MoonlightDrifter (3 page)

Chapter Three

Allie straightened her miniskirt
before pulling open the door to the local strip club. She couldn’t believe she
was about to do this, to actually ask for employment that required removing her
clothes for strange men. Not that there was anything wrong with what these
women did for a living, she was certain they made good money, but it just
wasn’t in her comfort zone. Getting manhandled at Lagoona’s was bad enough.
Could she really give some balding, fat guy a lap dance? She wasn’t sure she
wouldn’t feed him his hands if he touched her.

She’d called several restaurants
before coming here, in hopes someone was hiring, but she’d been told time and
again that they didn’t have any opportunities for her. Getting work in a small
town sucked sometimes. It really did depend more on who you knew and less on
what you could do. She had no doubt that Gabriel or Connor would hire her, if
they had room for her. Matt had already hired Chloe to work for him, so he
didn’t have space either. Honestly, you’d think a pack the size of Ashton Grove
would have more job opportunities for its pack members. Maybe she’d have to say
something to Connor. What was the point of coming to join their pack if you
couldn’t put a roof over your head?

Allie tried not to shiver in
revulsion as the bouncer eye fucked her. He was a big burly guy, who seemed to
be missing a few teeth. Classy. It didn’t give her a positive outlook on her
possible venue of employment. She’d only seen a few of the girls who worked
here. Were the rest circus freaks like big, dumb and ugly at the front door?
The smells that assaulted her nose were enough to make her want to retch. Stale
beer, piss, and sweat. What a combination.

There was a dancer on stage,
performing for an audience of three. It seemed men like to get their freak on
regardless the time of day. She hadn’t expected people, other than the workers,
to actually be here this
early .
She would have
thought a place like this wouldn’t get going until after the lunch hour. She
almost felt sorry for the woman on stage,
who
clearly
wasn’t going to get much in the way of tips. Maybe she’d made a mistake in
coming here?

An oily looking man in a
half-opened Hawaiian print shirt came forward, gold chains glinting under the
colored lights. “May I help you, doll?”

“Um, yes. I was looking for the
owner?”

He held out a hand. “Lou Phelps. I
own this place. What can I do for you?
You looking
to
dance?” His gaze raked her from head to toe. “You don’t have many curves, but I
bet you could still make a decent living
stripping
.
Ever done it before?”

She shook her head.

“Why don’t you hop up on stage
and show us what you’ve got?”

She glanced toward the stage and
saw one of the men sliding his hand up the dancer’s leg before stuffing a
dollar in her g-string. Nope. No matter how badly she needed a roof over her
head, no way could she do that.

“I think I’ve made a mistake,”
she mumbled, turning and hurrying out the door, the man’s braying laugh
following her.

When she reached the outside, she
sucked in lung fulls of fresh air. She couldn’t believe she’d almost become a
stripper! What the hell had she been thinking? If she couldn’t get work in
Ashton Grove, she’d just have to move on. Maybe join a pack in a larger city,
like Atlanta. There had to be jobs available there. It made her heart ache to
think of leaving Ashton Grove behind. She hadn’t really made any friends, but
the place still felt like home. She’d had high hopes that this would be it, the
place where she firmly planted her roots and stuck it out.

She needed to talk to Connor.

Getting in her SUV, she headed
toward his latest jobsite, hoping he would be there. If not, she’d just have to
track him down. She wanted him to see the serious look on her face when she
brought up the job issue; otherwise, she’d just call him. She ground her back
teeth together. Seeing Connor meant seeing Cain. She’d heard that Connor had
sprung him from jail, for which she’d been thankful, but she wasn’t sure she
wanted to see the big kitty just yet. For some reason, he seemed to rub her the
wrong way. Not that she’d mind him rubbing her the
right
way. She’d have to be dead not to fantasize about those large
hands doing yummy things to her. The man was sex personified. And he damn well
knew it, too. Ass.

Allie parked between two trucks at
the construction site and got out, locking her SUV. She approached the
single-wide, where she knew Connor would have his temporary office. A few pack mates
saw her and waved. So far, no sign of the tiger, but she knew he was around.
She could practically feel him.

