SCAR (LOST CREEK SHIFTERS NOVELLAS Book 2) Page 4

  She sighed and reached up for a glass out of the kitchen cabinets before she got a bottle of spring water from the refrigerator and carried it through to the bedroom.

  Her body and mind both felt weary and she couldn’t keep track of her thoughts for one moment. There was so much racing around in her brain, and yet, she was so tired she couldn’t focus in on anything.

  Arlo had been angry, she knew that for sure. And the rest of his friends… The rest of The Unbroken Bears that had been in the bar that night, they had all seen Scar and they had all been furious.

  What if he did play a part in the murder of that child? she thought as she pulled off her jacket, and then her t-shirt over her head. She slipped the shorts down over her hips and jumped into bed in her underwear and crawled underneath the covers. Moonlight shone in from the skylight above her, at the top of the vaulted ceiling, and she looked up at the twinkling of stars.

  She didn’t know why, but she felt as if whatever Scar had come back for must be important. And she didn’t know why, but she could feel that she was going to find out why. From the way he had looked at her to the way he had made her bones shake with just one glance, Willow felt something strong and powerful, something she had never felt before.

  She reached up and turned off her lamp on the nightstand and then rolled onto her side. She pulled the blankets up around her face and shivered in her loneliness.

  She had wanted to meet someone, she was ready to open herself up to the possibility of love, and now, someone new and interesting had come into town. But he couldn’t have been less suitable if he had tried. If she ever acted on how she felt in that very moment, she was going to jeopardize her friendships and her job, but she knew, in that moment, as she lay awake and looked up at the night sky, she wasn’t going to be able to stay away.

  One look was all it took…

  Scar had gotten into her head and now she was finding it impossible to shake him free.

  This is crazy, she told herself, you don’t even know the guy. You’ve barely even spoken two words to him.

  And she laughed and rolled over and closed her eyes. Whether it was crazy or not, her dreams would be filled with visions of him. Of wild wolves and snarling fangs. Of a beast chasing her through the woods and of her loving every second of being scared.

  Whether he was going to be bad for her or not, Scar had certainly made a killer first impression. And now she couldn’t wait to see him again and find out why he was really back in town and what he had to offer.

  6.

  Willow woke the following morning with a thick head and a feeling of dread. She rolled over onto her back and looked up at the bright blue sky that was looking down on her from the skylight. She felt strange and it was unnerving. She felt different than how she had the previous morning and every other morning she could remember before it.

  She felt as if today, something great was going to happen.

  She jumped up and stretched and then she walked over to her dressing table with a spring in her step and a wide smile on her face. The clock told her that it was nearly noon and that meant she only had a few hours before her shift at the bar began again. She was on earlier than she had been the previous day, and she was glad. She couldn’t wait to get down there and find out what had happened. She couldn’t wait to see Arlo and hear all about what had happened when she had fled the scene the previous evening.

  But then she remembered his demeanor, the way he had been so angry and the way he had told her to go home…

  Maybe he wouldn’t tell her anything at all and she would have to spend the rest of her time in the dark about it all. For all she knew, Scar had already packed his bags and left town.

  She went into the bathroom and ran the shower. As she stepped into it and felt the water cascade down over her body, all she could think about was the touch of a man. Out of nowhere, she was craving it badly. Before, it had been the company she had wanted, but now her body was crying out for someone else, not just her mind.

  She climbed back out and wrapped herself up in a towel. She could tell from the warm breeze that was coming in through her open windows that it was going to be another lovely day, and she could already hear that the town was busy down on Main Street.

  She rough dried her hair and put on her makeup. And then she reached into her closet and pulled out a long floaty dress and slipped it on. As she tied the straps behind her neck and looked at herself in the mirror, she could sense a change in her. It had been a while since she had worn something so feminine, and she recognized, instantly, that maybe her realization that she was open to the idea of a relationship was already having a positive effect on her.

  She grabbed her purse and made her way out of her front door, down the winding stairs to the bottom floor and then out of the main exit of her apartment building. She stood and looked right and then left. The clouds had parted and she could see high up into the mountains. The rain the previous evening had washed away some of the snow, but the ski lifts were still traveling high up into the heavens and she could see way up there, there was still some white, before the mountain itself disappeared into a fog of cloud.

  She smiled at a familiar face as they walked past and called good morning to her, and then she made her way down into Main Street and headed for her favorite coffee house.

  The Hideout had opened the previous summer and had since become one of the most popular places in town to head to and spend the day. A lot of the younger crowd from Lost Springs who weren’t yet old enough to get into the bars milled around in there with their study books and tried to look intellectual. Whilst tourists who were trying to acclimatize to the cold of the mountains warmed themselves with big mugs of hot chocolate and marshmallows, they sat around the roaring fires.

