Smashed (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8.5)

I made up a few excuses to explain my absence. It was easy enough. Humans love to complain about anything and everything. Once I mentioned the business and stress of daily life, they were quick to take that topic and run.

I disentangled myself, joining Shaz at the pool table where he racked the balls. As I rubbed chalk onto the end of a cue, I scanned the vicinity for signs of anything amiss. Other than one testy wolf, the place was all human.

The sense that something was missing was strong. Shaz wasn’t wrong about that. It felt strange to be in a place where I had once so looked forward to the moment Alexa would walk in the door, knowing that it would not happen tonight.

A waitress was quick to discover that Shaz hadn’t been served. In no time she’d supplied him with a beer. When she asked me if I wanted anything my gaze slid to her neck.

“No,” I lied. “Nothing for me.” It wasn’t the need for blood that made such thoughts flit through my mind. It was merely the constant want of it.

“So,” Shaz said when we were alone again. “Why did you really bring me here? I doubt it was so I could kick your ass at pool.”

I watched him break the carefully racked balls. The muscles in his arms and back moved with fine definition as he smacked the balls with the cue. He was a fine creature, well formed and built with the intensity of a wrecking ball.

“I thought we could talk. And I really mean talk. No fists and foul words.”

He eyed me with a glimmer of a grin. “Yeah, right.”

“Well, it’s worth a try.” When he lined up his next shot, I tapped the end of his cue with my own, knocking his shot off course.

“You son of a bitch,” he said with a laugh. “I knew you were going to do that.”

I took my shot, keeping him in my vision to avoid any retaliation. “Let’s try some of that male bonding stuff. Tell me about when you first met Alexa.”

His smile vanished, and he stared off across the bar, remembering. “One of my first memories of her was on a full moon pack run. I’d just been initiated into the pack here in town. I was this awkward teenager, and she was head over heels for the pack Alpha. But she was so nice. Welcoming. She made me feel less like an outsider. She was a friend from the start. Right away, I was attracted to her. The wolf, my wolf, it wanted her from day one.”

His face lit up as he talked. It fascinated me that we both knew her in such different ways. As he spoke his smile returned.

“That must have been hell,” I commented. “Having to watch her with Raoul.”

“You have no idea. It was torture to see them together. It was even worse to hear them in his bedroom.” Shaz shuddered visibly at the memory. “But the absolute worst was when he tossed her aside like yesterday’s news so he could move on to his newest conquest. I watched him break her heart, and I wanted to fucking kill him.”

With grim amusement, I noted that we shared more than our love for the same woman. We shared the desire to protect her. “I had that same fantasy, my friend. Many, many times.”

“I’ll bet.” Shaz’s gaze was pensive upon me, seeking the answer to a question he hadn’t yet asked. “Why did you wait so long? I mean, you came to town years before you and Alexa even…got together. Why not tell her everything right away?”

I smiled. Shaz was more intuitive than I’d given him credit for.

I used lining up my next shot as a way to break eye contact. My answer would be truthful, but I didn’t want to look at him when I revealed it.

“I came because I needed to see her. I needed to know she was alive. That she was real.” I took the shot, sinking the eight ball early and losing the game. “I almost didn’t stay. When I saw her with you, I knew there was something there. I knew that if I stayed, that would change. And I didn’t feel that it was my right to do that to her.”

Shaz was quiet, thinking. His jaw twitched. Something like anguish trickled from him. Then it was gone.

“You did that on purpose,” he said gesturing to the game. He began to gather the balls, placing them back inside the rack. “We were just friends then. Alexa and me. How did you know? And what changed your mind about leaving?”

Ignoring his accusation, I spun the cue lightly between my fingers. “I knew the way I always know. Because she’s part of me. Even before our first night together, I knew her. As for why I didn’t leave…that’s a good question. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. We had a mission together, and I had waited so long.”

Shaz took his sweet time racking the balls, moving them and then moving them again. Finally, he stopped and said, “And here we are.”

“Yes. Here we are.”

There was a tense silence as Shaz took a large drink of beer. Then he pointed at the table. “You break.”

Aware that he was wrestling with himself about something due to our discussion, I stayed quiet and lined up to take the shot. This time I sunk the eight ball right off the break.