The Matchstick Grill (The Feminine Mesquite Book 4)

by Sable Sylvan

  Basil did something different. He took his belt off and looped it before taking the loop and snapping it using both his hands, causing a whip crack sound to fill the room. It was like the sonic boom from a jet. It got abso-frikkin’-lutely everyone’s attention and a few of the remaining dancers got off the table to watch the show, while the others were pretty much paralyzed, hypnotized by the antics going on in the VIP section.

  Basil dropped the belt and then turned, grinding on the pole, before he dropped his pants and boxers with his free hand.

  Firm. Shapely. Toned. A little pale, but that could be fixed. There was no denying that what was in front of Cayenne was Basil frikkin’ Scoville’s bare buns. She never would’ve thought that one of the heirs to the multibillion Scoville fortune, a future billionaire, would be stripping at her sister’s graduation party, but stranger things had happened. The only thing weirder was the fact that Cayenne was smiling. Basil had made her smile, and she put her hands up to her face to hide her glee at seeing such a ridiculous sight. She never in a million years would’ve thought that Basil would’ve stripped, or that he’d take it this far.

  She had no idea what would happen next.

  Basil’s bear roared. The bear wanted to play, and Basil thought it only fair to let him. After all, Basil hadn’t let the bear do anything fun that night. Basil pulled up his pants and leaned down to whisper something to Herb.

  Everyone started to scoot their chairs back a few feet from the table, starting with Herb and Alice and the Scovilles, so of course, Cayenne followed suit. Luckily, the VIP area was huge, so there was room for everyone.

  Basil pulled his pants down again, but he didn’t pull them back up. Instead, Basil started to shift, starting, of course, with his butt, which grew a coat of white fur and a little tail that he wiggled, looking over his shoulder at the audience before he did a twirl around the pole, kicking off his designer Italian leather shoes.

  All he had left on his body was his socks, underwear, pants, and shirt, which burst as Basil shifted into a big white bear. He got real big, expanding in size as his skeleton and muscles changed into a form that could only be described as ‘predatory.’ White fur, a dark nose and dark paws, and an impish grin completed the look. He had turned into the one thing you didn’t want to see running at you at the North Pole where nobody would hear you scream. The very word that described him in his language, isbjørn, Norwegian for ‘ice bear,’ was more than accurate. It was a veiled warning. There was a theory that bjørn, ‘bear,’ and other words for the animal were all words that came about because the animal’s true name was bad luck to speak, taboo, forbidden. Looking at Basil in his ferocious bear form, which was as primal and animalistic and fierce as Basil’s human form was debonair and suave, made it obvious why the word bear may have been forbidden to say. Would someone want to tempt Fate and speak the unspeakable animal’s now long-forgotten original name and risk summoning it?

  Cayenne ‘Kai’ Quincy was becoming one of the many women around the world who was starting to not only believe in Fate, but tempt it.

  She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She thought she’d been hallucinating when she’d seen Basil’s butt turn into the butt of a bear, but when she saw him transform into a huge, hulking white predator with gnashing teeth and scary big paws with claws at the end, she had almost jumped out of her seat. She’d never seen any of the Scoville Brothers shift before, and while she’d met shifters at her college in Georgia, she hadn’t seen any shift. Things were different down South, where walking around scantily clad or nude after shifting was more frowned upon, even in a city like Atlanta or Orlando. Of course, places like New Orleans were the exception, not the rule, and the winds of change were a-blowin’. There was no telling what the future might bring…or if, back in Fallowedirt, Texas, the Quincy hometown, Cayenne would see Basil enter his bear form again that summer. She had a feeling this bear was not about to be kept inside all summer. This bear could handle the heat, but would Cayenne need to get out of the kitchen?

