Milla
As he broke the kiss and stomped away, it was all I could do not to crumple to the floor.
What the freak just happened? It was our freaking gators. It had to be.
And what was that shit about my gator. As if he had a fucking clue about anything to do with me.
Argg.
And why couldn’t I get my head back on straight? The need to follow him and plaster myself against him was almost too strong to deny.
Fuck.
I grabbed the cradle, which was more beautiful than it had been new, I imagined, stopping to take another glance at the chair he was making for her. My gator hated that with a red-hot passion, even though Tansy was my friend or possibly would become my friend and was very much mated to my cousin. My human side saw the intricate beauty of the chair. The artistry, the care being brought to every detail, the gorgeousness of the aged cypress.
My gator snarled at me again, and I gave up, leaving his house, cradle under my arm.
“Tansy,” I called as I made my way back to the party I had unintentionally attended. “Meemaw sent this for you, and Justice made it pretty.”
I held it out to her, the tears forming in her eyes already beginning to fall. It was an impractical gift, with shifter babies tending to crawl and climb far earlier than human ones, making the life of the cradle three months tops, but I knew that wasn’t even a blip on her radar. She got a gift from her grandmother for the baby in her belly. Shit, I was about to cry, too.
Not that I would. It would only give Justice a chance to see me weak or worse, think his stomping off affected me when it had not. Fine, it had, but not in the way he would like to think.
“It’s…it’s…thank you, Just.” And then the tears flowed completely, and Eti scooped her onto his lap, leaving the cradle perched on her chair.
“I ain’t messin’ with no reaper,” he teased, all of us knowing full well he didn’t do it for that. Although, his point was solid.
“You done good there, Justice,” Callum grunted before getting another beer. What was his deal?
I grabbed one, too, drinking it down before realizing it meant I was stuck here for a bit longer. Oh well. At least, there was good food. Throwing the can into the barrel, I popped another one.
“I like you.” Loic held his bag of chips out as he eyed the seat beside him. I grabbed a handful and took the seat.
“I like me, too.” I reached for another handful as he laughed.
It’d been so long since I was out here, my gator loving the nature around us and being with our kind. The city was pretty shifter scarce, and I’d not run into any gators there at all. It was time to go, trouble was a brewing, but truth be told, I’d been itching to get back here ever since my father died.
He’d been adamant that it wasn’t safe with me being a latent and all. I sensed none of that. It might be unsafe for other reasons, like being here with a bull’s-eye once Louie figured out what I’d done and where I was, which he would, since I hid my location not at all. But, being mostly human, that had me far less concerned.
“What you do for work?” Callum asked, only half paying attention to me as he focused on the fly that seemed intent on landing on his head.
“Computer shit. Websites and such.” It was more, but that was my pat answer. People knew websites existed and most knew little else about them, so it was easier to leave it at that.
“Do any I might know?” Loic held the bag out as he asked. We so needed better snacks here.
“Actually, I just did Justice’s new site.” I whipped out my phone, pulling up the screenshots. They needed to figure out something for decent Internet service out in the row if he was going to make the money his work deserved.
“You what?” Justice spoke in my ear. Shit, when had he gotten behind me. Last I knew, he was chatting with the lovebirds, pretending I didn’t exist.
“I was bored. Your work is valuable. I made you a new website.” Because fuck all. I wasn’t going to let him make me feel bad about it.
“I never asked you to.” He took a swig of his beer, sitting in a beat-up captain’s chair that needed more than just new fabric.
“No, you didn’t,” I agreed. “So, now would be a good time to say thank-you.” I grabbed more chips, needing something to do other than getting riled up at his attitude.
He took my phone from Callum and flipped through the pages.
“Shit, you even changed the name.”
“Of course I did. Justice Time? Really? Did you have a dance to go with that?” Everyone save Justice broke into hysterics. I’d take that as a yes. “Oh my God. You did. You had a dance. I need to see this.”
“I’ll show her.” Loic put his beer down before taking a spot in front of me.
“Fuck you all. No one is showing her shit.” He stood up only long enough to throw Loic to the ground, which earned him even more laughter. Oh yeah, I was so going to see that dance before the night was over. It was my new mission. “My site and my name were just fine.”
“Before today, you had no new hits on your site in months. None. I did my magic, and boom. You’ve had two serious inquiries already, and we don’t even have the good pictures up yet. I just needed to figure out your shipping rate. Tell me again how it was fine.”
