by Anya Nowlan
Wonder where the visual came from?
CHAPTER NINE
April
“Do you want anything?” Memphis asked, getting up from the seat he’d been occupying all evening, as close to April’s side as he could get.
“No, thanks, I’m fine with my tea,” April said with a slight smile, receiving a nod in response as Memphis made his way through the crowd and toward the bar at Austin’s Texas, the small bar that Shifter Grove could boast as its finest—and only!
“Everything okay?” Nicky asked, sliding into the seat Memphis vacated with a worried look on her face.
The bar was packed full, all the booths crammed with big hockey players or their local friends and fans, and April had found a seat at a long table set up in the middle of the bar. The music was loud and the conversation even more so, which meant that any private words needed to be shared by yelling, but that still left it pretty certain that no one could or would eavesdrop.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I’m just thinking about what you said earlier today,” April said with a shrug, biting her lip before she could will herself not to show weakness so easily.
She’d gone with a pair of jeans and a white cardigan instead of the dress she’d originally considered wearing, because Memphis had told her at one point during the previous day that he’d love to see her in a skirt. With Nicky’s words thrumming in her head, April had found herself not exactly sure if she wanted to make his day like that.
“Aw, don’t let it get you down, April!” Nicky said, putting a hand on her wrist and giving her a commiserating look, poking out her lower lip a little. “These things happen! You couldn’t have known that he took you to the mountains just to get in your pants, right? I mean, how could you have?” Nicky said with a flourishing exhale, her intense eyes seeming to study April closely again, though she glanced over her shoulder once as if checking if someone was close.
“Wait, what?!” April asked, turning to face Nicky in her chair. “Did he say that? Memphis actually told that to someone?”
“Oh, yeah! I heard him boasting about it to the guys after practice. That’s sort of why I guess we’re here today, so Memphis can show you off or whatever. Oh, here he comes,” Nicky said, putting a finger to her lips. “Shh, don’t embarrass him in front of his friends! Who knows what he’d do, right?”
Nicky slipped out of the seat and took her own again, with Memphis pulling out the chair and sitting down with a fresh glass of beer.
“You sure you don’t want anythin’, sugar?” he asked again, putting his arm over the back of April’s chair and leaning in a little.
April met his eyes and for a moment, she wanted to just take hold of his shirt, shake him, and yell at him. She wasn’t sure exactly what she’d yell, but she did know that it would be loud and angry and completely appropriate considering the things he’d done. Her mouth opened a little, searching for words, and then her gaze met Nicky’s, who was listening in on their conversation intently even while another player was trying to get her attention from the other side of the table.
She’s a good friend, April thought for a second, feeling tears well up in her eyes.
“I think I’ll go get a drink,” she said, scrambling to get out of her chair.
“Don’t be silly! I’ll grab it for you, we have a tab at the bar,” Memphis said, beginning to rise from his seat but April was already up and rushing away from him.
“It’s fine,” she yelled over her shoulder, practically running to the bar.
She stopped at the edge of it, one hand on the mahogany, heaving in breaths quick and shallow like a frightened bird. Bringing one hand to her chest, she felt it tightening, like someone had kicked her right in the sternum. At the same time, she felt incredibly silly and completely lost. How could she have been so dumb as to think that this place could be a new beginning for her? That a hockey player could want her for just her, not some stupid conquest or to prove a point?
What damn point? That he can get some dumb woman to fly in all the way from Wyoming and make a fool out of herself for him? Yeah, that must be it, she thought, stifling a sob.
“What can I get you, Miss?” the bartender and owner of the place asked, a big mountain lion shifter named Austin, his kind eyes taking on a glint of worry. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Not my place to say, but there might be a few thinking that it just isn’t true,” Austin said with a congenial smile, laying a shot glass out in front of her. “See-through or not?”
April looked at the glass and then the barkeep dubiously, but one glance back at Memphis confirmed that Austin read her far too well.
“Not,” she said with a sigh.
“Coming right up,” Austin said, pouring her out a shot of bourbon.
“Thank you. How much do I owe you?”
“Oh, a long face like that on a pretty woman like you can only be because of the hockey guys at the moment. I’ll put it on their tab,” Austin said with a wink, before turning to deal with another customer.
April smiled privately, shaking her head as she picked up the shot. She’d at least been right about the town—everyone was nice here and it would pain her to leave, but obviously she couldn’t stay. No. First thing the next morning, she’d get Nicky up, pack their bags, and head back to Idaho Falls before she could make an ass out of herself in any additional way. If she got far enough and fast enough, she was sure she could put Memphis out of her head.
April was just beginning to down her shot when she glanced back in the direction of Nicky and Memphis, finding her roommate practically scaling the man like a tree, her hand on his ass and their lips locked in the sloppiest kiss she’d ever seen.
The shot went straight down the wrong pipe and April wheezed out a few coughs, her mind roiling and her stomach twisting at the sight before her.
I can’t believe this! What else can go wrong on this trip?! she thought desperately, still coughing as she tried to press through the bodies separating her from the front door.
