“How did you even get in here?” I questioned him as I moved to the side of the garage where one of the guys had set down a heavy looking wrench. If Gus tried to get feisty, I was going to be ready for him.
“Them boys of yours weren’t smart enough to change the locks when they moved in. I got a lot of friends in this town.” Gus jingled the ring of keys that he had clipped to his belt to punctuate his words. I couldn’t believe that Gus had managed to sneak into the home of five sleeping wolves. My ears turned pink at the thought of this guy getting one up on me.
“So you came here to steal tools?” I accused him. “You have to realize that you won’t get away with this.”
Gus chuckled, but otherwise ignored me and continued taking stuff. I fought the urge to throw the wrench at him as my blood boiled. I bet if it were Grayson standing here, he wouldn’t be so blasé.
“That’s fine if you don’t want to talk to me,” I informed him. “You can just talk to the police when they get here.”
He laughed. “I think the Sheriff is gonna be interested in why there’s a pretty little underage girl here.”
He turned back to the tool chest as if I wasn’t even there and my rage simmered. If I had been in my wolf form, I would have howled to let the rest of the pack know that we had an intruder. But because I was in my human form, I did the next best thing and let out the loudest scream that I could.
Chapter 15
Corey
My eyes snapped open at the sharp sound of a woman’s scream. I broke out in a cold sweat as Jayna’s face frozen in terror flashed before my eyes.
“Get up,” Grayson’s gruff voice brought me back from the past and into the dark bedroom. His pillow smacked me in the face as I heard another scream. My eyes widened in surprise that it hadn’t just been a part of my nightmares this time.
“Kannon!” Wyatt grabbed Kannon’s arm to stop him from running down the stairs. “We go together,” Wyatt chastised him.
Kannon shrugged him off. “That was Lori,” he said angrily, heading out of the room.
I glanced at her bed and saw that it was empty. I knew this girl was bad news the second I saw her. What was she doing now? I followed the other guys out of the room and down the stairs. It sounded like the scream had come from the garage. What was she doing in there at this time of night?
Grayson was the first through the garage door with Kannon not even half a step behind. I was last in line and couldn’t see much with Gray’s large form blocking the doorway.
“Lori, you alright?” I heard Grayson ask.
I stepped through the doorway after Wyatt to see Lori facing off with Gus, the other mechanic in town. What the fuck?
“I’m fine,” she said angrily. “But this guy came here to steal from you.” She tossed her hair, making her wild dark curls glimmer under the lights. I scowled at the sight of her slight five-foot-four-inch frame facing off against a guy twice her size; Gus could probably knock her unconscious with his beer belly. I had to give her credit though, she wasn’t showing any fear at the sight of him.
“Y’all sent this little girl after me?” Gus’s beer belly jiggled as he laughed. “What kind of men are you?”
I growled at him as my anger rose. He thought he could come in here, steal from us, and insult us? He was going to have to rethink that and do it quickly. Faster than I thought he could move, Gus grabbed Lori’s arm. She let out a gasp of either surprise or pain, but that small sound was enough to make me see red. No one abused a female right in front of me. No one.
I lunged towards him with the intent of ripping the smirk right off his face, but something held me back. I shifted my focus to whomever had stepped between me and my prey. My brother’s worried face filled my vision. He grabbed me by the throat and leaned in, his face only inches from mine. “Corey, take a deep breath and get control.”
I shoved at him but he didn’t relent, just squeezed my throat tighter. Dumbass was telling me to take a deep breath at the same time he was cutting off my air supply. His illogical request brought me back to myself and I started having rational thoughts again. I gave Wyatt a short nod to let him know that I was back in my right state of mind. He loosened his grip and watched me closely, but when I just glared at him and didn’t attack, he let me go completely.
Grayson and Kannon had stepped in between Gus and Lori. Lori was still glowering fiercely at Gus as he hunched over and held his balls. Good for her; looks like she got a crotch shot in.
