by Ava Hardy
Nobody said a word when Chris parked the SUV in the back parking lot. We climbed out and I walked between the two of them towards the front entrance. As soon as we walked inside, a blonde woman greeted us with a big smile. “Blake! Sweetheart!” she exclaimed as soon as she saw the dark-haired man. Rushing over, she squeezed past Chris and me so she could wrap her arms around our companion. “I haven’t seen you in ages. What have you been up to?”
Blake smiled a bit, nodding his head. “I’ve been working a lot. You know the chief; not wanting us to be caught out someplace, the kitchen at the station is perfectly full of food. I’ve been meaning to stop by but you know how things go.”
The woman nodded her head and then looked back at Chris. She smiled at him, obviously liking what she saw. Her smile stayed on her face as she glanced towards me. I got the feeling the smile turned a little fake upon seeing me but I didn’t let it bother me. As long as she brought me some pancakes, she could ogle over these two all she wanted. I looked from her to Blake, wondering what the connection was between the two of them. My wonderings about Blake knowing this place rang true. It seemed this is where he worked. A spark ignited inside of me when I thought about getting to see his home, and maybe meeting some of his firefighter friends.
Still with a big smile on her face, the blonde took us to a booth in the back. I was suddenly having déjà vu and wondered if more news was going to be dropped on me. This wasn’t going to be like our Mexican talk was it? I’d rather eat my meal in peace this time.
Chris was the first one to slide into the booth and I took my spot across from him. I watched as Blake started to sit down next to the other man.
“You can sit next to me,” I told him, smiling softly as I patted the bench next to me. “I promise I won’t bite and I swear I don’t have cooties. Though you both are avoiding me like I do.”
The hint of a smile let them both know I was teasing when the reality was that sometimes it felt like they avoided me and I didn’t know why.
Blake hesitated for a moment and then moved to slide in beside me. Chris shifted over so that he was more in the center, all without taking his eyes off of the menu that was in front of him. I was glad to see that I wasn’t the only hungry one around here.
“So what’s good to eat around here?” I asked Blake as I started to read over everything. Whenever my eyes landed on something new, my stomach growled louder. Each thing sounded better than the last and I knew I was never going to make a decision feeling like this.
“Everything,” Blake said seriously. He laughed when I shot him a stern look. “My favorite is always the breakfast platter if I’m in the mood for breakfast. If I want something hardier, the steak isn’t bad. There is also chicken fried steak that is good. I can’t complain about the pot roast dinner either.”
I had to chuckle softly as he spoke. Meat. Meat. Meat. He warned me about this love of meat. I blamed the wolf in him. Glancing over at Chris, I would bet good money that he was the same. Just as I suspected, he put his menu down and commented that the steak sounded good. I put my menu down on top of his and said that I’d try the breakfast platter. I ignored the suggestion to go with the half order but I reassured Blake that I was hungry enough that I felt like I could eat a horse. Chris looked a bit disgusted at that and I could only laugh.
We quietly waited for our food after placing our order with the blonde who conveniently placed us in her section. Our drinks were brought to us and I took a sip of my Diet Pepsi with a satisfied sigh. I swear, a carbonated beverage is one of the best things on this planet at the right time. Right now was one of those times.
“So...this is where you live?” I asked Blake, looking at him as my fingers ran over the condensation on my glass.
Nodding his head, Blake swallowed his sip of beer. “Yeah. Born and raised. I work here too, in case you didn’t hear Bridget and me talking.” He motioned with his head towards the waitress as she walked by. It was enough movement that she came over to see if we needed anything. Blake smiled at her and told her everything was perfect. Her smile spoke loud and clear as she walked away. She didn’t care how many times Blake called her over.
“I think someone has a thing for one certain Mr. Firefighter,” I teased with a big grin. Chris couldn’t hold back his own smile as we both looked at Blake. The poor man turned a few shades of red and tried to brush it off. He explained that they had gone to high school together and she actually dated one of his friends for a short time.
“Probably trying to get closer to you,” I guessed and then laughed at the look on his face. “Sorry! I’ll stop. So tell me more about your hometown. Do you like it here?”
Blake explained some history of the city and you could tell how much pride he had by the way he spoke. Smiles came and went as he talked about different things, events and memories that he had. He had been the star quarterback for his high school. In the spring, he was on the baseball team and one of his records still stood. There was no doubt about it, this was his home. His family was here and nothing was going to pull him away from it.
“I still can’t believe you had never been to a Mexican restaurant. Surely you have some delicious ones in this town,” I chuckled as I caught his eye.
Blake smiled back at me and shrugged a little. “We’ll have to go to one and try it out.”
Butterflies swirled in my stomach seeing his smile. I wanted to say something flirty back to him but Bridget seemed to pick the best time (for her) to deliver our food. It smelled delicious and looked even better. My eyes went to each plate as it was put down and my mouth watered so much. I barely had time to thank the waitress before I picked up my fork and took a bite of my pancakes.