  “Holy shiz,” said the DJ. “I don’t know how anyone’s gonna beat this…so we better put on the right beat for this bear.” The DJ did a record scratch and switched to another song, a Viking-themed heavy metal song that was very rock influenced and retro, by an American band. Everyone in the audience knew the song and pounded their tables, which meant the remaining dancers had to get down so they didn’t get knocked off. They were all good sports about it. After all, each participant was given a special bag of Bear Buns goodies just for trying. Who cared about dancing when there was a hot, sexy polar bear shifter in his shift spinning on a pole and shaking his bear buns?

  Basil had excellent control over his shift. Unlike Clove, who considered his bear a beast until Abigail and her inner beauty had tamed him, Basil and his bear were bros. That meant that Basil could stop the entire bear from coming out, able to still maintain control in his bear form, and he even had the ability to transform certain parts of his body at will. Clove had that to some extent, able to transform a single arm at a time at will, but Basil could even transform his butt on command, as he had done during his routine. He wiggled his little tail again for the audience and then did another spin over the pole before he used the pole to scratch his back adorably. He got on all fours and roared out to the audience before getting on all fours, turning to wiggle some more. Finally, he turned back so he was facing the audience and stood on his hind legs, finishing his set by beating his chest and roaring.

  Before Basil could shift back into his nude human form, the song ended. The lights went low on all tables except the Quincy-Scoville table, where the lights got brighter.

  “There’s only one dancer left standing,” said the DJ. “Y’all saw Bear Buns history get made tonight. Trust me. This wasn’t staged. We’ve had Amateur Nights, we’ve had dance competitions, but we’ve never had a shifter win the dance competition. Congratulations, polar. You won the trophy and the gift card!”

  The same tiger shifter that had hassled Cayenne before came over and gave Basil his prize. Basil picked it up with his mouth. The trophy was hilariously tacky. It was rose gold with a mix of all types of animal prints engraved on its surface, and the prize read ‘Bear Buns: Denver’ and the date. Inside was a gift voucher for a thousand bucks.

  Cayenne couldn’t stop staring at Basil as he gracefully got off the table. He had defended her honor and gone up there and danced his butt off just to save her a bit of embarrassment, putting himself in the limelight. Had he done it so that she could stay comfortable? There had to be another reason he’d done it, maybe to show off, but for the first time, Cayenne found herself truly unable to question Basil’s motives.

  Basil headed out of the dance hall with Mace, who carried the trophy for him. Cayenne wondered where he was going, but when he came back wearing a pair of Bear Buns branded sweat pants that read ‘BARE’ on the back in diamond-like rhinestones, glittering against the black velour fabric, the reason for his leaving became apparent. He’d gone to get more clothes, and he managed to make the baby pink shirt that read ‘Bear Buns’ in gold foil script on the front look good. He made it look real good.

  The last three sets of dancers went on stage and danced, but Cayenne was still distracted by thoughts of Basil twisting and turning on the table and found herself wondering what the heck was underneath his shirt…and why she cared so much and wanted to find out. After the show, Basil gave Abigail the rest of the gift card as a graduation gift. Ever the gent, he had politely only used the card to buy things from the sale bin. There was still over nine hundred bucks left on the card. Of course, the gals all picked out their new summer pajamas from the new stock at Bear Buns. As they sorted through the sweatpants and large but light sleeping shirts, Cayenne couldn’t take her eyes off Basil. Maybe she was wrong about him. Maybe she was wrong about herself.

  Chapter Two

  The Quincy women and Scoville men arrived back in Fallowedirt after spending a few more days in Denver. They’d someho
w managed to stuff their new goodies from Bear Buns: Denver into their suitcases and back at the Mesquite Manor, they took one day off to recover from jet lag before getting straight to work. They worked hard and played hard, so now that play was over, it was time for work to start.

  Alice and Herb had kept the small storefront property on Main Street, but they’d purchased some other buildings in town as well. The hot sauce was no longer made in the kitchen in the back of the store. It was made at a factory in town, a small bottling facility that was good for their medium-sized operation. The factory would be managed by Abigail and Clove, the second eldest and the most responsible set of the younger siblings.

