Lone Wolf of Piston, page 1
part #3 of Wolves of Piston Series
LONE WOLF OF PISTON
(WOLVES OF PISTON, BOOK 3)
By T. S. JOYCE
Lone Wolf of Piston
Copyright © 2022 by T. S. Joyce
Copyright © 2022, T. S. Joyce
First electronic publication: November 2022
T. S. Joyce
www.tsjoyce.com
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental. The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Published in the United States of America.
Editor: Alyxandra Miller
Other Books in this Series
Zombie Wolf of Piston (Book 1)
Brother Wolf of Piston (Book 2)
Traitor Wolf of Piston (Book 4)
War Wolf of Piston (Book 5)
Contents
Copyright
Other Books in this Series
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Ten(Ten)
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Up Next in this Series
Newsletter Sign-Up
More Series from this Author
For More from this Author
About the Author
Chapter One
Kelli Kash wished she was anywhere but here.
Her sister, Sabrina, was hitting on the bartender, and he was falling for it. Kelli almost wanted to tell him to run. Sabrina was a man-eater.
She spun her iced water slowly between her fingers and made a puffing sound as she tried to busy herself with studying the liquor bottles lined up behind the bar. Sabrina was leaning all the way over the bar now, her cleavage on display as she asked ditzy questions about how to mix drinks. She took a break to slide back into her chair and check the time on her phone, so Kelli took the opportunity to try and strike up a conversation.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” she asked over the noise of the bar.
Sabrina tossed her a surprised look, like she’d forgotten Kelli was even here. Truth be told, that wouldn’t surprise her. “What?” Sabrina asked.
“You said you wanted to meet up to talk about something?”
“Oh. No, I just said that because I knew you would flake out on me. Lauren and Bella were busy tonight where their stupid families, and I needed a wingwoman.”
Kelli narrowed her eyes. She smelled a rat. “A wingwoman for what?”
Sabrina checked the door, and ignored her question.
“It would’ve been nice to catch up at a nice dinner or something,” she tried again.
“So you can tell me your crazy stories again? No thank you.”
That stung. “I’m not crazy,” Kelli said softly. Everyone in Gunnison thought that. At least, that’s what it felt like.
“I mean…” Sabrina arched her perfect eyebrows and pursed her red-painted lips. “You did have a complete mental meltdown.”
Kelli shook her head and bit her tongue. No, she hadn’t. She’d just asked that her family believe her. No one else had, and she’d felt like her family should’ve had her back, but they hadn’t.
“That guy isn’t really your type,” she murmured, tipping her chin toward the bartender, who was smiling at her sister as he made a pair of margaritas. “Where’s Abe? Is he meeting us here?”
“Abe and I are on a break for tonight. The bartender is holding my attention better. He’s part of the plan, baby sister.”
She hated when Sabrina called her that. Did Sabrina’s boyfriend, Abe, even know they were on a break tonight? Probably not. Probably they were just in a fight, likely started by Sabrina, and now she was going to make some purposeful mistakes to hurt Abe. That was Sabrina’s style. Kelli took a sip of her iced water and asked, “What plan?”
“Maybe I’m getting us free drinks,” Sabrina muttered as she rifled through her purse.
“I’m drinking water. It’s free.”
“Well, you are a loser, Kelli, who is about as much fun to hang out with as that table over there. See?” She pointed to the one in the darkest corner. “The dirty one? If you were a table, you would be that one.”
This had been a bad idea. Sabrina hadn’t changed at all, and whatever reason she had for inviting Kelli out tonight, it wasn’t anything she would be interested in. Sabrina’s plans always ended up entertaining Sabrina, and hurting someone else. She honestly didn’t know how they shared the same genetics sometimes.
She took a long pull of the water and stood, adjusted her purse strap on her shoulder, and gave Sabrina a wave. “It’s getting late.”
“Ugh, Kelli,” Sabrina said in utter exasperation. “Can you just pretend to be cool for one night?” She cast a quick glance at the front door that was swinging open. “Oh my God, he’s here. Okay. Pretend I said something funny.”
Confused by the mood swing, Kelli stared at the two unfamiliar men who had just ducked under the doorframe. They were both tall and looked like identical twins. A pretty woman followed after the second one, talking animatedly to one of them. “Do you know them?”
“I know who is with them. Stop staring,” she snapped.
Kelli turned back toward the bar and slowly sat on the stool. Sabrina was dragging the bartender’s attention back to her, and the flirting got real thick. She was leaning over the bar with her leather pants clad ass poking out toward the door. Ugh. It was butt bait, and men fell for it all the time. She knew, because she’d seen her sister use this move since they were teens.
Yak.
Sabrina glanced back, and her bright blue eyes lit up. A smile painted her cherry red lips, and as the next man strode through the door, everything became real clear.
It wasn’t Sabrina’s boyfriend, Abe.
