2. The new guy
2
THE NEW GUY
Micah
Daire might’ve said this barbecue was to celebrate the new guy, and sure, that was a nice excuse. But tonight was all about Ryder. Ryder was going to be a mess for a long time if history was any indication, and this was his preemptive strike against that.
What Daire didn’t realize or maybe didn’t want to see was that Ryder was going to do what he was going to do. The man was all about things being perfect, and when they weren’t, he couldn’t handle it. That’s why I would eat off of his floor and why he wouldn’t hire anyone at work to help him—they might mess up.
That was why he kept that dirtbag around as long as he did. Kicking Kellan’s ass to the curb when he decided to stick his dick in anything that was willing was the equivalent of him admitting he was wrong about the man. Forgiving him and “working it out” was more about Ryder not having failed than any true love. If his stag had seen Kellan as theirs, they’d have marked that sorry shit’s ass long ago.
Good freaking riddance, I say. No one needs someone that doesn’t put you first.
The last place I wanted to go was this stupid shindig, but part of the reason I chose to live in this environment was so that I didn’t hole up in my place. It wasn’t good for unicorns to be alone all of the time, even if my human side preferred it, and setting up empty houses to make them easier to sell isn’t really people-filled, much less shifter-filled.
I dug in my drawer and found my favorite tank top with “Ask me about my unicorn” scrolled across the chest, and a unicorn that was only present when you flipped it up and over your head. It was meant to be a drunk party novelty. They came in all kinds of animals.
But I didn’t like it for any of that. I liked it because it let other shifters know what I was without the awkward guessing game. I got grumpy and impatient with that game years ago. Unlike wolves who scented wolves and bears who scented bears, my beast scented off. Not human and not quite shifter, either.
This shirt would avoid me needing to have that conversation with the new guy, especially after what he walked into upon arrival. Being new sucked, and from the way he kept avoiding eye contact with people, he was second guessing his decision to move here.
Maybe this would help him stay. There was something about him that said he belonged here. Or maybe I just liked the view. He wasn’t the typical hottie, the kind that spends their lives in the gym and more money on products to look good without looking like they tried. He had a different kind of appeal, with cheekbones of the gods and his eyes—I was so immediately drawn to them at first I thought the light was reflecting unusually, one looking more green and the other hazel, closer to brown, but no. That was his natural state and I was mesmerized. Sure, some predators have their beasts shining through from time to time, but this… just wow.
I adjusted my jeans, hating that I was reacting to him just by the memory of his face. This was ridiculous. I wasn’t a foal just discovering omegas. I should have better control than this.
Someone knocked on my door.
“I’m coming. I promise,” I barked a little more forcefully than I should have.
“You better not be. The food’s ready.” Daire. Of course it was.
“Ha ha.” I opened the door to find him standing there, two cases of beer in his hands, looking quite amused with his humor.
“Did you kick my door?” I grabbed a case. “Please tell me you knocked and didn’t kick my door.”
“I’ll tell you we have stuffed burgers from Frank’s Butcher Shop instead, how about that?” He started towards the stairs. “Come on then. People will be needing that beer.”
I followed him, putting remove the scuff mark off my door on my to-do list for later.
The rooftop patio was what sold me on the place. After my ex bled me dry, buying wasn’t an option, and out of all the apartments I checked out, this was the only one with private outdoor space. I might not be able to shift at will without a drive away from civilization, but up there, especially under the moon, I felt close to my unicorn side. Not that there was any sense of tranquility and peace tonight.
The music was already playing, and everyone was there except Archer and Kellan, who I half expected to appear if for no other reason than he needed the apartment for a bit longer and was willing to grovel to get it.
“Who’s on grill duty?” I asked. I set the beer next to the ice bucket. “And don’t say me.”
“It’s Kellan’s turn.” Ryder came over completely dressed in alcohol. The beer in his hand wasn’t the first drink he’d had, nor the hardest, from the scent of him. “That means I’m stuck with it.”
Heck to the no on that one. With our luck, he’d fall face first onto it.
“I got it,” I said. At least it would give me something to do. I was in a grumpy mood for some reason. Work wasn’t even bad. If anything, it was easy. “I love franks.”
“Thanks, friend.” He slurred his words. Most shifters could out drink a human, but his stag never could. It so didn’t help that he was drinking away the pain. “I am all about having fun tonight. That’ll show Kellan I didn’t need his cheating ass.”
“Or you could have a nice meal with your friends and switch to cola.” There had to be a cola here somewhere. Daire would’ve been unsure what the new guy liked, so my guess was there was an array of drinks.
“Yeah. I’ll do that,” he promised, setting his beer bottle down and heading to the ice bucket only to pull out a hard soda. Well, that plan backfired. His stag was going to hate him in the morning.
“Daire, I got the grill. Is everything in the cooler or do I need to go fetch things from downstairs?”
Daire came over and showed me where everything was and I got the grill heating up.
Ryder was going from person to person sharing his tale of woe. This party was not a good idea. The new guy wasn’t even here.
“I got this.” Ivor came over. “Kellan covered for me last time, and Daire is giving me that should be you glare.”
I slapped him on the back. “It's all yours, and I get one of the mushroom stuffed ones so be sure to cook it too much.” Unlike the carnivores, I loved my meat really most sincerely dead. Ivor was the only one who never gave me shit about it, making him my favorite on cookout night.
