Chapter Eight

She should’ve worn a belt. Right? No. Yes. No. Shit!

She’d gotten here too early by fifteen minutes, and was currently trying to look cool leaned up against her car. Maybe she should look at her phone. Wait, she should tuck her curls behind her ears so he could see her contoured cheekbones better.

Now she should look at her phone. Yes.

Corey checked the gravel entrance to the potential Moosey’s for the dozenth time. He still wasn’t here. She checked the address again, and yep, this was the place.

The place looked like an old mechanic shop connected to a gas station. Everything was old, and the paint was chipped on every inch of this place. Two garage hangers hung open, and inside were still piles of abandoned tools and old tires and debris. She couldn’t imagine it.

She poked her photos and stared at the picture he’d sent her this morning. That man. Ace had sleep-mussed hair, and dark, two-day scruff on his jaw that was so sexy. He had taken the selfie with one hand, and she could see the perfect muscular curves of his shoulders, triceps, and every defined ab. He’d flexed for her. That was a good sign, right? Oh, stop it.

She scrolled, but landed on a few pictures Hallie had sent her last night. One was of her and Ace at the bar, smiling at each other. Her lips were parted with whatever she was saying to him, and his eyes were on her lips. His smile was so soft. Another was of her and Ace dancing. And the last was one of Ace by the railing, standing beside Gunner. Gunner had his back to the camera, but Ace was twisted around, his eyes narrowed on something. Owen? His eyes were glowing and ice-blue, and his features were too sharp, and almost inhuman. He looked dangerous.

Chills rippled up her arms just as they had the first time she’d seen this picture last night. The next picture was of her striking her pose in front of his motorcycle.

There had been so much excitement in such a short time, and what Owen said last night made sense. Her human life had been boring, and she hadn’t realized it. Being around shifters could be dangerous, yes, but she did feel as if she was living.

She could understand Hallie’s love for her new life.

The sound of tires on gravel startled her. An unfamiliar Lexus coasted in, but it wasn’t Ace or Captain. A well-dressed woman with her hair back in a bun stepped out of her car and waved. “Hi! I’m Marissa, the realtor,” she introduced herself.

Corey shook her hand. “I’m Corey, I’m just here to meet the boys.”

“Aah, perfect.” She checked her watch. “I’m a little early.”

The roar of a loud engine sounded, and they both turned to see a jacked-up black F-150 coming into the clearing. Behind it was a silver Ram, also on huge mud tires. That one was filthy and covered in mud.

The windows were so tinted, she couldn’t see either of the drivers, but it was Ace who stepped out of the black truck. His eyes flashed too bright as he waved, and then his attention drifted to Captain, who was getting out of the silver truck parked next to him.

“Oh my,” Marissa said. “Are they…are they shifters?”

“Yup.”

“Is this safe?” she asked. “I mean, are we safe?”

“Sure,” she said, scrunching her face. “I’m sure we are. They’re totally mature, and—oh!”

Captain charged Ace, and he ducked out of the way. “Stop it!” he roared in a very inhuman-sounding way.

Captain circled and straightened his spine. “Let’s finish it. No one here to stop it this time.”

“You dumb-fuck, I almost broke your arm last time. It’s over.”

“Change then,” Captain growled. “Let’s see who has the bigger bear.”

“You, motherfucker. I’m not a bear!” Ace yelled.

That stopped Captain in his tracks. The behemoth frowned.

“We have a job to do. We’re on the clock,” Ace barked. He jammed his finger at Corey and Marissa. “Humans. Keep your shifter shit for when you aren’t on the clock.”

Corey stood there with her lips pursed against a smile. She’d really just told the realtor they were safe, and then the boys immediately almost fought. Ha. Haha.

The look on the realtor’s face was half terror, half awe as Ace approached her. “I’m sorry about that. We have a little unfinished business. We’re good now.” He offered his hand for a shake. “I’m Ace.”

“Yes.” Marissa cleared her throat delicately and shook his hand limply. “And I’m assuming that is Captain?” she asked about the titan pacing behind the trucks and talking to himself.

“It sure is. He will join us in a couple minutes when he’s settled down.”

“Great,” Marissa said in a shaky voice.

A growl rattled Ace’s throat, and he shook his head hard. “Sorry. Would you like to take a minute to settle down as well?”

“I’m sorry?” Marissa asked.

“Oh, Hallie told me about some of this stuff last night,” Corey said. “If you act like prey, their animals will see you as prey. They can feel if you’re nervous or scared.” She looked to Ace. “Right?”

He was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, and he nodded stiffly. “Very good.”

“Also, we shouldn’t give them our backs when they’re wound up like this. Would you like to crab-walk with me?” she asked Marissa helpfully.

Corey turned to the side and started walking sideways, one step at a time. Marissa started doing the same, but slower. They had both made the mistake of wearing high heels today.

They made it a few yards, and then a chuckle escaped Ace. “You’re good. You can give me your back. You’re safe. I’ll follow you in.”

