Bears of Burden Complete Series Box Set

by Candace Ayers

  A few cars dotted the side lot, enough to indicate that the establishment was open. I stepped up onto the wide porch that wrapped around both sides of the cabin, and as I did, I felt an air of familiarity swirl around me and waft its way over my senses. An intimacy settled over me and I stood still for a second to try to make sense of it. I’d never been to Texas before, what was it about The Cave that felt so incredibly like déjà vu?

  Worn planks of wood stretched out under my feet and creaked when I shifted my weight back and forth. I caught the slight whine of an old country song, along with the aroma of pine and grilled steak which elicited a loud growl from my stomach. I had no business feeling homesick for a place like this one, but there it was. I was feeling homesick for a place I’d never been.

  It had to be a mind trick. That was it. My mind was finding comfort anywhere that wasn’t back home. Anywhere that wasn’t filled with chaotic, plaguing thoughts and fears. Yep. This was simply a town that didn’t threaten my piece of mind, a town where I could pretend that I had no problems or worries. Except an empty bank account and an empty gas tank.

  I shrugged my backpack higher on my shoulder and pushed through the front door. The Cave was surprisingly dark for midday. Natural lighting from the windows lit the front of the place, casting long streaks of light across wooden tables and chairs and leaving the untouched areas in shadow. Old chandeliers hung from the ceiling, unlit, and a large jukebox took up part of the corner opposite the bar.

  Several pairs of eyes looked up when I came in, but almost immediately lost interest in me. Except one pair. The bartender stared at me and used his knuckle to lift his hat a bit. His lips curled in a friendly smile after a few seconds so I made my way over to him.

  “New in town?” He was older, probably in his mid-fifties, and had a surprisingly gentle voice. I kinda liked him already. He looked the part of a rough and tumble bartender in a Texas border town, but his demeanor instantly put me at ease.

  “Yeah. I was driving through to Big Bend and ran out of gas. Luckily, this place was close.”

  He narrowed his eyes and looked at me thoughtfully. “Most people don’t drive this way ‘round for Big Bend. Hell, most people don’t have the time to. You always pick the longest way ‘round to somethin’?”

  I laughed through my nose, thinking not just of my entire trip, but my entire life. “I guess so.”

  “So, you just needin’ some gas?”

  A lanky kid in a chef’s coat shuffled past carrying a giant steak. I tried hard not to stare. I put a hand to my stomach to muffle the grumblings and had to focus my eyes on the surface of the bar top to get my thoughts together again.

  “Actually, I need some kind of temp job. Do you know anywhere around here that could use some help?”

  “Thought you was just driving through?”

  I shrugged. “I was. Until I ran out of gas... and out of money for gas.”

  He gave me a questioning look. “Not many folks get in their car and travel the long way around places without knowing they got enough gas to get where they’re going.”

  “Yeah. Umm… I didn’t really have a destination in mind when I got in the car. It was just one of those last-minute things.”

  He shifted his weight, leaned against the bar, and studied me through narrowed eyes.

  “You got a boyfriend chasing you down?”

  My stomach clenched. “Doubt it.”

  “The law after you?”

  I grinned then and shook my head. “Not even a little bit.”

  “You on any kind of drugs that make you crazy enough to get in your car and drive without gas money to get where you’re goin’?”

  “Nope. It’s all natural.”

  “Then you’re hired. Had a waitress quit on me last night and I could use the help.”

  The feeling of familiarity crept back over me, and something else, belonging.

  “You’re serious?”

  He nodded and held his hand out to me. “I’m Abram. Assistant manager. You ever waitressed or bartended before?”

  “Yes sir, a time or two,” I slid my hand into his, “Allie.”

  3

  Allie

  Abram made a big deal out of feeding me before I began working. I wanted to be all reticent and act like I wasn’t starving half to death, but I couldn’t do it and voraciously scarfed down the burger and fries he brought out to me. After I downed a tall glass of ice water, I came around to his side of the bar.

