Page 12 of Unhinged Magic
A thump sounded, and Ty jumped in beside me, adjusting the thick jacket he wore. “Are we taking bets on how many hooks Wes loses?” He grinned in my direction.
“Asshole,” I muttered.
Colt’s amused eyes found mine in the rearview mirror. He refrained from joining in my torment.
A late afternoon chill spread through the town, its tail whipping through trees and swirling fallen leaves. We headed down the road toward the dock, my mind ignoring the banter filling the car. Instead, it drifted back to the encounter with Skye in the back of the store I had followed her into.
What was her deal anyway? I hadn’t imagined finding my fated mate to be such an issue. It was supposed to be simple, an undeniable attraction. Yeah, Ty would be pissed. That was a given. But that was no reason to deny it.
The dock came into view, stretching out over the murky as fuck water that always gave me the shits. I had never swum in there, not even as a kid. I was sure the mist that never left this town could claim a man’s sanity. There were tales of fishing boats that left for sea that never returned, and as a kid I assumed they had simply gotten lost. I doubted we would ever know the truth.
As the truck pulled to a stop, we jumped out, taking our gear with us to the end of the dock. Deep water meant bigger fish in Colt’s mind. I wasn’t one to argue.
We cast our lines into the water, and I rested on one of the large timber posts holding the dock together. It surprised me that the thing was still standing after years of no obvious maintenance.
Colt opened a beer, flipping the lid off and dropping it into his fishing bag. He passed the bottle to me.
“Cheers.” I lifted it to my mouth, taking a drink.
He nodded, staring out at the cliffs in the distance. Colt always had this look about him, like he was internally rationalizing his own thoughts.
“How can a town have its own heartbeat?” he mused, more to himself than to us.
Reid side-eyed him, quirking a brow. “Heartbeat?”
“Yeah, you guys feel it, right?” His gaze didn’t waver from the cliffs.
I stared at him closely, taking in the way he sat, one leg raised, the other dangling over the edge of the dock. I often caught him staring into the distance, and many times had wondered what it must be like to walk in his shoes. To feel nature in its every essence.
“I hear no heartbeat,” said Ty, catching my gaze.
I tugged at my rod as it snagged on something below. “Your magic is next level insane,” I mumbled, wrenching on my line further. “Stupid piece of shit,” I grumbled, more to myself than anyone else.
Reid dropped his rod on the ground, making his way over to me, tugging on my fishing line to help release the snag. He wound his gaze back to Colt. “You really hear a heartbeat?”
Colt shifted in a way that made me think he felt uncomfortable. “More likefeel. Fuck, I don’t know. Forget I said anything.”
The group fell quiet, save for the efforts of trying to release my hook. Reid wound the line tight around his arm, giving it steady tension until it broke free. He stumbled backward, catching himself before he fell.
“Oh, screw this!” I threw an arm in the air when I noticed the hook and sinker missing off the end. “That was my last jig.”
Reid chuckled, letting go of my line. “You might have to stick with chasingwomenrather than fish.”
The group erupted into laughter, and he nudged me playfully before returning to his rod.
I shot him a dark look, although I knew he was just having a laugh. “Speak for yourself; you’re not doing any better.”
Humor glistened in Reid’s eyes. “Greens, you know they come to mewillingly.”
I shook my head in amusement, knowing there was no point in arguing. He wasn’t wrong. Reid attracted women like flies to shit. I put it down to the fake-ass grin he plastered on his face that I knew protected his heart. One night, after too many beers, he told me things I bet he didn’t mean to. I often thought about approaching the topic with him, but I knew Reid well. Try to talk to him about anything deep, and he would turn the conversation in a different direction.
I dropped my rod to the ground. “Back in a minute.” I motioned back up the dock. “Going to grab some new hooks.”
Ty threw his tackle bag at my feet. “Use one of mine. There’s plenty to spare.”
Like the good guy he was, I knew he wouldn’t mind, but I’d lost that many jigs that I needed to replace them anyway.
I patted my pocket, checking my wallet was in there. “Nah, all good, won’t be long.”