  Willow stepped inside and instantly felt the heat hit her. For someone who had lived in town for her whole life, she never saw the need for the coffee house to be so hot inside, but she kind of liked it anyway. She approached the counter and ordered a latte from the girl who was serving and then she turned and made her way to one of the tables by the window. She sat down and looked at her cell phone. She had no messages or missed calls and she instantly felt a pang of disappointment. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but sometimes, she just wished that someone would contact her with something exciting.

  The waitress brought over her coffee and Willow smiled and thanked her. She stirred it with a long spoon and sipped it slowly as she looked out at the life on the street. She was almost heading into a day-dream when, suddenly, a familiar face seemed to move out of the crowd and stop on the other side of the street.

  Through the crowd, she could feel a pair of eyes on her, and when she finally snapped herself out of her own imagination, she sat bolt upright and stiffened.

  It was him…

  Scar…

  He was standing there, looking into The Hideout from across the street and he smiled when he saw that he had caught her attention. Willow felt her heart begin to race and she felt herself smiling too. She felt hot on the inside and her mind was whirring. She wanted to see him, but she knew that she shouldn’t.

  Oh God, she thought as he took a step closer and started to make his way over to the coffee house. Her insides were tingling and she felt a rush of excitement thunder through her. But she was also nervous and apprehensive. She had hoped to see him properly again, but she hadn’t expected it to be so soon.

  The door to The Hideout opened and she turned to look to her right. Scar’s ice blue eyes were fixed on her and she smiled at him as he stepped inside. She looked away and took a deep breath. She had to compose herself, the last thing she wanted to do was make a total ass out of herself like she had the previous evening when she hadn’t even been able to string a sentence together at the sight of him. He had caught her so completely off guard.

  She watched as he made his way over to the counter casually and she couldn’t help but let her eyes travel down his muscular shoulders to his taught butt which
looked great in his jeans. Her eyebrow raised instinctively, but then he turned and looked at her and she flashed her eyes up to meet his.

  He smirked and started to walk across the coffee house toward her and Willow’s heart began to pound so loud she couldn’t concentrate on anything else. When he was directly in front of her, she turned her face up to meet his and as he looked down at her, she felt something so powerful she couldn’t move.

  “Hi, Willow,” he said, almost in a whisper.

  He knows my name. How does he know my name? She thought. But then she realized, she knew his too…

  “Hello,” she said, her voice catching in her throat.

  “Can I?” he asked as he held out his hand and motioned to the empty chair opposite her.

  Willow nodded and moved back as he passed her and sat down. He rested his steaming mug of coffee on the table between them and then shifted from side to side as he maneuvered his way out of his leather jacket. Underneath, his tanned arms were thick and muscular and it made her bite her bottom lip. He looked so damn good. So tanned and rugged, with a smattering of dark stubble across his jawline and top lip.

  “It’s Scar, isn’t it?” she asked almost in a whisper as she let her eyes trail down the line that worked its way from his eye right down to his chin.

  He smiled and traced his index finger down the line itself and said, “How did you guess?” with a wink.

  Willow instantly felt embarrassed.

  “I didn’t mean because of…” she began, but then she stopped herself.

  “I know,” he said warmly. His eyes were so deep, every time she looked into them, she felt as if she could fall in and never return to the real world. There was something magical about him, and even though she knew he was bad and that she really shouldn’t be speaking with him, she couldn’t help but be drawn to him. She couldn’t help but want to know more and learn all she could.

  “Do you remember me?” he asked cheekily. “Or was it just last night that made you aware of me and my name?” He cocked his head to the side and he looked so fucking sexy she could have dived over the top of the table and started to rip off the rest of his clothes right then and there.

  “Remember you?” she asked curiously. “Well, I certainly remember the stories.” The second the words had left her mouth, she regretted them. His face and mood darkened and she tried to pull it back. “What I mean is,” she continued, “I think with me working in Arlo’s Bar, I’ve heard a few things about… erm… what happened, all those years ago.”

  Scar leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. He sighed and furrowed his brow.

  “And here I was thinking you reacted the way you did because you remembered,” he said almost to himself.

  Willow sat forward and wanted to reach out to him, she wanted to tell him not to be offended, but she didn’t even know what to say or where to begin. The truth was that she had recognized him, but she had no idea why.

  “I did. Well,” she said, “I do recognize you…”

  “But?” he seemed to laugh. “You would rather listen to idle gossip?”

  Willow cast her mind back to all of the times she had heard what had happened to Freddy in the woods all those years before. Torn apart by wolves…that’s what people had said. Torn apart by Blu and Scar. And now she was sitting with him… A murderer. She must be mad.

  “I’m sorry,” she said as she shook her head and got to her feet. “I don’t remember you. And considering the circumstances, we really shouldn’t be speaking.”

  She picked up her purse and gave him a weak smile.

  She didn’t want to leave him there, and the way he was looking up at her, she could tell that he didn’t want her to either. But what would happen if she stayed? If she felt like this after barely spending any time with him, where were her feelings going to lead her? Would she end up falling in too deep?