I let out a ‘mmm’ sound and reached for the syrup. This was a perfect decision, coming to this place. I thought about kissing Chris ’cause I was so happy. I’m sure that he would rather I didn’t but who cared right then. These pancakes were the best.
As I continued to eat, I looked at the other two, who seemed to enjoy their meals. Both were going for their meat entrees first and I wasn’t surprised. If they could order like Fred Flintstone, they would get the biggest steak the kitchen had and leave it at that. No sides needed. In a way, it was kind of cute. My mind tried to go to what they looked like in their other forms but I always felt a bit confused. I still didn’t know if I truly believed that they could shift.
Not wanting to go back down that path, I returned to my food. I had pretty much everything on the breakfast menu on my plate. It was a lot of food and I had every intention of eating every last bite of it. I didn’t care if I walked out the door with a food baby.
“This place is friendly,” Blake whispered when he finished his steak. His fork pushed some of his vegetables around on the plate before he took a bite of his potatoes. I was watching him and waiting to see if he would explain.
“What he means is friendly to our kind,” Chris said just as softly, noticing my confusion.
Nodding my head, I glanced around the dining room as if I could detect if there were others like them. My skills weren’t up to par, not even in the least. Everyone looked human to me. Maybe Bridget wasn’t and that was why she was so keen on batting her eyelashes at Blake. “Is anyone...” I started to ask but stopped when I realized I had no idea how to phrase what I wanted to ask.
“There are a couple,” Chris answered with his eyes on his plate. He took a bite and then looked up at me. His head moved slightly in one direction and my eyes followed. I saw two men sitting together up at the counter. There was a cup of coffee in front of them and small empty plates. I’d guess they had a piece of pie. I might have been wrong though. Looking back at Chris, I felt extremely nervous all of a sudden. Blake said friendly. What did that mean? There weren’t going to be any fights?
“The restaurant...Ruth, she’s one of us and so is her family. Her pack. They all work here. No hunters are allowed to enter, not even in the parking lot. Luckily, there has only been one to show his face around here and h
e quickly learned his lesson.” Blake thought about it for a moment and then looked back at me. “Having places like this puts a big target on someone’s back. A hunter just has to watch from a distance who comes and goes. They might be able to pinpoint who is human and who isn’t but it’s hard for them, even the extremely skilled. That doesn’t mean it’s 100% safe though.”
I swallowed hard and put my fork down as I looked between the two. Chris was eating as if nothing was going on and Blake was watching me. After a few seconds, he went back to finishing off his potatoes and then his plate got pushed away. Chris did the same.
“You never did like your veggies,” Bridget gushed as she came over, smiling at Blake as she picked up his plate. “Can I get you boys some dessert?” They both said “no thank you” in unison and she nodded her head before leaving—not a word to me.
“I told you that you weren’t going to finish that,” Blake teased with a big shit-eating grin.
“I’m not done yet,” I huffed. I scooped up some scrambled eggs and flashed him a grin before I went back to eating. They were a little cold but that wasn’t going to stop me. My stomach felt like a bottomless pit at this point and I needed to fill it. If we were going to keep traveling north, I had no idea what kind of options we were going to have.
I ate silently as Chris and Blake started to speak. There was mention of the Elder and the advice that was given. Gaia’s name was brought up again and I could feel the pull of jealousy hit me. I couldn’t explain where it came from or why. These two were friends, right? If they had a woman or women in their lives, I shouldn’t be bothered. Yet I didn’t know why I felt this pull towards them. If I was going to be jealous over someone I’ve never met, why was I not jealous or feeling territorial over Blake with Bridget flirting with him so obviously? Maybe because Blake wasn’t having any of it. This was how I tried to reason with myself. She was interested and yet Blake wasn’t taking the bait. Truth was, he was probably used to it. If they’d known each other for a long time, this was probably normal for her. It could be that she hit on all the firefighters that came in the door. I wasn’t sure, and it wasn’t like it mattered. Blake wasn’t interested, and I was happy being by myself.
My plate was nearly empty when I pushed it away with a soft groan. Blake looked at it, ready to tease me but all he could do was give me was a thumbs-up with a big grin.
“Very impressive,” he joked just as Bridget brought our check by. Chris pulled out his wallet and left more than enough money to cover the meals and a tip. Blake was going to protest but Chris told him he could get the next one.
“What am I? Chopped liver?” I asked as I scooted out of the booth after Blake. “I can pay too.” I stood and noticed that they were both looking down at me, almost flabbergasted that I would suggest such a thing.
