Page 7 of Donner

Tomorrow had to be better, right?

Chapter 4

Beau

By the time I made it back to the club to finish my shift, the fire trucks were gone, and everyone had returned inside. I found Ferris by the door and Davey once again on the dance floor. I took Ferris's spot, allowing him to return to the back hallway where he'd started the night.

After another two-and-a-half hours of the same soundtrack we played every night, I was finally free to slip to the service elevator and out the back door to the parking lot where I'd left my truck. I rolled my windows down and drove home with the same songs playing on the radio, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel.

Once home, I couldn't sleep. Even after I took a shower, my clothes still smelled like Jax from where I'd gathered him to my chest and carried him to his bedroom. I felt my eagle's pride swell when I thought about taking care of Jax. He preened his feathers and puffed out his chest at the thought of making Jax our omega.

He was a reindeer omega. Not only that, but he also said he worked for Santa. I'd once believed Santa Claus was real when we lived in the poorest backwater in Florida. I believed until the rich white terror in a tiara who'd crowned herself the queen of our first-grade class told me Santa said I was bad and would bring me a lump of coal.

She'd even talked her father into buying everyone in the class stockings with a single stocking stuffer, and I ended up with a black rock in mine. It was too hard to be coal.

When I took it home, my mom said it was black tourmaline. "Wrap your hand around it," she said. "It absorbs negative energy. Too bad that little girl didn't keep it. She could have cut it off at the source." My mom's sarcastic grunt at her own jokes was one of my favorite memories of her. "At least now her negativity won't affect you. Just wrap your fingers around the stone, shove all your negative feelings into it, and you'll feel better."

I'd always carried my mom's advice with me, even though I lost the stone on the playground sometime between first and second grades. I'd bought another one at a gem store near base when I was in basic training. The thought of war time and the constant threat of detonating an enemy IED had me searching touristy gift shops for outside help. I wore the polished black stone pendant on the chain with my dog tags when I was in the service. Now, it hung around my neck on a gold chain.

The black stone glistened in the ambient streetlight as I removed the elastic hair tie and smoothed my hair using my fingers and reflection in the dresser mirror. I thought of the night's events and how Jax could have been seriously injured if he wasn't a shifter. He was probably hurt worse than he let on, too. If I didn't have a text in the morning, I would go back to the hotel and demand to see him before my meeting.

I wrapped the stone in my hand and held it to my chest. My body heat poured into it, leeching out the night's negative energy. With the negative thoughts banished, I crawled into bed and slept.

I already had a text from Jax by the time my alarm woke me at ten. I was happier than I had any right to be over a text from a guy I just met.

"I feel better. Going to take a dip in my private pool and stare at the ocean until it's time for the club. When do you start work?"

"My meeting is at three,"I texted back."Glad I don't have to come get you. It would have been a hardship to drag you out of your pool."

"You could come over."

My heart fluttered in my chest. Something about this seemed different than last night's invitation. Then, I'd been worried Jax wouldn't make it to his room. Now, I was more interested in spending time in that room, getting to know him.

Besides, I'd already proved I was bad at conversation. The only reason to invite me over would be to get to know me in other ways.

My eagle was on board, but the rest of me was leery. I didn't know how long Jax would stay in his grand hotel room with its own pool and two seating areas. I had no plans to relocate to the North Pole, at least, none that I knew of. I'd been alone in Miami since my mom died, but I had a decent job and plenty of perks.

At least, that's what I kept telling myself. It had been a long time since I'd taken advantage of those perks. I hadn't brought a guy home after my shift in months. The last sex I had was an unsatisfying blow job in the men's restroom at the club. Not my best moment. Neon Haze had a three-strike system for their staff before they were terminated. A poor decision in the men's room had led to my first strike. I had a feeling I was about to get a second one today, after I complained to my manager about their negligent emergency plan.

I got to the club at a quarter to three for the staff meeting. Two daytime servers said hello to me, but Davey was stonily silent, and Ferris wasn't even there. The two managers both looked at me with cool contempt before locking gazes and nodding. I'd seen that same look my whole life, from the first-grade girls on up. I didn't know what I'd done to them, but I was on their shit list.

"Mr. Reed, nice to see you."

I was reduced to my last name? I sat down at the conference table in the spot between Davey and my shift boss, Wes. "Before we go into the usual monthly agenda, we need to talk about something that happened here last night. Would everyone but Davey and Beau wait in the hall, please?"

The servers, bartenders, and the morning and night bouncers stood up, already whispering amongst themselves as they exited the room. The last one to leave shut the door.

"Davey agreed to come in a little early today to explain what happened last night," Wes began in a hushed tone. "Now, we'd like to hear your story. Why did you leave in the middle of your shift?"

Holy shit. I wasn't about to get written up, after all. They were fixing to fire me. "One of our customers was injured last night during the chaos after the fire alarm went off."

Wes, my manager, frowned. "How badly was this person hurt?"

"He passed out."

Davey nodded in agreement.

"He was lying in fetal position on the dance floor when I got to him," I continued. "You're lucky he's a shifter, or this could have ended badly."

---