Bears On Bikes - The Complete Series (Shifter Romance Box Set) Page 2

  “Walter,” she said when she arrived at the table where Craig and Mike American had been sitting. “You should come see this.”

  Her brother came over and his jaw dropped when he saw the pile of bills lying on the table. “Are those hundreds?”

  “There must be several thousand dollars here. This is ten times what their tab was.”

  “And you said these guys wanted to stick around for a few nights?”

  “Yeah, they even want you to open up for breakfast tomorrow. I texted Becca, and she said she could come in to work a few hours early.”

  “Well shit,” said Walter, scooping up the cash. “These guys might just save our bar yet.”

  “Are you going to be okay to take care of these guys until I come on shift tomorrow night?” Allison began flipping chairs onto tables so they could sweep up and shut down. “I’ve got a load of school work to do, and I’m supposed to meet up with Miriam before my shift.”

  “Yeah, we’ll manage. I’ll see who can come in early.” He held up the fat stack of cash the bikers had left behind. “When the other staff hear about this, they’ll be fighting for who gets to come in and work.”

  Allison laughed and set about cleaning the barroom while Walter went to count the cash and finish up in the kitchen. She put up all the chairs and grabbed a broom so she could sweep up before doing a quick run with the mop, and that’s when she found the wallet beneath the pool table. She opened it up and saw that it was Craig’s.

  “Craig Arctos,” she said, reading his driver’s license. Just thinking of him made her chew her lip and flush at what might have been had they all not left in such a strange hurry. It was hard not to think of him wrapping his arms around her and kissing her naked body. She was so caught up in her fantasy, that the time flew by and it was time for her to go home and get some much needed sleep.

  “I’m heading out!” she called to Walter.

  He jogged out from the kitchen and handed her a folded wad of bills. “For tonight, sis.”

  “This is over a thousand bucks,” she said, holding the money back out to her brother. “It’s too much.”

  “They left us eight grand,” said Walter. “I don’t know why they stopped here, or if they’re going to become a problem that we’ll wish we’d never invited, but you and I both need the money. You take that, and use it to pay for your school. I’m not going to let you quit because you can’t afford it, you got that?”

  Allison threw her arms around her brother and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Walt. You’re the best.”

  “Yeah, you just remember that next time I ask you to clean the grease trap.”

  She laughed and shook her head as she walked to the door. It was amazing how the night had gone from complete desperation and despair to such a big payout. The money in her pocket wouldn’t solve all her financial problems, but it would certainly go a long way towards getting her back on track. There was enough here to pay her rent and put a chunk towards her tuition, and if the Hellclaws were around for another few days, she might even be able to pull in enough in tips to get completely free of debt for once in her life.

  Allison walked across the lot to where she’d left her car, and after fumbling around her purse for her keys, she realized that she’d shoved Craig’s wallet in there instead of leaving it at the bar for him to pick up the next morning. She pulled it out and thought about going back to drop it off with Walter, but a low snarling growl made her stop dead in her tracks. Standing in front of her, not six feet away, was a large wolf, its teeth bared, dark eyes glowering at her. There was a cunning viciousness in the way the beast stared at her, and Allison didn’t move a muscle for fear of somehow antagonizing the wolf into attacking her.

  Keys in one hand, Craig’s wallet in the other, she decided to slowly raise her hands to show the wolf that she meant it no harm. Wolves were known to live in the forests around West Liberty, but as far as Allison knew, none had ever been sighted in the town itself before. If this wolf was roaming the streets, then it was either desperate or rabid. Either way, Allison had no idea how to get away from it. She couldn’t outrun the animal, and she couldn’t fight it off. Her eyes darted to the tavern’s front door, and she wondered if she could yell for Walter without pissing off the wolf.

  The wolf’s hindquarters lowered a little as if it knew what Allison had been thinking, and its ears flattened against its head. Allison whimpered when she realized that it was about to attack, and took one hesitant step backwards just as a big brown blur flashed from beside her. Next thing she knew, the wolf was being attacked by a large brown bear. The wolf’s jaws snapped and snarled at the bear, but one solid swat sent the wolf flying backwards to land on its side. Seeming to assess the situation, the wolf thought better of taking on the bear, and turned to run off into the darkness.

  Shocked and confused, Allison still stood there with her hands in the air. The bear approached her, and she worried that she’d traded one animal mauling for another, but the big brown creature just snatched Craig’s wallet out of her hand and stalked off in the direction the wolf had gone. The whole thing happened so fast, that Allison was left standing alone in the parking lot with her keys dangling from upraised hands just moments after encountering the wolf in the first place. Lowering her hands and looking around, she wondered if she’d just imagined the whole thing.

