Chapter Seven

Ace re-read the last text from Corey. You like to play with my head.

He couldn’t even blame her for seeing it that way, but she didn’t know. She didn’t understand.

He was protecting her by distancing her. She would have a better quality of life if she didn’t see him romantically.

Easy. No problem. He’d just met her, so no harm no foul. He had cut it off early.

So why was he lying here awake two hours after he’d finally gotten home, overthinking that damn text. Thank God Gunner had given him one more night to sleep at his place before he was required to sleep in the tent in Fastlander territory. His animal was too revved-up to behave, especially around Owen.

You like to play with my head.

Did he?

She was fun. She was funny. Gorgeous, looked sexy on a bike, had confidence but was awkward in the cutest damn way. Yeah, he liked being around her and yeah, he liked the thought of kissing her. Part of him wished he hadn’t hesitated at the bar at the end of the night.

He should’ve kissed her, and not given her time to come to and push him away.

She’d closed up like a clam when he’d talked about friendship, and he missed the light. That was it. She’d been so damn light. Such a beautiful distraction.

He stared up at the rafters of his dad’s cabin. His cabin, now. The covers were all kicked to the end of the bed and dawn was peeking through the open window. He had a problem sleeping without all the windows open. That was a cold habit during the winter months, but now? The weather was perfect for it.

No point in trying to sleep now.

Ace sat up and settled his bare feet onto the hardwood floors. He and his dad had bought this place when they’d moved here, and had never had the urge to leave it. What would he do with this place if he went to Gunner’s Crew? It was too far away from the territory of the Fury.

What was he doing, thinking about picking up his entire life and changing everything?

He cracked his knuckles and slid his glance to the black-and-white picture of him and his dad fishing that hung over the dresser. He’d been ten, maybe eleven. He looked like a miniature of his father at that age. He’d settled into more of his mother’s features as he’d gotten older. At least that’s what Dad had said.

What am I doing?The question glanced across his mind again.

It was answered with his dad’s scratchy voice right at the end. “I don’t want you to be alone.”

Ace winced and closed his eyes against the pain of the loss. The self-help book on grief that sat on the bedside table said this would ease up in time, but so far, he thought that book was full of shit. He smacked it off the table and tossed it one more dirty look as it skidded against the wall and settled into the corner.

His phone lit up, and he rubbed his face. It was probably Captain, or his boss, or maybe Gunner. He was supposed to give his answer on joining the Fastlanders by the end of the week.

He pulled his phone off the charging cord and squinted against the too-bright screen.

Good morning.

Two words, and they changed his mood completely.

It was the best two words to start the day with. Corey had texted him.

Hey hi good morning….delete, delete, delete. Ace stood and paced into the hallway and back, hooked his hands on his hips, and stared at the phone on the bed.

She’d said he liked playing with her head. Was she getting him back?

His phone lit up and he just about blurred to the bed to check it.

I saw the dots that tell me you were typing, and that means you’re awake. I’ve been thinking.

Can I call you?Send.

Now it was his turn to watch the dots. And then nothing. And then the dots. And then nothing. Dots, and then, Sure.

He hit the call button immediately and cleared his throat, but he still sounded sleepy as hell when he spoke. “Are you messing with me?” he asked, needing to hear her voice to decipher a lie.

“What?” she asked in a tired voice. It was husky and sexy.

“You said I like playing with your mind. Is your good morning text you playing with my mind back?”

“Oh my God. Are you an overthinker too?” she asked. There was humor in her voice, and his hackles rose. She was making fun of him.

“No,” he ground out.

“If I was a shifter, would I hear the lie in that?”

He ran his hand down the scruff of his face. He needed a shave. “I overthink some things,” he admitted.

“I overthink all things. I couldn’t sleep.”

“Me either. You okay?” He was being genuine. He really wanted to know.

“I’m…yes. I’m good. I’m great. I’ve been thinking that I respect what you did.”

“What did I do?”