“It is 2018 after all,” I reminded them before I brushed past them to head towards the entrance. I passed by Bridget and gave her a friendly goodbye smile. Her eyes were already locked on Blake, who was a few paces behind me. Her sugary sweet voice was almost as bad as nails on a chalkboard. It was so fake that I would be surprised if anyone fell for it. Blake gave her a quick goodbye hug before jogging to catch up with Chris and me standing just outside the door.
“Ready, Romeo?” I asked with a smirk and Blake playfully shoved me off into the parking lot. I laughed and stepped back onto the sidewalk to join them as we walked around the building and to the SUV.
“Where are we headed to next?” I put my seat belt on as I asked them, my eyes glancing towards the front to look at them.
“My place,” Blake grinned, happy to be going to some place familiar. “Don’t worry. It’s clean.”
All I could do was shake my head as if I didn’t believe it. I made a comment about bachelor pads as I smiled to myself and turned my head to look out the window. Deep down, I was really excited to see where Blake lived. I wanted to see how he lived and if he decorated his place or not. Were there pictures? Did he have a pet or two? Excitement started to fill me as Chris drove us down the road, heading towards the outskirts of town. I watched the changing scenery and covered my mouth with a faint yawn as the food sank in and I realized how late it was. Resting my head against the window, I hoped that he had enough beds for everyone. If not, someone was going to have to share with me because I wasn’t sleeping on the floor.
Chapter 8
Yawning, I practically had to drag my bag out of Blake’s house. It had been wonderful to sleep on an actual bed and get a good night’s rest. The last motel we were in had a lot of improvements to do before anyone could say anything about comfort. As I reached the SUV, Chris was there to take my bag and put it in the back next to the others.
“Are you sure we don’t have time to go visit your family?” I asked when Blake finished locking up and came to join us.
He smiled and nodded his head. “As much as I’m sure my mama would love to meet you, we have a schedule we need to stick to.”
I pouted as I walked behind him to get in. I’m sure it was more like Chris had a schedule the rest of us had to stick to but I didn’t say anything. I knew that our priorities should be on finding this element. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder what Blake’s family was like.
“Rain check,” he said when he saw my pout as I got in the backseat. He smiled at me before closing the door and then getting in the passenger seat.
“I’m going to hold you to it,” I replied with a smirk as I got my seat belt on. The engine was already going and Chris was waiting on the both of us to get situated. His eyes were watching me in the rear-view mirror. We looked at each other for a moment, long enough for the butterflies in my stomach to wake up, before he looked away and pulled out of Blake’s driveway.
I kept my eyes on Chris as he drove down the street for a little while and then eventually looked back out the window. I wanted to make sure I saw Blake’s hometown in the daylight. As we passed by different buildings, he explained what they were. We saw his elementary school and the firehouse where he worked. One of the newbies was out front washing the engine and Blake gave him a wave with a pleased smile.
“What do they think you’re doing?” I asked curiously, looking at him between the crack of the window and the front seat.
“I’m on vacation and hanging out with friends. I mentioned maybe going on a road trip. They called me crazy since it’s middle of winter but I said we’d have fun any way,” Blake answered simply, his eyes still on the firehouse.
“Are any of them...” I started to ask but Blake cut in to tell me no. He was the only one. It must get tricky, always having to carry such a huge secret, and incredibly lonely. Without saying anything else, I turned my head to look out the window again.
The buildings soon turned into trees and fields. We were once again alone on the road. Chris had turned down some old backroad , getting off the main highway. I wasn’t sure if hunters usually traveled the main roads, or if the element was really in this direction.
It was becoming clearer that neither of them was going to be forthcoming with information. If I wanted to know something, I had to ask. It was kind of irritating, but I think it was a trait that a lot of men had. It wasn’t that they wanted to carry all these secrets, but more of the speak as little types as possible. Most weren’t what some might label as chitchatters.
“Why are we traveling on the back roads?” I asked as I leaned forward so I was between both the front seats and could look at Chris’s face. When he didn’t say something immediately, I turned my head to look at Blake. Blake didn’t speak either.
Chris’s voice broke through the silence and I looked back in his direction.
“We believe the element is in this direction. It’s also safer not to be near the general population.” Chris didn’t take his eyes off of the road as he spoke, giving me a moment to admire his strong jawline and how his beard seemed to be a little fuller. I wondered for a moment what it felt like but pushed that thought out of my mind as I sat back in my seat.
“Safer?” I wanted to know what exactly we were running from. “And please stop being so elusive with information. I feel like it’s pulling teeth to get either of you to speak about this, or actually speak in general.”
My tone was shifting with a bit of anger and Chris glanced back at me through the rearview mirror. No, I wasn’t about to snap. I was getting tired of this though. What was the big secret? Or was I really that hard to talk to?
I crossed my arms over my chest and glanced out the window. Maybe I was pouting a little. I felt like I deserved more than I was getting. Two days ago, my boring life was normal and safe. I was content. Now I was in this wild-goose chase with two men that still wanted to be strangers.