Kellan may have taken his turn at the grill once, but the reality was that Ivor liked to man it and to be the resident bartender. It was his way of giving back, I guess. I was careful not to take advantage of that side of him.
Too many did. Especially the people he dated.
“Heads up,” I told him. “Ryder pre-gamed before he got here. I can’t tell if it was gin or rum and those don’t smell the same, so my guess is?—”
“Both.” Ivor sighed. “I’ll be sure not to offer a drink.” Which was as good as I could ask for. Ryder was an adult, and if that was how he wanted to drown his sorrows, that was on him. We didn’t need to foster it, though.
I grabbed a bottle and went over to where Ryder and Daire were standing, only a few feet away. “Where’s Neil?” I swore I scented all but Archer when I came up.
“He carried things up when I asked, but then ‘remembered’ something downstairs.” Daire shrugged.
“Something being work?” Ivor guessed, still part of the conversation from his station at the grill.
“And the new guy?” Great. I sounded like I was interested in him. Gah. Sometimes this place felt like a college dorm and not apartments.
“New guy is accounted for.” Archer stepped out onto the roof. Wolves apparently smelled delicious and had super fantastic hearing. His eyes went to my shirt and widened as he read the words. But he said nothing.
At least, this one smelled delicious, scenting of amber and lavender.
I brought my beer bottle up to my lips, inhaling deeply to avoid his scent and the way it had my cock starting to stir. Nothing good could come of that. Nothing. Not with my unicorn. We weren’t like other shifters, and I knew my limits.
“Sorry I’m late. My boss needed something.” He gave his phone a glance and slid it into his back pocket. “And I wanted to grab a sandwich.”
That was odd.
“Vegetarian,” the wolf said. Wolf. Vegetarian and wolf. What?
“Aren’t you a… you know… predator?” Ivor asked at the same time as Daire said, “You should’ve told me.” Both sentences were a jumbled mess that took me a second to pull apart.
“I didn’t want to be rude.” Archer directed his sexy gaze to Daire. No. Not sexy. Just a gaze. This was not a nightclub; this was my home. I did not need to be sporting a woody.
Archer shrugged. “My wolf and I have an understanding. I’m not a fan of the meat industry, so he can eat all he wants when we’re in our fur. Works for us.”
“But you're a wolf.” Ryder came over. “Arrr Meat. Wolf.”
“And you need a burger for some of that alcohol.” Daire waved to Ivor, who replied back that he was on it. “I’m getting Neil. That guy needs some fun.”
“He needs to get laid.” Ryder plopped himself on the chaise next to us. “I need to get laid. That’s what I should've done. I should’ve?—”
Archer’s phone went off and he pulled it out, glanced at it, then held a finger in the air as he typed away furiously. I hated those things on a good day, but actively tried to avoid his scent while his phone drew my attention and had me wanting to snap at him.
There was no reason we needed to be connected to people at all times. None. That’s what our beasts were for… their beasts, anyway.
“The wolf doesn’t know.” Ryder chuckled.
“What? Me? What don’t I know?” Archer still had his phone in his hand.
Neil and Daire reached the roof, Neil looking exhausted .
“What doesn’t Archer know?” Daire’s question was a cross between amused and they better not be being assholes .
I pointed to the sign I put up after one of our first barbecues; a phone with a slash through it. “This is as close as we get to nature.” I didn’t need to explain more than that. But of course I rambled on about how shifters needed time in the air and under the moon and not connected to the stupid human world. I wasn’t even anti-human world. There was something about the constant distractions of those stupid smartphones that put my unicorn on edge and in turn did the same to me.
“You’ll get used to him. He’s not that bad.” Neil put his arm around my shoulder. “He makes his living setting up perfect houses and wants ours to be one too.”
“Perfect houses?” Archer asked, giving me the opportunity to change the subject already.
“I have a business staging houses.” I went on to explain what I did and which realtors I worked with and how I was on a few television shows for my work. I usually didn’t share that last part when I wasn’t pitching for a job, but my unicorn was preening, and he was rubbing off on me.
Archer’s phone went off again, and without thinking, I gave him side eye strong enough to knock him over.
“Buzz off. He’s new.” Neil elbowed my side. “Come on, Archer. Let me show you the garden that Daire’s so proud of.”
I watched as they walked away from me to the other end of the patio that was cluttered with potted plants, flowers, shrubs, and raised beds full of herbs, Neil talking around the answer to Archer’s seemingly benign question about what he did for work. My eyes were ogling the wolf’s ass.
“He’s not worth it,” Ryder interrupted me. As drunk as he was, he saw my interest in Archer. The interest that had no place here.
Never shit where you eat. My grandpa said that when warning me against mixing work with pleasure. He’d been right, of course, and that advice seemed to fit here. This might not be work, but it was my home, and in a warped way, these people were my herd.
Ryder tilted his head back, downing the rest of his beer, and then fell back on the chaise. “No one is.”
And really, drunk Ryder had a point.
He rolled over onto his side, his bottle clinking to the floor. “I think I drank too much.”
“Eat.” I hadn’t even noticed Ivor with a burger and a bottle of water. “Before you puke.”
He was so going to puke.
And if he did, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. It would give me an excuse to leave and get away from the wolf who kept distracting me with his tight ass, mesmerizing eyes, and that scent .
And it would give me privacy to take care of this boner when I wouldn’t be envisioning the wolf beneath me. Nope. Not at all.
He’d be riding me.