“You told me where I stand before I got too big of a crush on you. I talked to Hallie last night. I was stung and hurt, and feeling a little rejected and not that pretty, and a little confused, but she asked if I would rather you got me to fall for you and then hurt me, or for you to say exactly what your intentions are from the beginning, and I chose option B. So thank you, Ace. I will be a phenomenal member of the friendzone.”

He snorted. “I don’t even know where to start. Okay, first of all, I didn’t mean to hurt you, second, you should always feel pretty because you are a smokin’ hot woman, and third…thank you for letting me off the hook. I’m…” He lifted his eyes to the picture of him and his dad. “I’m a mess right now. I’m fucking sad. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. I’ve been steady as it goes since the day I moved here, and now I’m thinking of changing everything up. I met you, and you gave me that fucking bagel, and that’s in my head, but I know how I felt yesterday when you followed Owen inside and when I saw you talking to him at the bar, and I know how I felt when you pushed me away, and I know how I felt when you were on another bike going up another road I wasn’t invited, and I want to be honest, okay? I do. But my entire existence has depended on me being a secret, do you understand?”

“I don’t even know where to start,” she murmured, repeating his words. “Okay, first of all, why are you sad?”

He didn’t have the words that would explain it. He tried, but every time he started, the words got all caught up in his throat and felt like concrete. He lifted his phone and took a picture of the photograph on his wall, and then sent it to her.

“Is that your dad in the picture?” she asked softly.

“Yeah,” he said gruffly.

“Is he gone?”

“Yeah.”

“How long ago?”

“Three months.”

“Shhhit. Ace, that’s not very long.”

“Feels like a long time.”

“Tell me about him.”

“I have to get ready for work.”

“Cool, put me on speakerphone and get ready while you talk.”

“I don’t talk about him. That’s the deal.”

“You don’t talk to anyone about him?”

“No.”

“You loved him?”

He nodded, but remembered she couldn’t see him, so he said, “Yes,” but his voice cracked on the word. He huffed a humorless laugh and shook his head. “I have to go.”

“First rule of friendship? No shutting down. You don’t drop a bomb like this photograph and then leave me, as a known overthinker, to worry about your mindset all day. Now, you don’t have to tell me the super-secret werewolf stuff about him. Just tell me about the person you loved.”

“What are you? Some kind of therapist?”

“Oh hell no. If I was a therapist I would tell any woman who came to me with a problem with their boyfriend to break up with them. I cannot give life advice. I would just be like, ‘have you tried drinking your problems away?’”

He chuckled and rubbed his hands over his eyes, and then brought the phone into the bathroom. “I’m going to brush my teeth.”

“What are you wearing?” she asked. “As friends. Hopefully a potato sack. You know what? Don’t answer my question. I’m going to imagine you as a lamp.”

All right, this woman was something else. He was smiling the whole damn way through brushing his teeth as she chattered on and on. He rinsed, and asked, “What are you wearing? As friends?”

“Oh, one of those grandma-nightgowns with the little pink flowers that make my boobs look like misshapen little things. It’s too long, so I keep tripping on it. No makeup, hair in a messy bun, retainer, glasses, you know. The works.”

“All of that was a lie. Send me a picture, and I’ll send you one of me in the potato sack.”

“Fine. Hold please. I need to get the perfect angle. Oh yeah, that’s the one.”

A picture came through and dear God, she hadn’t been lying. She was wearing one of the nighties and glasses and the messy bun.

And was somehow still fuckin’ adorable. He belted out a laugh. “I’m saving this,” he told her.

“Good. Make it your lock screen, I dare you.”

“Woman, don’t be tossing dares out there like that.”

“Potato sack, let’s see it. Let’s see how plain you look when you wake up in the mornings. Let’s compare.”

He shook his head, took a few steps back from the sink, and took a picture of himself in the mirror. He might’ve flexed a little for her.

He sent it, and waited.

“Oh what the hell, Ace. I’m hanging up.”

He cracked up and said, “Don’t hang up!”