  I’d worked in bars since I was sixteen. I was one of those girls who’d developed early and looked older than she was, so I got away with it in the dive bars on the outskirts of Charlotte. I made quick work of my first task which was mentally cataloguing where everything was located, then set out to make sure Abram would not be sorry he’d offered me the job.

  I was overwhelmed with the unusual feeling of belonging. I didn’t know what it meant, but I wasn’t going to argue with fate, and right then and there, I felt like I’d been guided by the unseen hand of destiny to The Cave, deep in southwest Texas. For how long, who knew?

  “We’re mostly a ‘shot and a beer’ establishment, but we do get our cocktail people. You know any recipes?”

  I grinned. “Try me.”

  He slid a glass down to me and nodded to it. “Long Island.”

  It took me a bit longer than it normally would, since I was still getting used to the bar, but I had the drink back in his hand in less than a minute and a half.

  He took a long swig and nodded. “I think you’ll do.”

  Abram had kind eyes and he seemed to take an instant liking to me. We talked about the tables, the food, and how he’d pay me. The atmosphere was easy and laid back. Abram made a specific point of warning me about ‘fraternizing’, as he put it, with the owner’s friends.

  “Avoid those idiots. Thorn has a strict rule about employees dating his buddies. They’re not exactly the love them and keep them type, if you know what I mean. Sons-of-bitches cost me the last three waitresses.”

  I looked toward the table where he was pointing and rolled my eyes. “Not interested, I can assure you,” I muttered. I had enough going on, as it was. The last thing I need was more complications.

  Abram raised his arms to the air and mouthed a ‘thank you’ to the ceiling. “Any plans on where you’ll be staying?”

  I shrugged. “I’ve been sleeping in my car, so I figured I’d keep doing that. I just need to find a place to shower and I’ll be good. I don’t require much.”

  He looked thoughtful but didn’t say anything. Instead, he nodded towards a big, burly guy who’d just entered. “Here you go. Your first customer.”

  I turned an easy smile on the man arriving at the bar. “Hey, there. What can I get you?”

  His eyes slid to Abram and then to me again. “Well, well, what do we have here?”

  “Name’s Allie. Now, what’ll it be?”

  The man’s face suddenly split into a wide grin. “I think you got a feisty one, Abe.”

  I read the man as a beer guy so I reached under the counter and grabbed a bottle. “Domestic?”

  His eyes lit up and he took the bottle from me. “She even guessed my beer. I think this one’s a keeper.”

  “Would you like anything to eat?”

  He leaned forward. “Can you guess that, too, little lady?”

  I rolled my eyes and slipped the order pad from my apron. “I’m all out of guesses. What’ll you have?”

  Another couple of minutes passed with him teasing me instead of giving me his order. As soon as another patron entered, I tore the top sheet off my pad and slapped it onto the bar in front of the burly guy who’d introduced himself as Big Bob. “Well, Bob, when you figure out what you want, you write it down. Don’t seem like you’re in any hurry, so I’ll just grab it on the way back around.”

  I heard Abram snort and Big Bob grunt. Big Bob seemed harmless, like he just wanted to play and flirt a bit, but I’d been working in bars for a little over ten years.
I’d learned which men to shut down and which ones to let carry on. Big Bob had to be shut down or he’d take it as far as he could.

  I got the new customer’s order and carried it back to the kitchen. The chef, Brady, nodded to me to let me know he got it. When I got back to the bar, Big Bob had scribbled across the order sheet. I rewrote his chicken scratch underneath, clearer, and smiled my friendliest waitress grin at him.

  “Thank you. I’ll get it out to you soon.”

  The afternoon continued on like that. I learned the who’s who of the regulars, which patrons to keep an eye on, and oriented myself with the bar. In short, the afternoon flew by and before I knew it, it was already dinnertime. People filled the bar for their meals and then stayed to drink.

  “Is it always this busy on a random Thursday night?”

