Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection(2)

This trip was the perfect way to celebrate her accomplishment. She was still working at the grocery store and had four weeks of vacation saved up. She and Lily were going to have a blast. Those shifters weren’t going to know what hit them.

***

“Thank you for the smooth ride.” A little old lady pinched Chet Gallow’s butt and winked at him.

“No problem. Have a nice night, ma’am.” Chet smiled down at her. After eight years on Safari Island, he knew it was just part of the job. They didn’t mean any harm and it didn’t happen very often.

“You too, dear.” The woman grabbed Chet’s arm and stepped off the van.

He went back inside and checked to make sure everyone and all their stuff was off his bus.

“I’m all clear,” Branch Durst said, coming onto the van. “They were all so sweet.”

“They left a big tip, didn’t they?” Chet came to the front of the bus. Branch flashed twenties at him. “Whoa. Can we take all that?”

“Who’s going to know?” Branch counted the money and then handed Chet half the stack. “We’re allowed to keep tips, man. That’s why we have the envelope.”

“I thought we were supposed to report anything this big to the front office.”

Branch laughed. “No way am I reporting this fat tip. I’m going to go out and buy some lovely ladies some drinks. You’re welcome to join me.”

Chet shook his head. “I don’t think so. Have fun.”

“Come on. You’re not still thinking about quitting, are you?”

Chet sat down on the hard plastic seat and nodded. “I think it’s time for me to find something new.”

“No way, man. You are Safari Island. You’ve been here longer than anyone else and you’re the best driver.”

“Anyone can drive a van.” Chet got back in the driver’s seat and headed for the garage.

“No, anyone can’t. We’ve gone through three idiots in the last month.”

Chet didn’t doubt it was true. All his job required was that he have a clean driving record, no felonies, and not drive the van under the influence. That was it. You could do drugs and drink as much you wanted off the clock as long as you showed up to work clean. Every summer, they’d have a rash of new recruits and without fail, many would show up to work drunk or stoned. It was infuriating.

Every day tourists put their lives in his hands and there was no way he’d ever take that lightly. He had been the very first shifter hire on Safari Island. He’d gone to high school with one of the investors. When he heard about the new tourist island, he’d jumped at the chance to work there. It was better than working his dead-end trucking job. He hated being cooped up in the rig all day and away from home for weeks at a time.

On Safari Island, he was never more than a few steps from the outdoors. Even when he was working, he was out in the fresh air. It was a dream job. Or at least it had been. Chet had started the job when he was in his early twenties. The endless nights of fun with his co-workers and the revolving door of hot tourists had been great. Now he was looking for something more.

He wanted to find his mate and settle down. He knew that none of the women he worked with were the one for him. The odds of one of the tourists being his mate were pretty slim. He still loved being on Safari Island, but he knew he’d need to leave if he ever wanted to find his mate.

“It isn’t going to be any easier if you leave,” Branch said as if he were reading his mind. Chet parked the bus and they got into his golf cart. It was the easiest way to move around the island and it made accidents almost nonexistent. No cars for tourists meant no drunk driving on the island. It was pretty ingenious of the Safari Corporation.

“At least I’ll be doing something,” Chet said as they drove across the dirt fields. “I can’t wait around here. Even Rapunzel had to leave her tower to get a date.”

“I’m pretty sure the man found her. You need to brush up on your fairy tales, man.”

“Yeah, well, whatever. I don’t think my mate is just going to waltz on through and find me.”

“It’s happened before,” Branch pointed out.

Chet shook his head. “It’s happened twice. It’s not likely to happen again.”

“But where are you gonna go? Back to your hometown, I bet. If your mate was there, you would have already found her. So if you go, you’re just gonna be trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

“You aren’t doing nothing. You’re meeting ladies every day. You could meet new ones every night, too, if you’d come with us to the club more.”

“I’m sick of nightclubs,” Chet grumbled.

“You haven’t ever been to a nightclub. The bar in town has nothing on the Club Safari. A lot of the single women come to the island just for the resort and the club now. You’re missing a whole lot of hotties, man.”

Chet hadn’t considered that. The resort had rolled out all-new spa packages aimed at bachelorette parties right before Club Safari opened. It might be worth taking another look at the club. He’d only gone a handful of times and hadn’t really enjoyed himself. It had felt like a meet market instead of a fun night with the boys. The women were practically humping their dance partners on the floor, too. The whole thing was a little too debauched for him. The bar in Safari Town was no better, though. There just weren’t that many places to meet new women on the island.