  Allison spun back around and rushed to her car, fumbling the key into the lock so she could get in and lock herself safely inside. She fired up the engine, turned on the headlights, and pulled out of there in a hurry. The night had been so strange and confusing, that all she wanted now was to get home so she could bolt the door behind her and crawl into bed.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Allison always felt a little out of place walking through the treelined avenues and old buildings of the university during the day. It was one thing to show up for her night classes when most of the regular students were off studying or partying, but during the day it only highlighted how different she felt from the fresh-faced, eager young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. Really, she wasn’t that much older than the senior students, but it might as well have been a thirty-year age gap for how innocent they all looked. She couldn’t imagine any of them knew what it meant to have been kicked out of apartments for not being able to afford rent, or to have to work long hours dealing with drunk assholes trying to paw at them every chance they got. If it hadn’t been for Walter pushing her to stay with it, she would never have even made it out of high school, let alone enrolled in night school.

  Somehow, despite living just a few doors down and being the product of an alcoholic mother and an absent father, Miriam Taylor had studied even harder than she’d partied, and managed to become a professor of biology. Allison still wasn’t sure how her friend had managed it, but the oak-paneled office with her name on the door was proof enough that Miriam had beat the odds and not ended up barely surviving like Allison did.

  “Hey Ally,” said Miriam when Allison knocked on the doorframe. “Shut the door behind you.”

  Miriam pulled a bottle of whiskey out of a desk drawer and poured a healthy dose into her coffee mug. She offered the bottle to Allison, who laughed and shook her head. She drank enough at work, and she didn’t need to start early, especially with the Hellclaws in town.

  “So how’s things? I feel like I haven’t seen you in a month.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that. Between classes and work, I’ve pretty much just been going home and passing out lately.”

  “And how’s, you know, the money situation?”

  This had become an awkward topic of conversation over the last few years. Despite Miriam still owing tens of thousands of dollars in student loans, she’d frequently insisted on helping Allison pay for her own school. Not wanting to strain the friendship if things went wrong, Allison had repeatedly refused any sort of loan, and she was happy to be able to tell her friend about the Hellclaws and their extremely generous tip. Miriam pressed for detail
s, and when Allison mentioned Craig, her friend sensed immediately that there was more to that story and pushed her to spill every last dirty thought she’d had about him.

  “So what happened? Why didn’t you fuck him?”

  Allison might have been shocked hearing this from anyone else, but Miriam was about as sexually liberated as they came, and more than happy to take pleasure when the opportunity presented itself.

  “I was going to, but then they all just up and left in a hurry. That’s when they left all that money on the table.”

  “And this Craig guy, he’s hot?”

  “Ridiculously hot. He looked like he’d ridden straight out of a sexy biker calendar or something. He’s the male version of those girls they always have draped over bikes in magazines.”

  “Mmm, sounds yummy.” Miriam grinned and sipped her whiskey. “A little old for my tastes though.”

  “Oh, Miri, tell me you’re not sleeping with any of your students again.”

  Miriam picked up her phone, tapped the screen a few times, and handed it over for Allison to see. The photo was of a young blonde kid with a six-pack stomach in his boxers on what she recognized as Miriam’s couch.

  “Flip to the next one,” said Miriam.

  “Oh, gross,” said Allison with a teasing laugh. The photo was an extremely explicit shot of the same kid kneeling on the floor and fucking Miriam while she sat on the couch. “Are you crazy taking photos like this? Do you realize what would happen to you if you ever got caught?”

  “Are you kidding me? Look how happy Jason is in that photo. Poor kid blew his load in like two minutes, but at least he was ready to go again right after.”

  “You’re insane,” said Allison. It was a little weird seeing these images of her friend naked and in a variety of sexual positions, but Miriam had never been shy with her body and it wasn’t the first time Allison had seen it in all its nude glory. She flipped through the photos, surprised to see at least four different boys in them, all of them probably young enough to be freshmen.

  “I could hook you up with one of them if you want,” suggested Miriam. “Alex does this amazing thing with his tongue. You should really try a younger guy sometime.”

  “They’re hot, I won’t deny that, but I don’t know what else you see in them,” said Allison, handing the phone back.

  “They’re so eager to please. It’s like you’re giving them the greatest gift they’ve ever received when you take your clothes off for them. And I guess college girls don’t suck dick, because they love it when I suck them off and let them cum in my mouth.”

  “Miri, ew. Way too much information.” Allison grimaced at the thought, but a part of her mind was picturing Craig and how she’d happily go down on him.

  “Seriously though, if you ever want to fool around with a younger guy, I can set it up.” A devilish glimmer shone in Miriam’s eyes. “I’ve been wanting to have a threesome with one of these guys, but you’re the only one I really trust.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know if that’s going to happen.” Allison blushed and shook her head. It wasn’t like she was a virgin, but all the sex she’d ever had was pretty straight up normal. A threesome was way outside her comfort zone.

  “Think about it. I won’t do anything to you that you’re not comfortable with, but there’s an energy that guys get when they have two girls that’s just wild.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for it.” Allison shifted in her chair and tried to steer the conversation in a new direction. “Oh, I never told you the weirdest part about last night.”

  Allison told the story of how the wolf had tried to attack her, and of the big brown bear that had appeared out of nowhere to save her. She left out a few of the details, like how the bear had looked at her like it knew her, and how it had taken Craig’s wallet. The whole thing was strange enough as it was, and she didn’t need her friend thinking she was crazy on top of it all.