“Great,” Marissa murmured, giving Corey a wide-eyed glance. “Your boss tells me she’s looking for a barbecue restaurant and gas station combination. This property was last sold about six years ago, but the owners never could get the funding to do anything with it and posted it for sale a few years ago. It hasn’t had any offers on it.”

“Was the location part of the problem with staying in business?” Ace asked.

“Location is good, but a modern gas station opened up shop a couple of miles up the road and ate up all the customers. This was a mom-and-pop operation, and couldn’t keep up with what they had going on up the road.”

“I saw it on the way in.”

“Is that a deal breaker?” Marissa asked.

“No,” Ace told her, scanning the open garage hangers. “Can I go in?”

“Absolutely.”

“I think that has been the main thing keeping buyers away,” she called as Ace studied the inside.

“That location will go under within a year, I’m betting,” Ace said. “They would get a taste of their own medicine. Moosey’s has an established reputation. If we chose this place, the mom-and-pop shop would be avenged. Do you have any of their information that you can share?” he asked, turning toward Marissa. “If they are looking for work, we would have some positions that need to be filled and would want to hire local.”

“Um, I don’t know if I’m allowed to officially share the information on the last tenants.” She hesitated. “I do know the family personally though, so if you ever happen to meet Mister Timothy Faye in line at the local grocery store, I’m sure he would know what you are talking about.”

Marissa had said the words slowly and enunciated them carefully. Nice. Clever woman.

“Noted,” Ace said with a nod. “Corey, what do you think?”

“Me?” Corey asked, stepping up beside Marissa.

“Yep. You’ve been to Moosey’s. And you’re local to this area. What are your honest opinions?”

“Paint a picture of it for me first.”

He locked eyes with her and gave her a wink that made her heart rate kick up to a gallop. “I would love to.” He gestured to the garage hangers. “We leave these open on all good-weather days, add a huge concrete slab here and cover it with a wooden awning, have strands of lights draped from the rafters, speakers in the corners, country music on low for ambiance, picnic tables and red-checkered tablecloths. The Moosey’s sign up there,” he said, pointing.

“I love it!” Corey said excitedly, invested now. “What about this area over here,” she asked, walking to the side of the station. “You could add more covered seating over here. The trees don’t start until way over there. I think you would still have room for extra parking over here too. Maybe freshen up the gravel.”

“Oh hell yeah,” Ace said, coming to stand beside her, staring at the huge space on this side of the building. “It would solve some of the seating issues. We could possibly enclose this side, and open the windows on the good-weather days so people have the option of eating on the patio or inside.”

“So do it like an add-on?”

“Yeah.”

“It’ll be busy enough,” she guessed. “Moosey’s has been slammed every time I’ve been there. If you have a big enough sign at the main road, I think it’ll drag in a big crowd.”

“I like it. Come over here,” he said, and did something that stirred up all the butterflies in her stomach. He touched the small of her back and rubbed it a couple times with his fingertips before he led her around to the back of the building. “Barbecue pits back here.”

“There’s not enough room,” a deep voice behind them said. Captain approached with big, powerful strides. “I’m good,” he assured them.

“What would you need back here?” Ace asked.

“I would need twenty yards of trees cleared that way.” He pointed. “I don’t want anything near the pits.”

“How big is the property?” Ace asked Marissa, who was hanging back. “Can we clear trees all the way back there if we purchase this place?”

“Oh, you have plenty of room to do that. It goes back two more acres. It’s on a steep hill, so not much you can do on the back of this property, but there’s definitely room to clear trees without pushing onto someone else’s property.”

Captain and Ace exchanged a glance, and then Captain started stepping off a measurement from the back door toward the line of trees. “I would have more room for an extra couple of smokers. The baked potatoes could have their own space. We wouldn’t have the run-out problems we have at the other places. I could literally double up the production depending on how busy this place gets.”

“I’ll be honest, rumor has already started going around town that there might be a local Moosey’s,” Marissa said. “It’s getting some excitement.”

Ace and Captain exchanged another look. “Truth,” Captain murmured.

This was so fun! “I’m going to look at the gas station side,” Corey announced. Ace and Captain were painting such a cool picture of this place in her head. She’d never been able to imagine the potential in a place before.

“I’ll come with you,” Ace said. “Captain, figure out a list of changes we would need for your area so we can get a guess on cost for Boss-Lady.”

“Yep,” Captain muttered, already typing something into his phone.

Corey would’ve done an excited dance-shuffle to the front door if she wasn’t in high heels. She felt giddy as she told him, “We could be walking across the patio right here, weaving in and out of picnic tables, saying hi to people. Will it serve beer?”

“We will have four local on tap, and anything different they want, they can buy their own in the convenience-store side, like we do at the other locations.”

“Genius.”

He stepped forward and opened the door for her. “They just left this place unlocked,” she mused.

When she saw the inside, she understood why. There was nothing in here at all except dust. It was only walls and outlets. Nothing to steal.

Ace brushed her back again and guided her toward the back, gesturing. “Snacks, candy, medicine aisles. And back here we can line up the coolers. This place is bigger than I thought it was.”

“How much are they asking for it?” she whispered. “We should haggle.”