  Abram looked up from pouring a drink. “Yup. Pretty much. This is the only place in town that serves food. It’s the only bar, too, so every day is busy.”

  “Wow. The owner is a genius. When will I meet him?”

  “Thorn? He should be in any time. He had a long night.” There was something in the way Abram said it that made me think it wasn’t only work that’d occupied the boss’s long night.

  I ran another round of food to a table and collected a few tabs at the bar before returning to the conversation with Abram. “So, the owner, Thorn, he’s a lot like his buddies, then?”

  Abram seemed surprised and then thoughtful. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he snickered. “I guess so. You’re fast on your toes, aren’t you? You sure you’ll want to move on eventually? I could use someone like you around here on a permanent basis.”

  I shrugged. “I’ll stick around for a few days and then see.”

  “Me and the wife have a travel trailer that we use once a year to go up to Colorado. Keep it over at a spot not too far from here.” He looked up from pouring a beer and met my eyes. “You’re welcome to use it. There are hookups there for water and everything.”

  I stopped what I was doing and turned to face him full on. “You’re serious?”

  He nodded. “No one should be sleeping in their car out here. The weather is crazy. Wouldn’t want my best new employee freezing to death or getting washed away by a flash flood.”

  I threw my arms around him in a tight hug and then slunk back to where I’d been, like it never happened. “Thank you, Abram. I really appreciate it.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. You’ll have to stay until closing with me so I can take you over to it and help get y’all set up.”

  “That’s perfect, Abram. Turns out my schedule is completely clear. The only thing on the agenda for today is work.”

  He patted my shoulder as he moved past. “Work the bar for a while, would you? Boss just got in. I’ve got to bend his ear real quick.”

  I waved him away and grabbed a clean rag to wipe down the bar while I had a lag in orders. I had a sudden attack of nervous flutters filling my stomach for some unknown reason. Maybe it was because I was about to meet my new boss. Odd, I wasn’t the nervous type. That must be it, though, a little insecurity that perhaps my boss wouldn’t be pleased with Abram’s choice.

  No worries, I’d win him over if I had to.

  4

  Hawthorne

  I had the mother’s mother of all headaches. Half was a hangover from drinking the night before and half was from a morning of pure hell. There was a reason I didn’t sleep with the same woman more than once. Yet, I’d broken my own rule with the little blonde last night, simply because she was there and she was easy, and I’d paid a high price for it. When will I learn? Easy is never easy.

  I woke up to her cooking breakfast in my kitchen. My completely barren kitchen. I still didn’t know where she’d found the shit to cook for us. When I told her I had errands to run, she was annoyed and said she thought we were going to spend the day together. I had no clue where she got that idea from, but I, polite as can be, told her that I was busy and that we most certainly were not spending the day together. That got me a plate of eggs flung at my head. She’d seemed so sweet while we were throwing back shots of whiskey.

  After she hollered all sorts of obscenities at me for a while, she insisted on using my shower and then taking off with one of my favorite shirts. Annoyance bubbled up in me at the recent memory, but I kept it in check. It was my own fault.

  Instead of my usual morning run through the woods and breakfast at Wyatt’s mom’s place, I’d spent the morning cleaning up over-easy eggs and trying to get a psycho chick out of my house. Which was another mistake. I never brought women back to my place.

  So far, the day had been a total train wreck.

  There’d also been a nagging tingling at the back of my neck all day. I figured it was bear not getting a chance to get out and run, but I wasn’t sure. Something had me on edge, that much was for sure. What I needed was to shift and roam the woods, maybe find a berry bush to sit beside and snack off of.

  Duty called, though. I had to meet and greet the new girl Abram had texted me about. I parked around the back of the bar and entered that way. Brady was at the chef station, his gloved hands working on battering a couple of pieces of fish.

  “All good back here?”

  Brady grinned and nodded. “Going smooth, Boss. The new girl is fucking awesome.”

  I took a deep breath in, trying to sniff her out. What I scented had me grabbing the counter next to me. My dick was instantly rock hard, trying to bust free of my jeans.

