Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Garrak
What the fuck had I been thinking? Here I was, my dream within reach, and I’d invited the sexiest little distraction along for the ride? Literally?
I glanced over to the passenger seat, where Stevie was leaned forward, palms braced against the dash as she glanced eagerly about, her head bobbing slightly in time to the music.
Her blue hair was tucked behind her ears, and when she moved, the weak spring sunshine caught the metal in her earlobes and made her sparkle.
Or maybe it was her that sparkled; how interested she was in the town. I found myself giving her a little tour.
“This is Main Street. It was built years ago, but most of the buildings have been converted to apartments above. The boutique stores cater to visitors, but the pub is popular with locals.” I tipped my head to the left. “And the hardware store has almost anything you could imagine.”
“A tattoo parlor?” Stevie asked, pointing to Giza’s place.
“An orc runs that. In our culture, tattoos are…” Frowning thoughtfully, I glanced down at my forearm, my own marks hidden beneath my long sleeves, and back up in time to see the light turn green.
I stepped on the gas again. “Tattoos tell our personal history. They’re not just commemorative, but our memories.
I added on to mine when my little brother joined my family, and again when my mother died.
I have an appointment with Giza to expand it to mark our migration to Eastshore. ”
She’d twisted in the seat, watching the parlor recede in the distance. “Giza is the tattoo artist?”
“Giza is the oldest orc on Eastshore, the oldest of the cohort who came through the veil a decade ago and blew open the secret about our home world paralleling the humans’.
He’s…” I shrugged. “He’s the memory-keeper, I guess, and his shop isn’t just for tattooing.
He keeps our culture alive there. Karnak is an artist, and he’s turned his home into a studio.
He works with Giza sometimes, as people come together to study… ”
I shrugged again and turned toward the north end of the island. I wasn’t sure where I was going with that.
“Study you?” Stevie said softly. “Or remember your culture, maybe?”
Surprised, I glanced over to find that dark blue gaze a little too sympathetic. “Yeah, I guess,” I managed. “We’ve been spread out for a long while, and it’s good to know there are guys keeping our culture alive, even if most of us have embraced human ways.”
When she smiled, I felt it. Which was weird as fuck because my attention was on the road. No, my eyes were on the road, but my attention was on her.
“If I wasn’t heading back to the mainland tomorrow, maybe I could make an appointment with Giza for some new ink. Feels like I have a lot of shit I could stand to commemorate.”
My lips were curling before I realized it, and that surprised me. I’d met her, what? Fifteen hours ago? And already I knew Stevie was the most interesting person I’d met. She was strong, and brave, and rolled with anything life threw at her.
That’s your cock talking.
Well, yeah.
This morning, stepping out of the bathroom to see her staring at me like that? Her hair all rumpled, and that little indented stripe on her cheek from the pillow? Blinking up at me like I was some kinda… Well, there’d been hunger in her eyes, not pity, when she’d seen my leg.
And then this morning, I’d known she was there in the kitchen—hells, I could scent her mood from across the room, so of course I knew she’d been looking at me. But she’d asked me if she could ask me about my leg, and that had been a strange sort of experience.
It was like she’d known exactly what to say.
She was insightful, yeah, but also…understanding, maybe?
You sure you’re not just making up excuses to like her?
Maybe I was.
Why the fuck had Trevor Hendricks chosen her to pay his debt?
And should I be grateful?
“Is that the beach over there?” Stevie’s question, and the way she was stretching against her seatbelt to see, drew me back to the present.
“Yeah. This park runs along the boardwalk, which is behind those shops. That’s the library over there. Town Hall is the big one.” I flicked my fingers as I pointed. “I haven’t visited the beach, but I hear it’s nice—”
She’d swung around to stare at me, and her incredulity made me snap my mouth shut.
“You’ve lived here for six months and haven’t been to the beach?”
I shrugged. “I grew up mining in Alaska, then moved to the Rockies as the foreman for Vengeance—no, it’s called Radiance, Incorporated now. Not exactly a beach guy.”
She shook her head, her smirk wry as she slumped back against her seat. “You’re missing out. The winter is the most interesting time to go to the beach—the storms kick up all sorts of neat stuff.”
“Ah.” I tried to remember what she’d said about her past. Had she said anything about her past? “Where are you from?”
