Page 24 of Ice King

With the speed of a sloth, her grin widened. “You like him.”

“Oh, hell, no. I was just curious given his attitude.” My quick denial was undoubtedly caught. Only my body enjoyed his presence, the traitorous bitch.

“O-kay. Ford is an odd duck. You might find pictures of him with a few hanging all over him, but he’s not interested in them. Not like Finn or Daniel. Holy shit. I worry about one of them getting STDs. You’ll see them at every game. Just wait. If the teammakes the playoffs, it won’t matter what city we’re in, there will be plenty of puck bunnies to spare.”

“Thank you for the warning,” I mused, thankful she was easy to talk to. “Is your family from North Bend?”

“Oh, heavens, no. We moved here when I was a teenager. Let me tell you the culture shock was well, shocking, so much so I tried to run away from home twice.”

“That bad?”

“You have no idea the difference from Seattle, but you will. Even back then, I knew there was something extremely different about half the people here.”

Before I had a chance to ask her to elaborate, the drinks arrived.

“Here you are, ladies, my special concoction,” Jake said as he placed the festive margarita glasses in front of us. “And we’ll start with our pastry chef’s famous bread.”

“I can attest to the bread being famous, along with the whipped honey butter. To die for.”

“Thanks, Jake,” I told him, hoping one day a man would look at me in the same passionate way as Jake was doing with Roxanne. You could easily tell he had her best intentions at heart.

He hung around long enough for me to take a sip, licking salt from the rim first. “And?”

“That is the best margarita I’ve ever had.” And it was.

His entire face lit up. “An appetizer is on its way. Enjoy.”

The music was soulful, the atmosphere relaxing, and being here was a fantastic way of being welcomed into town. However, mymind was churning with questions. “Your father alluded to this town being different. So did you. What exactly does that mean?”

I could tell by the way she was looking at me she was surprised or maybe confused. “Wait. No one told you?”

“Told me what exactly?”

She chewed on her bottom lip before answering. “You do know it’s a shifter town. Right?”

“A what? Like swing shifts with factories?”

All of a sudden, the leather booth she was sitting in seemed to swallow her whole. “Wow. You don’t know anything about what no one can seem to stop talking about?”

“What should I know other than it’s a small town and from what I’ve heard, everyone knows everyone else.”

“Yes, both are true. But I’m talking about everywhere in the country.”

“But? Should I be rethinking my decision?” What was she alluding to?

“No! At least I don’t think so. I genuinely love it here and while I’ve thought about moving away, there’s something about the peace I’ve found here that keeps me from going. I have a feeling that’s what you need in your life.”

I took a sip of my drink through the straw. “Yes, you’re right. I hope to find a location I feel good about staying in for a long time, but I still like to know what I’m dealing with.”

Roxanne cringed as if I’d hit her. “You weren’t told anything before moving here?”

Her repetition meant she really didn’t want to share some dark secret.

“Let me put it this way, beggars can’t be choosers.”

“Oh, okay.” She leaned forward as if worried the people in the booth behind us would overhear our conversation. “Here goes. Shifters. As in creatures who can become humans? Or maybe the other way around depending on how you look at it. They’re everywhere from what I understand, but there’s a large concentration in North Bend.”

I could feel something strange happening in my body while my mind attempted to process what she was insinuating. Maybe she was joking. “Ha. Ha. Are you suggesting there are a lot of lumberjacks in town because I will admit, from what I’d seen of the male population, they are all beefy.”