Chapter 4 #2
I’d known her for less than a day, and she’d tried to fuck me out of fifty thousand—literally. So why didn’t I hate the thought of Stevie as mine?
“Korrad was my safety inspector,” I told Stevie. “He’s Brakkor’s twin—”
“He’s the prettier one,” the other male interrupted. “I’m smarter.”
When Stevie nodded seriously, as if she believed the bragging, I kept a straight face. “Today we’re going over the interior designs. I want to leave a lot of the space as multipurpose, but there’s a few specific spaces I want to delineate—”
“Like a gym.”
She’d totally derailed my train of thought. “What?”
“You know…” Stevie had one hand shoved in the pocket of her jacket, but the other encompassed the building with a wave.
“A gym. Mirrors on the walls. Someplace to workout. There’s probably not enough room for a bunch of machines, but research has shown that a significant percentage of males report themselves to be calmer and more at peace when they have access and time for regular exercise.
” She glanced at me. “Unless Eastshore already has a gym?”
I was staring at her. “A new one. I think I heard something about turning the old cannery into a gym.”
She nodded, pleased. “Okay, good. Then I suppose you don’t need to worry about a bunch of sweaty guys smelling up your space. But you could still do a dedicated room for working out, like yoga or tai chi.”
I heard Brakkor mutter, “Tai chi?” but I couldn’t look away from this strange, remarkable female in front of me.
She shrugged, as if the suggestion didn’t have much merit. “There are some communities who put a lot of value in starting the day with stretching like that.”
I remembered the way my mother would greet the day—even the coldest, darkest part of winter, when the sun barely peeked above the horizon—with a hot cup of chaga tea and a series of stretches. She called it thanksgiving.
“My mother did,” I murmured, gaze locked on Stevie, who nodded.
“It was just a suggestion. Classes like that—physical stuff—might bring people together as much as art and performances and places to meet.”
Dimly, I heard Brakkor snort. “We think Garrak just wants a place to hold poker games.”
And Stevie’s smile flashed. “That’s a good way to bring people together too.”
She turned back to the building, and I was grateful, because for the first time in a million years, I felt as if I could inhale.
Because that smile? It hadn’t been the soft smile of earlier, or the smirk, or the teasing smile of this morning, or the seductive smile of last night. That smile had been pure Stevie, and it had lit up her face in the most incredible way.
I wanted to see it again.
I wanted to see it always.
What the fuck? You’ve only known her a short time…
Did that matter?
And how in all the hells did she know so much about how to bring people together? I remembered that morning, when she’d shown uncommon insight into how to gently ask an awkward question. There was more to this fascinating little human than she wanted the world to know, wasn’t there?
With a thoughtful frown, I nodded to Brakkor and followed her toward the front entrance. Yeah, I was intrigued by Stevie, and I found myself looking forward to hearing more of her insights into the plans. Maybe she could offer more suggestions of ways to bring people together…
Like me and—
She’s going to Raleigh tomorrow. Why? Because you need that fifty thousand for the endowment. Try to remember that.
But I was afraid my Kteer wasn’t paying attention.
My cock definitely wasn’t.
Stevie
Eastshore Isle was fucking adorable.
Look, I’d grown up in the South. In some of those places where, between political hatred, generational poverty, systemic racism, and religious ostracization, the small towns weren’t much to write home about. But this place?
This place was like…a small town done right. Something out of a Hallmark movie, maybe. Everyone was friendly—suspiciously so, at times—and there was so much community spirit, I could see why Garrak wanted to build a place to bring people together.
During his meeting with the foreman of the project, I was content to trail along behind, listening to them discuss the various uses for the spaces. But I was surprised at how often Garrak had turned to include me in the conversation, asking my opinion or thoughts.
It had been flattering.
Afterward, he showed me more of the town, and we ended up at Debbie’s Diner, where—I shit you not!—four different people called out, “Welcome to Debbie’s Diner!” when we walked in. Like we were on a sitcom or something.
Garrak must’ve seen my expression because he was smirking as we slid into a booth. “Eastshore is pretty special, huh?”
“It’s almost hard to believe,” I admitted, glancing out the window. “Is it always so…?”
“Friendly?” He picked up the menu. “You ought to have been here during the holidays. I think there was an event every night. Made me wonder if we even needed a community center.”
Without thinking, I leaned across the table and touched his knuckles to get his attention. “Don’t doubt it’s going to help, Garrak,” I assured him. “Your guys—the ones who are assimilating now, and the ones who will be moving from Colorado—need this.”
Yeah, I’d been paying attention to the way he and Korrad and Mr. Kowalski had spoken about plans.
Apparently, when the Radiance Lithium mine in Colorado had closed down, a bunch of the orcs who worked there took their buyouts and moved here to Eastshore, where the CEO already lived.
There was a processing plant on the mainland, and some of the males worked there, but others—like Garrak, Brakkor, and Korrad—had found work on the island.
And I knew enough through my studies to know that displaced immigrants needed places like the one Garrak had dreamed up.
He was staring too intently at the menu, so I dropped my hand from his, suddenly wondering if I’d been too bold. His dark gaze flicked to mine, which made me second-guess that worry. Maybe I should have twined my fingers through his and reassured him—
Whoa, calm down. You’re leaving tomorrow. You have three days to come up with a story to appease your father, or you’ll be in very real danger. Try to remember that, eh?
Right.
Right.
