Chapter 7
Chapter seven
Ricky
Aweek after my lunch date with Fin—I fed him and we flirted, it counted—I decided it had been long enough.
We missed each other at the dinner welcoming Channing home for Spring break because I had a shift.
Then he might have been avoiding me when we all went for a ride over the weekend, because Fin didn’t join us.
Riley and King left the day before, and it was time to check in with the alpha.
At least, that was my excuse for showing up at Motorvated in the middle of the day. My wolf didn’t care that Fin clearly wanted space from me. The man had kissed me like his life depended on it, then acted like it was nothing. Like I didn’t matter to him beyond as a packmate.
Well, fuck that.
He may be in denial of his sexuality, in the proverbial closet. I wasn’t trying to pull him out. But he made it weird, and I was the kind of guy who said the awkward things out loud until I made them laugh.
Plus, he deserved happiness. I didn’t know anything about Fin’s life before adopting Rowen, but I knew he had to be lonely. I was around eight when Rowen showed up one day, hiding behind Fin’s leg at a pack meeting. Fin doted on him, not letting us pick on the smaller boy, and I was jealous.
My house was full of love and music when it was just me and my mom, but Dad brought yelling and fear. I hated being there, and spent a lot of time at Fin’s, Rel’s or the pack house to get away. Never once did I see or hear anything about Fin dating.
Shit. He might be demisexual or ace like his son. Rowen didn’t date anyone until Cam along, and that took him months to work up to. For Rowen to get to know the cute barista. Again, the guilt I might have pushed the older man into sex seeped from my subconscious.
No. He wasn’t asexual. Fin got hard for me and came quickly when we fooled around last year. And he’d kissed me after I rode on his bike. Also, Fin knew me. I wasn’t a new person he had to get to know. Hell, he was probably at my mom’s baby shower.
To be fair, some men weren’t into a big gap in ages. But I wasn’t some fumbling teenager. I was closer to thirty than twenty-five. He couldn’t kiss me like that and still think of me as a kid. Right?
Either way, my plan was to put myself in Fin’s path as often as possible until he kissed me again or said he didn’t want me. Obviously, I was hoping for the former.
Fin had the hydraulic motorcycle lift on, lowering a bike back to ground level, and didn’t hear me approach for once.
Despite it being March, the day had warmed up already, and Fin had his jumpsuit rolled down to expose his upper body.
No tanktop underneath obscured my view of his toned chest, a smattering of freckles under a fine sheen of sweat had me licking my lips.
He may think he’s old, but all I saw was the hottest man I’ve ever met. Leaning on the open doorway, I watched and waited for him to notice my presence. Fin’s muscles rippled as he started to roll the bike forward off the lift, stopping short when he caught sight of me.
“Ricky? What are you doing here?” Fin frowned and set the kickstand so he could stand upright.
“We’re in charge of patrolling with King out of the area,” I started, giving my excuses. “I was thinking we could go along the border of pack land together at sunset.”
Grabbing a rag to wipe his hands, Fin didn’t meet my eyes. “You could start now.”
No, my wolf grumbled. We both wanted alone time with him.
“Be more effective if we went together, don’t you think?” I pointed out, moving from the entrance to stand in front of him.
“We can cover more ground and time if we patrol separately,” Fin insisted, and damn if it wasn’t logical.
Scrambling, I decided to appeal to his caretaker side. “You want me to face two Alpha bears on my own? We only made it out alive last time because there were a few of us. And you still got hurt.”
“I–” Fin’s eyes widened, and I knew I’d won. “No, I don’t want you to face them alone.”
“Perfect,” I grinned, stepping close enough to run one finger along his exposed clavicle. He drew in a sharp breath, but didn’t stop me. “Want to grab dinner first? Rel has a shift tonight, but I don’t. I can cook and we can shift behind the house.”
There. I didn’t know how I could be more clear. I invited him over and let him know the house was empty. Plus, his clothes would need to be retrieved, so we’d end up back at my place. The ball was in his court.
“The bears do tend to act at night,” Fin admitted, watching as I dragged my finger down between his pecs to dip between his defined abs. “Cover for shifting and crossing our border.”
“Mmhmm,” I cooed, stopping at his belly. I got closer, smelling his woodsy musk, mixed with motor oil like usual. “And then Channing and Gramps will be in for the night. Whatever will we do with our time?”
Fingering the knot where he tied the arms of his jumpsuit had Fin’s eyes finally meeting mine. “Ricky, I don’t think–”
Whatever rejection he was cooking up was cut off when a loud ringing came from the pocket of his outfit.
I could feel the vibrations of it and kept my eyes on his as I slipped fingers into the pocket and pulled his phone out.
I was going to put it on silent so we could continue our conversation, but then I saw who it was.
“It’s Gramps, Merle King,” I explained, holding the phone towards Fin. He frowned and took while hitting the answer button. Before I could ask, Fin hit the speaker button.
“Hey Merle, what’s up?” Fin started, and I wondered if he was going to tell the old alpha that I was there too.
“Fin! You have to come quick,” Merle practically yelled, the fear and anguish clear in his voice.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, wondering why Channing wasn’t helping the old man. She was strong enough to lift him if he fell and couldn’t get up.
“Channing went to town while I was taking a nap and now she’s missing,” Merle said, the tremble in his voice evident. I didn’t know he was so afraid of her being alone with the threat of the bears looming overhead, but the man had lost most of his family. “You have to find her.”
“Okay, Ricky and I are in Blue Lake at the shop. Where do you think she is?” Fin asked, handing me the phone so he could zip up his blue jumpsuit. “We’ll bring her home and impress on her how precarious it is right now.”
“You don’t understand,” Merle grumbled, and I could hear the sound of him pounding his hand on some wooden surface on the phone. “Pam, that busybody neighbor down Wolf Creek Road, just called.”
“And?” I asked, tired of waiting for the point when something had clearly gone wrong in the pack. “What did she say?”
“She said Jed MacTaryn died and his sons weren’t even at the hospital.
” He sounded exasperated, so instead of replying, we gave him a minute.
I got the feeling this wasn’t about them being neglectful to their father.
Merle let out a heavy breath and a sense of dread trickled down my spine like ice water.
“They were at the casino, and I think Channing was visiting the tribe.”
“Northlake is small, but the houses are not on the same property as the casino,” Fin stated, obviously trying to calm the patriarch down. “We can head that way and make sure their paths don’t cross.”
“No, dammit,” Merle yelled and we both went silent at the authority he still held. “Channing is going into heat. They’ll smell it on her. You have to…it might be too late.”
Fuck.