Going Down on the River: Chosen Book 25 Read online

  Copyright © 2019 J.D. Light

  Edited by Ann Attwood Editing and Proofreading Services

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Meanwhile in Purdy

  NEXT UP IN THE SERIES:

  Meet all my books!

  Prologue

  Holy Shit! Where the hell did he come from?

  I watched the man stroll into the store, his pace languid and lazy, and though I wasn't by any means an expert on shifters, I would bet any amount of money that the dark-headed man who'd just walked into the grocery store where I was working, was some kind of cat shifter. There was just far too much confidence and lack of shits given for him not to be.

  I'd never seen a more attractive being in my entire life. His skin and features suggested he might be Latin, but all I really knew was his skin was very tanned, and his hair was dark, and even from fifty feet away with my human vision, I could see just how bright green his eyes were.

  He was tall like me, and there was no lack of muscle under that dark T-shirt. The material molded to his body beautifully. He wasn't quite my size, structurally speaking, but I didn't think for a second that he couldn't probably throw me completely across the store if the urge arose.

  He paused, and I could almost imagine his ears twitching as he tried to figure something out. I thought he might have sniffed the air, but I didn't really have time to think on it too long since his gaze narrowed, and he slowly scanned the room before finally landing on me.

  Since I had, oh so sneakily… stopped doing anything at all, going as far as to be still holding a box of crackers in the air where I'd been about to put them in the brown paper sack when he'd walked in. I had frozen and had definitely just been standing around staring at him like I'd never seen an attractive man before in my entire life.

  Blushing, I looked down, wondering if he saw everything I'd been thinking all over my face.

  I knew the streak was actually very accepting of gay people. Hell, the new alpha had a male mate that he treated like spun gold, but that didn't mean all of the people in the leap were particularly tolerant. There were bigots everywhere, right?

  Hopefully, he wasn't one of them.

  He prowled over, and I did my best not to watch every single step he took, but seriously, the man walked with the type of predatory grace that made panties catch on fire. It was absolutely impossible not to watch him.

  When the lady I was ringing up cleared her throat, my eyes snapped to hers, and with a smirk, she pointed down at my hands. I looked down, my face flaming when I realized I was trying to scan her cell phone.

  Handing it back to her and wondering just how the fuck I'd ended up with it in the first place, I tried to ignore the sexy man as he walked by my register… only, he didn't walk by my register.

  "Hi," he said, drawing my attention to where he was less than three feet away, just on the other side of the bagging area, smiling at me with plush, suckable lips and a bright, straight smile. A smile that went all the way to his blue-green eyes.

  I nodded my head in greeting, giving him a quick smile, as the chuckling lady used the machine to pay with her card.

  "Hi," I answered back, trying to come off as friendly and not bashful, since… I really was friendly and not at all bashful.

  He opened his mouth to say something else, but a blonde woman was suddenly jumping at him, throwing her arms around his shoulders, and plastering her curvy body to him.

  "River!" she yelled excitedly, as he blinked quickly, flinching just a bit. "How are you?"

  "Uh." His eyebrows creased as he looked down at her, while wrestling himself out of her grip. "Good," he said slowly, his eyes narrowing in concentration. "…Lacey?" It totally looked like he took a stab in the dark at that name. "How are you?"

  "Great," she said perkily, clearly not catching the bobble, and still trying to attach herself to him, as he politely removed her hands continuously. "How long are you back in town for this time?"

  "Well," he said, reaching up to run his hand over the back of his head, making the muscles of his arm flex and bunch. "Axel made me a lieutenant, so I guess until he gets sick of my shit."

  "I hope so," she said breathily, and I snorted, covering it with a cough.

  She hoped Axel got sick of his shit.

  River shot me a small smirk, while the blonde gave me a dirty look over her shoulder, only to turn back quickly, blinking her eyes and giving me a slow once-over.

  "Well, I guess I better go get some shopping done," she said pouting. "But I might need help getting them to my car when I'm done."

  River nodded, and neither of us pointed out that she was a shifter and just as capable of carrying all of her groceries on her own. We both knew that wasn't why she'd mentioned it.

  He gave her a polite nod, cringing when she finally turned her back on us.

  The smirking lady, reached out, patting my arm before grabbing her groceries and heading toward the door.

  I fought a smile, turning back to River, intent on at least introducing myself, even if it wasn't for the reasons the lady who had just left thought.

