Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

RHYS

I'd left Riley to close up Kraken Studio, our tattoo and piercing shop, while I headed over to The Hot Stone to grab a couple of pizzas for dinner with the boys. Me, Riley, Linc, and Pierce have been best friends since we were kids, and we got together often for beers and food. Tonight was my night to grab food.

You'd think with a population of only three hundred, our shop would be struggling, but the business was doing well.

I was standing at the back of the pizzeria, waiting for our food when I saw her. I didn't know who she was, but fuck, I wanted to. She had red hair that reached her mid-back, perky tits, a round ass and curves in all the right places. Who was she and what was she doing in Grimsby?

When I spotted her looking around, I looked away so she wouldn't know I was watching her. Why? I didn't want to creep her out.

“Food's ready, Rhys,” I heard and tore my gaze away from the door she'd just exited.

I paid for the pizzas, grabbed them, and headed down the street to the shop. Riley and I both had apartments above it.

“There's someone new in town. A very sexy someone,” I said once I reached Riley's apartment.

“Oh? Do tell,” Linc said.

“She's maybe 5’3” or 5’4”, red hair to her mid-back, perky tits, round ass and so many damn curves my fingers itched to trace them,” I reported back to my friends.

Riley whistled. “Damn, and you didn't get her name?”

“Nah, I saw her as she was leaving. Let me tell you, it was a beautiful sight.”

“I wonder who she is and how long she'll be in town,” Pierce said.

“No idea, but I hope she's sticking around,” I replied.

“Well, it ain't gonna do us any good wondering. Let's eat,” Riley said, popping the top off a beer bottle.

We tabled the discussion while we ate because he was right. It wouldn't do us any good to speculate.

“Oh, did you hear Doc Henry's real sick?” Pierce asked as we ate.

“I'd noticed the clinic wasn't open and wondered why,” Linc admitted.

“Sarah said he's got family coming to take care of him,” Pierce informed us.

“Huh. Maybe that's who the redhead was,” I said after a moment. “If so, she's probably gonna be here for a bit.”

“Gives us all a chance to run into her,” Riley said with a grin.

I chuckled. We didn't do it often, but we'd shared women before. A lot of shifters, both male and female, had high sex drives.

“Indeed, it does,” I replied before I finished my beer and got a second one.

The conversation turned to other things, including Pierce's latest gaming addiction, Fallout 4.

These guys were my family, the only family I needed.