Stevie turned to look out the window. Because she was curious about the nature preserve? Or because she didn’t want to meet my eyes? “All over the Gulf Coast. Texas, the Florida panhandle. We moved around a lot.”
I remembered Hendricks’ threat. “New Orleans?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah. I’m…” She took a deep breath. “My flight is back there on Sunday. Gotta report back.”
And tell that bastard she’d failed?
Who was Hendricks to her? Her male? Her pimp? Or was she nothing to him, just someone he could threaten into doing what he wanted? The way she stumbled over his name whenever she spoke about him hadn’t escaped my notice.
The leather of the steering wheel made a creaking noise as my fingers tightened on it, and inside, my Kteer raged at a male taking advantage like that. She was a human, for fuck’s sake, not an object. Stevie deserved to be protected, cherished—
Are you volunteering?
It bothered me that I couldn’t immediately deny it.
The SUV slowed as I reached the building site. “Here we are,” I muttered, more to distract myself than anything else.
“A…community center? That’s where your meeting is?”
Surprised, I froze with my hand on the gearshift as I glanced at her. “You can tell it’s going to be a community center?”
Stevie flicked her fingers like it was no big deal as she reached for her seatbelt with the other hand. “It’s either that or a church, yeah? And you didn’t strike me as the type to call a meeting at a church. What is it?”
She bounded out of the car with enthusiasm, and I followed more slowly.
The Eastshore winter had come and gone without the need for me to break out any cold-weather gear—guess I could blame my Alaskan blood for that—but there was still a nip in the early spring air.
I watched Stevie shiver as she zipped up her leather jacket, although her attention was on the backhoe moving large cement blocks into place by the front of the parking area.
I cleared my throat. “It’s going to be a community center, yeah.
I don’t know what else to call it.” When she glanced at me, I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans and realized I was feeling…
shy? “There’s no indoor space on Eastshore to gather.
There are plenty of churches, but even the government building is utilitarian. ”
“Did you plan this?” She gestured toward where Brakkor was maneuvering the blocks.
Without answering her exactly, I jerked my head toward the building, inviting her in.
“We needed a place to get together comfortably, you know? Like…community activities. Holiday events. Concerts—there’s a space in the back that could be a basketball court, but I had it designed with the acoustics in mind, and we could do seating—”
When Stevie’s small hand landed on my arm, I stopped in my tracks. Her eyes were sparkling as she gazed up at me.
“We?” she murmured. When it was clear I didn’t understand, her lips curled. “You said we needed a place. You mean you and your guys—the orcs you saved?”
I shook my head. “No, I mean all of us. Eastshore has a large orc population, and it’s amazing that so many males have found their home here.
They need a space outside of Giza’s tattoo parlor or Karnak’s studio, where they can remember who they are…
” I wasn’t explaining well, and in frustration, I allowed my gaze to sweep over the half-completed building.
“But this wasn’t supposed to be just for orcs.
It’s for all of Eastshore. To come together. ”
“With the orcs,” she whispered. Her fingers tightened on my arm just briefly. “You’re building a place where everyone can build community. Together. It’ll help everyone feel more at peace.”
My lips tugged downward when her hand dropped away, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of her words, or because I wanted her to touch me again. Or always.
My Kteer stirred in irritation. Kiss taste feel touch, it seemed to growl.
Luckily, we were saved by Brakkor, which isn’t a phrase I’d ever thought someone might say. The grumpy male had noticed us, turned off his backhoe, and was stomping over.
“You’re early,” he barked.
“No, I’m not.” I clasped his forearm, and when I noticed him eyeing Stevie with interest, I tamped down the urge to growl possessively. “This is Stevie. She wanted to tour the center too.”
“Did she.” Brakkor didn’t sound like he believed me. Fair enough; I didn’t sound like I believed me either.
Fucking focus, you idiot. I jerked my chin toward my friend.
“Stevie, this is Brakkor. He was our heavy equipment expert at the mine, but he and his brother moved out here when I did.”
I saw understanding dawn in her eyes. Yeah, they’d been two of the guys I’d helped to pull out of that disaster all those years ago. And yeah, they were two I felt responsible for, even now.
The other male grunted and jerked his chin toward the front door. “Korrad’s inside, waiting on you with Kowalski. I’m sure he’s got an extra hard hat for your female.”
Your female.