  “Listen,” he said as he leaned out across the table and took hold of her hand. “I know this is complicated, and there is a lot of shit flying around. But I have pretty good instincts, and I can sense something about you and me. And I want to get to know you.”

  She was as taken aback as she had ever been. No man had ever been so straightforward and also so mirrored in the way she was feeling. She shifted uneasily on the spot for a second and looked around to see who else was in The Hideout. There were plenty of familiar faces and a lot of strangers, but no one seemed even the slightest bit interested in her and Scar sitting there; it was like they were invisible.

  “Just enjoy this coffee with me,” he said as he let go of her hand and sat back, his shoulders wide and his stance challenging. “That’s all I’m asking. By the end of us chatting, I’m sure you’ll have made up your mind, one way or the other, whether you want to get to know me.”

  His tongue flicked out across his bottom teeth and it sent a shiver through her. The pull to him was so intense and all she could think about was having that tongue running all over her. The feeling of it grazing her skin and his stubble chaffing against her as he kissed every inch of her.

  Stop it, Willow, her conscience hissed. You are out of control.

  But for once, she didn’t care. For once, she was going to listen to the devil on her shoulder and she was going to give him a chance. She had pretty good instincts too. And something was telling her that Scar was going to be someone important to her, and she shouldn’t risk passing him by.

  7.

  “I can’t believe you don’t remember,” he said gruffly as he looked into her eyes and held her there with his wicked smile.

  She had decided to stay and they had been talking for over an hour, their coffees long cold and the world now thoroughly put to rights. They had talked about everything and anything, from their favorite TV shows to what they usually ate for breakfast. But they still hadn’t touched on the burning topic that was hanging in the air above them like a dark cloud.

  Why was Scar back in town? Why had he left in the first place? And how did he and Willow know each other from before?

  “Well, why don’t you enlighten me?” she asked with a raised eyebrow as she swirled what was left of the foam in the bottom of her long, glass mug.

  “We were all kids together,” he said. “We all used to hang out around town and in the parks. I can’t believe you don’t remember me. Maybe I should be offended.”

  Willow threw her head back and laughed.

  “I knew you were familiar, but you just kind of blended into the background of my memories, sorry! Now I feel terrible!” She laughed and buried her face in her hands.

  Scar shook his head and tutted, but a smirk flitted out across his face.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I probably only remember you so well because I had a huge crush on you.” He looked at her cheekily and she felt her cheeks flush crimson.

  “Seriously?” she asked.

  He nodded and clicked his teeth.

  “Huge,” he mouthed again and his eyes glinted.

  Her heart was fluttering in her chest and she wanted to ask him more. She wanted to know all about what he had seen in her when they were younger, but she also wanted to know the truth. She needed to know the truth.

  “But then you left?” she asked cautiously. “Why did you leave?”

  For all she knew, maybe it was all just rumors. Maybe he hadn’t done anything bad and he had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  “I think that’s another story for another day,” he said as he looked down at his watch and then got to his feet.

  Willow did the same and looked at him confused. They had just spent a great couple of hours together, talking more deeply and easily than she had ever spoken with anyone before in her entire life, and now he was disappearing; leaving her there wanting more and still all of the same questions in her mind.

  “I better be heading off,” he said. “I’ve got a lot to sort out this afternoon.”

  He picked up his black leather jacket and slipped it onto his shoulders.


  “But…” she stammered. “Do you have to go already?”

  Somehow, Scar had managed to turn the tables without her even realizing. Now it was Willow begging for him to stay.

  “I’m sorry, babe,” he said with a sigh, “but I do.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

  “It was great talking with you, a great way to come back to town, in fact,” he smiled. “I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.”

  He turned on his heel and began to walk back toward the main door of the coffee house and Willow felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. He had reeled her in and now he was throwing her back into the ocean to flounder all on her own.

  “You work at Arlo’s right?” he asked suddenly as he stopped by the doorway and turned back for a moment.

  Willow nodded.

  “I’m not welcome around there, but I could come and see you tonight after you get off,” he said it seriously, with no fun attached and it made Willow’s heart race even harder.

  “That would be great,” she found herself blurting out before she even had a chance to realize that she was saying it.

  “Good,” he smiled. “I’ll be waiting.”

  And then he turned and he disappeared outside into the crowd. The bustle on the street was intense and he was swallowed up into the throng of people before Willow even had a chance to try and keep track of him.

  She collapsed back down on her seat and breathed out deeply. She had no idea what had just happened. He had come and found her, they had spoken for over two hours, and yet, she still didn’t have any answers to the burning questions that were plaguing her.

  Now she was going to have to go to work that evening still not knowing, and just hope that Arlo wasn’t going to be suspicious.

  She couldn’t explain why, but she had the feeling that they had gotten Scar all wrong. And maybe she was the only person who could help him and bring him back to Lost Creek properly.

  As the afternoon wore on, Willow found herself becoming more and more nervous about heading over to the bar to start her shift.