Chapter 4
WHEN PHOENIX WALKED out of the diner around eleven that morning, she found Travis waiting for her. He was leaning against a black pickup and her heart gave a thud when she saw him.
He pushed away from the truck and walked toward where she stood, frozen on the sidewalk.
“What are you doing here?”
“One of the wolves called me. Told me you were working here too. You must be exhausted.”
She shrugged. “It’s a short shift.”
“Do you have to come back later?”
“No. They have others for the lunch and dinner shifts.”
He nodded. “How many days are you working here?”
“Six. It’s not so bad. I have Sundays off.”
“Yeah, but you’re working at the bar four nights a week.”
“I know.”
“Darlin’, there’s no way you can keep that kind of schedule going long-term.”
She shrugged. “I do it all the time. I’ll be fine. They’re both short shifts. I get off here at eleven and I don’t have to be at the bar until seven tonight.”
He sighed. “All right. Well, at least let me give you a ride home.”
“I have a car, you know.”
“Is it here?”
She stared at him. It wasn’t. She didn’t usually bother with the car when the weather was nice, but how did he know that?
“Well?”
She sighed. “No, but–”
“Do you really prefer to walk right now?”
Honestly, she didn’t. “Fine. Let’s just go. I’m ready for a nap.” Which was the only reason she agreed. Getting back sooner meant she could take a longer nap.
He barked out a laugh. “I bet. All right. Come on.”
When they arrived at the hotel, though, she regretted agreeing to the ride.
“This place is a dump, darlin’.” Travis glared at the front sign that had probably at one time said HOTEL, but that now just said H___EL.
Phoenix actually really liked that sign, as she felt it was a fairly accurate description of what one could expect on the inside. She wasn’t going to mention that to Travis though.
“It’s not that bad,” Phoenix said. “On the plus side, it’s really cheap. And I don’t have to sign a lease.” This last point was the real reason Phoenix had chosen the hotel. She preferred not to commit to a specific amount of time in any one place and now that she knew this town was full of shifters, that seemed more important than ever. The importance of being able to leave at a moment’s notice couldn’t be overstated.
“You should move in with us.”
“What?”
“There are three apartments above the bar. Glory has one and I have the other. The third one’s pretty small, but compared to where you’re staying, it’ll probably feel like the Ritz.”
“No, no, no, no, no.” Phoenix shook her head.
“Let’s get your stuff.” He strode toward the front door of the building.
Phoenix raced after him. “No, Travis. You don’t have to do this.”
He ignored her as he crossed the lobby and came to a stop in front of the elevator. He glared at the out of order sign, then turned and demanded, “What floor?”
“Four,” Phoenix squeaked out, horrified that once again, she was sharing info she really shouldn’t with a complete stranger. What was it about these men and about Travis in particular? It seemed all he had to do was look at her and all her brain cells died!
“Let’s go.” He led the way up the stairs, ranting all the while. “I’d be surprised if there were two residents in this entire place and you’re up on the fourth floor? Forcing you to walk up all these stairs at two o’clock in the morning after a long night at the bar. I don’t think so.” On and on he went, ranting about the state of the lighting, the sagging stairs, the crumbling railing, the peeling wallpaper, the water spots on the ceiling.
“I had no idea you were such a prima donna, Travis,” Phoenix teased when they finally reached her door.
He growled in response.
Which if Phoenix was being honest, she found unbelievably sexy. That he could growl. Like his bear. In human form. She wanted to ask him to do it again, but he looked so pissed she decided maybe she should wait on that.
It didn’t take her long to pack her stuff. She didn’t have much. A backpack and a suitcase and she was done.
“That’s it?”
“I have a few things in my car, but yeah, mostly this is it.”
“Let’s go.”
“I have to check out.”
“Oh, we’ll get you checked out.“ He led the way back downstairs, ranting all the while, “You should never have been checked into this place to begin with. It should have been shut down years ago.” He stopped at the second floor landing to glare over his shoulder at her. “How much are you paying for this dump anyway?”
“Eighty bucks a week.” Harry’d wanted almost double that, but Phoenix didn’t think Travis needed to know that.
Travis grunted. “You all paid up?”
“I’m supposed to pay rent for the week on Saturdays, so I owe him for today.”
Travis just shook his head and stomped down the last flight of stairs.
When they got to the lobby, he informed Harry that Phoenix was moving out and she handed over her room key.