An older woman bustled up with a notepad and a smile. “What can I get you two?”
Since she was looking at me, I pasted a polite smile on my lips, pretending I’d read the menu. In reality, I hadn’t even glanced at it; my wallet was doing that thing where if you opened it, a lonely fly buzzed out.
“I’ll just take a water and a side of fries. I’m still full from that big breakfast.” This last was directed to Garrak, laughingly.
But he frowned, and I had the horrible suspicion that he had seen through my lie. “I’ll take two Eastshore burgers, medium rare,” he rumbled in that sexy voice of his, passing the menus to the server. “And a water with lemon.”
“Got it.” She made some notes. “Fries okay for you?”
“Fries on one,” Garrak said, still looking at me, “onion rings on the other. And a large side of ranch.”
The server said something and hustled off, but I wasn’t paying attention. I couldn’t pay attention, not with how Garrak had pinned me with that stare. He looked at me like he could see my secrets…and I didn’t hate it.
I remembered last night, when he’d calmed my panic just by forcing me to breathe steadily. How his praise had warmed me, made me want to make him proud…
I swallowed, a warm throbbing between my thighs making me squirm. His nostrils flared, and I looked away.
“Thanks for taking me this morning,” I blurted, too loud and too fast to sound natural. “I enjoyed seeing what you’re doing. I think it’ll be perfect when it opens.”
“It’s not done yet. Even once the building is complete, I have to find funding…”
I snuck a peek at him. “You’re going to run it? It’s your idea, right?”
He snorted. “I know rocks and mining, and I can manage three shifts of miners, but I don’t know anything about this sort of stuff. I’m not paying for the whole thing—we did a push for donations, and I’m pretty sure my old boss is the one who matched my donations anonymously.”
“But…” I plopped my elbow on the table and planted my chin in my palm, considering what he was saying. “It was your idea, and you started the ball rolling, right? But you’re not going to run it?”
He seemed embarrassed to admit this amazing plan was his.
Garrak rolled his shoulders, his attention on something outside the window I didn’t think he was actually seeing.
“There’s a board and a committee, but they’re volunteer.
In order to hire someone to actually oversee the center, and coordinate the employees, and pay for those employees, even if it’s high school students or whatever… ”
When he shook his head, his lips parted on a sigh.
“There needs to be a fairly large endowment. I’m almost there.
A few hundred thousand more. Once I get the fifty from Hendricks, there’s a game I’m going to join—” His dark gaze flashed to mine.
“Your hometown, actually, in a few weeks. New Orleans.”
Oh, fuck.
Slowly, I sat back, knowing I was screwed.
Garrak was never going to accept Dad’s plan to trade me for the debt, no matter how good that kiss had felt, how good he’d felt rubbing up against me.
Because that fifty thousand wasn’t just a way of keeping score for this ridiculously noble male; he needed that money to open the community center he’d dreamed up for the males he protected.
“Stevie? You know anything about the poker scene in New Orleans?”
I swallowed. “Yeah,” I croaked. “A little.” Another lie. “I don’t think I’m as good a player as you, though.”
To my surprise, Garrak chuckled and shook his head. He looked as if he might say something else—Please don’t ask about Dad, please don’t ask about Dad!—when the server dropped off our waters and he busied himself squeezing lemons into his.
The water glass looked so small in his large hands, and I realized I was staring, remembering how they had felt when they’d touched me so gently.
I needed to change the subject. “Are you—” I rasped. Then, after taking a big gulp of water, I rolled an ice cube over my stud and tried again. “How about your boss? You said he had some money?”
“Some?” Garrak snorted and launched into a story about the CEO of the company who’d owned that mine, Abydos.
Apparently, he was a grumpy recluse with anger issues who’d moved to the island and hired a private chef…
then married her at New Year’s. When Garrak spoke about his boss, I could hear the pride in his tone, and I would’ve wagered anything that this Abydos had been one of the guys trapped down in that mine seven years ago.
One of the guys Garrak now watched over.
But surprisingly, his tone turned a little wistful as he spoke about Abydos finding his wife—no, his Mate. Apparently, to orcs, Mating was like…a biological thing? I couldn’t quite tell, but it sounded like it was more than just falling in love; it was a compulsion?
I made a mental note to look it up later. I found that sort of stuff fascinating. If Dad had let me go to grad school like I wanted, my plan had been to be a marriage counselor, but those dreams were way in the past.
Garrak was talking about his younger brother, who’d recently found his Mate, when the server came back over with my fries and both of his burgers.
We both thanked her, and as I reached for the ketchup for my fries, he began to saw one of his burgers in half.
Garrak continued to talk about his brother as he nonchalantly slid the half-burger onto my plate beside my fries.
His words slowly faded into the background as I stared down at that burger.
When had…when had someone done something so nice for me so nonchalantly? My world was filled with people who only looked after themselves. Who only did something nice for a price.
But Garrak had seen through my lie about being full. He hadn’t made a big deal out of it; he’d just taken steps to fix the problem. He’d taken care of me, just like he’d taken care of his guys.
Who took care of him?
Blinking back tears, I glanced up to find him watching me with a serious expression.
“You need to eat,” was all he said.
I took a deep, shuddering breath, willing away the tears, and picked up the burger.
He nodded once, gravely. “Good girl.”
And his praise filled me as surely as the food did. My stomach went all fluttery, and I felt myself blushing as I bit into the burger, suddenly determined to make him proud of me again.