Knocking on the office door
briskly, she pushed it open and stepped inside, hoping like hell Aislinn wasn’t
around and frolicking in the office with Connor. She’d heard about someone
walking in on them once. What would it be like to have a man who couldn’t keep
his hands off you? Who wanted you no matter where you were? She wanted that one
day. Hell, if she thought she would be staying in Ashton Grove, she’d want it
now. No sense finding a mate in a town that left her jobless though.

Connor looked up from his desk
and smiled at her. “What brings you by here, Allie?”

“I wanted to talk to you about
something. If that’s all right?”

“Sure, sure. Have a seat,” he
said, motioning to the chair across from him.

She sat on the edge of the seat,
her hands clasped in her lap. Now that she was here, she wasn’t quite sure
where to start.

“As you know, I’m unemployed as
of last night. I went to the strip club today to get a job, but…I just couldn’t
do it. The thought of those men touching me left a vile taste in my mouth.”

“I’m actually relieved to hear
that. It wasn’t the right place for you.”

“Yeah, but that begs the question,
where is the right place for me? I’ve scoured the classifieds, no one calls me
back and, if they do and I make it to an interview, they tell me it just won’t
work. I’m unemployable in this town, which makes it damn hard to live here. I
want to be part of your pack, Connor, but how can I do that if I can’t provide
for myself?”

“Find a mate?”

She snorted. “Like I need a man
to take care of me. I’ve been doing just fine on my own. If I can’t find work,
I’ll have to move on.”

“Something tells me you wanted to
discuss more than that.”

“Have you thought about having
more werewolf run businesses in Ashton Grove? I mean, Matt isn’t a werewolf,
but he did hire within the pack. But other than his real estate business, all
we have is Gabriel’s garage and your construction company.”

“Most of the wolves in the pack
don’t have the know-how to run a business, or the financial backing.”

“That’s what loans are for.
Besides that, have you thought of hiring a manager for the wolf dorms and the
women’s apartments? You could use the revenue from the rent to pay someone to
handle all calls concerning those areas. You could even hire a maintenance
worker. That would provide at least two jobs, three if you split the managerial
position, having a separate one for the dorms and the apartments.”

“You make a good point. We’ve
been using the revenue, in part, to pay Ramsey for being a recruiter. But there
is enough left over to hire someone, at least part-time, to manage the two
areas. We could offer a rent discount, or even free rent, as an incentive.
Would that be something that would interest you? You might have to find
something else to help pay the rest of the bills if it was only part-time, but
it would get you started. Keep a roof over your head while you look.”

“Would the pack provide a
dedicated cell phone just for the job? I wouldn’t use it for personal calls,
but I don’t carry enough minutes on my cell to cover it.”

He nodded.

“I’d need to know more about my
responsibilities, the pay and hours. But yes, it would be something that
interests me. It would allow me to stay here, which is what I’d like to do.
Ashton Grove has quickly begun to feel like home to me.”

“I’ll talk it over with Gabriel
and get back with you in a day or two.”

She froze. “Gabriel?”

Connor lifted an eyebrow. “You
have a problem with that?”

“No, it’s just… I thought he
wasn’t dealing with pack issues right now. No one’s really seen him since…”

“He’s doing better,” Connor said
softly. “I have a feeling you’ll have your alpha back sooner than you think.
Having Kinley around has been good for him. He’s even been interacting with
Adriel some, and spoke with me just this morning. He isn’t ready to come back
to us yet, but he’s getting there.”

“If he’d just shift and run, I
bet he would feel better. Everyone’s saying he hasn’t left his house since he
went home that day.”

“He hasn’t, to my knowledge. That
doesn’t mean that he won’t though. With the right incentive, I believe he’ll
rejoin us. Aislinn assures me
that’s
going to happen
sooner than we think.”

