Quickdraw Slow Burn (Battle of the Bulls #3) - T. S. Joyce Page 0,6
world picked up. “Do you have her?” Raven asked immediately. “I’m gonna murder her if she chickened out.”
“He’s got me, and you’re on speaker phone,” Annabelle said.
“Aaaaaaah!” Raven yelled into the phone, making both Annabelle and Quickdraw hunch their shoulders against the pain. Shifter hearing wasn’t awesome all the time.
“I have a quick question,” Quickdraw said.
“Anything. What do you want? We’ve just been waiting around for y’all to get here.”
“Did you just say y’all?” Annabelle asked.
“It’s the best word in the world! You can use it for any plural of you all!”
Annabelle laughed and shook her head. Never in a million years would she have guessed her little goth, tatted-up, motorcycle-boot-wearing bestie would be talking country.
“I was going to take this little wild thing to a nice restaurant in Casper, but she just belted out a song in the truck.”
“Oh, yeah, Annabelle has some pipes,” Raven said.
“Mmmm hmmm,” Quickdraw agreed. “I can’t believe I’m going to ask to willingly hang out with you guys, but do you want to go to a karaoke bar with us tonight?”
“Hell yeah!” Dead of Winter yelled in the background. “I have to go Google the best karaoke songs. Raven! I love you. I have to go research. We are singing a duet. We are singing a duet! Fuck you, Two Shots. We’re gonna be so good, and you’re gonna tank.”
“I’m not singing,” Two Shots Down muttered in the background.
“Um, yes you are!” said his mate and Quickdraw’s manager, Cheyenne. “I’m not catching shit from Dead for the next sixty-nine years about being chicken at karaoke.”
“Okay, we’re ten minutes out from the RV park,” Quickdraw said. “Y’all get dressed.”
“Raven!” Dead called from farther away. “Wear something slutty!”
“Oh dear Lord,” Raven muttered, but there was a smile in her voice. She was happy. Annabelle could tell, and her best friend’s happiness settled something inside of her as well. She had chosen a herd with Quickdraw in it, so he couldn’t be bad. Raven was a great judge of character.
There was static on the line, and then Cheyenne said, “Hey Quickdraw, remember when I said no drinking this week? Since it’s finals and all?”
“Oh, yeah, I ignored that part, I had beer at breakfast. So did Two Shots.”
“What?”
“Thanks a lot, Rat,” Two Shots said.
Quickdraw’s grin was all evil and handsome right now.
Annabelle couldn’t help but giggle as he hung up the phone. Okay, she was really happy now.
“I figured you could use a night with the group so you don’t have to just be around me,” he said softly as the smile faded from his face. “Maybe ease you back in to being comfortable.”
Annabelle slipped her hand around his bicep to the crook of his inner elbow and squeezed it gently. “Thank you for being understanding.”
She moved to pull her hand away, but he took his hand off the wheel and pressed her hand back into his elbow, then caught the wheel before he had to make a turn.
Okay. He liked her touch. Maybe it was going faster than she’d promised herself, but she felt safe right now. That part was impossible to explain. Safe with a bull shifter. Bulls were pure power and aggression, but Quickdraw wouldn’t hurt her. She knew he wouldn’t.
And her crush grew a little bigger.
Chapter Four
“Is he naked?” Annabelle asked, squinting her eyes out the front window. Dead of Winter sat in front of his camper in a lawn chair, beer in hand and his lady in his lap. And that lady in question was none other than Hagan’s Lace herself and Annabelle’s best friend, Raven.
“Hell if I know,” Quickdraw muttered with a frown as he backed his truck beside his own camper. “He’s somehow gotten even weirder since he paired up with Raven.”
When Raven stood, Annabelle belted out, “Oh, my God, no!” She closed her eyes really fast because she did not need to see her bestie’s boyfriend’s nethers.
“He’s got freakin’ booty shorts on,” Quickdraw grumbled.
Indeed, he did. It was the only thing he was wearing other than a pair of worn cowboy boots on his hairy legs, which was a ridiculous outfit because it was cold out. His nipples were all drawn up, but he was smiling big enough. Apparently, the cold didn’t bother bull shifters overly much.
“Hey!” Quickdraw yelled at Dead as he got out of his truck. “I thought you were parked over there with Two Shots.” He jammed his finger to a few open spots at the end of the row. “I like my space.”
Dead grinned. “Space