The nail in the coffin was that most of these guys were rough, hard-drinking, macho-posturing sorts, and Grey had left that behind him long ago. These days, he wanted to keep to himself and just maintain a certain level of politeness with everyone else.
But of course, not all of his fellow loggers felt the same. Most of them left him alone, but some, like Matt Finch, were assholes about it. It made him long for the day when he could leave this job and this town far behind him.
Hopefully not too far in the future, now.
For the moment, he just stared at Finch, meeting his eyes in a clear challenge, and waited.
Matt tried to hold the eye contact, but only managed a few seconds. He broke away with a muttered, “Kitty’s going to get what’s coming to him one of these days.”
Grey shook his head and turned to packing up his truck for the long drive home to his cabin.
There was nothing he would’ve liked more than to challenge Matt to a real fight. And he was confident he could win.
After all, he’d seen Matt’s bear form, and it wasn’t impressive. Snow leopards might be more compact than bears, but he bet Matt didn’t know how to use what bulk he had.
Still, Grey wanted to keep his job more. It had been made very clear to him when he was hired that any fighting among the workers—in any form—was grounds for immediate termination. So he couldn’t fight Matt.
But there weren’t any rules against thinking about it really hard.
“Hey.” It was John Olsen, a badger shifter, coming up on his other side. He normally wasn’t part of the hostile crowd.
“What?” Grey asked warily.
“Don’t listen to that guy, he just likes to hear himself talk. Come to Ryder’s Lodge with us. We’ll drink to Danny’s health.”
About to refuse automatically, Grey hesitated at the mention of Danny.
“No need to stick around for the fights and the throwing up and the passing out.” John’s mouth twitched wryly, acknowledging that these nights maybe weren’t as fun as all the guys always insisted they were. “Just a round or two for Danny.”
Grey stayed silent for a moment, thinking it over…then nodded once. He could make an appearance in Danny’s honor, then slip out before the drinking got too intense.
“Great.” John slapped Grey’s shoulder, grinning at the look Grey sent his way for it, and sauntered off to his own truck.
Great, Grey echoed to himself. He’d just agreed to go hang out with a group of men who at best tolerated him, at worst hated his guts.
Sounded real great.
***
Denise honked outside, and Ali grabbed her purse and headed to the door at speed.
Any reservations she’d had about going out had vanished. Paul had just gotten home, and he and Molly were arguing. She didn’t want to get pulled into it, but if she stayed home, she probably would be. If her chances at a quiet night were disappearing, she might as well go out and have a good time.
Denise glanced over at her as she slid into the passenger seat. “Looking good, girl.”
Ali was dressed in a flared skirt and a top that showed off her extremely generous curves, and super-high-heeled sandals that she was proud to say she could walk in like they were sneakers.
It was one of her standard going-out outfits, and she’d thrown it on without thinking too hard about it. Now she hoped that it wouldn’t give Ted Elton the wrong idea. Ali hadn’t wanted to go home with any man for a long, long time. And she wasn’t planning on breaking a years-long celibate streak tonight.
Five minutes later, they’d reached the Eltons’ place, and Ted Elton was sliding into the backseat with her while Mac got into the front with Denise.
“Hey, baby.” Ted grinned at her.
“Hi, Ted,” Ali said.
Ted had been a couple of years below Ali and Denise in school, with the result that neither of them had ever paid attention to him when they were teenagers. Mac, on the other hand, had been three years above them, a senior in high school when they were freshman. The freshman girls had worshipped him.
Ali had been right alongside them back in those days, but unlike Denise, she didn’t see the appeal anymore.