waiting for you to answer me.”
Alejandro shrugged. “I don’t see any harm in taking a walk.”
Shane never thought that the idea of taking a walk could be so exciting. He felt bubbly as he finished his breakfast but also noticed how Alejandro kept stealing glances his way.
Did he think that Shane would take off? For weeks Shane had fought against being held prisoner, but in truth, what did he have to run back to? It wasn’t as if he’d had a life before coming to Fever’s Edge. His very existence had centered on Damien and keeping his brother out of trouble.
If he were being honest with himself—and Shane felt bad for even thinking this—it had been refreshing not having to run behind Damien solving his problems.
It was almost cathartic to worry only about himself instead of biting his nails that Damien would eventually get him killed or put in prison for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Which had been the case three weeks ago. Shane could have easily lost his life or worse. Shane was dealing with guys who weren’t even human, so yeah, things could have turned out a whole lot worse.
Being hijacked by Alejandro was the easiest punishment Shane could have been forced to endure. It had looked really bad when Shane had been found at the cannery, and if he’d been in Alejandro’s shoes, Shane wasn’t sure if he would have believed his own story.
Once they were finished with their breakfast, Alejandro paid their bill and the two exited the diner. Shane took in a deep breath, appreciating the early morning as the town slowly came to life.
Shane patted his flat stomach. “I need to walk off all the calories I just ate.”
Alejandro grunted. “You barely ate any food.”
“I can’t help it I didn’t wolf down an extra plate of French toast.” Shane poked Alejandro in his side. “Where do you put all that anyway? You’re nothing but solid muscle. There’s not a squishy part on you anywhere.”
Shane needed to stop touching him. The contact did nothing to calm his raging lust. It seemed the nicer Alejandro was, the more attracted Shane was to him.
Alejandro chuckled as he batted away Shane’s hand. “I do a lot of running. I have to stay in shape since I help guard this town.”
“You do?” Shane started walking backward so he could see Alejandro’s handsome face. He liked looking at the guy. “Does Fever’s Edge get a lot of trouble?”
Alejandro snapped his arm out and yanked Shane toward him. Shane had no idea why he’d done that until Alejandro nodded at something behind Shane.
It was a light pole. “You almost walked right into it.”
“Now you’re my savior?” Shane teased. “Thanks for stopping me from embarrassing myself.”
“Or maybe I didn’t want to spend the morning at the clinic getting your noggin looked at.”
“You can admit it.” He kept up with his teasing. “You didn’t want to see me hurt.”
Shane was surprised by how good of a mood he was in, though he still couldn’t believe he was flirting with Alejandro. That hadn’t been his intention, but now that he was doing it, Shane liked it.
He was still close to Alejandro, staring up into his pretty hazel eyes, which were so light they still didn’t appear real.
“Bah,” Alejandro said as he sidestepped Shane. “Stop reading into things.”
Alejandro could deny it all he wanted, but Shane saw the truth in his eyes. Alejandro was having just as much fun with their banter as he was.
Chapter Four
Elijah looked out the window of Budding Sensations, worrying about Rico being in town, when he spotted Alejandro and Shane heading toward the park.
Oh, this wasn’t good. Did Alejandro know his brother was in town? Should Elijah warn him? Ben had told him to stay put, so Elijah did the next best thing.
He texted Trey, Nando, and Phillip, telling them what was going on.
Phillip texted back. You have to warn them.
Ben told you not to leave the shop, Trey texted.
We could warn them, Nando texted. Trey and I are already at work.
Elijah paced back and forth, unsure what he should do. He could see Alejandro and Shane from the store window. What if Rico spotted them? Alejandro shouldn’t find out about his brother by running into him.
Ben was going to string Elijah up by his balls, but Elijah couldn’t stand there and do nothing. He had to warn Alejandro.
Taking a deep breath for courage, Elijah ran out of the store, stopped to lock it, then raced