“This morning was on the house,” Travis said. “Consider it payment for her having to walk four flights of stairs instead of using the elevator all week.”
Harry looked like he wanted to protest, but one look from Travis and he subsided. “That’s fine. Take care, Phoenix.”
“You too, Harry.”
Phoenix followed Travis out to the parking lot, where he stored her suitcase in the bed of his truck.
“That your car?” He nodded toward her blue Honda Civic.
“Yeah, that’s mine.”
“All right. Just follow me.”
“Wait. Where are we going?”
“Back to the bar to get you moved into the apartment.”
“But how? There aren’t any roads up there.”
Travis just stared at her. “Did you walk to the bar last night?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So when you left the bar this morning…”
“I walked back here, yeah.” She hadn’t exactly enjoyed the walk. Even with her flashlight, and the bright light of the moon, the woods were pretty creepy at night.
“Did any of the guys see you shift?”
She just stared at him.
“Yeah. I guess they were probably all gone by the time you left. Too bad. I have a feeling they’re going to be hounding you to find out what your animal is.”
Phoenix just rolled her eyes.
“Anyway, that’s a pretty long walk, even in animal form with night vision. You should have asked one of us for a ride.”
Phoenix shook her head. “What do you mean a ride? There’s no parking lot, no roads.”
Travis laughed. “Actually, there is a road and a small parking lot at the back of the bar. Come on. Follow me and I’ll show you.”
Phoenix huffed. “Do you mean to tell me that when I walked to and from the bar last night, it wasn’t necessary?”
“Guess so, yeah.”
“Why didn’t you tell me there was a parking lot?”
“Darlin’, I assumed you knew. In fact, I assumed you drove to the interview. It just didn’t even occur to me.”
She sighed. “Whatever. Let’s go.” She stomped over to her car and climbed in. She couldn’t believe no one had even mentioned the parking lot! She’d put the address into her phone and the phone had actually said, “There are no roads leading to this destination.” Then it had given her walking directions. Which now that she thought about it made no sense. If the bar had an address, that meant there had to be a road. Right?
She followed Travis out of the motel parking lot and down the outer road that ran along the outskirts of town. About five minutes into the drive, he slowed and turned left directly into the woods. She followed him onto a narrow passage that wasn’t so much a road as it was a gravel path. They stayed on that road for about five minutes, then turned onto another one that quickly opened up into a small parking lot.
“Unbelievable.”
She pulled in and parked next to his truck and stared. If the bar was nearby, she couldn’t tell. The parking lot was completely surrounded by woods.
If she was about to get eaten, she probably deserved it. This was about the stupidest thing she’d ever done, following a virtual stranger deep into the woods. This was how horror movies began!
A knock on the window made her jump, then giggle. She turned off the car and opened the door. If he was going to kill her, at least she’d have the comfort of knowing that her killer was sexy as hell.
She climbed out.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Where’s the bar?”
“Right through there.” He pointed to the woods in front of them, but if there was a path, she couldn’t see it. “You have everything you need?”
“Oh, um, just a minute.” She grabbed her backpack and purse form the backseat, locked the car and turned to him. He already had her suitcase, so they were ready. “Lead the way.”
There really was a path! It was even paved. You had to be straight on to see it since the trees and bushes blocked its view from the sides, but it was there.
It was about a three minute walk through the woods to reach the back of the bar, but that was so much better than the thirty minute walk she’d taken through the woods to get to the motel.
Unbelievable.
The apartment Travis showed her was actually quite cute. It was just one big room with a small galley kitchen and a bathroom, but it was perfect. It was already furnished with a king-sized bed, a dresser, a small sitting area and a flat screen TV. “Wow. This really is the Ritz compared to where I was.”
“Good. I’m glad you like it. I’ll leave you to get unpacked, but before I go, we should talk.”
“What? Oh. Of course. We didn’t discuss rent.”
Travis made an exasperated sound. “Not what we need to talk about. The apartment was empty anyway. Consider it a perk of the job.”
“No, no, no.” Phoenix shook her head. “Absolutely not.”
He groaned. “Fine. How about you help me Tuesday afternoons in exchange for rent? That’s when my stock gets delivered and I have to do inventory. It’s a terrible job and Glory refuses to help.”
“Okay, sure. I work at the diner until 11, but I should be able to help after that.”
“Perfect.”
“So what did you want to talk about then?”
“Your animal. What kind is it?”