  What. The. Hell?

  I isolated out the scents of everyone I knew. It wasn’t hard in a town the size of Burden. My nose locked in on hers almost instantly. She smelled like flowers and something wilder. Freer. Something that reminded me of shifting at the top of a mountain, experiencing a tidal wave of fresh, sweet freedom.

  “You okay, Boss?”

  I cleared my throat and kept my body arched in so he wouldn’t see the tent in my pants. “Sure.”

  Abram came through the doorway just then. “About time you dragged yourself in here. You okay?”

  I grunted. Okay was relative. “Fine.”

  He gave me a look, but didn’t push. “Allie’s the best waitress and bartender we’ve found in a while. I like her. So, keep your buddies away from her.”

  I hadn’t even met the woman yet, and the idea of my friends hitting on her sent shards of irritation coursing through me. “They won’t bother her.”

  He paused and frowned. “That applies to you, too.”

  I snarled at him, my frustration and long morning getting the best of me. “Abram!”

  He held up his hands and backed away. “Alright.”

  Abram went back into the bar while I tried to get a hold of myself. I needed to eat something and get some water in my system. That would help. “Will you send a plate out for me, Brady?”

  Brady acted like he hadn’t just heard me being an asshole. “Sure thing, Boss. I’ll send it out with Allie.”

  I felt, more than heard, the rest of the gang come in and settle at our table. Abram’s comment stuck in my craw and I intended to make sure they left my new waitress alone.

  I forced myself to head straight to our table. Something I couldn’t explain fizzled underneath my skin, working my jangled nerves to the max. I wasn’t sure what it was. Shifters didn’t usually get sick; whatever we might pick up was quickly killed off by our incredible healing abilities, but maybe I’d caught something exceptionally nasty. Something my immune system was struggling with. The guys were already seated at our table, all eyes focused behind me. Annoyance gnawed at me because I knew who they were watching.

  “Keep your eyes to yourselves, assholes. You know the rules. Even if some of you insist on breaking them.” I dropped into my usual chair, still refusing to look up at the new waitress.

  Hutch slapped my shoulder. “Can’t blame a man for looking, right?”

  I could hear the appreciation in his voice and blew out a rough breath. “Already order?”

  Th
ey laughed, but Sam grunted. “Abram ran over here like a bat out of hell. Refused to let her anywhere near us. Like we’re some kind of sex-crazed beasts.”

  Wyatt was sitting across from me, freshly returned from his survival weekend tour. “Well…”

  I laughed and shook my head. “I’m due for a major run tonight. Anybody else?”

  Sterling swore under his breath. “Oh, shit. That slap-happy blonde from yesterday is here and she looks pissed. You think she’s still mad at me? Jesus, some women can hold a grudge.”

  My eyes lifted just as she stopped at our table, another pink dress hugging her curves. Her hair was pulled back in a style that intentionally spotlighted a hickey I was pretty sure I hadn’t left on her the night before. I leaned back in my chair, arms across my chest, and crossed my legs at the ankle.

  “Thorn.”

  I opened my mouth to say her name and realized that I had no clue what it was. “Hey…you.”

  Hutch snorted and leaned into the table. “This just gets better and better.”

  “Are you kidding me? You don’t even remember my name?!” Her voice got louder and a whole hell of a lot shriller.

  My shifter hearing was sensitive and this chick was about to burst my eardrums. “Can we please talk without all the hollerin’?”

  My request just seemed to wind her up more. She’d drawn all eyes to herself with her first bout of yelling and was obviously enjoying the attention. Just as she was about to open her mouth for a second round, though, a body slid between the blonde and myself.

  “Well, hey there. I’ve got a bottle of Jack behind the counter with your name on it. Why don’t you c’mon over there and let me pour you a glass?”

  God, her voice. It was breathy and a little husky in a way that had me wondering what it sounded like right after a full night of fucking. It sent chills through me and invigorated the hard on I’d only just gotten rid of.