Shift Work

by Christy Gissendaner

  He grinned. He made a black eye look sexy. “You good?”

  Better than good. Euphoric almost. “I’m okay.”

  He ran his hand down her back and grabbed her ass. “Round two?”

  “Don’t you mean three?”

  He lifted an eyebrow.

  Aw, crap.

  She’d had sex with Ty. Her good friend. Her fishing buddy.

  Damn, what if everything went south, and he wouldn’t let her borrow his boat? That would suck donkey balls.

  “Sooo,” she said and stepped around him to locate her clothing. “That was weird.”

  He scooped up her bra and handed it to her. “Weird, how?”

  She shoved her tatas into the bra and slid into the shorts. Without panties, the denim rubbed her sensitive bits. She did a tiny tap dance to settle the shorts into place. Damned things always tried to ride up her ass. “Me and you. Having sex.”

  His dark gaze followed her movements as she pulled on the tank top. “Yeah?”

  She slapped her hands onto her thighs and sighed. “Don’t you think so?”

  “No.”

  That was it? No? Maybe it was a female thing and men had sex with their pals without turning everything on its axis. Call her a woman, but her world had just done a complete one eighty. “I should go.”

  Ty glanced toward the window. Lightning lit the sky, and a rumble of thunder shook the ceiling. “You can’t ride a bike home right now. Not when you’ve been drinking.”

  “I’m not drunk.” She’d been raised on whiskey and ’shine. A few shots of bourbon barely registered. “I’ll go slow.”

  “Tolly.” Ty strode forward and wrapped his arm around her waist. “I’m not letting you go home alone.”

  “You can’t stop me.”

  He chuckled. “I can’t?”

  Okay, so he had fifty pounds and six inches on her, plus he was a male, but she could fight when she needed to. Bryan had taught her how to wrestle at an early age.

  She stared him down. “Fucking me doesn’t give you the right to tell me what to do.”

  Ty sighed and released her. He muttered beneath his breath, and even though she leaned in to hear, she didn’t make out much beyond stubborn and woman. “I was going to offer to take you home, but now I don’t know if I will.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose and blew out a frustrated breath. “You’re still naked.”

  He shrugged. “So?”

  She couldn’t concentrate with his junk flopping around. The longer she stared, the longer she wanted to…

  Nope. Not going down that road again. “Okay, let’s start over.”

  She strode forward and stretched out her hand. “Thank you for a nice night. Hope this doesn’t make things between us weird and shit, and I’ll…I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She turned and high tailed it out of there before he had a chance to stop her.

  The downpour soaked her seconds after she left the safety of the tiny awning over the door. Thunder crashed, and she squeaked. Splashing through the mud puddles, she climbed onto her Harley and dug into her pocket.

  Shit.

  Her keys.

  She glanced toward Hog Heaven in time to see Ty step onto the stoop with a familiar key ring hooked around his index finger. “Forget something?”

  How in the hell had he gotten her keys? She remembered tucking them into her back pocket when she arrived.

  She sat there and seriously considered hotwiring her own bike. Potential damage to the black and pink Harley was much better than facing him.

  She swiped at the rain droplets covering her face and blinked to clear her vision. Ty stepped off the stoop and approached her. Rain dampened his hair, and his T-shirt clung to the delectable delineations of muscle in his chest.

  At least he’d put on clothes.

  Ty climbed onto her bike, forcing her to either slide back or be sat on.

  “What are you doing?”

  He inserted the key and turned on the bike. “Driving you home.”

  “How will you get home?”

  “I’ll walk.” He lifted the kickstand and set off at a roar.

  She clung to him to keep from sliding off the back. He turned out of the parking lot and headed down the highway. The rain felt like needles, and she ducked her head, using him as shelter.

  This part of the area was rural. Nothing but trees for miles.

  She glanced over her shoulder, back toward the interstate and the all-night gas station. Maybe she was wrong, and she had enough gas to make it home.

  Minutes later, she regretted her decision.

  The bike’s engine sputtered, and Ty steered it to the side of the road, slipping on the loose gravel at the asphalt’s edge.