  “That makes sense, actually,” said Miriam.

  “It does?”

  “Yeah, there was a whole slew of bears spotted walking down Main Street last night. From what I heard on the radio and saw on twitter, it was around the same time. What, just after midnight?”

  Allison nodded her head. “It’s so weird. I wonder what brought them all into town.”

  “Well, you do work at a biker bar,” said Miriam with a heavy dose of innuendo. “They were probably looking for some cute bears. You know, leather bears? Like, big gay hairy men?”

  “I got the joke,” said Allison, shaking her head, “it was just too lame to laugh at.”

  “You don’t know funny when it’s staring you right in the face.” Miriam took a slug of whiskey from her mug and eyed her friend. “So let’s back up to this Craig guy. You were saying he had you all hot and wet in a dark corner?”

  Allison reached over the desk to grab Miriam’s mug, and she took a sip of the cheap whiskey. It burned her mouth and throat, but the heavy liquor numbness was a welcome relief from how tense she was. She hadn’t quite realized how much stress she’d been holding in, but the night before had been so weird that she still hadn’t processed it all.

  “Things got pretty… intimate, yeah.”

  “Tell me you’re going to go see him tonight.”

  “I have to work a shift at the Oakwood, and he’ll probably be there—” began Allison.

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

  Miriam kicked her heels up on the desk, the edge of her skirt falling down on her thighs in a way that made Allison a little uncomfortable. She could see the edge of her friend’s panties, and it drove her crazy that it was so easy for her to just take any guy she was interested in, while Allison was left hiding in the background.

  “I don’t know,” she said, hitting the whiskey again. “I think maybe the moment passed, you know? He just walked out of there without saying a word.”

  “Yeah, after leaving like a thousand dollar tip. He likes you. Trust me.”

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  The idea of having Craig’s hands on her body sent a warm flush through her belly and up to her face, and she drank from the coffee mug again, letting the fiery sting of the whiskey mask the intense feelings of desire she couldn’t quite seem to escape. It had been almost a year since Allison had last been naked in front of anyone, and she was beginning to think that Miriam was actually making sense. It was a scary thought.

  “Ally, when it comes to fucking, I’m always right.”

  “That’s because you’re a giant slut,” said Allison with a laugh.

  “Hey, I take what I want. If that makes me a slut, then so be it. There’s no reason men get to have all the fun when it comes to sleeping around. I’m just fighting for equality over here.”

  “No doubt.” Allison got up from her chair and came around to hug her friend goodbye.

  “Seriously,” said Miriam, holding Allison’s hands in her own before letting her go. “Take care of yourself. You deserve a little fun and happiness once in a while. You know that right?”

  “I guess so. I’m just not into the one night stand thing so much.”

  “If you wait for true love to walk into the Oakwood Tavern, you might be waiting a very long time. If you’re into this Craig guy, grab the bull by the horns, or you know, grab the biker by the balls, and get yourself fucked. You’ll feel better afterwards.”

  “I love you, Miriam, but I worry about your sanity sometimes.” Allison smiled to soften the comment.

  “Hey, if it’s crazy to like sex, then reserve me a room in the asylum.”

  “I’ve got to get going for my shift. Walter’s probably wondering where I am already.” She walked to the door and paused before opening it. “Be careful, okay Miri? What you’re doing with your students—”

  “It’s cool,” said Miriam, refilling her mug with another pour of whiskey. “I’ve got it all under control. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “Oh, but I do,” said Allison. She opene
d the door and waved goodbye to her friend.

  Out in the hall, she checked her phone and saw that she was indeed running late. The day had really gotten away from her, but it had been worth it to swing by Miriam’s office for a visit. She relied on her friend for advice, even if she usually had to temper it with a solid dose of reality, and although she’d spent most of the day talking herself out of hooking up with the mysterious Craig Arctos, she was coming back around to the idea of letting him get in her pants if the offer was put back on the table. Going home to a vibrator just wasn’t the same as having a real man in her bed, and if she was going to have a random fling, she didn’t think she could do much better than Craig and his near perfect body.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Where the hell have you been?” asked Walter, when she finally pushed open the back door of the Oakwood Tavern.

  “I told you I was going to visit Miriam after doing school work all day.”

  Allison grabbed an apron, folded it over, and tied it around her waist. She had on the same pair of shorts she’d worn the night before, but this time she’d picked out a tank top that was cut a little lower and showed a lot more cleavage. Her black bra showed clearly along the sides when she lifted her arms, and if she bent down to set anything on a table or grab glasses from below the bar, she’d be showing so much of her chest that she might as well not have worn the shirt at all. It wasn’t the sort of thing she’d be able to get away with at most restaurants, but the Oakwood was known for its rough around the edges vibe, and she knew this shirt brought in tips like nothing else she owned.

  “Well, get out there and see if they’re ready to eat yet. Ricky’s had ribs cooking since this morning, and I filled the walk-in with steaks again. Becca and Kayley have been slinging drinks since the Hellclaws got back from god knows where this afternoon, and it’s starting to get rowdy out there.”