing at me. Seeing the mix of motorcycles and trucks in the dirt parking lot, I almost didn’t go in.
“If those assholes from Lakeview are here, I’m leaving,” I muttered to myself as I pushed the solid wooden door open. My high school bullies from across the lake were not who I wanted to see.
Cool air with a distinct smell of beer washed over me, and I stopped in my tracks. I hadn’t realized how hot I felt from my walk until I was back in the air-conditioning, and I wanted to savor it.
The Barn was a bar in an old barn, and the theme was rustic.
The floors were the original wide-plank oak, but with a layer of lacquer and years of spills giving them a shine.
The walls had local and state team pennants along with mounted animal heads, though I noticed they no longer had bras hanging off antlers.
“Riley, hey!” I turned my head to find Ricky waving at me from behind the bar, where Rel was sitting on a stool across from him. “Glad you made it!”
It had been years since I’d come to the bar, but Ricky hadn’t been bartending back then.
Seeing familiar faces settled something in me, and I made my way over.
There were a bunch of old timers in the booths at the back, but the middle had a handful of people I recognized from high school.
There were also a lot I didn’t recognize.
“Hey,” I greeted my old friends and accepted Ricky’s fist bump over the wide bar top. “Something going on besides the mixer?”
“Yeah,” Rel nodded, turning his stool to face me while I sat, and Ricky moved away to take someone’s order. “The graduates of our class and two thousand nineteen, a ten-year and five-year mixer in one. ”
“We didn’t have a five-year reunion.” Scrunching my brow, I realized some of the adults in the room were younger siblings to our former classmates, but distinctly grown up. “Is it normal to combine them?”
“Fuck if I know,” Rel shrugged, “But Cara Simpson is in charge of our reunion—you remember the cheerleader—and her little sister, Kayla, was five years behind us. So I think they put it together.”
“Yeah, Cara was annoyed I didn’t have social media. I got my invite through her contacting my mom,” I chuckled as Ricky pushed a bottle towards me. “I didn’t order a beer?”
“It’s a light cider, on me,” Ricky winked and left to help another customer.
“That was nice of him,” I commented, mostly to myself.
Most liquor and beer made me feel sick, but I didn’t want to be rude and not try the free drink.
I looked around at the people mingling as I took a sip.
The tangy, dry apple burst over my tongue, leaving a tart and pleasant aftertaste. “I don’t drink much, but this is good.”
“We know,” Rel said, nursing his own bottle. “We never see you when you’re in town, so I’m glad you came out.”
A flash of guilt hit me, but I pushed it down.
I wasn’t super close with Ricky and Rel, and I knew Ricky traveled a lot for fights, but I’d been building my career.
I had nothing to feel bad about. If I avoided Blue Lake because it felt like a giant chasm had opened when King left…
well, that was my future therapist bill to deal with .
Rel and I chatted about the firehouse and how they had a makeshift gym. He was an omega and had been the only Black kid in our school, so I was glad to see him happy and settled into Blue Lake.
Ricky stopped by to chat off and on, along with a few people I was glad to see, but Rel and I stuck to the bar.
When I finished my second—or maybe third?—cider, I remembered who I’d come to see. Fowler had yet to make an appearance, and it was nearing ten at night. I still had some lingering jetlag, telling me to go to sleep for twelve hours straight, but I still had hope he’d show up for the picnic.
“I think I’m going to head out,” I told Rel, slipping from my stool and dropping a twenty-dollar tip on the bar for Ricky, who hadn’t let me pay for my drinks. “Why don’t I get your number so we can stay in touch?”
“Sure.” Rel pulled his phone out, and I read my number out, so he could save mine. “See you guys tomorrow?”
“You can’t leave yet,” Ricky insisted, and I looked up to see him and Rel smirking. Except they weren’t smiling at me; something over my shoulder caught their attention. “Your BFF is here.”
A shiver ran up my spine as I turned to find Fowler King walking my way. Looking like sin in head-to-toe black, his neck tattoo gave him a menacing vibe, but I could see the smile in his eyes.
My body swayed towards him, but I kept myself from meeting Fowler halfway. Biting back a moan, I didn’t know what came over me, but I went from tipsy to horny in a split second.
“Hey, Ri,” King greeted, pulling me into a hug I didn’t see coming. He let me go but kept his eyes on me. “I’m glad I didn’t miss you.”
“Did people trash your house or something?” Ricky asked. “We could have stayed later to help.”
“No, it wasn’t too bad.” King shook his head and finally looked away from me. I took a deep breath and was assaulted by his musky almond and cherry scent. “I took a nap and lost a few hours.”
“Sorry, man,” Ricky rubbed the back of his neck. “Guess we kept you up late.”
“Did you…” I paused and looked around. Most of the people who had come for the mixer had left, but I still lowered my voice. The three of them had enhanced hearing anyway. “Did you go for a run?”
“We did,” Rel explained. “King stayed behind to watch the fire and hang out with Red.”
That made sense. Red couldn’t shift and run, so Fowler was being a good friend. Rowen Finley was an octopus shifter; he shifted and swam.
“Remember when we ran around the whole lake and pissed off the bears?” Ricky asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Pissing off the bear-shifters of Lakeview had gotten them in deep trouble, but they were young and thought they were invincible.
“I remember getting a lecture from Gramps and Dad about being responsible for you two,” King replied dryly with a raised brow. “As if I could ever stop you.”
Ricky and Rel laughed and led us back to the bar. My jetlag disappeared, and something inside of me said to stay close to Fowler, so I accepted another cider.
Being there, surrounded by old friends, by the pack I was never really a part of, I sensed a warmth spreading all over my body. It felt right in a way I didn’t remember from high school. Like I fit.
Maybe moving back home wouldn’t be so bad. But I still didn’t know if the main person I wanted to see was sticking around.