Page 4 of As The Shifter World Turns

I adjusted my jeans, hating that I was reacting to him just by the memory of his face. This was ridiculous. I wasn’t a foal just discovering omegas. I should have better control than this.

Someone knocked on my door.

“I’m coming. I promise,” I barked a little more forcefully than I should have.

“You better not be. The food’s ready.” Daire. Of course it was.

“Ha ha.” I opened the door to find him standing there, two cases of beer in his hands, looking quite amused with his humor.

“Did you kick my door?” I grabbed a case. “Please tell me you knocked and didn’t kick my door.”

“I’ll tell you we have stuffed burgers from Frank’s Butcher Shop instead, how about that?” He started towards the stairs. “Come on then. People will be needing that beer.”

I followed him, puttingremove the scuff mark off my dooron my to-do list for later.

The rooftop patio was what sold me on the place. After my ex bled me dry, buying wasn’t an option, and out of all the apartments I checked out, this was the only one with private outdoor space. I might not be able to shift at will without a drive away from civilization, but up there, especially under the moon, I felt close to my unicorn side. Not that there was any sense of tranquility and peace tonight.

The music was already playing, and everyone was there except Archer andKellan, who I half expected to appear if for no other reason than he needed the apartment for a bit longer and was willing to grovel to get it.

“Who’s on grill duty?” I asked. I set the beer next to the ice bucket. “And don’t say me.”

“It’s Kellan’s turn.” Ryder came over completely dressed in alcohol. The beer in his hand wasn’t the first drink he’d had, nor the hardest, from the scent of him. “That means I’m stuck with it.”

Heck to the no on that one. With our luck, he’d fall face first onto it.

“I got it,” I said. At least it would give me something to do. I was in a grumpy mood for some reason. Work wasn’t even bad. If anything, it was easy. “I love franks.”

“Thanks, friend.” He slurred his words. Most shifters could out drink a human, but his stag never could. It so didn’t help that he was drinking away the pain. “I am all about having fun tonight. That’ll show Kellan I didn’t need his cheating ass.”

“Or you could have a nice meal with your friends and switch to cola.” There had to be a cola here somewhere. Daire would’ve been unsure what the new guy liked, so my guess was there was an array of drinks.

“Yeah. I’ll do that,” he promised, setting his beer bottle down and heading to the ice bucket only to pull out a hard soda. Well, that plan backfired. His stag was going to hate him in the morning.

“Daire, I got the grill. Is everything in the cooler or do I need to go fetch things from downstairs?”

Daire came over and showed me where everything was and I got the grill heating up.

Ryder was going from person to person sharing his tale of woe. This party was not a good idea. The new guy wasn’t even here.

“I got this.” Ivor came over. “Kellan covered for me last time, and Daire is giving me thatshould be youglare.”

I slapped him on the back. “It's all yours, and I get one of the mushroom stuffed ones so be sure to cook it too much.” Unlike the carnivores, I loved my meat really most sincerely dead. Ivor was the only one who never gave me shit about it, making him my favorite on cookout night.

Kellan may have taken his turn at the grill once, but the reality was that Ivor liked to man it and to be the resident bartender. It was his way of giving back, I guess. I was careful not to take advantage of that side of him.

Too many did. Especially the people he dated.

“Heads up,” I told him. “Ryder pre-gamed before he got here. I can’t tell if it was gin or rum and those don’t smell the same, so my guess is?—”

“Both.” Ivor sighed. “I’ll be sure not to offer a drink.” Which was as good as I could ask for. Ryder was an adult, and if that was how he wanted to drown his sorrows, that was on him. We didn’t need to foster it, though.

I grabbed a bottle and went over to where Ryder and Daire were standing,only a few feet away. “Where’s Neil?” I swore I scented all but Archer when I came up.

“He carried things up when I asked, but then ‘remembered’ something downstairs.” Daire shrugged.

“Something being work?” Ivor guessed, still part of the conversation from his station at the grill.

“And the new guy?” Great. I sounded like I was interested in him. Gah. Sometimes this place felt like a college dorm and not apartments.

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