  Ty twisted the fuel cap closed after glancing inside it. “No gas. You couldn’t warn me?”

  She jumped off the bike and shivered at the dark expression on his face. “You didn’t give me a chance.”

  “Your gauge said full.”

  She shrugged. “The hand’s stuck.”

  Lightning streaked across the sky in perfect counterpoint to the flavorful string of curses he released. She’d always thought Greg, his brother, was the dark one, but the way he looked at her right then made her fear for her safety…and her shorts. The heat in his gaze, even through the anger, threatened to singe every stitch of clothing from her body.

  Ty held out his hand. “Give me your cell. I’ll call my brother.”

  “My phone?” she echoed.

  “Yeah, your phone.” He stalked toward her as she retreated.

  “Shit,” she muttered.

  His eyebrows drew together in a frown. “What?”

  “I left it at home.”

  He gaped at her. “You, the girl who takes pictures of every fish she catches and posts it on social media, left your phone.”

  She patted her pockets even though she’d left the phone charging on her kitchen counter. “Yep. Sure did.”

  Ty growled and kicked a clod of mud toward the road. He pointed in the direction they’d come. “The closest gas station is five miles that way. The nearest house is your grandfather’s, which I assure you isn’t even an option, and we’re out of gas in the middle of a thunderstorm.”

  “Seems that way,” she chirped. “Not my fault.”

  He swung his gaze her way. “I assume you mean it’s mine.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “Well if you hadn’t stolen my keys, we wouldn’t be in this mess right now.”

  “Right.” Ty nodded. “It’s my fault.”

  The glow of headlights appeared in the distance, and Tolly laughed in relief. Thank goodness. She stuck out her thumb and waited for the driver of the beat-up Chevy truck to come to a stop.

  The window squeaked as the man rolled it down. “See you two ran out of gas,” Smokey said with a gap-toothed smile. “Well, climb in then.”

  Who would’ve thunk it? Old Smokey had his uses after all.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The storm left the grass green and damp. Ty stuck his nose to the wet dirt and sniffed, tracking his prey through the woods behind Hog Heaven. After a night spent tossing and turning, dreaming of Tolly and his one shot at her, he’d given up at dawn, shifted and went out to hunt.

  He preferred to hunt in human form, above the ground in his tree stand or hidden in a duck blind, but the energy coursing through his veins needed an outlet. He was due to meet Jackson and Greg soon, but there was still time to find the rabbit he’d tracked near the edge of the Hollister land.

  A twig snapped, and he crouched close to the forest floor. He didn’t need a hunter mistaking him for a normal wolf and putting a bullet through his head. When no other sounds came, he lifted his head and sniffed.

  Cinnamon.

  In wolf form, he couldn’t resist his beast’s needs, so he turned and ran upwind of Tolly. The stream cutting through the Hollister and Harris land was cold as hell, but he splashed through it to the other side. Despite his fur, the chill o
f the water shocked his system. He shook it off and stuck close to the stream’s edge, on alert for danger, whether from Tolly or hunters in the area.

  Instead of traveling the half mile back to his house, he jumped the stream and crossed back to Hog Heaven. He kept a change of clothes there, and it was easy enough to climb a stack of pallets and use his nose to push a window open. He jumped through the open space and landed on all fours in the middle of the backroom.

  After shifting back, he washed the mud from his body as best as he could at the sink and got dressed. No sooner had he stuffed a battered Braves cap on his head than Tolly shoved through the back door, setting off the fire alarm once again.

  “You won’t believe what I saw. A wolf. A honest to goodness wolf!”

  Ty grimaced. He’d let down his guard. A human had never gotten close enough to see him in wolf form. “Are you sure it wasn’t a wild dog?”

  Tolly rolled her eyes and extended her hand to him. “See? I snapped a picture before it ran away. You should’ve seen him. He was beautiful.”

  Despite himself, her words pleased him, until he saw the crystal clear picture she’d taken of him as a wolf. His nose in the air, his body on alert. “Can I see?”