She needed to get out. She needed to get some air. She needed to be anywhere but where she was, where the man she had been starting to fall for was making out with the woman who seemed to be her only friend in the world.
“April!” Memphis yelled behind her, his loud voice booming over the crowd and the noise easily, but it just made her run faster.
No! All of this needs to fucking stop! April thought through tears she had fought so hard to keep down.
She’d never been the kind to turn her back on a problem and just run, but this time, it was all too much. Everything seemed to be falling apart at the same time and in the middle of it all, she didn’t even truly understand why it affected her so painfully. She hardly knew the man, right?
Right?
CHAPTER TEN
Memphis
Shit, shit, shit! Memphis cursed under his breath, practically pile-driving half the crowd to get out of the bar faster and to catch up with April, who must have been a track star in another life for how fast she moved when she needed to get away from him.
“April!” he yelled again, but even if she heard him, she didn’t even pretend to stop. “Get outta my way,” Memphis hissed, pushing through people with a snarl on his lips.
“Memphis, wait for me!” Nicky’s voice called behind him, making Memphis’s hackles stand up in utter rage.
He skid to a halt, cursing at losing even a fraction of a second because of that spiteful little bitch behind him, and wheeled around to face her. If he were any less of a man, he would have grabbed her by the arms and shaken some sense into her, but as much as he wanted to he couldn’t do a thing to her.
She isn’t worth it, he reminded himself, and the sound emitted by his teeth grinding together made his head ring.
“Haven’t you fuckin’ done enough?!” he growled, his eyes flashing dark brown and his hands forming into fists that wouldn’t be raised, but dammit if he didn’t wish to use them regardless.
“What do yo
u mean? You see what she’s like! She’s not worthy of you, Memphis! I’m the one who gets you! Don’t you see that?!” Nicky gasped, her cheeks red with a flush and her always-intense eyes shimmering with the oddest cocktail of malice and despair that he’d ever seen.
“You get me? You don’t even fuckin’ know me and I sure as hell don’t want to know you. You’ve been screwin’ with my head and I assume April’s too from the goddamn start! What was that kiss supposed to be about? You just lunge at me and think it’s okay?!”
Bile rose in his throat at the memory of her lips on his, so alien and so wrong. It was as if after tasting April, he couldn’t bear the thought of kissing anyone else, and frankly, he had no desire to ever have that change. He’d been sitting at the table, chatting with Jax and Logan, when suddenly Nicky had tapped him on the shoulder and kissed him out of the blue.
Memphis had pushed her off of him as soon as his brain caught up to the fuckery taking place, but the damage had been done. April had obviously seen him seemingly kissing her roommate and hightailed it out of Austin’s Texas. And now Memphis was wasting valuable time talking to this scheming bitch.
“You’ll love me when you get to know me, Memphis! We’re meant to be together,” Nicky said, drawing a couple of odd looks from around them.
She reached out her hands, grabbing his wrist, and Memphis yanked his arm out of her grip a fraction of a second later. His expression showed only scorn and disgust and he shook his head at the pitiful creature of a woman who he’d believed when he really shouldn’t have.
“Go home, Nicky. You’re not welcome here,” he said, turning around and breaking through the bodies milling around him.
He was seething with anger at Nicky and worry for April as he stepped out into the dark, cold evening. Street lamps had been set up only recently in Shifter Grove, but at first glance he couldn’t see April anywhere. Taking a deep whiff of the air, his eyes lidded for a moment as he caught her scent, sweet and inviting as always.
He knew where she was immediately after that. Turning right, he burst into a run, the snow squealing under his boots as he plowed down the street. In a few moments, he spotted April’s shuddering frame, walking hurriedly along the street, in the opposite direction of where her lodgings were. His stomach twisted, seeing her shoulders hunch and heave every now and then. April was obviously sobbing.
“April!” he said softly as he reached her, putting a hand on her arm and having her recoil from his touch.
She turned around, those pretty hazel eyes looking at him and projecting all the hurt in her soul. Her lower lip quivered and Memphis was close to losing his mind at how fucking angry he was with Nicky for bringing him and April to this situation. She crossed her arms over her chest and took a few steps back, shaking her head.
“No, get away from me! I… I don’t even know who you are. I don’t want you near me,” she whimpered, and it threatened to break Memphis’s heart.
He took a step closer to her, matching the pace she was backing away from him, holding up his hands as if trying to show her that he couldn’t do anything to hurt her if he tried. Not willingly, anyway.
“Sugar, listen to me. It was Nicky. It was her all along,” he said, trying to force his muddled thoughts into something resembling sentences.
He was gripped with terror at the thought of losing her and that made the explanation that much harder, because any missed word could be his undoing. That was to say, if there was a chance to explain at all, because the look on her face told him that she wanted nothing more than for him to simply disappear.
“Don’t lie! She told me all about you, your… I don’t even know what to call them. Hobbies? I should have never come here,” April said, shaking her head and turning to run from him once more.
He couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t.
