Chapter Ten

"Nervous?" Corey asked from the back seat.

Wreck looked over at Timber, who was fidgeting with her purse strap in the front seat next to him. "Oh, no, I'm great."

He could hear the lie in her tone. When he looked up into the rearview mirror, he could tell from the expressions on Corey and Ace's faces that they heard it too.

"We will make it fun," Wreck promised. Gah, he hated the effect her family's betrayal had on her. In some strange way, he understood it. Just because a child was born into a family, that didn't mean that family was good, or healthy.

He had told his mother about tonight. She had already texted him three times, checking on how it was going. He smiled. His mom already liked her. He was going to surprise Timber with that part after they got through tonight.

Truthfully, he wasn't a forgiving man, and her parents hadn't shown up to the hospital when she'd been in that car accident. He had waited and watched, and no one had shown up save for her sister, who worked there. No one went out of their way to check on her.

Her.

Timber.

The most valuable human he'd ever encountered.

No forgiving shitty parents. They had known she was hurt. It didn't matter their history. If they were living near the same town and purposefully not checking on her, they were shit.

He had encouraged tonight for selfish reasons. One, he wanted to see what was so special about her ex that her own parents would choose him. And two, he wanted them to see that Timber was okay without them. That she wasn't alone.

He wanted her to have the last say, and he didn't care what that said about him.

Wreck slid his hand to her thigh, and the tension in her shoulders melted slightly. He loved her reaction to his touch. Fuck, he was getting a boner again. He could fuck her a dozen times a day and it wouldn't be enough. He felt like some rutting animal around her.

What did the green mean? She'd dragged those emerald flames from him earlier, and filled the entire bathroom with them. She hadn't even seemed mortified or scared. She'd just accepted it like it was normal, but it wasn't. He'd never heard of this, not in any of his research on phoenixes.

What did it mean that this fragile human woman took his powers in stride and never made him feel bad for them? Never made him feel dangerous. Never questioned him. She just…accepted him.

To a man like him, that was everything. His loyalty to her had started with her saying the words, "It's okay."

She had no idea how deep he was in already.

She had awakened some primal part of him that needed her. Needed her.

Hang Lucia's visions. He didn't give a shit about anything outside of tonight, and making sure Timber was okay.

Corey reached forward and rested her hand on Timber's forearm, just let it sit there and draw even more tension from her.

He didn't like the Fastlanders much, but he was secretly softening to them as they had shown Timber care over the last couple of days.

He appreciated Corey noticing her tension and wanting to ease it. He'd seen Corey fight back against Silver coming into the Crew, and he was happy she wasn't targeting Timber in that way. She seemed to care. And anyone who was good with Timber, was good with him.

Ace was watching him through the rearview. Wreck could feel his eyes on him, and when he glanced up to see, he was rewarded with a head nod from Ace.

That one was a monster, too. He was the reason the Holland Pride was after them, but he wasn't just a lion shifter. He was a hybrid. He had vampire blood from his mother's line, and had powers no one could guess at.

He was the quietest male of the Crew, but Wreck liked that.

Ace wasn't talk. Ace was action.

"I know this bar," Ace said. "Have you been before?"

Timber shook her head no.

"There are pool tables in the back room, but it's a small room with a door to it, so likely no one in the party will be back there until later. You will make your introductions, and then we can go to the back room for privacy if you are feeling overwhelmed. I brought change for the pool table. Corey and I will go reserve it while you chat with your family."

Wreck nodded, eyes on the road. Good on Ace. He was offering Timber a plan so she didn't go in there with no guess on what would happen.

Corey changed the plan. "I'm staying with Timber."

Hell yeah.

Wreck squeezed her leg in what he hoped was comfort, and turned into the parking lot of the bar. The lot was full, and he had to park in the grass on the side of the building. Gunner backed his truck in near Wreck's, and he, Hallie, Owen, Silver, Captain, and Sloane piled out.

"No fighting tonight," Gunner ground out to Wreck, and Wreck could feel the Alpha order in his words. The Fastlander Alpha pointed at Owen. "No fighting." He pointed to Captain. "No fighting." Ace. "No fighting."

He left the order off the girls, and Wreck laughed internally. The she-bears and lionesses were a bigger problem than the males. They took shit from no one.

The girls had noticed he had forgotten to include them in the order, because Silver looked back at Sloane and made a laughing face.

What did Wreck care that the other males hadn't noticed Gunner's mistake? The girls could gut anyone who looked at Timber wrong, for all he cared. He was a good man around Timber. Didn't mean he was a good man to anyone else.

Fair game. He wasn't allowed to fight anyone, but he would absolutely sic one of the she-monsters of the Fastlanders on anyone who popped off at Timber tonight, and he would lose zero minutes of sleep over it.