“You just wake up looking like that? Are you serious right now? Are you wearing gray sweatpants? Seriously. Go delete my picture now, please and thank you.”

“I like muumuus.”

“I hate gray sweatpants.”

“Lie. I heard the lie in your voice.”

“I’m putting my contacts in now, hold please.”

He liked this. He liked not feeling lonely. He liked getting ready with her. “Did you already make coffee?”

“Yes, but you would hate it. I put a ton of salted caramel creamer in it. Really, it doesn’t even taste like coffee after I’m done with it, and it’s probably three hundred calories.”

“Of deliciousness.”

“Of deliciousness,” she agreed. “Let me guess, you drink your coffee black, like a badass.”

“I don’t know if it’s badass. I just don’t like the taste of creamers.”

“Have you tried salted caramel?”

“No, but I’m open to trying new things.”

“Well, friend, maybe someday when I have a day off I will bring you a salted caramel coffee to your work and use it as an excuse to get some barbecue for lunch.”

“Mmm, when’s your next day off work?”

“Today, and thank God, because this lady is dragging this morning. Hallie just left. We didn’t sleep a wink. Watched the sun come up together and everything.”

“She’s not just your cousin, is she?”

“She’s my best friend.”

Ace smiled as he put product in his hair.

“What is on your necklace?” she asked.

“A sterling silver card. Ace of spades. My dad gave it to me when I turned sixteen.”

“What happens to it when you Change?” she asked curiously.

“It would break. Actually, it’s been broken a few times. I keep replacing the chain. I try not to wear it around a Change.”

“You have a lot of control then?”

“Most of the time. Sometimes not.”

“Whooo, mysterious. When is a time you almost Changed accidentally?”

Last night when he watched her leaving with Owen. She didn’t need to know that though. “When I was fighting Captain. It was close. I had just come out of the interview with Gunner, and his animal already had me riled up, and then I was fighting Captain and his grizzly nearly dragged my animal out again. It’s going to be a real awkward workday. I damn near broke his arm. I don’t blame him if he’s still pissed.”

“Did your dad teach you to fight?”

Ace dragged the phone back into the bedroom with him. He pulled clothes out and began changing. “A lot of people taught me to fight. My dad and his brothers had me learning to fight before I knew how to walk. It’s tradition for my people.”

“You have uncles?” she asked.

“Not any longer. They were killed in a war when I was young, right before we moved here. I remember my dad and his brothers were very close, but there was a fight for power that was constant, so it was a strained relationship. He was pretty ripped up after the war. He had a bad limp for a long time, and his scars were brutal. He never walked around without his shirt on after the war, but sometimes I saw the scars right before he Changed. I could tell they bothered him.”

“What was the war about?”

He sat on the bed and pulled on his boots. “It was about me.”

“Wait, what? Why?”

“Because the sons my uncles sired weren’t dominant enough to hold the throne. I was born…different. My dad was the youngest of his brothers, and was not supposed to be in line for the throne. He was being pushed up the ranks of power because of me, and what I was supposed to be, but I wasn’t…I wasn’t what our people wanted. My mother wasn’t one of us.”

“So you’re like a hybrid shifter. Tell me more.”

He snorted. “Uuum. That’s a story for another day, friend.”

“Oh, right. Totally, friend. Are you ready for my update picture?”

“Born ready. Send it to me.”

“Whoo, I like when you get all bossy with me.” She cleared her throat. “As friends, of course.”

God, she was so damn cute. She liked him bossing her around? She would be fun in the bedroom.

A picture came in, and his eyebrows reached straight for his hairline. Damn. She was wearing skintight dark blue jeans over a pair of nude-colored heels, and a sleeveless red satin shirt that was tucked in. Her hair was halfway up and messy up top with a clip, but the bottom layer had crisp curls in it. Her makeup looked pretty.

“I’m still curling my hair. I do it in layers. I figured I would explain that since you don’t have sisters, and probably know nothing about women.”

“I know they apparently like bacon instead of flowers,” he joked.