Kannon pulled Lori back a safe distance away from Gus and rubbed her shoulder reassuringly. Grayson didn’t back up; he probably wanted to stay close enough to grab Gus if he tried anything again. Wyatt moved to stand beside Gray in a united front so I drifted a little closer. But I kept Kannon and Lori in my line of sight in case he needed help with her.
Grayson grabbed the bag by Gus’s feet and opened it up. “What’s this?”
Gus just smirked. “You don’t want to wait for the cops to get here? Your whore said she already called them.”
Lori growled but Grayson held up a hand in her direction before stepping closer to Gus. “I don’t tolerate disrespect towards women in my presence,” he said in a low voice. “Don’t speak to her. Don’t even look in her direction.” Gray held Gus’s eyes and the coward looked towards the floor. “You want to think really hard before you say anything that isn’t a direct answer to one of my questions.”
Grayson’s face darkened even further as he went through the bag and pulled out our tools one by one. We had sold our souls to get this shit and this asshole thought that he could waltz in here and take it all away?
He handed them off to Wyatt and crossed his arms over his chest, staring down Gus. Gus wilted under Grayson’s threatening gaze. Grayson was a big guy and I had been the target of his ire more than once. It wasn’t easy not to be intimidated by him. Grayson hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt, so his muscles bulged and added to his menacing air. If Gus had any type of survival instincts at all, he would recognize Grayson as the superior predator.
Wyatt started to put the tools back into the drawers but stopped. “Hey, Grayson? Check this out.” He held up a wrench that looked like it had seen better days. “This isn’t one of ours.”
Our tools were brand-new because we hadn’t been able to take anything but our personal belongings when we left our last pack. I took a step closer and realized that there were initials etched into the handles. “Was he putting his stuff in our tool chest?” I asked in confusion.
Wyatt looked at it closer and cursed. “Is this why you weren’t worried about the cops coming? You were going to accuse us of stealing?”
“Sheriff should be here soon,” Gus said with a grin.
“Um, I didn’t actually call them,” Lori admitted sheepishly. Kannon put an arm around her and she leaned into him. I felt a flash of jealousy that surprised me. Lori was nothing but a pain in the ass, why would I want her clinging to me like that?
A fist pounded on the side door to the garage and I looked over in confusion. Had Gus called the Sheriff on himself? This night was just getting stranger.
Wyatt ran a hand through his hair and walked over to open the door. “Sheriff, perfect timing. We have a criminal for you to take into custody.”
The sheriff strolled in through the door Wyatt held open and took a look around. Grayson was shirtless and oozed menace, but at least he was wearing sweatpants. Lori was dressed in Kannon’s t-shirt and gym shorts that just about swallowed her whole. Kannon was wearing the same, but was holding her protectively, making it look like they were a couple. Wyatt was fully covered in a t-shirt and sweats, but I was in my boxers and a tank. I hadn’t expected to have to dress for company tonight.
“I got a call about some trouble at this address,” the sheriff drawled. “Gus, these boys bothering you?”
“What?” I spluttered in disbelief. “He broke into our home and was caught stealing our stuff! Why aren’t you arresting him?”
“I was just taking
back what’s mine,” Gus said with a smirk. “Take a look in them drawers, Sheriff. They musta gotten in to my stuff when I wasn’t looking.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Wyatt said smoothly. “You’ve been alone down here in the garage for some time. You could have hidden anything in here.”
The sheriff hiked up his pants. “So you’ve never been over to Gus’s before?”
“We have,” Wyatt said slowly. “A couple weeks ago we stopped by to introduce ourselves and talk about sharing customers.”
“They came to threaten me,” Gus spat out. “They wanted to drive me out of town, take everything I’ve worked my entire life for.”
Lori watched everything with wide eyes. “Even if all that was true,” she said quietly. “You don’t break into someone’s garage in the middle of the night.”
“That’s right,” Kannon added as he gave her a squeeze. “Breaking into a man’s home in the middle of the night is risky. You could have been hurt.”