“Two? You sold two? By changing my name?” The anger dissipated from his face, replaced with what I guessed was shock, which my gator took as praise. Damn hussy.
“And making your website SEO decently and making it user-friendly and four hundred other things I did that you still haven’t thanked me for.”
“I can’t afford fancy Internet bullshit.”
Male bullshit. Of course, this was about that. Of all the things I thought would piss him off, the money never factored into it.
“Seeing as you are probably going to gross over five digits on the two pieces you got inquiries on today, I’d say you can.”
His jaw dropped.
“Especially at my prices.” Not that I would take money from him. His lack of a door told me he needed money way more than I did and, besides, helping Justice was fun and sated my gator. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t give his gator the way out of feeling like he needed a female instead of the other way around. We might live in the twenty-first century, but our beasts hadn’t gotten that message.
“Which are?”
“I need a desk.”
“Go to Big Mart,” Loic offered, not realizing the helpfulness he wasn’t offering. “You can get one there for a hundred bucks.”
“Or Justice can make me one that fits my needs.” I gave him my stink-eye, which worked if his slinking back into his chair was any indication.
“And you think some fancy website earns you that?” Justice pulled his chair closer. Damn, he smelled good. Even with the fire burning and the beer and BBQ chips, his woodsy scent filled my nose and had my body responding.
“You’re going to sell out within the month. Mark my words.” It was a little ambitious, but if I put new pictures up, not outside the realm of possibility.
“If I do, the desk is yours.”
Oh, that desk was so mine.
“Done.” I grabbed the phone back from him. “Admit it, you like the name.”
A quick glance told me he hadn’t been looking at my screenshots anymore. On the screen was a selfie I’d taken in a dressing room of my ass in jean shorts that were a little too snug. I’d still bought them, but, shit, he was staring at my ass. Pervert.
Mine.
Darn fucking gator needed to mind her own business.
My attention went back to Justice, despite my best efforts. “Yeah. It doesn’t suck.”
“He he he. You said suck.” Callum all but giggled, his mouth full of chips.
“What are you, fifteen, Callum?” Loic slapped him upside his head, reaching behind me as he did and earning a glare from Justice.
“Maybe, or drunk.”
“I’ve never seen you drink enough to get drunk. Must be a panther thing,” Tansy called from over by the fire. She was right. Shifters did have better tolerance. It made drinking either more or less fun, depending on the mood you were in.
“Yeah, not that I am responsible or anything adult-like because that is too out there to be true.”
I couldn’t tell if he was teasing or not.
“Are you?”
“Am I what, beautiful?” Beautiful earned him a growl from Justice, which we all ignored. All of us except my gator. I needed to do something about her. Maybe I could get Eti alone one day to ask him. He seemed honestly at ease with my presence.
“Responsible,” I clarified.
“Hell no, but I could be. Not tonight, though. Tonight’s a night for celebration. To the gator growing in Tansy.” He held his beer up in a toast.
“Which is definitely not in an egg she is going to lay,” Justice added before raising his beer as well.
“Jerkheads,” she shouted from her comfy seat on Justice’s lap.
“Say it like you mean it, baby.” His voice had dropped and, shit, was I hearing his gator’s mating call. All the ewwwws.
“Assholes,” she answered, albeit weakly.
“That’s my girl.” He kissed her soundly before rising with her in his arms and walking away, shouting, “Night, guys,” over his shoulder.
“What just happened?” I mean, I knew, but it still made little sense.
“She curses, he gets horny. It’s a thing.” Callum shrugged his shoulders before getting up and holding his hand out for my now-empty beer can.
“I came here to hang with her.” And she was supposed to keep me distracted from Justice and his muscles and scent and the new addition of his taste which still danced on my tongue even after all the beers and chips.
“Change of plans,” Callum stated as he handed me a beer from the cooler. “New plan.”
“Drink like a sailor and eat junk while we watch Justice’s gator doing whatever it is he is doing,” Loic added pulling out a bag of jerky from who knew where.
“Sounds like a plan.” I accepted the jerky. Might as well make the most of the night. My tolerance was significantly less than the guys, thanks to my latency, so driving was not the best option. I could easily sleep in the outdoor kitchen. No animal would pester me, sensing my beast and not knowing it wasn’t coming out. “I almost feel like one of the crew.”
“We’re not crew,” Loic seethed.
What the fuck was up with that?