  She passed the camera to him, and he pressed the icon of a trash can in the top, right corner and tapped confirm. “Oops.”

  Tolly rushed to his side, the scent of cinnamon and outdoors clinging to her, and snatched back the camera. “What did you do? You deleted it!”

  He managed a halfway decent, apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. My finger slipped.”

  She glared at him.

  “Twice,” he added. “You know I’m terrible with touch screens.”

  Tolly’s face fell, her shoulders slumped, and she trudged to the phone. “For a techie, you’re remarkably inept.”

  After picking up the phone receiver, she dialed the fire department and called off the hounds. With a sigh, she placed the camera on his desk and plopped into the chair. “That picture was one of my best.”

  Ty felt like an ass even though he had very good reasons for deleting the picture. Others would realize the wolf in the picture was more than what it seemed, and he didn’t need trackers coming after Tolly for a picture she’d taken in her innocence. “Maybe your wolf will show up again.”

  She perked up. “You think so?”

  “Sure. We need to—” He turned his head at the sound of crunching gravel. “Uh, Tolly? I’ve got to run. I have a meeting scheduled.”

  She picked up her camera and fiddled with a few buttons. “Go ahead.”

  Shit.

  He stared down at her, wondering how to make her leave without being a complete ass. “It’s kinda important.”

  She lifted her head. “You want me to go just say so.”

  He sighed. “Can you please leave?”

  She stood and brushed past him on the way to the door, knocking his cap to the floor. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Tonight?” he choked out.

  She tossed him a cocky grin over her shoulder. “I’m working, remember?”

  God help him. He wouldn’t survive another night with Tolly and her ridiculous short shorts. Already his cock ached with the need to sink deep inside her. Tearing his thoughts away from her, he entered the bar area where Jackson and Ellie waited.

  Jackson whistled. “What happened to you?”

  Ty fingered his bruise with a wry grin. “Difference of opinion.”

  “Male or female?” Jackson asked.

  “Female, but she packs a wallop for such a small thing.”

  He refused to tell them the real reason for the bruise. His night with Tolly was private, something he would cherish despite the kick to the eye socket. Besides, Jackson would never let him hear the end of it. His friend had always claimed Tolly was his perfect match, and he refused admit Jackson had been right.

  Greg joined them not long after. Ty studied his brother with a curious eye. Something was different about him. He seemed calmer somehow, not the same big brother who’d returned from war a changed man. PTSD had taken its toll on Greg, reducing him to little more than a hermit who drowned his sorrows in loneliness and CNN.

  Greg slapped his hands together. “We should get started.”

  They moved into the area where the pool tables were housed. Ty and his brother dragged a couple tables together to create a makeshift planning area. Jackson stood by Ellie’s chair and examined the laptop Greg had plugged in.

  Greg, with his usual lack of social niceties, pulled up an image on the screen and stepped back so the others could see the black and red symbol.

  Jackson radiated tension. “So you think it’s the Freedom Fellows?”

  “It’s the best lead I’ve found,” Greg said with a nod. “There’s definitely motive.”

  “The Freedom Fellows?” Ellie questioned.

  The terrorist group was no joke. Greg pointed at a black and red symbol on the screen and explained to Ellie, who didn’t know how serious it was. “A rebel group out of Russia. They’re extremists who excel in identity theft and hacking. If anyone stands to lose from Ty’s invention, it would be them. Last year, they raked in a couple billion dollars alone.”

  Ty cursed beneath his breath. When he’d created the firewall, he hadn’t given thought to those who’d want to destroy it for nefarious purposes.

  Jackson seemed consumed by the information Greg presented. “Why do you think it’s them?”

  Greg turned the laptop so he could click a couple pages before turning it back around to show a grainy, black-and-white picture of a couple men leaving a plane. “The Petrov brothers were seen leaving Hartsfield-Jackson airport this weekend. Too much of a coincidence, don’t you think?”

  The Petrov brothers were the worse of the lot. Ty sent a guarded look Jackson’s way.

