Page 61 of Tempting Frey
I waved to my pa, who was smiling at me. Was that pride in his gaze?
“You got this,” he mouthed, and winked.
I snatched the key from the hook in the hallway and headed for the driver’s side. Teddy almost bumped into me, then mumbled something unintelligible and walked around to the passenger door. He moved the seat way back and clipped in the seatbelt.
We spent the first minute in the truck in silence. Teddy must have been mulling over in his head whether to be mad at me for keeping information from him.
Finally, he opened his mouth as we swung onto Main Street. “So. Who is it?”
“Laurel Riley. He likes Beauville and wants to have a cottage here for recreational purposes.”
I slowed down to go over the speed bumps at the school.
“He bought thirty acres to build acottage?” Teddy asked.
“It might become more of a chalet. He wanted to stay anonymous as long as possible. Fans and paparazzi hunt him down wherever he goes, and Beauville was supposed to be his sanctuary. But then you and every alpha in town freaked out about developers.”
I made the sharp turn to the right behind the church, and the truck began climbing the steep road into the forest.
“How long have you known?” Teddy asked, his voice almost too quiet to be heard over the noise the truck was making on the rough gravel.
“Since a few days before the heat. Calvin swore me to secrecy. I was supposed to talk to Mr. Riley on Monday. My plan was to convince him to meet up with us when he finished his tour in Europe. But he canceled his last concert and was supposedly on his way back to the country.”
“Is he in Beauville now?”
“I don’t know. Seems kinda fast. It might be just his staff preparing for his arrival.”
Teddy merely grunted in reply. I couldn’t check his expression as I navigated the bumpy, narrow road.
“Are you angry with me?” I asked.
“Do you think I should be?”
“Maybe. I didn’t like keeping it a secret from you, but I didn’t think I had a choice.”
“Well, I’m not. But I’m annoyed by the entire situation.”
“I’m sorry,” I piped up. I’d make it up to him later tonight, hopefully with my mouth on his lovely cock.
The forest opened into a clearing, and I slowed to a crawl. The scene before us looked like something from a bad action flick.
17
FREY
“Stay in the car,” I told Oliver. The chance he’d listen was barely fifty-fifty, but at least I tried.
Three men faced our sheriff, human alphas in their thirties. They were dressed in brand-new, overpriced outdoor gear that made it abundantly clear they had never spent time in the mountains before. Except I was pretty sure they were armed under those fancy waterproof jackets. Behind them stood two guys with scruffy, confused faces, holding chainsaws lowered to the ground. I vaguely recognized one of them, which meant they could have been seasonal workers at the Beauville lumber mill before they were hired to do whatever they were supposed to do here.
Chickie had his hand on his holster and his stormy gaze on the three alphas. He was a head taller than the tallest of the humans, looking scary as hell, but that would mean exactly zero in a shootout. He didn’t even glance my way before he spoke.
“Fuck off, Frey. I don’t need your help.”
“Sorry, man. Looks like you do.”
“I swear I’m going to chase your ass out of this town as soon as I’m done with these assholes. And if you ever show your face here again, I’m going to shoot your balls right off.”
One of the alphas squinted at me before looking back at Chickie.