  They had started selling more and more bottles to locals, but the real money was in restaurant supply. They sold larger sized containers of hot sauce with squirt pumps to restaurants in Bright Star County. This meant they needed a place to store the sauce, which was great because it kept a long time and didn’t need refrigeration. They had purchased a plain warehouse and set things up, so all Addison and Sage had to do was supervise the warehouse workers and delivery people. Addison handled the books, obviously, while Sage took it as an opportunity to flex his leadership skills. After all, being a gamma didn’t mean he didn’t get alpha urges. He was a polar bear shifter, after all. The Polar Clan structure wasn’t exactly something that came naturally to a people that were part solitary bear.

  Mace and Savina were supposed to work in the storefront, but from what Cayenne had seen, they fought more than they worked. She had witnessed this during her week ‘off’ because the restaurant, which was next door to the store, was still under construction. Finishing touches were done during the week that they got back from Denver, so Cayenne and Basil had spent their time working at the storefront and the warehouse respectively.

  They’d had a four-day week, but on Sunday, they learned that the restaurant was ready, so it was time to check out the space and get to work on Monday.

  Of course, Alice and Herb had one last twist. Not only did the siblings have to share rooms, but they also had to share…cars. Alice and Herb took Herb’s truck to work, and Savina and Mace took the old Quincy minivan, but the rest of the siblings had brand new shiny vehicles, all SUVs, practical for work.

  Mesquite Manor had a set of unique rooming arrangements. Alice and Herb had a master suite, but every other set of siblings had their own bedrooms but shared a room. It was confusing at first for everyone. Abigail and Clove, the two second eldest siblings, had a shared suite. Each had their own bedroom, closet, and a private bathroom, but there was a center room between the rooms that was shared, along with some shared closets. The center room was free for people to do with as they pleased. Abigail and Clove had used theirs as a winter study which is how they’d gotten so close. Now that they had graduated college, the question was, what would they use it for? Cayenne had asked, and Abigail told her, “You don’t want to know,” so Cayenne hadn’t pushed the topic. Cayenne had an inkling of what might be in that room based on the fact they’d gotten some soundproofing treatment for the room, as well as a lot of things from a costume company and a company with a suspiciously generic name that had sent a box that sounded like it was full of chains.

  Addison and Sage hadn’t used their middle room when they’d fallen in love at Bonimolean but as soon as they moved in, they had made plans to get Sage a piano and put in some shelves for his sheet music and her books, plus a gray chaise lounge for Addison to use for reading. It was almost too sweet for words. The two were lovey-dovey all the time, and it would’ve made Cayenne sick if she wasn’t so happy for her sister.

  Savina and Mace had done their own thing with their own rooms and had fought over what to do with the center room. When they hadn’t agreed on what to do, Mace had gone ahead and filled it with guy stuff, making it into a man cave, but he had underestimated Savina. She wasn’t about to be steamrolled. She and the rest of the Quincy Sisters (except Alice who refused to get involved) had moved Mace’s stuff back into his room, not once, but twice. The most recent time had been on Friday evening, and it had left Cayenne’s arms tired…but the fact Mace had to move all the stuff back into the room made it all worth it. The Quincy-Scoville beef may have been put to rest…but it was put to rest the same way a six-year-old, back from grandma’s house with a belly full of ice cream and candy bars, is put to rest. It snuck up every so often and had to be brought back up the stairs, read a bedtime story, and tucked in until inevitably, it got up again.

  Cayenne had decorated her room over winter break with her things. She had gone for a sweet theme that was pretty and girly. Now that it was the summer, she didn’t have to wear the same professional clothes she wore during the school year. As good as she looked in peplum tops and pleated skirts, she was a lot comfier in jeans and a tank top. She may be part Southern belle, but she was a Texas girl, through and through, which is why the fact she had to share a car with Basil made her want a horse more badly than she already did.

  The room between hers and Basil was another issue.

  If Basil had populated it with his things, she could pull a Sav and Shanghai her sisters into helping her move the stuff out.

  But Basil had played the one card that she couldn’t counter. He hadn’t played any card at all.