Timber looked so damn pretty. She was wearing a skintight little chocolate-brown dress under one of his flannels, and knee-high heeled boots that made her legs look a mile long. She'd done her makeup over at Hallie's house with the girls, and had that dark, shimmery makeup on her eyes that made her pretty eye color pop more. She hadn't had time to curl her hair after their little shared shower earlier, but it had dried in these wild waves that were just about the sexiest thing he'd ever seen in his life.

The other girls of the Fastlanders were all done up, and the guys were wearing T-shirts. Captain was wearing one that said "I dig MILFs," which was probably a tribute to Sloane. Ruger's biological dad had him for the night, so they were kid-free. From the way Sloane was chattering, they were probably ready to have a fun night on the town.

Normally Wreck would avoid a night with shifters altogether, because his animal couldn't handle all the turmoil, shifting emotions, and dominance that came along with a Crew. Tonight, he was kind of okay heading in there with the Fastlanders.

He liked that they were going out of their way to show up for Timber, whom they barely knew. All they knew was that he cared for her, so they'd stepped up.

He respected it.

Timber slipped her hand into the inside corner of his elbow and looked up at him. Her smile wasn't on her pretty glossed lips right now, and he didn't like it.

"You're good," he murmured as he opened the door for her. He held it for the others while Timber waited beside him, scanning the bar.

The party seemed to be in the back, as the front of the bar was pretty empty.

"You want a drink?" he asked.

"Probably need one," she murmured nervously. He could feel the tension rolling off her, so he leaned down and kissed her lips to siphon some of it away.

He wrapped his hand around hers and God, he loved how petite her hand was in his. The bar only had a couple of people ordering drinks at it, and it was easy to get attention from the bartender. He ordered a round of beers for the Fastlander men, and a round of lemon-drop shots for the ladies, except for Hallie, who got a lemonade.

Just as he knew would happen, Corey took control of the situation and took some selfies with the girls, took pictures of their drinks all in the middle doing a cheers, and did a toast. "This is for bread, because without bread, there is no toast."

Wreck snorted and sipped his beer. Normally he didn't drink because the titan inside of him used his dulled senses to take over his body easier, but fuck it. He was safe under Gunner's Alpha order, and not too worried about turning phoenix over some humans that were beneath Timber.

She snuggled up to him at the bar, and he quickly grabbed his phone and took a picture of the girls taking shots—other than Hallie, who was knocked up and taking a shot of her lemonade—and sent it to her phone. He was going to take more pictures of her doing fun stuff so she could post them if she wanted, and none of her family could say anything. She was here on their invite.

"Timber?" a woman asked.

Timber's smile fell from her face. Wreck studied the woman who stood on the outskirts of their group in a pair of skinny jeans, motorcycle boots, and a sequined black shirt. She had Timber's eye color and bone structure, but she was shorter, and her face was all frown wrinkles and a dour expression.

Her mother, Gale, he guessed.

"Timber," she repeated as she made her way through the others to reach her daughter. "I'm…" She looked Timber up and down. "I'm honestly shocked that you are here."

"Well, you invited me."

"No I didn't."

Timber frowned. "You sent an invite? Via email?"

"Oh," she drawled out. She huffed a single, angry laugh. "I'm going to throttle your sister. She did the invites from my email. She must've accidentally invited you."

Timber's face said everything he needed to know—this woman still had the power to hurt her.

"Gale, is it? Timber's told me a lot about you." Mostly bad. "If she's not invited, it's no skin off her back," Wreck assured the battle-axe. "We were all out barhopping anyway." He straightened his spine, stood from his barstool, and offered his hand for a shake. "I'm Wreck."

"Wreck," Gale said, her eyes narrowing. "That's a name, isn't it."

He could feel the fire heating his fingertips, so he dropped his hand before she could shake it. He offered her an empty smile, and then asked her, "Would you like a drink? I'll get you one while your daughter introduces you to her friends. What do you want?"

"Whiskey," she deadpanned. "I want top shelf, straight up."

"Of course you do." He patted Timber on the ass and turned to the bartender to order the drink. Timber had gone so quiet, and he hated this. He turned and murmured, "We don't stoop."

"Is this the guy on your Instagram?" a male voice sounded. Wreck slowly turned to see a tall man headed their way. He had his arm around a blonde woman, and a brunette woman was following them. The entire party in the back was looking their way. Wreck offered a two-fingered wave to the onlookers, and then straightened to meet the family-stealers.

Timber cleared her throat. "Umm. This is Brandon. Brandon, Wreck. And that back there is Marissa. My replacement. I don't know the blonde. She must be new."

"I hate that you call me your replacement," Marissa barked in a bitchy voice as she offered Wreck her hand for a shake. "Pleased to meet you."

He looked at her hand and considered shaking it just to burn the shit out of her. His skin was heating up. "It's not your fault," he told her, ignoring her hand.

