Ruthless (Wolf Ranch #6) - Renee Rose Page 0,42

ticket. I read it then grabbed a pint glass and filled it from the tap. I glanced at Audrey as I worked.

“You want me to drive him crazy?”

She set her forearms on the bar. “Absolutely! Those guys need to work for it.”

“Can we get an order of the boneless chicken wings with the buffalo hot sauce?” Becky asked.

“And lots of blue cheese dressing,” Audrey added.

“Sure.” I went to the computer and put the order in with the kitchen.

“Besides keeping Rand on his toes, working at this awesome bar, what else do you do?” Audrey added, “I admit, I feel like I’ve known you a long time since we thought Willow was you last summer. Now you’re really here.”

A few more orders came in, taking me away from answering. A band was setting up on the stage when I finally circled back to Audrey and Becky. “Well?” Becky asked.

“Oh, um…” I’d forgotten the question. “I’ve been in school in L.A. and finished my master’s in music.”

“Awesome!” Becky said. She leaned to the side when the waitress dropped off the wings. I grabbed extra napkins from behind the counter and poured them both glasses of ice water. “Do you play an instrument or sing or—”

“Violin.”

“Really? You need to meet the Barn Cats then,” Audrey said. She pointed to the men on stage and then waved at one. Obviously, they knew each other. “They played at my wedding reception.”

The band began to play. Unlike the usual rock cover bands most bars had, these guys were fiddlers. Three fiddled, and one on bass set the deep harmony.

A forgotten memory of Uncle Adam taking me to see a bluegrass band filtered into my mind. It could’ve been these guys—they definitely looked that old. As old as my great uncle would be if he was still alive.

I smiled, both at the memory and at the music. This wasn’t the constipated concert violin playing I’d left behind. It was lively and fun. There were mis-strokes played although I was probably the only one who noticed, and it didn’t matter. The crowd loved them, and they were having a good time. There was no professor standing at the podium grading their bowing technique or the perfection of the curve of their fingers on the strings. No conductor. No grades.

Watching them made me wish I’d never gone to college for music at all. That I’d kept it as something for me. Just for fun.

Then maybe I’d still love it the way I had when Uncle Adam gifted me that first violin.

There was a lull at the bar as people made their way in front of the stage to dance, and I leaned my elbows on the bar across from Audrey and Becky.

Audrey leaned forward conspiratorially. “So the guys were all floored to find out that you and your uncle knew about them all this time.”

I glanced around. No one was paying us any attention, and the music drowned out her words.

“Rand told everyone?” I wasn’t sure why that bothered me a little. I guessed because Uncle Adam’s secret had felt sacred to me all these years, and then… bam! It was out there. Or maybe it was because Rand had this whole pack thing going that I didn’t really understand. I didn’t come from a tight knit family. I came from dysfunction. I didn’t have any siblings. No grandparents that I remembered. The only relative besides dear old Mom and Dad was Uncle Adam.

“I’m sorry if that was private,” Audrey said, immediately catching my reaction. “It’s just from what I’ve heard, your uncle was such a good neighbor and friend to my husband and his brothers for so many years. They were touched to find out he’d felt a connection with them and had protected their secret his entire life.”

I softened. “Yes, he did. He’d loved a member of their pack, did you hear that part? She broke his heart.”

Something twisted in my own heart saying the words. I’d been telling myself I didn’t know anything about love because my parents were such bad examples, but I realized I’d internalized Uncle Adam’s story as well. The Romeo and Juliet tragedy where the two sides couldn’t come together because of who they were.

Maybe that was why I was so daunted by Rand’s insistence that we were supposed to be together. My parents were married but were a horrible couple. Uncle Rand and the female shifter were supposed to get together because they were perfect but couldn’t.

It was lose/lose however I