C8 Unstoppable instinct

"I don't hear you complaining."

"I just did." Ignoring him, she pleaded her case to me. "Lara will be pissed when she finds out you played with her. And I'm supposed to have a beer with her tonight, you expect me to lie?"

She's the one lying, Mary," I reminded her. "All I'll do is play her at her own game before I turn the tables on her."

"I don't like it.

"You don't have to."

"I do if you get me involved," she retorted, pushing her hair out of her face. "How am I supposed to act natural around her?".

I softened at Mary's good heart . "Pretend you don't know any of this. Erase it from your mind. I'll plan to meet the two of you sometime tonight, and we'll go from there...just like I would have done if I hadn't wandered in here today."

"I won't see you hurting him."

"I'm not going to hurt him."

"There are more ways to hurt a person than physically."

"She's lying to you too," Manala reminded him .

"Maybe because she has to."

"Don't be naive."

He picked up a wrench from the wall and pointed it at Manala's head . "What did I tell you?"

The blond alpha laughed. "That you never say you're naive. Or paranoid."

I raised the wrench higher, but Manala merely snatched it from his hands and replaced it on the hook. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, but then backed up a step, anger marking her features. Clenching his fist, he said, "I'll tell James about the Scott situation and that you're going to set up the meeting here. Then you can stay here for the next meeting. Harry and the boy could use to get out of that house for a while. I'll be back later."

"Sure." My eyes flitted between Manala and Mary , wondering what the fuck was going on. "I'll see you then."

"Call me if you need anything sooner, bro."

And with that, she was gone.

Mary ?" I mumbled questioningly, my hand resting on the spot where Manala had kissed. She blinked at the sound of his name.

"Yes?"

"You're a good person."

He rolled his eyes. "That's another way of saying I'm a pushover. But on this, I need you to trust me. Lara's not as bad as you think."

"On that, we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'll see you tonight."

"I hate you for putting me in this position." She pouted.

I gave him a kiss on the cheek and winked. "I owe you one."

Leaving her alone, I headed back to my cabin, my home, where my downstairs gym was waiting to release the mounting tension before I "accidentally" bumped into the bounty hunter later tonight.

I planned to play with Lara for a while before chewing her up and spitting her out to return her empty-handed to her client with a message of a big "fuck you". The attraction was enough to do it. She might as well enjoy herself while reaping revenge. After all, Lara. had had the nerve to seek me out with the promise that Scott would pay her back, so it wouldn't take much for me to fuck her a couple of times and rock her tainted world.

That made me feel better. That made me feel more in control.

Anything to see the smirk wiped off her face when I told her I knew her dirty little secret.

Lara San

Since I didn't have a lot of clothes to choose from, I opted for my jeans and a tank top to go to the bar with Mary . My cured boots took the outfit up a notch, but I kept it casual with my jacket added to the mix. I filled my bag with everything I needed and ran a hand through my hair before running out to the garage.

The deep sleep had helped me. Food would help me more. I was suddenly starving and was ready to be satiated. But I needed to get my story straight on the drive to Mary's .

I was a struggling Idaho artist who had broken down on the way to my aunt's funeral, rather for the reading of the will. It was a solid story, but I wasn't comfortable with the idea of lying to Mary . It reeked to feel there the promise of a friendship, Mary's mood similar to mine. Regret gripped my stomach that I was about to base it all on lies.

You'll be out of here in a few days, I reminded myself.

Get in, do the work and get out. That was all I had to do. If Paul wasn't my target, I'd move on. If he was, I would knock him out, turn him over to Scott , get my uncle out of Spencer and never look back.

"Hello, Mary, " I greeted cordially when I pulled into the garage. It made me smile to see Mary in white shorts and a light pink shirt and a wrench in her hand as she frowned at the sight of the engine in front of her.

"Sorry," she replied looking up from the hood. "I was thinking about whether to try a quick fit, but I'm taking your arrival as an intervention. Especially in these shorts."

I laughed. "Put the wrench down. Hands above your head. And back away slowly."

He smiled, picked up his wallet and shoved it in his pocket. "Consider me backed up and out of oil. My mother would be proud." She linked her arm with mine, turned off the lights and pulled me behind her to close the garage blinds. "I can't help it. Cars are my passion. I love watching them transform from rust buckets to their former glory. It's a mania I have."

"How did you get into this?"

"Well," he began, leading me down a street that ran in the direction of downtown. "My father got me into it at first. He fixed his own car from time to time and took over the garage when old Joel died. He was the guy who held the vehicles in town together with shoelaces and gum, my dad used to say. My dad took over the tow truck and played around a little bit. But he was never really interested. He let me take more and more jobs when I learned to do more than change a spark plug."

"So you're a mechanic and car restorer?". I nodded with a smile. "Now I'm impressed."

"And you're an artist, you were saying?"

"I am." At least that part was the truth. Over the years, I'd done some commissioned work for people. "I love it. Like you, I guess, seeing something come out of nothing. And I love getting my hands dirty, too. Only with paint instead of grease."

"I knew we were kindred spirits," he replied, squeezing my arm tenderly. "I'm glad you broke near the creek."

"Yeah." I laughed, a metallic sound to my ears. "But I'd say I'm the lucky one." My voice trailed off in a cradle of hopelessness as I let Mary lead the way.

The Little Red Riding Hood was too crowded to say it was midweek. A few older patrons were sitting at the bar watching a game while the rest were clustered around tables or playing pool.

A few stopped what they were doing to watch when we walked in, but Mary ignored them and led me to an empty table. "Ignore the stares," she said over the chatter. "It's because you're a newbie. It's always the same thing."

"What'll you have, Mary?" a waitress asked as she approached us. She waved at me, so I waved back quickly, playing the role of cheerful and helpless.

"Two beers, please. For now."

"Okay. Two beers coming up." He nodded at me. "Is this the woman whose truck broke down?"

"That's right," Mary replied . "Luz , this is Lara . Lara , this is Luz ."

"Hello, Luz ."