Flex was here.
Shit.
“You said you were done messing with him,” Kelli whispered.
“I don’t mess with him,” Sabrina gritted out. “We play games.”
“No, you play games. He’s a normal person who clearly hates games.”
“Shhh.” She turned back to the bartender and reached forward, felt the texture of his flannel. It probably felt like every other flannel. If Kelli could get scored for rolling her eyes right now, she would have straight tens across the board. Mister Bartender was practically melting under Sabrina’s touch. Bored with watching the mating rituals of barflies, she rested her cheek on her hand and turned to watch Flex.
He followed the others to the dirty table Sabrina had compared her to, all the way across the bar. He removed his winter coat as he went, and Kelli’s eyebrows arched straight up. The man had been working out, clearly. The curves of his muscles stretched the short sleeves of his white T-shirt. He looked tan, like he’d just gotten back from the beach or something. No one looked tan in Gunnison, Colorado, this deep into winter except the regulars at the tanning beds, but here Flex was, looking like sunshine in a dark winter. His smile was easy as he talked to the curvy beauty who sat between him and one of the twins. Straight white teeth…and were those dimples? How had she never noticed dimples on him before? Sabrina had dated him for three years, and he’d come to a bunch of family dinners, but for the life of her, Kelli couldn’t remember him ever smiling. Probably because Sabrina leeched the soul right out of him with her drama and need for pointless attention all the time. He filled out those Levi’s well. He sat with his back to her and ran his hand over his hair, which was cut shorter on the sides than when she’d last seen him a year or so ago. He’d grown it out on top and mussed it with some kind of product. He probably smelled good.
Flex looked good, and that made her stomach drop even more. Sabrina had chewed this man up more times than she could count, and she remembered that sometimes he had looked closed-off when she’d seen him around town. Tonight, however, he wore a smile, and she’d rarely seen those on him. At least around her sister, when they had been dating. Sabrina must’ve been on a dry spell with the men in this town to aim her sights back at Flex. That, or she was bored. Or he’d moved on. Ooooh, that felt right. She bet Flex had started dating someone else and her sister had caught wind, and Toxic Sabrina, the man-ruiner, had been revived.
“Hello?” Sabrina asked, waving her hand in front of Kelli’s face. “Did you hear anything I just asked you?”
“What? Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Yeah, well neither is he. I need you to do your wingwoman stuff.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
“I need you to take a beer over to Flex. His favorite beer. A Michelob Ultra—”
“He
“I think I know him better than you, Kelli.” She slid a Michelob Ultra over to her. “Take this to him, and tell him our family misses him at Sunday dinners. And then strike up a conversation and slip it in there that I’ve just broken up with my boyfriend—”
“Last night—”
“Kelli,” she said, and inhaled deeply, and blew air out for a three-count, like she was an idiot. “I need you to bring his attention to me.”
“Why don’t you do it yourself?”
“Because that’s not how I work. And truly, you could stand to learn a few things. How long has it been since you’ve even been on a date?”
“Two weeks.”
“Well…that is very shocking news.”
“You haven’t talked to me outside of family dinners in a year, Sabrina. You never ask me about my life or anything about me, really.”
“Oh my God, you are terrible at this. Really, Kelli? Family drama at this moment? I’ve been waiting all day for this and you’re going to make this all about you, aren’t you? What do you need? Do you need me to hold your hand and ask about every detail of your day?”
“I’m not saying that—”
“Thank God. Just…please do this. I really love him. My life is boring without him around.”
And that was Kelli’s least favorite thing about her sister. Flex was clearly happy without her, but Sabrina couldn’t be happy unless she was playing games with a man.
She should just walk out. She should leave and avoid all of this storm that was brewing, because Kelli hated seeing people get hurt. Hated it. Happiness was her gig.
“Be a good sister, for once,” Sabrina pleaded.
Pursing her lips, Kelli grabbed the beer bottle and stood.
“Thank you,” Sabrina called as she walked away.
Kelli shook her head and made her way through a slight crowd that was gathering on the small dance floor that stood between her and the table of giants in the back. She said, “Excuse me,” to an older gentleman headed for the jukebox on the wall, and then looked up to find Flex turned in his chair, staring right at her. God, she’d forgotten how strange his eye color was. It was this light brown that was right on the verge of amber. She startled to a stop, but then pressed on. The smile had faded from his lips, and a frown knitted his eyebrows.
“H-hi,” she said to him.
“What do you want, Kelli?” he asked low.
“Uuuuh,” she said nervously. She looked around the table and gave an awkward wave to his friends. “Hi, I’m Kelli.” She jammed a thumb behind her in Sabrina’s direction. “I’m Flex’s ex’s sister. Ha. That kind of rhymed. Flex’s exes.”
