Climbing out of my car, I shoved my keys into my jeans’ pockets and heaved in a deep, cleansing inhalation. The smell of car exhaust, food, and general city stenches filled my lungs, but I still held my breath to savor it. After three days of breathing air, heavy with ceramic dust, glue and wood, even this was a step up. Closing my eyes, I took in the sounds of tires on asphalt that replaced the shrill shrieks of saws.
Everything sounded and smelled as if I was experiencing it for the first time.
“Paul- man, you look like crap.” I turned to catch sight of Jon, jogging across the parking lot and I smiled for the first time in days. I took a few, long steps to meet him and held out my hand, leaning in to clap his back. Our hug was brief, but it filled my veins with a warmth I’d felt deprived of these past few days.
The last time we’d spoken, he’d gently ripped me a new asshole for beating up my brother and getting arrested. It had been a hard conversation to have, but our friendship hadn’t suffered with the subsequent lack of communication. Jon understood my need to throw myself into work, and I was once again reminded of how good a friend he was.
“I’ve been feeling like crap, yeah. I know I don’t usually come to these things, but thanks for inviting me.” A snort was my only response, and I grinned widely as Jon and I started walking towards the entrance to the venue. We both knew the truth – he invited me to this thing every month, but I never agreed to go. I wasn’t a shifter, and I felt like I’d be out of place and unwelcome.
But, I needed some fun, and nothing said ‘stereotypical good time’ like a bowling alley.
“Anytime. You’re my brother, Paul - you’re always welcome. Besides, my parents thought you’d died or were rotting in jail or something. They need proof you’re just going through a rough patch. You know how Mom gets when things get even remotely bad.” I laughed at Jon’s teasing and shook my head as his mother appeared in my mind’s eye. She’d busted my ass more than once growing up, and she had been a surrogate for me over the years.
Sure, I had my own set of parents, but I liked Jon’s better.
“Speaking of rough patches; how’s Lucy?” I posed my question carefully, trying to keep my skepticism out of my voice, but Jon frowned slightly. I still didn’t know what to make of Lucy, and didn’t like her particularly well; she had perfectly reasonable excuses for acting like a teenager, but that was the problem. She acted like Jon’s world revolved around her, and in some ways, it did - but I had this nagging feeling that she’d be a tough nut to crack.
“She’s getting better. I had a hard time getting her to come here, but I knew it wouldn’t be easy … not with her past.” Jon refused to complain about Lucy, and I knew that’s as close as he’d probably ever get to doing so. I swiped my hand over my jaw and grunted absently-mindedly, before reaching for one of the two doors that led into the alley. The sound of a ball cracking against pins reverberated through the glass, and I spoke up before opening the barrier even an inch.
“Your family can help her with that part, though, right? It’s not all on you, you know, Jon.” My best friend only shrugged, and I didn’t try to keep the conversation going before we headed inside. “In any case, my plans for the apartment are coming along well. My landlord was crazy understanding about the whole situation even before I brought out my check book.”
“That’s just because she wants you to sleep with her, Paul.” Jon’s voice, monotonous and devoid of tone, caused a snort of laughter to burst from my throat and I shook my head wildly. The ruckus of the busy bowling alley encircled me, and I scanned the crowd through narrowed eyes while trying to ignore what he’d said. “So, what did the people say after sweeping the place?”
“None of the other units were affected - it wasn’t like they were cooking meth or anything … so that’s good, considering. I still dished out to my surrounding tenants for the trouble, though. I’m not taking chances with this. I mean, Tommy could’ve gotten me in a lot of trouble - ruined everything I worked for. He’s still in the hospital and Taylor told me they’re adding two counts of involuntary manslaughter to his charges. He’s facing life, now.”
I was speaking in a low voice as I caught sight of Jon’s family, crowding into a rather large booth in front of a lane. Lucy was the person that stuck out first, with her red face and obviously uncomfortable body posture, even as she talked with Jon’s sister-in-law. For a long moment, I let the scene distract me from what I was talking about, but the sour taste still tainted my tongue.
No matter Tommy’s faults, he was still my brother. My mom didn’t know about these new charges yet, and I was afraid to tell her. There was nothing worse than seeing that kind of pain; that resignation, in a mother’s eyes when she realized her son was gone beyond repair.
