Novak Raven (Harper's Mountains Book 4) (13 page)

“Hell yeah, I owe you.”

“For what?”

“We’ll just call this an apology for what my mate pulled this morning.”

“What did Ryder do?” Harper asked, the joking tone gone from her voice.

“Uh, he interviewed me.”

Lexi snickered and shook her head. “Avery’s being too nice. He’s mad about Weston keeping his pen pal a secret when they were kids. Ryder was a little monster to her first thing this morning.”

“You mean Ryder was a big monster,” Avery murmured. “He’s got a lot of muscles. I shit you not, he had to walk sideways through the bedroom door.” More heat in her cheeks when the girls laughed. She wished she had a better filter. At least they didn’t seem to be laughing
at
her like the people from Raven’s Hollow had done, so there was that.

Lexi handed her a set of keys with a little wooden owl dangling from them. Ryder’s animal. “Thanks, Lexi,” she said softly, then stood to leave.

“Do you want to come to the wedding?” Alana blurted out. “I mean, you and Weston are a thing…right?”

Avery didn’t know how to answer. Yes? At least, they’d slept together last night. More heat in her cheeks, and she couldn’t meet their gazes. It was still too soon to put a label on them, but… “I hope we’re a thing. And yes, I would be honored to come to your wedding.” Determined not to ruin the moment with her running mouth, she turned to flee to the black Jeep Wrangler parked by her Civic.

“Avery?” Harper asked.

Avery hunched under the seriousness of her tone and turned slowly. “Yes?”

“I have a crew to protect—one that means the entire world to me. Should I expect trouble from your people?”

Avery mulled that over for a few moments. She understood Harper’s desire to keep her friends safe. This place, these mountains, were a paradise, and they housed important and good people. “I don’t think so. The ravens are scared of you.”

Harper stood to her full height and locked her oddly-colored gaze on Avery. “Are
you
in trouble from your people?”

“No.” Avery tried and failed to smile. “I don’t have any people.”

Ryder glared at her from the porch of Big Flight’s main building and slurped hard on a swirly straw hanging from his lemonade. Or margarita?

“Please tell me you aren’t drinking an hour before a tour,” she said, shutting the door to Lexi’s Jeep.

“Please tell me you didn’t steal my lover’s car.”

Okay, they were starting off on the wrong foot again. “I got you a present.”

He narrowed his bright blue eyes suspiciously. “Is it boudoir pictures of Lexi or beer?”

Avery frowned. “No.”

Ryder blinked slowly and slurped loudly on his straw, showing his absolute disinterest in her present.

Weston came out of the front door looking like a tall drink of water in a Texas summer with his holey jeans and white T-shirt. He grinned when he saw her, but behind that smile, something was off. He looked…tired.

He jogged over to her and shocked her silly when he picked her up and squeezed her. He kissed her lips hard enough to knock their teeth together. “Who am I?” he teased.

Oh, she got it. He was making fun of her first kiss. With a firm swat on the arm, she muttered, “Stop.”

“Barf,” Ryder drawled. “I’m going to barf my margarita.”

She
knew
he was drinking.

Ignoring Ryder like a pro, Weston said, “You’re here early.”

“Not as early as I wanted to be.”

“I was going to come pick you up in a few minutes.”

“Well, I didn’t want to wait any longer to see you.”

“Still barfing,” Ryder called. “And now you’re blocking my view of beautiful mother nature. Can you move to the right by like, seven miles?”

Unable to help herself, she cupped the scruff on his cheeks and grinned. “Happy birthday, Weston.”

He buried his face against her neck and chuckled warmly. “Thank you.”

“I got you a present.”

“I thought you got
me
a present,” Ryder called.

Avery sighed as Wes settled her on her feet, then pulled him by the hand up onto the porch. Carefully, she tugged two small, newspaper-wrapped presents from her purse and handed them to the guys.

Ryder set his empty glass down with a clunk and tore into the wrapping.

“It’s not much,” she warned them, suddenly feeling self-conscious. What if this had been a terrible idea, and they hated it?

Ryder reached his gift first and plucked the orange bear paw beer bottle opener from the newsprint with a frown. “What am I going to do with a keychain like—”

“Ryder,” Weston murmured, holding up his shiny blue one.

“Oh my God, you got us matching beer bottle openers,” Ryder said, his eyes huge. A gleeful grin took his face as he began securing the ring to his keys.

“Avery?” Weston asked. “How much money do you have left?”

She ducked her gaze in shame and refused to answer. It didn’t matter. She wanted to do this for them.

“How much?” Weston asked, gentler.

With a sigh, she answered, “Ninety-eight cents.”

“To your name?” Ryder asked.

She nodded once.

“And you spent money on these?” Ryder asked.

Another quick nod as Weston slid his hand around her waist and hugged her to his side.

Ryder cleared his throat loudly once, twice. He stood and hugged her and Weston in a quick, rough bear hug that nearly cracked all her ribs. In a hoarse voice, he said, “I like you more than Bart now.” He jogged down the stairs and pushed his keys into his back pocket as he escaped toward the ATV garage.

Ryder liked her more than a worm in a pile of cat crap, so she’d just been promoted to eleventh best friend. She shouldn’t be this touched, but her eyes went a little misty.

By the time she turned around, Weston was wearing that crooked grin she adored.

“This is the best birthday present,” he murmured, hooking the shiny beer bottle opener to his keychain. “Is the bear paw cut-out because of my dad?”