“Dude, you have an ex?” The dark-eyed twin asked, looking truly baffled. Huh. Maybe they were all new friends.
“It’s nice to meet you,” the pretty woman with the glasses and the messy bun said, offering her hand for a shake. “I’m Shae.”
“Kelli,” she said again. Cheeks burning from her awkwardness, Kelli shook the woman’s hand and then figured honesty was best. “I’m supposed to come over here and kick off some game my dumb sister is trying to start with you,” she told Flex. “I’m supposed to give you this beer she thinks you like, even though I tried to tell her you drink Banquets, and talk about how the family misses you, but they don’t. And I don’t think you should join any of Sabrina’s games. You look…” She shifted her weight to the other side and wished she wasn’t such an easy blusher. “You look good, Flex. You look happy. Stay that way. And maybe take your friends to any bar but here, because my sister knew you would be here. If you have a girlfriend or something joining you, she will destroy the night.”
Over the course of her rambling, the frown had softened on Flex’s handsome features, and his eyes had widened in surprise.
“You’re going to have hell to pay with that one, aren’t you?” he asked, tipping his head in Sabrina’s direction.
“What else is new?” she asked through a lopsided grin. “Do you like these?” she asked Shae as she held up the beer.
“Sure,” Shae said softly, and Kelli handed it over.
She hadn’t done one gosh-dang thing her sister had asked her to.
“It was very nice to meet you all. Flex…it’s good to see you again. Happy. It’s good to see you happy. Now, go on. I’m not meaning to get all territorial in here, but don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya. That means in the crack. Don’t let the door hit you in the crack on your way out. Save your night. My sister’s on the prowl.”
She gave Shae a little wave and made her way toward the exit with no intention of explaining herself to Sabrina. Unfortunately, her sister had been wearing high heels since she was a zygote, and was very good at running in them without breaking her ankles. She caught up to Kelli before she could escape to the door. The angry clacking of her sister’s high heels would haunt her dreams tonight.
“What did you say to him,” she demanded, yanking her around by the arm. Her nails were sharp.
“I told him to run,” Kelli said, pulling her arm from Sabrina’s grasp.
“Why would you do that?”
“Because he deserves better.”
Sabrina flinched back like Kelli had just slapped her across the face. “Better than me?” The shock in her question was gross.
“Call me when you grow up,” Kelli said, making her way for the door. This time she really did escape, and when the cold air hit her burning cheeks, it felt so good. The breath froze in front of her face as she dug into her purse for her keys and made her way down the icy sidewalk toward the parking lot where she’d parked her car. She passed the alley on the side of the bar she’d just come out of, and froze when she saw the giant men coming out of the side exit.
“Hey,” Shae called with a friendly wave. “Long time no see.”
Kelli let off a little laugh and said, “Escaping out the side exit I see.”
The three men were already striding down the opposite way of the alley, but Shae was lingering. “Flex took your warning seriously. Ummm, thank you for the heads-up. It’s been a while since we all had a night out together.”
“No problem at all. Have a good night.”
“Yeah,” Shae said softly. “Night.” She looked like she wanted to say more, but shook her head and followed after the three men.
Huh. Nice lady. She gave off really good mojo. With a private smile, Kelli continued her journey to her car. Tonight had unpleasant parts to it, but she’d also met Shae and got to see Flex happy, and now she had this good feeling heading back to her car, which meant she really was a terrible sister, as Sabrina had hinted, because she’d definitely ruined her game tonight and Kelli didn’t care even one percent.
In fact, she was going to go home, snuggle her cat, Biscuits, make a TV dinner and watch reruns of the Bachelor, and enjoy this wild and crazy Friday night solo.
She made it to her hunter green Jeep Grand Cherokee, scrambled up inside, and waited for the car to warm up. As the air finally started blowing warm, her phone vibrated with a text.
Probably Sabrina calling her a boring table again.
She looked down at the screen and froze. It was a text from Flex.
Geez, she had forgotten she even had his number. When she opened the text thread, she saw that the last time they had talked on here was two years ago, right before he and Sabrina had broken up, when her sister had made Kelli text him pictures of this $15,000 diamond engagement ring she wanted him to buy her.
She cringed a little in embarrassment. She’d totally forgotten about all of that.
The new text said, Big Stax off Main. I owe you a beer for the heads-up.
Mayday.
Carefully, Kelli placed the phone face up on the passenger’s seat and stared at it until the screen went dark. Of course she couldn’t go to another bar and hang out with Sabrina’s ex-boyfriend. Of course she couldn’t do that. Even if she didn’t like her sister much, that was going against girl-code.
She inhaled deeply, picked the phone back up, and typed out, Sabrina wouldn’t like that. Send.
Suit yourself. Up to you. Shae is asking about hanging with you. She just said to tell you she will make me buy you a Michelob Ultra. I told her you hate beer. Something about it tasting like piss water.