“You heard that part?”

“I hear everything.” He poured a second cup of coffee into his thermos and screwed on the lid, then grabbed his keys and headed out. “Truck’s going to be loud, hold on.”

“I thought you rode a motorcycle.”

“Not all the time.” The engine roared to life, and her voice came on in the truck.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed my car, but I’m also doing pretty well for myself. It’s a Subaru Outback I’ve named Gertrude.”

He laughed as he pulled out of the driveway and headed down the road. “I saw her. Super nice.”

“How long does it take you to get to work?”

“Usually about twenty minutes, but I’m not going there today. My boss has someone covering for me and Captain while we’re in the interview process. There’s nothing to do for Gunner until later though, so Boss-Lady is sending me and Captain to scout out a possible location for the new Moosey’s Barbecue.”

“The same Captain I watched you brawl with?”

“Yep.”

“Well, that won’t be awkward.”

He laughed and told her, “It’ll be fine. I’m good at defusing situations like that. Captain will be fine. We may bleed a little to get there, but we’ll work it out.”

“So violent.”

“I forget you’re human sometimes. I could see how that could seem violent to you.”

“I mean, it’s actually pretty hot, in a friendship way, that you can fight. Are you headed toward Laramie?”

“Yep. I’ll be on the highway in five. What are you doing today?”

“Self-care day,” she said. “I’m running on copious amounts of coffee and adrenaline right now.”

“Adrenaline, why?” he asked.

“Because I’m talking to my new bestie.”

“Oh, God, you really like talking about friendzones, don’t you.”

“Love it. It’s my favorite place to be. I’m a professional at it.”

He chuckled. If only she knew the dirty things he wanted to do to her. The timing just wasn’t right. Disagree. The animal’s voice whispered through his head, and it startled him enough to make him jump. Huh. He didn’t usually speak up unless Ace was near a Change. His skin was tingling. Wait, was he close to a Change? “Why?”

“Why what?” Corey asked.

“Oh, no…not you. I was asking…” He swallowed hard.

“Are you talking to your animal?” she asked softly.

He gripped the steering wheel tighter. He didn’t want her thinking he was crazy.

“Why what?”

“Why do I feel like Changing?”

There was a six-second pause, and he’d done it. He’d scared her. He parted his lips to tell her goodbye and end the phone call, but she interrupted his intentions. “Stay talking to me. You have shit to accomplish today. No Changing right now.”

A slow smile took his lips. It was cute that she thought she could manage the timing of a Change.

The tingling faded from his skin though, and a long purr rattled through his head. What the hell? That was a sound he had never heard his animal make in his entire life.

“What does a self-care day involve?” he asked.

“I’m getting my nails done, and then getting a facial, and then I’m taking myself out to brunch, and then I’ll probably be half-asleep so maybe a nap, and then—”

“Do you want to meet me?”

“What?”

He swallowed hard. “Do you want to see the spot my boss thinks will be a good location for the next Moosey’s?”

“Umm, yeah! Sure! When?”

“An hour?”

“Okay!” She got quiet. “Um, do I need to change into something different? Will we be hiking?”

“Nope, it’s in the mountains but it has a gravel driveway and parking lot. I’ll send you the address.”

“Will Captain be mad?”

“Who cares?”

“Oh. Um, I have to go freak out now.”

He laughed. “Freak out why?”

“I don’t know, I’m excited and nervous and I need to go figure out what that means, friend!” She did sound excited, and now he was starting to understand why she felt like he was playing with her head. She liked him.

He couldn’t stop smiling right now even if he tried.

“I’ll see you soon,” he murmured.

“Okay, bye, see you in an hour! Everything is great, friendship is my favorite, I will be totally cool and aloof.”

He bit back another laugh. “Me too.”

But as he hung up on her, he knew damn well neither one of them would be cool or aloof. He had no idea if it was the damn bagel-gift that had garnered his animal’s attention, but the man in him liked the woman in her.

This had been his favorite morning in a long time.