Page 4 of Watch Me

They were perfect for each other, and part of why I started wanting to settle down.

Seeing King and Riley together made you believe in soulmates. In each of us having our perfect match. Plus, their coupling helped bring King home permanently.

“King,” I called out with a big smile on my face. I expected him to be here tonight, but I’m still sometimes surprised when he showed up after ten years away. “What can I get you two lovebirds?”

“Ricky, good to see you!” King greeted me, clasping my hand over the bar. “We’ll take a couple ciders, thanks.”

“No problem.” I stepped away to grab glasses and gestured to the back, “Corner booth is yours. Rel should be here soon.”

Riley and King waited for their drinks and then took the booth right as Rel walked in. His dark skin was contrasted by a white tank top over faded blue jeans. Rel had been my closest friend since we were kids, practically a brother to me, so of course he only waved at me before heading to join the other two. Brothers didn’t need to greet each other, especially since we were also roommates.

My mom moved back to Cuba when my dad got abusive, and then he died owing too much for me to keep his house.Rel’s parents retired to Jamaica, though, leaving him their two-bedroom cabin in Blue Lake. Him being Black to my Cuban-American meant we stood out compared to most people in town as kids, and we bonded over being different in school.

“I’m taking fifteen, Norm,” I called out to my boss, Steve Norman. Pouring Rel the lager I know he preferred after a shift at the fire station, I took it back to their table.

Right as I slid in next to Rel, the double doors opened to highlight two men with light behind them. I recognized their silhouettes before the doors closed and I saw them properly. Rowan and Clark Finley walked in side-by-side, stopping at the bar.

Nudging Rel over to the middle of the booth beside King, I was sad when Rowen was the one to sit beside me while Fin grabbed a chair and flipped it around to sit on the far side of our circle. Rowen was my friend too, but I craved the alpha’s nearness.

As much as I liked to ogle him, he avoided me.

Was it so much to ask for the older alpha to give me the time of day? And maybe return the favor of our one time together for a quickie blowjob to take the edge off.

For all I knew, Fin wasn’t even bi or gay and just got hard because he woke up that way. He was angry at me and I wanted him to relax. Oral sex is always a good idea, right? And he had said he wasn’t straight.

Damn it. I’m still feeling lingering doubts, because we never talked about it.

Did I take advantage of him?

No, he got harder and had been very into it. I didn’t force myself on him. Plus, even injured and almost two decades older, he was stronger than me. He may not know his sexuality, but I knew my wolf wanted him. I needed to get over this crush and move on, because the man wouldn’t even look at me unless I was talking.

Guess it was time to make some noise. “So, King, what’s on the agenda?”

Chapter two

Clark "Fin" Finley

“Seeyouinanhour,” Fowler called out as he left the shop to go have lunch with his mate. He was always checking in when he’d be working or going anywhere, but I’d been working mostly alone for years. I didn’t need anyone checking up on me.

But Fowler King was our new Alpha, and he was trying to make up for the ten years he was away.

In my eyes, he left for good reason. His dad was my best friend, but David King was a flawed man. Before his wife died, I would have sworn to anyone who asked that David was one of the best people I knew. Loyal, kind, funny, honest…A wonderful husband and father in addition to everything he did for the town of Blue Lake.

David was the reason I adopted my son, and why I never bothered finding a partner of my own. How could I find someone more perfect than him? It didn't matter he was straight and had no clue I harbored a life-long crush. That was my own burden to carry.

When Amy died giving birth to their second child, my best friend was no longer that solid rock we all relied on. I gave up my silent pining, because there was too much to do. I kept the pack and business afloat while he lost his mental and physical health to the bottle and anything that would help him forget.

My mind didn’t like to think of those years, and instead moved on to compare him to Enrique Bravo Senior. “Bravo,” as we all called him since high school, was the pack enforcer. He liked to hurt people a little too much, but he was our friend.

I didn’t know he was hurting his wife and child until the man died driving high on his motorcycle. David got drunk at the funeral and asked why his son and widow weren’t crying. That’s when Ricky told us they hated the man and were glad he died so his mom couldn’t be Bravo’spunching bag anymore. David shut up and I felt guilty none of us had known.

Ricky’s mom, Celeste, made me promise to look out for her boy when she went back to Cuba to live with her parents. He was already an adult, traveling around the country and abroad with MMA, but I took the promise to heart.

Which was why I nearly choked on my tongue when the young man walked into the shop with his shirt tucked into a back pocket. His body was chiseled with muscle, fuzzy with black hair on his chest and in a trail leading to his low-slung athletic shorts. There were random tattoos snaking up his right arm, and I remembered he was left-handed, like me.

When my eyes made it back to Ricky’s face, he was smirking like he caught me looking. Brat.

“What do you want?” I grumbled, gruffer than normal at being confronted by his half-naked body in the middle of the work day.