10. Erin

Chapter ten

Erin

I sip my coffee while my feet dangle over the river and try not to grumble too loudly. Another night spent hugging the clingy omega, stirring my body into an inferno of need. I think I slept perhaps an hour. At the moment, my libido keeps asking me why I’m holding out.

I am a saint, and I want it etched onto my gravestone.

I glance at Locke as he sits down beside me.

“I have to thank you for everything,” Locke murmurs. His voice sends shivers down my spine, and the urge to lean across and nip him just to leave a mark is almost too much to bear.

“Oh, are you leaving?” I sip my coffee to hide my alarm.

“No, I’m just saying…” He trails off, frowning. “I’m saying thanks. You picked up the tab. The only thing I’m upset about is your refusal to defile me.”

I finish my coffee and lay back, closing my eyes. Patchy bursts of sunlight dance over me, warming my body. “I did. I have plenty of money. Consider it a gesture of goodwill to this small town that obviously needs some drama. Defiling you is an act of my god powers. I have to resist, you wouldn’t survive. Be afraid.”

Shadows push away the light, and I open my eyes to find Locke leaning over me.

“I want to kiss you.” He leans closer until our lips are almost touching.

I want it, too. I’m too weak to deny myself any longer. With a groan, I lift my head up to close the space when the door opens, and a shout calls through the cabin.

Locke groans and withdraws.

I watch him get up and let my head thump back on the wood. I’m not dealing with this today. It’s sleep or sex. The sun is so nice and warm. I smile as the sunlight dances over my face in gentle flecks through the thick canopy.

“Hi!”

I peel open my eyes and find Locke right beside me.

“Hi.”

“You curled up and slept on the balcony for about five hours. Do you feel better now?”

I feel stiff, but other than that, I do feel better. I roll to my feet. Locke steps out of my way as I make my way inside and start the kettle again.

I glance around. “Who was at the door?”

“Oh, that was just Nancy and Rue dropping off breakfast.” He points to a basket. I take a peek and spot a muffin. I snag it, bite into it, and moan.

“Oh, this is so good.”

“Yeah, I’m seeing that,” Locke mutters. “Finn rang the cabin phone and said if we want a lift to town to watch the river games, we need to get down to the main house in about thirty.”

Half of me wants to sit this one out, but there’s a certain alpha I want to see.

“Give me ten minutes.”

I’m dressed in a purple maxi dress that shifts around me like water, with a white knitted cardigan and sandals. I look good. Locke thinks I look good. I know because he tried to walk through one of the chairs. It was a big chair. Don’t know how he missed it. Put a bounce in my step, though.

“Tell us about the games, Finn!”

Finn glances at Locke in the passenger seat and smiles.

“Okay, there’s fishing, rafting, a race. Lots of food. There’s an art exhibition and a cake judging today, too. There are more of those in the upcoming days, but just in case you don’t want to watch the river games.”

“Where can I find Bray?” I ask in the silence.

Finn frowns but swallows whatever he wants to say. “He’ll either be around or in his shop. If you take the second left off main street, you’ll see a big red shed, that’s his place.”

“Thank you.”

I sit back and stare at the scenery. It’s still breathtakingly beautiful. All too soon, we get to town. Finn parks in the diner car park. I wait, watching Locke. He stares towards the crowd with excitement, but then looks back at me as if he needs to make sure I’m coming with him.

What the fuck is he running from?

“Hey, Finn, keep an eye on Locke for me?”

Finn scowls but nods as I walk away from them. I need space; I need time to think without his scent suffocating me. He’s worming his way under my skin and getting to me. It’s getting hard to imagine life without him here.

I make my way to Bray’s shed and bang on the lower door. It feels like it takes forever before he yanks it open. He’s been working, I can tell straight away, there’s a smear of grease on his arm, a black stain on his top, a sheen of sweat on his forehead. I smile at him and step inside before he can push me out.

Bray groans and clutches his head.

The inside is dark, with two cars sitting silently in the middle of the shop.

“What are you doing here?” Bray growls.

I wander around, taking in all the smells and scents. It's not unpleasant. I find myself wanting to ask all sorts of questions about the shop, but I don’t want to waste this opportunity.

I stalk back to Bray and frown up at him. “Go get dressed. Locke wants to see you.” I want to see you.

Bray shakes his head and sits on a set of stairs. A door is caught by a magnetic latch, holding the door to the stairs open.

“I’m not going anywhere near him.”

“Why? Because it might upset Shane?” I ask.

Bray leans back on his elbows and watches me with a small smile. “You’re really trying, aren’t you? But, why? What is your angle?”

I hoist my dress up and step over his legs, lowering until I’m sitting on him. He grips my hips but, otherwise, doesn’t move.

“I told a silly bitch last night that I was going to fuck you and we’d take a photo for her.”

Bray groans as I grind down on him. “Did you? How presumptuous. I didn’t even get dinner.”

I lean in and bite his jaw. “Get up and come out with me. The day is young, and there are a million different ways it could go. Let’s go piss people off. This is my holiday, and I get to pick the adventure.”