Before she could get a step further, he put his hands gently on her shoulders and spun her around, slipping his hands to grip her waist. If she struggled, he’d let her go immediately, but she didn’t, freezing in place. Her eyes flicked down and her hands were on her arms, cradling herself. He’d never seen anyone so obviously hurt and it was the perfect representation of what he felt inside. If he could, he would have pulled her into an embrace and made it all go away, but he had to tread carefully, lest he lose her completely.
“Look, sugar, listen to me here for a moment. I don’t know what Nicky told you, but what you saw in there was her suddenly grabbin’ me and kissin’ me like we had somethin’ goin’ on. We don’t, we never did. I don’t operate like that. Ever since I met you in Cheyenne, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I haven’t so much as touched another woman, and spirits willing, I don’t intend to, okay?”
He paused for a moment, tightening his grip a little on her and breathing a breath of relief when she actually met his gaze, tears shimmering in her eyes.
“But she said…” April whispered.
“Yeah, she says a fuckin’ lot,” he muttered darkly, shaking his head for a moment. “It’s all bullshit, okay? She told me that night when we were havin’ dinner that you collect hockey players, that you were only comin’ out here to ‘add me to your collection’ or whatever.”
“I’d never do that! I’ve never even dated a hockey player!” April gasped, looking as incredulous as he thought she would.
Regardless, a tiny pebble of uncertainty fell off his chest when he saw how shocked she was at that notion. He’d already decided that Nicky had to have been blowing smoke in his face, but hearing April say as much only confirmed it.
“Yeah, I figured. So I think she told you a bunch of shit that wasn’t true either. I don’t know what her motives are, but whatever they are, she’s destructive and fuckin’ malicious. Everything she’s told you about me I think you need to forget. And I’ll do the same, okay? Just… if you put aside everythin’ related to Nicky, we’ve had a good time here, right? I’ve never felt so good and so comfortable with anyone as I do with you, April. I don’t want this to end. I don’t want you to leave.”
His fingertips squeezed her hips, and he hadn’t really noticed when it had happened, but her hands were on his chest now. April was still shuddering from the cold and he pulled her tighter into his embrace, hedging his bets that she wouldn’t fight her way out of it. She didn’t.
“I don’t want this to end either,” she whispered after a moment, and Memphis let out a breath that he hadn’t known he’d been holding. “Why would she do something like that? Just lie like that?”
“It doesn’t matter, sugar. Whatever her issue is, we don’t have to let it affect us. I want you with me. I’ll do whatever I need to do for it. It takes a while with polar bears to realize this stuff and I know that it’s my own damn slowness to catch the drift here that brought us down this path, but I need you to know this, April. I love you. That’s not going to change. No matter what happens.”
The words spilled forth without Memphis having to doubt or second-guess them one bit. He knew in his heart he was speaking the truth. Her sweet mouth fell open a little and now the pain was gone from her expression, utter surprise taking its place.
“Memphis, I…”
“I don’t want you to say it back. I want you to say you’ll work on this with me. That you’ll give us a chance.”
The world seemed to stand still as he waited for an answer, and even when she smiled wide through the tears, he still couldn’t relax. Not until she spoke the words.
“I’ll stay. We can figure everything out. Together.”
Memphis grinned, victory and relief blooming in his chest. He picked her up, spinning her around as she braced her hands on his shoulders, giggling.
“Memphis!”
“What?” he asked, putting her down and then tugging her into a hug again. “A bear’s allowed to show his enthusiasm every now and then, you know.”
“Who am I to stop you?” April laughed, and Memphis kissed her, both of them smiling and the pain they’d harbored between one another s
lowly dissipating.
When their lips parted, Memphis looked down at her pretty face, beaming with pride that this gorgeous, loving, and special woman had decided to give him a shot. He wouldn’t make her regret it.
But he knew someone who was definitely going to regret fucking around with Memphis Corley.
***
Nicky Volley found herself getting the kind of treatment few people had deserved in Shifter Grove. The next morning, she’d been picked up at the makeshift bed and breakfast run by the Hamiltons, who had taken the liberty of packing her bags for her. Unceremoniously, she’d been shoved into a truck, driven to the airport, and Slate, the local pilot, had given her a special, private plane ride right out of Idaho, dumping her in a tiny airport in Minnesota where getting anywhere would be a hassle requiring traversing plenty of mountain roads.
By the time Nicky had managed to get back to Cheyenne, she would find herself without an apartment—as April owned the lease and Nicky hadn’t exactly been keeping up on the payments anyway—and a job. After a long talk with Memphis, April had admitted that there had been plenty of times she’d covered for her free-wheeling, heavily partying, conniving “friend,” and when all of those offenses had been piled into one neatly worded e-mail, Tarley Events no longer found itself needing her services.
Oh, and no NSHL game would welcome Nicky to the stands anymore either.
Memphis didn’t feel any better after having done all of that, but he felt like a little bit of justice had been put back in the world and at least that made him rest a little easier.
What made everything better, though, was the fact that April was still in Shifter Grove. And he’d never been so committed to making sure he wouldn’t lose something in his life.
EPILOGUE
April
“Memphis!” April shrieked, grabbing for her robe as the big bear of a man trundled through the door to her prep room, wearing one of his smug grins. “You’re not supposed to be here!”