"What's not my fault? I can assure you whatever story Timber told you isn't the real story. Nothing's my fault," the woman said, letting her hand fall to her side.

"Mmm. I was going to say it's not your fault for wanting a family dynamic with a family you were supposed to be a part of, but now I don't care about being kind. I have this weird talent for sensing bullshit. In the very few times Timber has talked about her distance with any of you, never once did I sense a lie. You, on the other hand. Your voice sure was shaky on that ‘Nothing's my fault.'"

"I heard it too," Corey said from where she stood just behind Timber. Her eyes were blazing green.

"Look," Wreck told Marissa. "You wanted to find family, and you did. The found-family gave you the attention you desired, and you weren't the one who was hurt by it, so why would you feel bad?"

"Are you a shifter?" she asked.

Wreck just smiled.

"Why would you ask him that?" Owen asked from down the bar. Wreck had never heard his voice so serious before.

"Because," Marissa said softly. "Your eyes are glowing. All of your eyes."

Wreck looked around the Fastlanders, and she was right. Glowing eyes everywhere.

"What have you been doing?" her mother asked Timber, disgust in her voice. "Who are these people."

Timber straightened up and said, "This is Gunner, and Hallie. Corey. Silver. Sloane. Owen and Ace over there. Captain is down the bar." Captain just glared. Timber looked at Brandon and gave a hollow smile. Politely, she said, "Happy birthday. I didn't mean to crash. I got an invite."

"He doesn't need a happy birthday from you," the blonde under his arm assured her.

"Hold up!" a woman who looked a lot like Timber sang out as she jogged over from the front door. "She's supposed to be here. I invited her!"

"Why would you do that?" Timber's mother demanded in an angry voice. Oh, if looks could kill. This lady looked mean as sin.

"Sasha, this is messed up," Marissa said.

"I have my reasons!" Sasha assured them, holding out her hands in a calming gesture.

"What reason could you possibly have for inviting my ex to my birthday?" Brandon asked.

"Because this is her family," Sasha gritted out.

"Pick a different holiday to do your family reunion!" Brandon barked.

"Did he just call his birthday a holiday?" Owen muttered with a laugh.

"You're at all the holidays, Brandon," Sasha pointed out. "What does it matter?"

"It's always more peaceful if we just keep things separate," Marissa said calmly.

"For who?" Wreck asked. "For you? What about for Timber? She was pushed out of her own family dynamic. How long have you been in this family?"

Marissa crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

"A year? Two years?" Wreck asked. "Three? Timber was born into this family. That is the mother that raised her. That's her sister. I'm betting that's her dad back there, hanging back. I bet some of her old friends are back there. Am I right? Peace might be nice for you, but can you even imagine the devastation it causes to lose your whole family because they chose others over you? Right in front of you? I can't imagine it."

"Look, you don't know everything," her mom said. "You can judge all you want, but I did my best as a mom. She's been ungrateful since she was little—"

"Mom, that's not true," Sasha said, a frown deeply etched on her face.

Ignoring her favored daughter, Timber's mother gritted out, "We don't need your judgement. Why would we care to be judged by any of you? You only know Timber's side of the story."

"Here's your chance," Corey said. "Make us, and Timber, understand your side. Hash it out."

The woman opened and closed her mouth like a landed fish, searching for an explanation that would justify any of this. There wasn't any. "Well, Marissa is right. The family is much more peaceful without Timber always causing arguments. Holidays were exhausting."

"You mispronounced call-outs," Timber said. "I hated the arguments. They hurt me too. I just wanted you to treat me okay."

Her mother inhaled and crossed her arms over her chest, looked to Brandon and Marissa, and back to Timber. She shook her head. God, she looked so mean. "Things are easier with Brandon and Marissa."

"And Tabitha," Brandon's lady blurted out.

"And Tabitha," Gale agreed.

Timber's eyes were rimming with tears, and it did something awful to Wreck's insides. These people didn't deserve her. He was going to make sure she knew how worthy of love she was after tonight. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he was going to help her undo the damage and move forward.

Everyone had gone dead silent. The Fastlanders looked disgusted, and Wreck had no words he wanted to give that awful woman. It was Sasha who spoke. She had tears rimming her eyes now too, and she was staring at her mother in horror. "I get it now," she murmured.

"Get what?" her mother asked.