  Greg showed Ellie a Most Wanted page. Ty didn’t need to read to remember the list of crimes that filled the entire page. Extortion. Money laundering. Kidnapping. Murder.

  Real badasses who preyed on the weak.

  Jackson clicked the laptop back to the picture of the brothers. “The Petrovs are bad news. If it really is the Freedom Fellows, then we have a fight on our hands.”

  Greg pulled out a chair and sat. “I have intel that the Petrovs are still in Atlanta. Either they don’t know you left town, or they’re betting on your return. The information is dated though. It’s possible they could’ve left this morning.”

  “So they’re chasing us?” Ellie asked.

  “Or,” Ty interjected, “they stayed behind to find my firewall. Is everything locked?”

  Jackson stirred beside her. “The plans you gave me are stored on a flash drive I carry with me. The demo version is locked up in my safe. It has a retinal scan and voice recognition software. They can’t get to it. If they blast it open, they’ll destroy the drive.”

  Greg laced his fingers together and placed them on top of the table. “Then how do they know about the firewall? Who talked?”

  Jackson cursed softly. “An ex-employee. He’s gone now, but he said enough to get the dogs sniffing around us.”

  Ty scrubbed his forehead and sighed. He wished he’d never created the firewall if it meant everyone he loved would suffer because of it. “What do we need to do?”

  Greg spoke first. He was the one with the most combat training. Stood to reason that he’d want to extinguish the threat. “We find the Petrovs. I’m sure there are several people who would love to deal with them for us.”

  “So that’s it?” Ellie glanced at each of the men in turn. “We find them and then I can return home? Sounds easy enough. When do we start?”

  Jackson held her down when she would’ve stood. “Not so fast, Ellie. We have to make plans first. You don’t go chasing after people like the Petrovs without a plan in place.”

  “I say let’s go back to Atlanta and let them come to us.” She tilted her head toward Jackson. “They’ll come, right?”

  Ty chuckled. At
times, Ellie reminded him a hell of a lot of Tolly. “She has a point. It would be the easiest way.”

  “And the stupidest,” Jackson snapped. “Absolutely not. I’m not putting Ellie at risk.”

  “Who said anything about—?”

  Ellie would’ve said more, but Jackson shot her a hard look.

  Greg rubbed his chin. “It could work. If the Petrovs think they’re only dealing with a female, they won’t be so careful.”

  “Hey!” Ellie exclaimed.

  “No.” Jackson’s tone dripped ice. “Find another way. I’m not using Ellie as bait.”

  A ball of steam escaped her lips. “I can do this, Jackson. I don’t need you to protect me.”

  Ty sniffed the sulfur. Interesting.

  Jackson lifted her in the chair and turned her around to face him. “It’s a stupid plan. I won’t do it.”

  Another ring of smoke escaped Ellie, and Ty traced its waving pattern to the ceiling.

  “Stop worrying. I’m guessing the Petrovs have no idea what I’m capable of.”

  “And what are you capable of?” Jackson waved his hand through the air to dispel the smoke cloud. “A few party tricks. Smoke rings and big leaps aren’t enough to stop terrorists.”

  “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”

  “Seriously, Ellie! Yesterday you were hell-bent on keeping your shifter status hidden. Now all of a sudden, you’re ready to take on a couple of thugs? I’m not buying it. I know what you’re doing. Thank you for trying to help, but we can find another way. I’m not putting you at risk any more than I have to.”

  Ty continued to study the smoke rings. “Dragon, huh? I knew something was different about you.”

  Greg acted as if Ellie’s ancestry had no bearing and slapped his hand palm down on the table. “Ellie’s idea has merit. The Petrovs will be blindsided.”

  “No.” Jackson gave Greg a death stare. “What happens if we do capture the Petrovs? You think it stops there? The Freedom Fellows will keep sending criminals until they get the firewall. I don’t want to give them an excuse to go after Ellie.”

  “She’s involved now whether you want her to be or not,” Ty pointed out. “Unless you’re saying you’re not falling for her. If you are, then she’s involved. They’ve seen her with you, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice the sparks between you two.”