Page 9 of Unbar the Barred
Trey
“What’s with you?” Kendrick wiped at the bar counter, his gaze on Trey as he turned to the cash register. “You look like you swallowed a hornet, and it’s stuck in your throat. It don’t have anything to do with a certain someone who is getting lots of attention, does it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ ‘bout,” Trey muttered, keeping his eyes from tracking Cassidy, who had arrived half-an-hour earlier with a group of men that Trey had never seen before. The bunch were mighty friendly with how they were touching Cassidy.
The small blond was the worst culprit.
“Liar,” Kendrick fired back. “That color green ain’t never suited you.”
Trey nodded to where Cassidy stood at the side of the dance floor, too annoyed to stop himself from asking, “Who are they?”
“How would I know?” Kendrick’s powerful shoulders shrugged while he moved down the bar to serve a guy who signaled him.
By the glint he’d caught in Kendrick’s gaze, Trey figured he was purposefully trying to piss him off. He knew that, with how busy the bar was, he should just let it be.
“You’re the gossip,” he countered, loud enough to be heard over the music, too wound up to let common sense rule.
“Might be so,”—Kendrick grabbed a bottle of the fancy IPA and opened it—“but where would be the fun in telling you when I can watch you sweat over Cassidy?”
The dude Kendrick was serving was also unfamiliar, and from the smile Kendrick gave the guy, he was interested in more than serving him a drink.
Although their town had a couple of bars, Trey had worked hard to make Ranch-Down popular with all age groups, even making it family friendly on certain days. That meant that he knew a lot of folks and having so many unknown faces in the bar at once was pretty uncommon.
Trey lifted his middle finger when Kendrick took the cash off the guy, giving him a flirty wink, and went to the cash register. “After Friday, isn’t it time you fucking admit there’s something real goin’ on between you two?”
Kendrick said it loud enough to draw the attention of numerous regulars, so Trey resisted getting into it in front of anaudience. There was no band tonight, just the jukebox next to the dance floor, which was at the back of the bar, near the small stage Trey had added several years back to cater to the younger crowd. The young folks got to dance, but everyone else could still carry a conversation over the music. Despite Bayfield having a pretty decently sized population, it was still possible to start a rumor at night fall and have it spread to damn near everyone by morning.
It didn’t matter anyway because he already knew Kendrick’s thoughts about the situation. After Trey had dealt with Cranny on Friday night, he went back to the restroom to clean up their mess. It hadn’t taken a genius to work out that the cum stains on the floor could only have come from Cassidy’s ass. That alone was a huge dose of reality about how carried away he’d gotten. Only once before had they gone bare and that had been after a particular night where Trey had spent hours watching Cassidy dance. He had been so worked up, much like Friday, and forgotten himself. He’d sworn it would never happen again. In a moment of weakness and self-doubt, he’d gone back out to the bar and told Kendrick everything.
There was so much information about matings between divergents and shifters that Trey wanted to be careful, for Cassidy’s sake. It wasn’t that he was averse to having pups, he just felt it should be a joint decision, not something done in the heat of the moment. He shook off his lack of regret he felt or how desperate his wolf was to get close enough to Cassidy to scent him. To see if their chick was indeed pregnant. Because something else had struck Trey too, after he’d stripped that night; Cassidy’s scent. It was sweeter, more tantalizing. There was only one thing that could alter a scent and that was a heat. Had Cassidy been going into his heat?
Recalling how he’d felt when he had fucked Cassidy, his teeth ground together at the idea he might have been Cassidy’s secondcall of the night, if indeed he was coming into a heat. There were places where omegas could go to find alphas if they needed one. Is that what Cassidy had done? Cassidy didn’t seem to be fucking anyone else from the ranch or in town that Trey could tell. Not that he watched Cassidy all that much.
Liar.
A bill got waved in Trey’s face and he blinked the stunningly attractive man into focus, blushing at being caught unawares, looking into space—at Cassidy. He met a green-eyed gaze that held a touch of wildness. For a brief moment, Trey got the odd feeling he was staring at a wounded animal.
He shook off the feeling when the guy smiled at him, adding to how beautiful he was. The man was insanely attractive. Trey acknowledged it, but the guy held no appeal for him, though he could admire the lean, lanky frame wrapped in denim and plaid. A cowboy hat covered his hair, but sat in such a way Trey could tell he wasn’t a genuine cowboy.
“Do you have a decent bottle of red wine?” The voice wasn’t cultured, but it had a quality that suggested some time in a private establishment where folks talked proper.
Trey nodded, leaning on the bar, fascinated for reasons he couldn’t say. “Got a decent Barolo, but it’ll cost more than that twenty you’re flashing at me.”
The man’s laughter was rich and smooth. It matched the sexy grin that spread over—Trey decided—a far too attractive face. “If I was flashing at you, it most definitely would be worth more than a twenty.” The smirk was full of confidence. “And finally, something decent about this hell hole. I’ll have a bottle, please. And if you like, you can join me?”
Unsure about the decent comment, it took a second to register the offer. Before Trey could decline politely, Cassidy was there, giving the guy a look he couldn’t translate.
“Jupiter, I see you’ve introduced yourself to Trey.”
Once again, Trey struggled to gauge what was going on with Cassidy from the way he smiled at Jupiter.
“No introductions as yet, but the night is young.”
There was no way to miss the sexual overture in Jupiter’s voice, but Trey couldn’t tell if Jupiter aimed at him or Cassidy.
Jupiter held out his hand. “Jupiter Starling.”
“Jup, there you are! Why the hell didn’t you wait for me?” asked the stranger that Kendrick had winked at a moment ago.
