Chapter 3
I’m going to kill Amanda! I’m going to kill Amanda! I’m going to kill Amanda!
The chant had started playing on a loop in Recker’s head the second a face-full of menu had him flinching back from the tiny little woman now settled over his shoulder. She was fighting like a damn mountain lion and… Aaaagh! She was going to rip his fucking hair out!
“Jesus, lady!” he clamped his arm tighter around her thighs. “I was sent from StoneCrow.” He wasn’t sure how much she knew but hoped the name would at least rattle her. “I’m here to interview you.” She stilled and released his hair. He was satisfied until he got a hard punch right to his back.
“Why didn’t you say so,” she hissed and started squirming. “Put me down, a-hole!”
O-kay. Well, this was turning to shit. Bending, he lowered the woman to the ground. As he straightened to his towering height, he watched her shove soft ebony locks back from her face as she scowled up at him with sparking chocolate colored eyes. She was beautiful, all pissed and glaring hard with those dark eyes set in creamy mocha-colored skin. Her hair was long, past her shoulders, and sat in a thick mass of tumbling curls. She wasn’t wearing much make-up that he could tell. She didn’t need to. Her lips were full and rosy, her lashes were thick and dark, and her smooth skin looked so damn soft. She was exquisite.
“What is wrong with you,” she growled. “A, you could’ve just said that! And, B, you didn’t need to scare the piss outta me!” Turning, she stomped back toward the restaurant and unsure what else to do, he followed.
Recker couldn’t help the grin that lifted his lips at the punch she’d given him. His jaw was sore where she’d head-butted him, his shin ached from where her heel had grazed him, and she didn’t hold back at all on trying to rip his hair out. Lifting a hand, he rubbed gingerly at the back of his head; certain he was going to have a bald spot. Still, it didn’t stop his eyes from settling on the sway of her hips as…
She turned suddenly to scowl up at him. “And don’t be staring at my ass!”
He jerked his chin up. “Wasn’t!”
“Mmmhmm,” she pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes on him before turning back around to jerk the back door to the restaurant open. His eyes settled back on her luscious ass.
He followed her in and for the first time noted the vacant kitchen. “Where’s your cook?”
“You’re staring at her ass.”
“I wasn’t,” he jerked his eyes up in case she turned around again.
When they got to the dining room, he nearly knocked her over when she stopped in front of him. He caught her though and steadied her before stepping back and earning himself another of her dirty looks.
Even if she passed the interview, he was certain she’d want nothing to do with StoneCrow now, so he took a step toward the door. “I’m just gonna go.”
“The hell you are,” she snapped. “You said I had an interview.”
He nodded.
“I want it.” She took a seat at one of the stools at the counter. “Name’s Alex.” She smiled. “Alex-andra Hayworth. And I need that job, Mr….”
“Rhodes.” He supplied. “Recker Rhodes.”
Her lips curled up in a stunning smile as she eyed him up and down. “Recker Rhodes?” One dainty brow lifted, and she chuffed a laugh. “What are you? A professional wrestler?”
Now it was his turn to scowl. “No. I’m a Walker.”
He’d wondered earlier how much she knew of his kind, but with his last sentence and the way her eyes rounded, he knew that she knew enough. Thank fuck, because he’d just made a damn serious breach in Skin Walker protocol. What in the hell am I doing?
He grew uneasy when Alex continued to gape at him before she snapped her mouth shut and eyed the empty restaurant.
Looking back at him she scolded, “Jesus! Blab much? You can’t just be throwing that information around. It’s classified!”
Claiming a seat two down from her to leave an empty stool between them, he was hesitant to reach out and turn her stool to face him. Damn woman probably bites! Luckily, he didn’t have to because she turned to face him as he explained. “They said you might know.”
“Well I do, but you don’t know who else could be lingering in this place.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin haughtily. “What if I had a dishwasher in the back?”
His gaze flicked to the kitchen area suddenly feeling nervous. “Uhhhh. Is there a dishwasher in the back?”
She uncrossed her arms with a scowl. “No. I do that too.” She jabbed a finger at him. “But you didn’t know that! Be more careful!”
He just stared at her in shock wondering if this was the worst interview in Skin Walker history.
“Well,” she prompted. “Recker Rhodes, what do you want to know?”
“Just Recker is fine.” He sat taller and thought about the questions he’d formulated as part of his ‘interview’. “How did you hear about the position at StoneCrow?”
She smiled. “My friend Stoney Lydon. She works there.”
“How did you meet Stoney?”
“College. She and I went to nursing school together.”
He couldn’t help but eye their surroundings. “And you…flunked?”
Dark brows speared down. “Fuck you, a-hole! I had to drop out when my mom got sick! And when I finally went back, I changed majors.”
