Page 62 of Cold Foot Komodo

Raynah usually had a fast response with the boys up on the mountain, but she seemed frozen after Garret’s compliment, so Sasha answered. “Probably not partying as hard as you with your chainsaws, ya fuckin’ serial killer.”

He let off a booming laugh, and scratched his dark beard as he stared down at his chainsaws. “It does look bad, doesn’t it? A tree fell right in front of my truck today, and my damn chainsaw wouldn’t start. Figured I need to give them some attention. It’s the windy season. Trees go down a lot out here. You ladies should both be carrying them in your trucks. They have the smallones you just turn on with a button. You can clip a battery pack right into it and go.”

“Why don’t you get one of those?” Raynah asked. She had meandered closer to study his chainsaws.

“Because my dad taught me to take care of the stuff I own, so I won’t have to buy new shit all the time. Stuff. Things. Sorry for the cussing. I’m usually around roughneck dudes.” He cleared his throat and gestured to Raynah. “I’m not used to being around ladies as much.”

Raynah leaned forward and sniffed him. “Bear?”

Garret’s dark eyebrows arched high under his beanie. “Uh, I’ve been told recently that it’s rude to ask that stuff. I’m just…me.”

“Hmm. Crocodile.” Raynah made her way back into Sasha’s yard.

“I’m not a crocodile,” he called in a confused voice.

“Of course you aren’t, silly,” Raynah said, walking backward so she could look at him. “I am.” She turned back around, and Sasha got a great view of Garret’s face going completely blank.

Pregnant or not, Raynah could get a man’s attention just fine. Sasha was giggling by the time they made their way back inside.

“Did he watch me leave?” Raynah whispered after she closed the door behind her.

“Yes. Why are you whispering?”

“Because that big ol’ homegrown boy is a bear. I know he is. He can hear a pin drop down at the end of the street. Why didn’t you tell me he was a shifter?”

Sasha shrugged. “I’ve been distracted by someone else.”

“You mean dick-stracted.”

“Oh my gosh, that is not appropriate.”

Raynah pointed toward the kitchen. “Your phone is going off.”

“It’s probably the Crew loop going off. Kat and Timber are meeting us at the bar. Their boys too. Cash, Kade, and Reed should be here any minute. Well, if Reed didn’t get caught up at work. Bad-weather days drag out his shift sometimes.”

Raynah frowned at her own phone. “I’m in the Crew loop. There’s no messages other than Timber saying they’re twenty minutes out.”

“Oh geez,” Sasha grumbled as she made her way to the kitchen. It was probably her mother, throwing her bi-daily tantrum. She would need to block her for the night if she didn’t stop, so Sasha could enjoy the evening with her friends. She was getting dangerously close to blocking her long-term.

When she picked up her phone though, the texts weren’t from a number she recognized.

Image after image had been sent to her. When she opened the first one, she gasped in shock. The man wore longer hair pulled back into a topknot, and was dressed in dark jeans, expensive-looking boots, and a trench coat. He was walking, looking at the camera as if he’d just glanced over at it. There was no smile, and his jaw was shaven clean. She knew those eyes though. Those bi-colored eyes. A woman was in the foreground, cheesing for the camera at a selfie angle. She had dark hair and light-teal eyes, olive-toned skin and high cheekbones.

Farrah.

The next picture was of Reed sitting at a table in someone’s home, elbows on the table, hands clasped in front of him, with a long claw mark down his face. His eyes were glowing lighter, and he was glaring right at the camera as Farrah leaned on him from behind, arms around his chest as she laughed over at someone out of the frame. The next was of Reed sleeping in a bed with white sheets and comforter and pillows. It looked like his bed now. The early-dawn light was highlighting his cheekbones, and he wore two-day scruff in this picture. Again, his skin was criss-crossed with battle injuries. The next was him walking, from behind, looking off to his right. His lips were set in a grim line, and his hands were shoved deep in his pockets, like he still did when he was deep in thought. His hair was shorter in this one, and the sides had been shaved.

Oh, he used to look and dress like a model in his old life. He was almost unfamiliar.

She backed out of the pictures and scrolled past a dozen more to read what Farrah had just texted her.He isn’t single. He isn’t yours.

“What is it?” Raynah asked, looking over her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“His ex,” she said, and dropped her phone with a clatter onto the counter, desperate to rid herself of the touch. Her hands shook as she backed away, mind racing. Farrah was pretty, and they looked like a striking couple.

“Ha,” Raynah laughed.

“It’s not funny.”

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