If Connor’s mate “saw” Gabriel
rejoining the pack, that was good enough for her. She hadn’t had a chance to
get to know him very well before he’d gone into hiding, but he’d been kind to
her the few times she’d spoken to him. She could only imagine the heartache he
must feel, losing his mate and child. Allie wasn’t sure she would survive such
a thing, if she was ever blessed with a mate. She wasn’t entirely sure there
was a man out there who could handle her. More than once she’d been called
stubborn. And a bitch. She didn’t think she was a bitch, she just knew what she
wanted and went after it, and she didn’t need a man in her life to complete
her.

“Think about the job tonight and
let me know in the morning if you want to move forward. You’d have to work out
of your apartment, since an office was never created for those buildings. The
pack would take care of any supplies you needed though.”

She nodded. “Thank you. I’ll call
you in the morning.”

“Just don’t make it too early.”
He winked.

Laughing, she rose from the chair
and made her way toward the door. She paused, her hand on the knob.

“Thank you, Connor. You didn’t
have to agree with me, and you certainly didn’t have to create a job for me. I
didn’t want to leave the pack, but I would have if it came down to it.”

He just smiled and she stepped
outside, closing the door behind her. She’d no sooner cleared the steps than
she felt someone watching her. Lifting her gaze, she found the were-tiger
staring at her. He’d removed his shirt at some point and his sun- bronzed skin
glistened with sweat. Without thought, she licked her lips. Cain’s lips tipped
up in a sensual panty melting grin. Oh lord, but the man was lethal! She’d
desired men before, but she’d never had one make her wet just by smiling at
her. Hell, he hadn’t even needed to smile. Just standing there in the sunshine,
all those muscles on display had been more than enough.

She pulled away from his hypnotic
gaze and briskly walked to her SUV. She hadn’t bothered locking it so slid in
behind the wheel. As she cranked the engine, she
glanced
Cain’s way again and found him still staring at her. Her hand lifted and
brushed across her nose, thinking maybe she’d gotten something on her face.
She’d never had someone stare at her so intently before and it was a little
unnerving.

Allie pulled out of the parking
space, trying not to spit gravel from under her tires in her haste to get away
from the tiger and the unbearable lust swamping her. When she hit the road,
instead of turning left and going home, she hung a right, with no particular
destination in mind. As her foot pressed the accelerator, her vehicle picking
up speed, the town of Ashton Grove became a speck in her rearview mirror. Allie
drove down the highway, trees whipping by, feeling the need for…she wasn’t sure
what. Her skin felt too tight, confining, and she knew a run probably would
have done her wonders. Running around as a wolf in the middle of the morning
wasn’t the best idea though, especially in an area where there weren’t any wild
wolves.

The town of Jonestown lay before
her, a pretty brick sign welcoming her. It wasn’t much different from Ashton
Grove, but it was a little bigger. Allie had never been much of a shopper, so
she bypassed the mall and shopping centers. As she cruised through the historic
downtown, a neon sign caught her eye.
Skinz
Tattoos & Piercings
. She really shouldn’t stop, having just lost her
job. Although, technically, she did have a savings account she could tap into
if she needed it. It didn’t have a lot in it but, if she budgeted, she could
make it until Connor paid her. She’d already decided to call him in the morning
and accept the job.

She didn’t think tattoo parlors
were open this early in the day, but the Open sign was lit up in neon orange.
Ever since she’d been old enough, she’d wanted a tattoo, but something had
always held her back. Putting something permanent on your body took a lot of
careful consideration, but she was feeling wild and reckless today. Something
was driving her to enter the shop; and being someone who always followed her
intuition,
she got out of the SUV, stepped onto the
sidewalk, and pushed the glass door open.

A woman sat at the reception desk,
her hair shining a bright pink under the fluorescent lights. She smiled when
she saw Allie. “Welcome to Skinz. Are you looking to get a tattoo or a
piercing? Maybe both?”

Could she do both? “I guess it
depends on the cost. I’m on a budget right now. A behemoth I know got me fired
yesterday.”

The woman giggled. “Boyfriend?”

“Not hardly
.”Allie
snorted. And yet…the idea was a little intriguing. No! Absolutely not! Just
because the man knew how to fill out a pair of jeans was no reason to even
remotely think of him as date-worthy. Okay, so he had those massive biceps, and
that perfectly lickable chest. Then there was his devastating smile. She
sighed.