“Y’all have weapons in here I should know about?” the sheriff asked pointedly. “Drugs? A couple of you look mighty young to be without parental supervision.”
Grayson shook his head. “Kannon’s the only one here under eighteen and I’m his legal guardian.”
“How old are you, little miss?” the sheriff asked Lori.
She tilted her jaw up defiantly. “I’m eighteen.”
“I’m going to need to see some ID,” he told her with a good old boy smile that made me grit my teeth.
Lori huffed in irritation.
“Kannon, why don’t you help Lori find her ID?” Grayson suggested.
Lori gave Gus and the sheriff one last glare before stomping off with Kannon following close behind.
“Now that it’s just us gentleman, let’s have a talk,” the sheriff said seriously. “I could haul y’all in and keep you overnight until we sort this out.”
Wyatt shot me a warning look. He knew me well enough to guess that I was close to exploding. I was catching on to the fact that we had a crooked sheriff that was probably in cahoots with Gus. There was no way anything in this entire situation was legit.
“I’m guessing that you have an alternative solution to offer us, Sheriff?” Grayson said quietly.
The sheriff chuckled. “Gus and I already have an agreement in place for any out-of-towners who pass through. All I ask is that you send those customers Gus’s way.”
“We already have friends at the college,” Grayson stated. “They have expectations.”
The sheriff gave a knowing smirk. “Seems like you have friends at the prep school, too. I’m sure a bunch of young guys like you can find plenty of ways to satisfy those expectations.”
I scowled. I might not like Lori, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t stand up for her.
“Pass the out-of-towners to Gus, or we’re going to have to revisit the theft of his tools in the near future. And if we have to have this conversation again, it’s going to be at the station.”
“Fine,” Grayson agreed. “We’ll stay out of the way of your agreement.”
The sheriff turned to go, but hesitated. “And one more thing. I don’t want to hear about any local kids hanging around here. You do what you want with the prep girls, but keep your hands off the locals.”
Grayson shrugged. “That’s not a problem.”
Wyatt had finished going through the bag of tools that Gus had stolen while they were talking and shoved it at Gus. “Here are your piece of shit tools back.”
Gus just shrugged and took his bag before he waddled out after the sheriff. Wyatt slammed the door shut behind them and we stood there in silence for a moment, making sure that they were really gone.
“What the fuck, Gray?” I fumed. “You know that we were counting on some of the money from clients you were going to get at the school.”
Grayson shrugged. “The sheriff is playing a dangerous game. He thinks that he can scam visitors from out of town and split the profits with Gus, but he has no idea what’s he’s dealing with. One day he’s going to pull over a pissed off lamia and try his ‘you have a broken tail light’ charade. But instead of the lamia playing along to avoid attracting attention, he’s going to take a bite out of the sheriff.”
“You think that’s what this is about?” I asked incredulously. “Petty fees for broken tail lights?”
Wyatt shook his head. “I’m sure it’s more than that, but that’s the general idea. There are probably payoffs to avoid official paperwork or tickets, and Gus probably tacks on a lot of extra problems that he ‘finds’ while working.”
Grayson sighed. “The problem will fix itself if we wait long enough. We just need to work hard and keep our heads down. Butting up against the sheriff will only set the town against us, and I’m sure he could find ways to tie up our business with red tape.”
“So that’s it?” I asked angrily. “We just play along with this bullshit?”
“What bullshit?” Lori asked as she stepped back into the room with Kannon.
“Nothing,” Wyatt murmured. “Let’s go back to bed.”
Lori took a combative stance. “Where’s the sheriff? I found my ID.” She brandished it, so I took the opportunity to snatch it out of her hands.
“Lorianne Gilmore?” I asked incredulously. “This ID looks like it was made by a kindergartener doing arts and crafts. It’s a good thing he left before you tried to give him this.”
She slammed her shoulder into me and grabbed my wrist before yanking the card back. “My mom gave me that,” she hissed.