“Yeah. And your crew, and the crew you grew up in. And the first day I saw you here, you were drinking a beer, so I knew you liked the stuff. You told me in a letter one time that your favorite color was blue. I picked up Ryder’s this morning. I asked Lexi what his favorite color was, and they only had one orange bottle opener left.” She kicked at the edge of a floor board with the tip of her hiking boot. “I don’t want your relationships to be stressed because of me.”

Weston shoved his keys in his front pocket and pulled her into a crushing hug and rasped his beard against her neck. “You just did more than you even know, Ave.”

“It’s just a keychain,” she said, blushing with pleasure as she hugged his neck up tight.

“Nah, don’t do that. Don’t downplay it. You spent the last of your money on me and my best friend, fixing something I’ve been failing at all day. I can tell you just made Ryder really happy. And you made me really happy, too. The thought you put into this… I’ll always think about how sweet you are when I see it on my keys.”

“Good,” she murmured happily. But his eyes were still off. Still a little too hollow for her liking and pitch black, like his raven was all riled up, and for what? He sounded okay. She traced the dark circles under his eyes and frowned. “What’s wrong? Did you not sleep well?”

The smile drifted from his face, and he gave his gaze to the woods. Cupping his cheeks again, she brought him back to her. “You can tell me. Did you have a vision? Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yes, and no I don’t want to talk about this one. Not now. Let’s leave this one alone, okay?”

It must’ve been a bad one then. She hated this, hated that he had to endure something so awful. Hated that he couldn’t get good sleep. Hated that he felt like he couldn’t talk to her about it. She leaned up and pressed her lips gently to his. “When you feel like it, I’ll be waiting.”

“Hmm,” he said against her lips. He pulled away suddenly and said, “I got you something, too.”

She let off a playful gasp and linked her hands behind his neck. “Something like what?”

She could feel the relief wafting from him at her willingness to let the last conversation go. It wasn’t her way to push a man who didn’t want to be pushed, and Weston seemed to be happier when their chats were lighter. So was she. Joking with him made her feel so delightfully normal.

Weston grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the shop. “Come here quick. I hear the first car of the tour coming up the road.” As Weston led her inside, she could hear it, too, the faraway roar of a truck engine, or perhaps an SUV.

On the desk in the office sat a beer can vase of small-stemmed wild flowers in purples, blues, and yellows.

“Weston,” she whispered as he handed it to her.

“I called my parents this morning and told them about you. Told them about the way the council used you without your knowledge, and my Da told me I should make you a knife and pick you flowers.” Weston ducked his grin to the floor. “I’ll work on the knife, but the flowers I can do today. I haven’t ever been anyone’s first, you know? I want today to be special for you.”

Avery hugged the blue beer can of flowers to her chest and smelled them to hide her mushy smile. “I’ve never gotten flowers before. And I’ve never had a knife. Will you teach me how to use one?”

“Hell yeah, woman. I’ll have you comfortable with a blade. We’ll get you on that chainsaw as soon as you feel ready. There’s this, too.” He handed her a white envelope. “I’ve decided we’re doing paychecks once a week now instead of every two weeks. I cut Ryder his first check this morning, too, just so you know I’m not giving you special treatment.” Weston slipped his hand to her waist and rested his cheek against hers. “You’ve done really good work, Avery. I’m glad we hired you.”

And then he left her there, stunned. The door up front closed, and she set the flowers down gingerly and opened the envelope. There were two pieces of paper. The first was her paycheck. She wanted to cry when she saw the numbers. Not because it was riches, or anything like that, but because this was the first paycheck she’d ever earned. She’d worked hard and earned her way, and she didn’t only have a dollar to her name anymore.

She was going to be okay.

Carefully, she set the check on the desk and unfolded the other piece of paper.

Weston’s handwriting was chicken-scratch, just like when he’d been a teenager, but she could read every word easily.

Ave,

I should’ve written to you way before now, but I dropped the ball a decade ago. Here is the first letter of many to come. I promise I won’t disappear on you again. I’ll be someone you can depend on, and I know it’ll take a while for you to trust that again, but I can be patient. I’ll earn it back. So, it’s my birthday, but that isn’t the best part about today. The best part is that first thing this morning, out in the woods, I got to Change with you for the first time. And then you gave me even more. I got to touch you. I got to kiss you, and be with you. I got to be your first, and it was one of the biggest moments in my entire life. Keep this in your box with my other letters. Someday, when we’re old and gray, it’ll be fun to go back through these and piece together our story.

Later gator,

Weston

P. S. You said you were going to make me fall in love with you.

Done.

Avery stood with her hand over her mouth, a shocked sound stuck in her throat as she read the last line.

Weston was in love with her?

He’d even signed it like he used to when they were pen pals.
Later gator
, and she would respond on hers by signing
after awhile crocodile
.

She could hear people outside now, talking and laughing with Weston and Ryder, so in a rush, she pulled a piece of computer paper from the printer and scribbled across the middle.

Weston,

I love you back. Always have.

After awhile crocodile,

Ave

She folded it in half, set it in the middle of his desk, zipped her paycheck and his letter into her purse, and grabbed the beer can vase of flowers because she wanted to look at them all day. She set the bouquet by the cash register out front and booted up the system so she could start checking in the tour. There was a stand of tourist sunglasses on the counter, and she caught a glimpse of herself in one of the reflective lenses. She was grinning from ear-to-ear, and for a shocking moment, she didn’t recognize herself. Had she ever smiled like this before?

The landline rang, the front door opened, and the chaos began. Big Flight was officially open, and she was on the clock. She was earning her own money, gaining independence by the day, and now she had the love of a good man. Real love. The kind she hadn’t even dared to dream of. The kind that wasn’t supposed to exist for a female raven shifter like her.

This feeling was better than flying.