Page 23 of Pit Stop

“Dunno, just didn’t.”

Rob glares at me and then wiggles in his seat.

“Well, tell me! I’m waiting for all the details.”

“Nothing much to tell. He was just some alpha at the poetry reading. Delphine said he’s a shifter.”

Rob’s eyes widen. “For real?”

“Yeah.”

“But you turned him down?”

“Yeah, he was…I didn’t like him. He gave me weird vibes.”

Rob scoffs and nods. “Yeah, I get it. Those guys all have chips on their shoulders. Bet he’s from that clan up north. Oregon, I think it is.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

“What would it be like to shift, you think?”

“Don’t know,” I murmur and turn my gaze toward the window, watching the trees whiz by. “But if it makes me anything like him, then I’d rather stay just the way I am.”

“Truth.”

We sit in silence for a moment and then Rob taps his fingers on the steering wheel. “You know what? Forget about him. Tonight we’ll find a nice guy for you to get under. Someone who treats you well.”

“I don’t know if you’ve realized, but like, I’m not that hot. I don’t think I’m going to get under anyone tonight.”

“Oh, I bet you will,” he says with a waggle of his eyebrows. “You’re hotter than you think. Even the shifter guy thought so.”

I don’t know what that shifter saw in me and I don’t quite care to know the reason he singled me out. But Rob promised to leave me alone for two weeks if I went with him tonight. So I guess I can at least try to enjoy myself.

Ten minutes later, we’re pulling up to a run-down bar on the outskirts of town, and I eye Rob. “Really?”

“There are some really hot dudes here. And a lot of them are easy targets. Come on,” he says and then turns the car off and hops out.

He grins at me through the window and with a long-suffering sigh, I move out of the car and toward my best friend.

Really should find a new one of these, I think as he links his arm through mine before reaching over and threading his hands through my hair.

“Just a little adjustment,” he says when I huff. “And remember to smile. Guys like it when you smile.”

I bare my teeth at him, and he winces. “Oof, maybe not like that.”

That makes me chuckle as he pulls me along and into the tightly packed bar. I can smell the scent of alphas, thick and almost stifling, as we make our way toward the bar top. Eyes turn toward us, and I feel my shoulders start bunching up around my ears.

Besides that shifter, I’ve never noticed anyone take an interest in me before and it’s making me itchy.

Maybe that’s the issue. Maybe I just don’t like being noticed. Perhaps I like to blend in with the background and remain invisible. It’s safer there.

“Stop tensing up like that,” Rob says and then throws a flirtatious smile at a man who sidles up next to us. “It’s normal for guys to notice you. You smell good, I’m sure. And I know you don’t think you’re hot, but like I said, you are. In a very nerdy, smart-looking way.”

I scoff as he leans across the counter and waves toward the bartender.

I try not to make eye contact with the man hovering near me but end up catching the large man’s gaze. He winks at me, and I feel my cheeks go molten. Good lords. I need to get out more if a simple eye twitch causes me to blush.

“Here,” Rob says, handing me a drink, and my eyebrows rise. I don’t usually drink alcohol so I’m not quite sure what to expect.

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