I held up my hands defensively and backed away. Lori clutched the ID to her chest as if it were something precious to her and glared at me. I looked at the other guys for help. How was I supposed to know that she had an emotional attachment to a shitty fake ID?
“That was the last thing her mom gave her.” Kannon said to me through the pack bond. “Try not to be such an asshole to her.”
“Sorry, Lori,” I muttered. I could understand the pain of loss, I knew it all too well. Lori looked surprised that I had apologized but the heat faded from her eyes, so I guess I was forgiven. The fact that I even cared made me scowl.
“Sorry if I overreacted,” she said quietly.
“The sheriff decided to leave us alone for now and took Gus with him,” Grayson said tiredly. “He realized that he wasn’t going to gain anything by harassing us.”
Lori tilted her head and looked at him incredulously. “He gave up, just like that?”
“We need to stay on our guard,” Wyatt said. “I doubt this is over completely. They’ll try again to get to us somehow, so it’s going to be really important to keep our noses clean and stay out of trouble.”
All of us nodded along to his words. All we wanted was a chance at a good life. Why was that so difficult?
Chapter 16
Lori
The shrill sound of someone’s alarm shattered the semi-restful sleep that I had just slipped into. I heard cursing and pulled my blanket over my head. It was still dark, so it had to be outrageously early.
“Fuck, Grayson,” I heard Corey mumble. “You can’t take one day off?”
“Laziness is a slippery slope,” Grayson grumbled. “One day can easily turn into a habit of skipping.”
I heaved a sigh. Did he really expect us to get up in the dark? What was he planning on doing this early? I didn’t mind helping out with getting the shop ready, but could we at least wait for sunrise?
I reluctantly pulled my blanket down and looked around the dark room. To my relief, it was only Grayson getting out of bed. “Where are you going?” I asked quietly.
Grayson gave me half a smile. “To work out. I need to get a couple of hours in before we have to work in the shop.”
My jaw dropped. That explained why Grayson was a wall of muscle and looked like a pro athlete. But a couple of hours every day? On top of working his ass off in the shop? This man had dedication.
Grayson gave my ankle a squeeze as he passed by my bed
. “Get some more sleep,” he said gently. “You were up late last night.”
“So was I,” Wyatt mumbled.
Grayson smirked. “You definitely need your beauty rest, princess.”
Wyatt grunted but didn’t respond. I curled up on my side and half closed my eyes. I was still exhausted and ready to go back to sleep, but Grayson slept shirtless and the sight was distracting. He stretched his arms over his head and I watched his muscles flex. I knew I should look away and stop being a creeper, but I just couldn’t. He walked into the bathroom and I let out my breath as he disappeared.
A couple hours later when the sun was peeking through the windows, I wished I had just gotten up with Grayson. I had done nothing but worry as I laid in my bed, thinking about everything that had gone wrong in my life. I desperately craved the oblivion that sleep would bring me, but even that small amount of peace eluded my grasp.
I got up and padded to the bathroom to relieve my full bladder. I was grateful that the bathroom at least had toilet stalls with doors, but I was nowhere near comfortable with the amount of sharing that was going to have to occur. We needed to work out a schedule for showers. I think the other guys must have been thinking the same, because after I washed my hands and walked back into the bedroom, I was met with two apprehensive faces and one annoyed face.
“You done?” Corey asked with a scowl.
“Yeah,” I shrugged uncomfortably.
“Back off,” Wyatt warned him.
“Why?” Corey threw off his covers. “Now we have to wait around every morning for Ms. America to use the bathroom first? You going to tell me I’m not allowed to shit in my own toilet next?”
“I was in there for five minutes.” I rolled my eyes. “You’re acting like I was doing my hair and makeup for hours.”
“Is that something you do?” Wyatt asked with a sigh as Corey disappeared into the bathroom.
I chuckled. “Only if Corey keeps giving me a hard time.”
“He wasn’t always like this,” Kannon said softly.
New Beginnings: Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 1 Page 13