Good job, dickhead! “Sorry.” He settled his hands on his thighs, fingers nearly touching each other with his elbows flared out. “You and Stoney stayed in touch after college?”
“Yeah. We shared a dorm room until I had to leave. She called me every day after that to check on mom and me.” A sad smile touched her lips. “She came to see me and stayed a week after the funeral to make sure I was okay.” She looked up, and her eyes were steely. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for that woman. She’s the closest thing to a sister I’ve ever known.”
Recker growled and muttered too quietly for Alex to hear, “She’s got a lot of those.” He narrowed his eyes on her. “What else do you know about Stoney?”
“Everything.” She eyed the empty restaurant. “Weird things happened to her in college, and she was scared. So was I. We went through it together.”
“What do you mean weird things?”
Alex leaned forward and whispered, “You know. Shifts. I was so afraid for her. I thought she was sick or dying. We both did. But once we figured out what it was and that it wasn’t life threatening it was,” she glanced up at him. “Can I be honest?”
He waved a hand at her and hiked his brows in invitation, really wanting to hear what she had to say.
To his shock, Alex beamed a grin. “I thought it was fucking awesome!”
Recker’s mouth fell open before he snapped it shut. “Awesome?” He was dumbfounded. Being a Skin Walker wasn’t awesome. It was alienating and lonely and nerve-wracking as shit, but awesome….hell no!
“Hell yeah,” she reached over and punched him in the knee. “You should have seen us, Recker Rhodes! We’d go out at night in our jogging gear, and when we got deep in the woods, we’d strip, and Stoney would shift. We’d run and play and live!”
Her gaze took on a faraway look as she curled her hands together under her chin. “Those were some of the best nights of my life.”
“Wait.”
Alex blinked out of her reverie and dropped her hands to frown at him.
“We’d strip?” He swallowed hard when Alex blushed.
“Well yeah. I didn’t want her to feel all awkward and alone.”
“So she’s running through the forest as a…”
“Wolf.” She shrugged, “Most times. Sometimes deer or panther.”
“And you’re running after her naked?”
Those damn delicate brows were back to spearing down and he just barely moved his knee fast enough to avoid the punch she aimed at his thigh.
“Don’t make sound it gross and weird.”
“Are you…” He left the sentence open and waited.
“What?” she barked. “Am I what?”
Aw hell, how did he ask this? “Were you and Stoney…”
“What?” she demanded. “Just spit it out!”
“Lovers?” The word squeaked out more quietly then he’d intended and too enraptured in awaiting a response, he didn’t see the left hand that shot out and socked him in the bicep hard.
Shit! She wasn’t a big thing, but the gal knew how to throw a punch, and man was she fast!
“I said don’t be gross!” Alex barked.
“Lesbianism is gross?” he asked accusatorily. She jumped from her stool and to his mortification he actually flinched. God, if James saw him like this, he’d never live it down.
“And don’t try to make me sound like a homophobe!” She poked a finger to his chest as he pulled his head back to stare at her. “No. I’m not gay, not that there’s anything wrong with girls who like to eat the peach. I’m just not one of ‘em.”
His brows shot up, and he couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from curling upward as he asked, “Eat the peach?”
Alex stepped back and lifted her chin again. “You know what I mean. And don’t act like you don’t like peaches.” Her eyes slid up and down his frame. “A guy like you could probably…”
He held up a hand and cut her off. “Oh, I like peaches. I love peaches.” He leaned forward and spoke softly, “I could eat a peach for hours.”
A lovely blush took Alex’s cheeks, and Recker’s grin broadened as his cock swelled in his pants. His smile slipped at how aroused he was becoming so he adjusted himself and steered the conversation back to business. “Then what? You found out what she was and helped her through it and then?”
“Then we had fun,” Alex beamed reclaiming her seat. “We played some of the most epic pranks in the history of the college,” she boasted proudly. “A tiger in the dean’s office, an alligator in the campus pool, a boa constrictor in the Phi Beta Kappa sorority house when they refused to pledge Stoney and me. In the winter there was a sled dog race through the town where locals used their pets as their team.” She nodded proudly. “Me and Stoney won first place.”
Recker couldn't help the smile that took his face.
“Once,” Alex started laughing. “At summer semester, we both turned in unmarked tests on an exam in English Lit because instead of studying we went out and got drunk. We just put our tests in the pile with everyone else’s. After class, I called the Professor into the hall and distracted him for like twenty minutes while Stoney exited the building then flew back up to the classroom and filled in both of our tests from the answer key.” She laughed hard. “We were the only two who aced the test.”
Damn, her laughter was infectious, all throaty and then peaking in a high pitch.
“You know,” he tried to hide his smile. “None of this really sounds good on a resume.” He could’ve punched himself in the nuts for the comment when Alex stopped laughing, and the smile vanished from her lips.