"I get why Timber is happier away from us. I had it in my head that if she just showed up to a family event, and we all had some drinks, and we talked it out, that things would get better, but now? My mind is changed. Timber really doesn't deserve any of this. So many things are clicking into place for me now. I can't even imagine how I would feel if you had pushed me out like this, and chosen others. I watched how differently you treated her over the years, but I listened to you. I believed you when you explained your actions and blamed Timber for being too abrasive and argumentative, but you know? Now that I'm thinking about it, she's never done that with me. She's never been cornered or been forced to either post up, or cease to exist. She's only kind with me, and understanding, and you know what I'm realizing? She never talks shit about y'all. She understands my need to still be a part of the family, and she doesn't make me choose, but you guys? You talk about her all the time. You say it's more peaceful without her, but she's still present at every family event. You talk horribly about her. You blame her. You paint her as this villain, when she stepped back and isn't even fighting with you." Her lip quivered, but she looked angry now. "It's messed up, Mom. You should've been understanding about her feelings when Marissa showed up. You should've kicked Brandon's ass to the curb when you found out he cheated on your daughter, not bring him in closer and show more care to his new girlfriend than to your own flesh-and-blood daughter. It's all messed up."

"You sound like Timber now," her mom gritted out, her eyes narrowed in anger.

"Good. I would rather sound like her than you." Sasha turned to the Fastlanders. "Y'all are welcome to stay if you want. These people will talk shit about you all night and stare at you. They'll have a few drinks and start popping off at you, pushing your buttons, throwing insults at anything Timber likes, which is clearly you guys. Or I can take you to a bar down the street that has a way better atmosphere."

"You're leaving? Are you being serious right now?" her mother asked. "Your father and I put a lot of effort into planning this."

"Oh hell yeah. I'm out," Sasha said. "I should've been out a long time ago. When you guys grow up, check yourselves, and make apologies for the absolute dumpster-family you have been, give me and Timber a call. Or don't. Stick with Brandon and his third girlfriend in six months. And Marissa, who joins in on shit-talk about a person she barely knows just to fit in and keep her place in a family she didn't even grow up in. Gross." Sasha backed away from her mom, looking absolutely disgusted. "See you when I see you."

"Do you even work anymore?" her mother snapped at Timber, who was just observing quietly. "Huh, Timber? Or are you wasting all of the money we spent on your college education to hang out with shifters?"

And Wreck could see it. He could see the weakness in her mother. Sasha had put her in her place, so she would target the quiet one to feel powerful again. He could imagine just how Timber's life had been. It was an awful thing to be the scapegoat of a family.

"That doesn't even make any sense," Corey pointed out. "Why would she quit her badass job just to go barhopping with us? She's still a badass, Gale ."

Wreck could feel the irritation from all the Fastlander women, and he bit back a smile. Gale was going to be Gale-the-Impaled if she didn't shut up, and fast.

"Here you go," Wreck said, handing her the expensive whiskey he'd ordered her. He'd heated it up to boiling, and it brought him a sense of deep joy as she grabbed it, yelped, and dropped the burning amber liquor. The glass shattered on the floor.

Gale looked up at him, a trickle of fear in her eyes as she clutched her burned hand. Good. Wreck stepped closer so she could feel the waves of heat roiling off him. He allowed the flames to show in his eyes, and the devil himself to show in his smile. "Now I understand. Thank you so much for explaining your side of the story."

"Monster," she uttered.

He wanted to light her on fire for the tears she'd caused in Timber's eyes, but a warm hand slipped into his, and green flames engulfed his arm. Timber's touch calmed him.

Gale stumbled backward with Brandon, Tabitha, and Marissa. The crowd at the back gasped, and a couple of people screamed.

"I'm happy, Mom," Timber murmured, paying no attention to the fire that was traveling up her arm inch by inch. "I hope someday you are happy, too."

Sasha was holding the exit door open for them. The Fastlanders finished their drinks and headed for it. Corey pulled Timber toward it by the hand, and gave Gale a dirty look as she put her arm around Timber's shoulders. Wreck hung back with Gunner, the flames on his arm fading to nothing. He stared at Gale as she made her way back to the others. Gunner clapped him on the back, then flinched back hard.

"Motherfucker," Gunner gritted out as he stared at his blistered hand.

"Well, don't touch me," Wreck muttered.

"Timber can touch you just fine. Damn, that hurts," he said, waving his hand like a whoosh of cool air would take the intensity away. It wouldn't.

Wreck smiled to himself and gestured to the door. "After you, Alpha."

"Is this going to scar my hand?" he demanded.

"I don't know. Make your animal heal it."

"It's not getting any better!"

"Well, I didn't invite you to go bro-clapping me on the back," he argued half-heartedly as they left the bar together.

"Bro-clapping? I was trying to be supportive."

"I don't need your support."

"Oh my gosh, Wreck," Gunner gritted out, flashing him a bi-colored glare. "Look, I was going to give you a compliment."

"Please don't. Just suck it back inside. I don't need your dumb compliments."

"Fine. You're the worst."

"Thank you."

As Gunner trudged ahead, shaking his head, Wreck allowed a private smile to slip across his lips.

Gunner respected him for something.

He wouldn't say it out loud, but that was compliment enough.