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The last thing we needed was a free for all of random people seeing it as fair game and running off with our inventory. This supplier was about to find out how angry this horse can get.
“I’m going to call them. This is two weeks in a row they’ve come hours earlier than planned.” I sighed.
“My vote is that the assholes running Bandit’s Taphouse fucked up their schedule again,” Zath said. There was a sharp tone to his voice he only got when talking about our rival bar. I couldn’t blame him, they’d been stealing our customers from the moment we opened.
If we threw a theme night, they’d do one the next month and go all out. If we found a great live band, they’d schedule one for the same nights. They were infuriating and cocky.
“Fuck them,” I said as I fought against rush hour traffic. My extra twenty minutes in the outskirts had led me to end up right at the heart of traffic instead of beating it. “I’ll order in, this is madness.” A loud honk as I cut someone off had Zath laughing.
“Pay attention and stop talking to me,” Zath ordered before hanging up. My raven was always on the logical side, and taking my attention away during bumper-to-bumper traffic wasn’t a smart move.
Just as he hung up, someone cut me off, nearly taking off the front end of my SUV. Biting back a retort, my horse and I just huffed in annoyance and focused on getting to work in one piece.
“I’m back!” I called out as I let myself in the side door. Zath had already brought in the shipment and had a pizza box waiting on the bar. My chest warmed at the sight and even my horse was letting out an appreciative whinny. She loved that he took care of us. “You’re amazing!”
“I know. The traffic sounded bad so I figured I’d handle it before the dinner crowd caused you to get hangry,” he called back from the storage room. “But we really need to hire some muscle in this place. I’m far too delicate for manual labor.” When he walked out, I nearly choked on the bite of cheesy goodness I was shoving in my face. He had a thick, silver necklace on that I’d never seen before.
“Did you steal something again?!” I demanded, walking over and pulling on the gaudy metal jewelry. Up close I could tell it was not high end, but the allure of something shiny was never lost on the greedy raven.
He scoffed and set down the empty crate so he could get away from me and my judgmental stare.
“No, I didn’t,” he groaned almost frantically. “I paid for it, it’s mine. There was a sale at the corner shop.” That antique store was going to be the death of him and his budget. A sly fox ran it and knew just what to price the pieces Zath would come in for. He was his best customer after all. “Look, I got this, too!” He held up another object and I grinned.
The small figurine was a silver horse and I was almost flattered. Except I was fairly positive it wasn’t the horse that enticed him but the shiny silver.
“You better have,” I teased, handing it back. He glared at me before rushing over to his office and putting it on his shelf of shiny knick-knacks and objects he’d collected over the past year. The rest of his office was a chaotic mess of papers, books, and stuff. It was cozy and cluttered, and fit him.
“You’re just jealous; your office is boring,” he shot back, opening the door and flicking on the light to reveal my overly tidy office. I had nothing hanging on the walls except one cork board full of random licenses and important information I didn’t want to forget. Even my desktop was immaculate. My horse preened in my head, proud of how clean and organized it was.
“Some of us just aren’t hoarders, raven,” I laughed, yelping and running as he took off after me. He couldn’t just shift and fly after me so he ran, struggling to keep up with my speed. But as I rounded a corner he caught me, both of us laughing as he tickled my sides.
And neither one of us were about to admit how nice it felt to have his arms around me. Nope. Not happening. We were just friends… and mates. No big deal.
“Enough foreplay, you two!” Laura called out as she came in for her shift. For a petite, cat shifter, she wasn’t just cute and sweet; her claws were as sharp as her words, which came in handy when the patrons had a bit too much to drink and started getting handsy. Though having a burly bear for our bouncer meant that not too many of them acted out.
“Let’s get to work, we have thirty minutes until the doors open,” I ordered, ready to lose myself in our usual routine.
* * *
“Give me another beer,”Vern demanded in his raspy voice. The old fox loved to come out and warm up the bar nearly every night. I guess that was his trade off for supplying Zath with all his gaudy knicknacks.
“Drink a soda,” I urged him gently. “You’ve knocked back three already and the night’s barely started.”
“Bullshit!” he argued with a laugh that ended in a wheeze. He smacked a fist to his chest as if to startle his lungs into working. “Knew I should have smoked another cigarette before coming in here.”
“Ew,” Laura said as she passed, sliding a beer his way with a grin. “And stop torturing my friend, here, boss.”
“See, she knows how to treat an old man.” He laughed, draining half the bottle in one go. She slyly slid over a bowl of pretzels and a soda without saying a word and I nearly died laughing as he started munching on them absently while she regaled him with a story about her dog.
“She’s good,” Zath noted as he leaned against the wall next to me. I nodded, watching as he reached for the soda and took a hearty swallow. This was why I trusted Laura with the bar when I couldn’t be here. She was amazing with our customers. I’d always wanted my place to be about gathering together, social but not shallow, and she helped keep our regulars coming back. If that included a few free sodas here and there, then I wasn’t about to complain.
“Is there some big event going on in the city tonight?” I asked as I glanced over the dwindling crowd. We’d never been this empty on a game day. Even the kitchen was getting bored and thatneverhappened.
“It’s half-price wings over at Bandit’s Tap House,” Vern answered. I didn’t think he could hear us, the sly fox. He smirked and popped a pretzel in his mouth.
“Really?” Zath sighed. “I’m getting really fucking tired of them. It seems every time our numbers drop, here they are with something they’ve ripped off from us. Glad they have our expertise on their side.” The sarcasm was flowing like the beer tonight.
“They are hosting some huge game-day, half-priced bullshit,” he confirmed. “Had flyers down at the convenience store and everything.”
