Shifters with Secrets (An MMF Bisexual Threesome)(29)

“What do these guys want?” Sander asked when they were pulling out of the parking lot. “Strip malls and Casinos in their backyard?”

Beckett shook his head. “They’re in it for the immediate payment and not thinking long term. Some people just f*ck up everything.”

“Speaking of f*cking up everything,” Keene said looking at Ellis. “Your mate is coming back.”

“Are you guys ready to order?” she asked, holding a pen and notepad. She glanced at Ellis. “And no I’m not on the menu, I don’t come here often and I’m a Capricorn.”

Ellis cringed and stared into his lap, wanting to crawl under the table.

Keene laughed. “I think what he meant to ask was ‘Do you work at Starbucks? Because I like you a latte.’”

Sander joined in. “Are you a banana? Because I find you a-peeling.”

“Did you read Dr. Seuss as a kid?” Quint asked. “Because green eggs and... damn!”

Alexi chuckled at that one.

“Are you my Appendix?” Finch asked. “Because I have a funny feeling in my stomach that makes me feel like I should take you out.”

Alexi was laughing. “Pretty much any of those would have been an improvement.” She placed her notepad and pen on the table in front of Ellis. “Here take some notes,” she said, chuckling.

Keene turned towards him. “Write this one down. Are you a campfire? Cause you are hot and I want s'more.”

Chuck slammed the metal counter with his hand. “Hey!” he yelled. “Get your orders in already. I want to close up and go fishing.”

Ellis glanced at the front door as Alexi went around the table taking their breakfast orders. She finally got to him. Keene had a grin on his face from ear to ear, watching, just waiting for him to say something stupid again. “Just a coffee please,” he said. His stomach was in knots around this beauty. There was no way he could eat.

She nodded and gave him a slight smile. His eyebrows perked up as she walked away. Was that a smile?

He watched her walk to the kitchen while he clung to a small shred of hope that he still had some little, minute, shred of a particle of an atom of a chance.

Keene threw a packet of sugar at him breaking him out of his trance. “Wipe that smirk off your face kid. You have no chance.”





four





Alexi closed the door of her small rental house and locked it. She opened the tiny closet, looked behind the dusty yellow curtains and checked in the dated bathroom, moving the moldy shower curtain to the side. She sighed and slipped off her shoes when she was sure that there was no one hiding anywhere.

This was a small town, safe and secluded. Plus Barbara was only a yell away in the house across the driveway, but a history of abuse had made her paranoid.

She sank down onto the creaking sofa that was also her pull out bed and rubbed her heel. She wasn’t used to being on her feet for such long periods of time. Oh well just another thing to get used to.

She turned on the old black and white TV. Nothing but static. She shut it off and tossed the remote control onto the table with a clang.

She glanced out the back window at the tall trees. It was a beautiful day and the stunning forest was what drew her here in the first place. She decided to go for a hike.

Barbara was outside sitting in an Adirondack chair drinking a can of beer. “Going for a hike in the woods?” she asked.

Alexi nodded. “You know I spent my whole life indoors watching nature on TV. I’m thirty three. It’s time I go experience it for myself.”

“There’s a beginner’s trail at the end of the road. Nice and easy, it will take you to a pretty river.”

“I’m afraid I’ll get lost.” Alexi didn’t want to end up like those hikers she saw on TV specials, lost in the woods for days with nothing to eat.

Barbara chuckled. “Just stick to the path and you’ll be fine. If you get lost I’ll come and find you.”

Alexi tightened her shoelaces and headed off.

“Take one of these for the road.” Barbara said, tossing her a can of beer. Alexi caught it, cracked it open, thanked her and headed off down the hiking path.

She found the hiking path and was amazed at the denseness of the tall, thick trees. They were as high as skyscrapers, only older and pretty. She listened to the chirping of the birds overhead, wondering what they were saying to each other.

A caterpillar was crossing the huge desert landscape of the walking trail in front of her. “Oh cute,” she said running up to it. She knelt down and stuck her hand out, blocking its path. The fuzzy orange caterpillar crawled up her hand and tickled her palm as he walked across it.

She shook her head, wondering when the last time that she went hiking was. Her wealthy parents had brought her to Paris, London, Barcelona and New York as a child. She had been around the globe, to the world’s nicest cities, but she had never been camping. Never been in the real wilderness. Her parents were refined people who put culture and art above all else. Basically they stood around in art galleries and museums with their heads up their asses.


Alexi had always been curious about nature as a child. She loved animals and wanted to run wild through the forests and live in a tree like the Swiss Family Robinsons. Her parents had educated her out of that savagery and brought her to the ballet and opera instead. Now that she was surrounded by nature, her interest came flooding back.