“It’s already priced dirt-cheap. It’s zoned commercial, so someone would have to buy this and start a business. It’s been waiting for the right buyer, and I bet no one wanted to tangle with that big gas station down the road.”

“It would be a challenge,” she said, squaring up to him.

He faced her, and nodded. “And a lot of work before we can open.”

“But imagine it,” she whispered excitedly.

He looked down at her lips. “It feels special.”

“It feels so special!”

Ace suddenly leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

She froze, her eyes wide open. Ace eased back with a soft smack. He kept his eyes closed for a couple of extra seconds, like he was savoring it, then backed away by inches. “You gonna stop me?” he asked in a husky voice.

Heart pounding, she shook her head. “Don’t want to stop you.”

He closed the distance between them, slid his hand behind her neck, and gripped it with the perfect amount of pressure as he kissed her again. This time was more gentle, lips moving against hers, and she melted forward, right into him. He brushed his tongue against hers once, and then ended the kiss just as she got addicted to the taste of him. He grabbed her hand and pressed it against his jeans, and she could feel it there—his stone-hard erection. “No more saying you don’t feel pretty.” He eased back and flashed his phone screen at her. His lock screen was her selfie this morning in that joke nightgown. She and Hallie had gotten matching ones for slumber parties.

A surprised laugh escaped her. “That is not lock screen material.”

“Disagree,” he said, making his way behind the cash register counter.

It was perfect timing, because right then, Marissa and Captain entered the front door. He’d probably heard them coming, of course. He’d had warning. She hadn’t, so Corey stood there awkwardly, like she hadn’t just had the devil kissed right out of her by the sexiest man she’d ever been around.

Her cheeks had been set aflame, and she stammered a hello to them.

Captain frowned at her, and then swung his gaze over to Ace. His face went comically blank before he laughed and shook his head.

She noticed the exact moment Ace’s demeanor changed. He was looking at the ground where he was standing, and the smile fell from his face. He took a few steps back and stared at the ground with wide eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Captain demanded, and then in a blur, he hopped the counter and stood beside Ace, staring down at the ground with him. “Holy shit.”

“We’ll make an offer,” Ace murmured to Marissa without looking up.

“You will? That’s great news!” Marissa riffled through her satchel while Corey made her way around the counter to see what was on the ground that had both the boys looking like they’d seen a ghost.

Someone had spray-painted something on the ground in black paint.

1010

Getting warmer.

L. Novak

“I don’t get it,” Corey said. “What does it mean?”

Ace broke his stare away from the writing and locked eyes with her. “Ten-ten means sanctuary. L. Novak is Lucia Novak.”

“Who is she?”

“She’s a daughter of Beaston. She is the up-and-coming seer of Damon’s Mountains. She can see the future. She is the reason Gunner is starting the Fastlanders.”

Chills blasted up her spine and arms. “Do you think she saw this moment? Us here?”

Slowly, Ace pointed his finger toward the window by the cash register. There was more spray paint on the ground, and it said just one word.

Yes.

Holy shit was right.

Chills, chills, chills!

“Here is the contract for an offer, if you would like to look over it. Your boss said you have final say,” Marissa said to Ace. “That you are the one purchasing this place?”

Corey jerked her attention to Ace. “You are?”

“Dude, why didn’t you tell me?” Captain asked low.

Ace exhaled a sigh and pulled the paperwork across the counter to himself. “Because I didn’t need anyone knowing. I paid my franchise fee already. Audrey approved of being a co-owner of this one a few weeks ago.”

“Okay, but I probably wouldn’t have fought you if I knew you were going to be my new boss,” Captain ground out.

“Bullshit, you still would’ve fought me,” Ace said, studying the paperwork.

Captain’s lips quirked up into a grin. “You’re probably right.”

“I know I am. How much wiggle room does the seller have?” he asked Marissa.

“Honestly? They just said make an offer. They want to get rid of this place.”

“Wait, wait, wait, are you serious right now?” Corey belted out. “Ace!”

“What?” he asked.

“You’re going to be running a Moosey’s?”

“With Captain. I need the pit-boss to make this place produce. I knew that from the beginning. And I’m just a co-owner. Audrey is helping.”

“With what, man?” Captain asked. “You know we’re about to transform this place, and she probably won’t even see it until the grand opening.”

Ace grinned at him. “You want to open this place with me?”

Captain hooked his massive hands on his hips and looked around, a baffled expression on his face. “Yeah.” He looked at Ace and nodded. “Hell yeah, man. Let’s do this.”

Ace finished filling out the offer. Corey took a picture of the spray-painted words, then sent it to Hallie.

The response she immediately got made her giggle. Hallie texted back, Holy shit.

That was the phrase of the hour.

She watched Ace and Captain talking with Marissa, and this overwhelming sense of pride took over her.

Ace was making his move. Some people stayed in the same place their whole lives, scared of change, but he was really doing this. He was changing his stars, and fly or fail, he was going to own his destiny.

Hell yeah. It was inspiring watching him be so in charge and in control, so well-spoken and strong.

And he’d kissed her.

Kissed her until she forgot where she was.

Until nothing in the world existed but the two of them.

Okay.

This man sure had her attention.