“Well, it’s a good thing it’s over for now. Just relax, have some fun - suck at bowling like you always did in high-school.” I shoved Jon with my shoulder and ignored his mocking, pained sound, heading for his booth. In this setting, it was hard to remember that almost everyone around me could turn into a bear. When someone thought ‘shifter’, they thought of isolated pocket towns in the woods that, miraculously, had electricity and running water. They thought of creatures that separated themselves from humans.
But that just wasn’t true for most shifters.
“Paul!” The call came from behind me, and I twisted to scan the crowd from under furrowed brows. A slightly familiar flash of blonde hair caught my eye, and a slight frown marred my expression as I tried to think of where I’d seen that particular shade before.
McKayla came right up to me and as her charcoal outlined, baby-blue eyes sparkled brilliantly, an automatic smile stretched my lips and out past conversation come to mind.
“McKayla, right? From jail…” She nodded hastily, beaming at me sand a chuckle escaped my throat, as I took in her dramatic change in wardrobe. “What’s with the church clothes?”
McKayla’s cheeks flushed red at my probing, and she tugged on the sleeves of her cream-colored blazer. The jacket covered a graphic band t-shirt, but she didn’t appear nearly as grungy as she had in her cell. Her leather pants had been replaced with a pair of light, serviceable jeans and there was even a clip holding back her hair.
“They’re not church clothes. I didn’t know you’d be here? Are you with someone?” Curiosity laced McKayla’s voice, but before I had a chance to answer, Jon was by my side and thrusting a beer into my hand. I took the cold, dark-green bottle without thought and watched her eyes flicker between us for a moment, before she spoke up again. “Well… this is awkward…”
“What’s awkward?” My brows rose in expectation to accompany my question. McKayla gestured between Jon and me with a quick wave.
“I didn’t know you knew about shifters.” At that, my eyebrows rose sharper, and I turned to Jon, wordlessly. Belatedly, I realized that McKayla’s mere presence here meant she was a shifter, but my best friend only shrugged quietly. Guilt rose in my chest at the fact that, after leaving the precinct, I hadn’t even given McKayla another thought until now. Catching her eye, I cleared my throat roughly before offering a reply.
“Uh - yeah. Jon’s my best friend, so I know about them. It’s not something that comes up in conversation through iron bars, though, you know?”
“That makes this a lot easier, then.” I couldn’t even start to think of a response for McKayla’s happy declaration before she grabbed my head. Her move was so quick, so unexpected, that I didn’t resist as she pulled me into a hard kiss. Automatically grabbing her forearms, the instinct to pull her off me was stilled, almost as fast as it came, making room for a much more powerful sensation.
I stared at McKayla. Her face was distorted from how close we were and I tensed at the violent wave of white-hot need that surged through me. Zinging down my spine, the deluge of desire that poured into my chest sent my heart haywire and raised goose bumps all over my body. Shock rendered me useless, and every hair sprouting from my skin stood up from the intense ripples.
My eyelids fluttered closed and my palms swept down McKayla’s toned, firm arms, to cup her head and slip down her back. Her soft, supple breasts pressed temptingly against my chest, and I kissed her beer-stained lips to coax them open.
But I didn’t get that far before the rough clearing of a throat breached the fog that had settled in my mind. I ripped my head back and winced when McKayla’s tight grip around my neck kept me from going far. My eyes whipped to Jon and narrowed on his shit-eating grin, I glared hard for a few seconds before realizing how quiet it was.
Every, single person in the alley was staring at me with a mixture of surprise and happiness on their face, and it took me a long moment to realize what was happening.
“Holy shit…” My breathless whisper echoed around the eerily quiet room, but my best friend came to the rescue as he always did. Clamping a hand on my shoulder, Jon let out a loud ‘Whoo!’, and the entire place erupted into cheers and clapping. Holding McKayla to me, I flexed my toes in my boots as they tingled from the sound that reverberated up through the floor.
People I didn’t even know converged on me in a maelstrom, to congratulate me and a wide, goofy grin threatened to tear the muscles in my cheeks.