I try to ignore the lump that is growing under my pussy. His fingers dip deeper, sending a flare of pure need. Last night slams back into my head, and I almost throw everything to the wind and just say fuck it.

I could have him. He wants me. I want him.

But…

Yeah, there’s a but. I don’t know what’s going on in this town with these people, but it’s making my instincts tingle. If I listen closely, I can hear the ‘get more information’ shriek loud and clear.

I stand up, and he lets me go.

“Get dressed. You have ten minutes. I want to see these cakes.”

“I’m not taking you to see the cakes. We can go to the races.”

I snort at him. “You go to the races, I’ll go get cake.”

Bray steps down the stairs until he’s only one step higher than I am. “How about I steal you cake, and we eat while we watch the races.”

I don’t give a fuck about cake. Mint drowns my senses. I tilt my head back, and his lips brush across my cheekbone before he withdraws.

“Okay,” I breathe.

“Good alpha.”

I don’t expect the zing that lances through me. I breathe hard, fighting to remain calm, while I try to tamp down my arousal. All I can smell is mocha in the air.

I’d be embarrassed, but the man is basically a walking sexual red flag, and I am so down for it.

Now that he’s not here, I can see something else. His shop is clean, but everything’s broken. Not the stuff to fix cars, that looks newish, but the chair is held together with duct tape. The door to what looks like lockers is hanging by one hinge. The more I look, the more I see.

There’s a bench close by, and I move towards it, tilting my head to see the sketches. They’re of cars and bikes. And an old man.

Bray comes down the stairs, dressing in a black jumper and jeans. My first thought is that he’s wearing too many clothes, we need to remove some. I reach up and mess up his hair a bit, then step back and nod.

“Perfect. Let’s go.”

He grips my hips and stops me. “What do I get out of this?”

I glance over my shoulder and feel my stomach flutter at his nearness. He’s got this whole hot stubble thing happening. I lean back into him so my back is pressed against his chest.

“What do you want for it?”

“A kiss.”

“Just a kiss?”

“Yes, just one kiss.”

I hum for a moment and then nod. Of course, I’m kissing him. Who the hell on this planet would say no? I twist and lock my arms around his neck, standing up and thrusting my tongue into his mouth. I kiss him with all the tricks and skills I’ve retained over the years, but as soon as his lips move under mine, I forget everything. All that exists is him and me.

I break away but stand there, breathing hard, I slide my hands down the hard panel of his chest.

“Come and be my distraction, Bray?”

“What do you need distracting from?”

I give him a look. “A similar thing you need distracting from. Except mine isn’t giant-sized.”

“Ah, the omega.”

“Yes, the omega.”

Bray shrugs. “Fine, you help me make Shane jealous, and I will keep your gorgeous omega far, far away from you.”

I touch my lips to the corners of his. “Thank you.”

“Come on, let’s go or I’m going to bend you over my work desk and fuck you until we can’t move.”

Hmm, on second thought.

He opens the door and, with reluctance, I exit the building. There are more people on the street now. They all seem to be walking in the same direction. I notice a couple of people look at Bray, but they don’t call out and wave the way they do with Finn. One of them, a woman with purple hair, seems to be staring at me. I raise an eyebrow in challenge, and she looks down and away. Perhaps I was mistaken.

“Why are people so strange with you?” I ask Bray instead and promptly dismiss the woman.

“Ah, fun story. So, when I was younger, I was a little bit of a dick. I used to run amok. Fuck around. I had a chip on my shoulder and an attitude to match. Small towns talk. Word spread, and I was supposed to be leaving, but there was this guy, and he saved me.”

I glance at Bray, but he’s not looking at me.

“Instead of moving on, I stayed and learned from him. Took over the shop and took care of him when he got sick. When he passed, he left the shop to me instead of his family, and the town has never forgiven me for it.”

“That’s a very sad story, Bray.”

He smiles. “It is. Also, my mother’s a drunk. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t need them to like me, and when Benny’s trained up enough, he can take over it for me, and I can go home.”

“Where is home?”

Bray hesitates. “I haven’t found it yet, but I’m going to. I was born here. This is supposed to be home, it just isn’t.”

“Really?”

“That’s why I stayed here, though. There is no ugly part of this town. Everything is stunning.”

“Except the people.”

“Except some of the people.”

I thread my arm through his and lean in close, ignoring the way people watch us.

“You’re going to get a terrible reputation,” Bray warns.

“I’m a lawyer, pretty sure I’ve heard it all before and then some. I don’t care if they hate me or what they call me. The only thing that matters is that I’m here on my holiday and I’m enjoying this strange town and your even stranger customs of celebrating rivers.”

Bray chuckles. “It is an interesting place to visit.”

I snort as we turn onto the main street and fall in with the throng of people walking towards the river.

“Visit, being the operative word. Why did you choose to put roots here? Why not leave?”

Bray is silent for so long I don’t think he’s going to answer me.

“I wasn’t going to stay.”

I peer up at him.

“But for some of the people,” Bray says quietly, and when I follow his gaze, I see Shane and Finn standing with Locke.

And maybe, perhaps, I can kinda understand the reasoning behind why one would stay in a town like this, even when it hates you.