  The room remained empty, and neither of them had talked about it…at least, until the car ride to the restaurant for the first day of work.

  “You excited to see the space?” asked Basil as he drove them out the gates of the Mesquite Manor and toward the town proper.

  “Very,” admitted Cayenne. “From the pics, it had some good bones.”

  “Just like the room in our suite,” said Basil. “You got any ideas on how to decorate that? Anything special you want to use it for?”

  “No, do you?” asked Cayenne.

  “Yes, but, I have lots of rooms,” said Basil. “Come on. We’re going to be working together all summer. You got any hobbies you want to use the room for?”

  ‘I have lots of rooms?’ What the heck was that supposed to mean? What a pompous jackass, rubbing his wealth in my face, thought Cayenne, before replying, “I’m fine using the room for anything.”

  “Okay, so I should use it to practice singing Norwegian heavy metal with Sage on the piano and Mace on the guitar, got it,” said Basil. “I know you have to have a hobby, Cayenne. You take your time figuring out how you want that room to look.”

  “Why are you doing this?” Cayenne blurted the question out before she could stop herself.

  “What, not being a dick?” asked Basil.

  “Yeah,” admitted Cayenne.

  “I may be a Scoville, but I’m not my brothers,” said Basil. “I’m serious. We have to work together and live together all summer, Kai. You need a space that is yours and yours alone. I know that we’ll be spending a lot of time together…and I also know you don’t particularly like me. That’s why I suggest you use the room for what you want. I know that the restaurant industry can be…well, I’ll put it this way. It can be exhausting, socializing with people day in and day out. You’re an extrovert, but you’re not a frikkin’ robot. You need a break, a retreat. I can shift and run around the estate with my bros, play some Amerikansk fotball, sorry, I mean American football. But, you can’t shift…can you?”

  “No, do you see marks?” asked Cayenne, holding up her palms. Unlike Basil, her hands were clear of any marks that would indicate her shift. Some shifters, like bear shifters, had marks on their hands that were like the marks that would appear on the paw of their shift.

  “Does shifting help relieve stress?” asked Cayenne.

  “Yeah, the same way as…” started Basil.

  “Painting,” said Cayenne. “I paint. I know it’s kinda cheesy…”

  “It’s not cheesy,” said Basil. “You like to paint? I like paintings. Why don’t you make the room into a studio?”

  “That’s not practical,” said Cayenne.

  “Does it need to be practical?” asked
Basil. “Kai, you’ve gotta learn to chill. You work hard, so relax hard, too.”

  “Okay, okay,” said Cayenne. “Hey, don’t miss this turn. This is Main Street.”

  Basil took the turn and parked in the back of the restaurant which had an amply sized lot. There were two other cars there, Alice and Herb’s and Savina and Mace’s.

  Basil and Cayenne went in the back of the store.

  “Hey,” said Basil, heading toward Herb to get the keys to the restaurant next door.

  Cayenne walked to the front of the store. Business was good. There were even some hipster types that looked like they must be from Austin checking out the sauces. All three of the company’s signature sauces were there.

  There was the jalapeño ‘Secret Sauce’, the secret ingredient being a kick of lime. It was dark green and had a dark green dragon on the label. Next was the ‘Awesome Sauce,’ a crimson roasted habanero sauce that had a badass looking dragon on it, its body taking the form of a modified Celtic knot. Finally, there was the brand-spankin’-new ‘No Bullshizz Sauce,’ an adobo sauce made with chipotles. The chocolate brown sauce had a dragon on the label that almost seemed to be attacking the viewer, the dragon image chosen because of an incident involving a dragon shifter that Addison had managed to piss off at Bonimolean University. The sauce had been beta-tested by the family, and once they’d perfected the sauce, it was released for general purchase, and had been flying off the shelves!

  “So, Savina, who won the fight for the keys this morning? You or Mace?” asked Cayenne.

  “Ugh, you don’t wanna know,” said Savina, moving her broom.

  “Come on,” said Cayenne. “You didn’t let him win, didja?”