  A giant of a man slapped a hand down on River's shoulder, making me cringe, and River's knees give out as he fell into the bag rack, nearly knocking the thing off the counter. I caught it, righting it as I watched his face with wide eyes, wondering if the threat was real.

  "What are you doing?" the big guy asked, grinning down at a scowling River.

  "Fuck, Ryk," River grumbled, smacking the guy’s hand off his shoulder. "Don't be swinging those sledge hammers around all willy-nilly."

  Ryk shrugged, giving him an unrepentant look as his head turned to follow two girls as they made their way past. "Damn, Dani is looking good these days. Did she change her hair?"

  "Uh," River glanced over at the girls too, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "Maybe. Is it shorter?"

  Ryk frowned, shaking his head and dragging River to the edge of the checkout lanes, clearly trying to get a peek down the aisle the girls had just disappeared down. "No. If anything, it's longer. I think she dyed it."

  "Oh, right," River said, lifting his chin and slowly nodding his head. "It used to be red."

  "No, it used to be blonde."

  River blew out a breath, rolling his eyes. "Okay, man. Clearly, I don't care what Dani looks like. She's not my type."

  "That's right," Ryk said, glancing over his shoulder glancing at me and then around the room. What about the blonde you keep trying not to get caught checking out?"

  Lacey? Is he talking about Lacey?

  I looked around too, trying to see if I could see her anywhere, but she was nowhere to be found. How the hell was he checking her out?

  I'd have to ask Rosie later if shifters had some kind of x-ray vision or something I was unaware of.

  River laughed, eyes moving around the room before landing on me for a moment, and then they were moving again. "Oh yeah. Now that's my type. That is every bit my type if you know what I mean."

  I didn't know why the thought that he was talking about Lacey like that made me a little sick. I barely knew the man, but I guess I'd kinda pegged him as having a little better taste than that. And I could have sworn he had been desperately trying to get away from her earlier.

  "Seriously?" Ryk said, sounding extremely excited, reaching out and grabbing River's shoulders to give him a bit of a shake that honestly looked painful. "Congrats, man."

  He once again slapped River on the shoulder with one of his massive paws, and River's knees buckled a bit under the weight.

  "Hey,"
River asked when he was finally standing on his own two feet again, rubbing the shoulder the big man had pounded before rolling it around. "You don't happen to know who I'm supposed to be assigned to, do you?"

  "Axel didn't send you the information or even a picture?" Ryk turned, ushering River down the aisle that would lead to the double doors at the back of the store where his office was.

  "No, he said he would, but you know how much shit he has going on right now. I don't want to mess with him, so I thought I'd just come up here and check things out."

  Their voices died off as they wandered toward the back, and all I could hear was every other word or so, until I couldn’t hear anything.

  So, apparently River worked for Axel and had been sent to protect someone. I had a moment of fear as I wondered what anyone would need protecting from in this community, but I made myself think about something else.

  There was danger everywhere, and just because I trusted most of these shifters I spent a great deal of my time with, didn't mean that there wasn't always a chance someone could still get through, but living my life constantly afraid of everything wasn't any way to live, and I refused to do it. If I died young, at least I would do it knowing I had experienced as much life as I could.

  ***

  I was just printing out my report and pulling my drawer out, when someone walked up next to me, leaning close. "Hey again," he said, right by my ear and I jumped, nearly spilling the change all over the floor. Thankfully, River was quick and managed to help steady the tray in my hands before that happened

  I chuckled, wondering why the hell I was so jumpy. "Hey," I replied, letting my hand drop from where it had been pressed to my chest like a Victorian maiden… or something.

  River leaned against the counter next to me, a little closer than was probably necessary, but I didn't have the heart to step away when I could suddenly make out the tiniest bits of yellow bursting out of the middle of his iris around the pupil, before it bled to a bright green, and then into an even brighter blue.

  "You're Logan, right?" he asked, smiling that sexy grin that made his plum lips pull tight.

  I blinked, looking away from his mouth before I got caught. "Uh, yeah. How did you know that?"

  He shrugged one shoulder, glancing around. "Your boss told me."

  "Oh, okay."

  And that had been the beginning of our acquaintance and the beginning of the stalking as well.

  It had been a little weird at first. As crazy attractive as he was, I was starting to worry that he was just plain crazy, since I saw him almost everywhere I went, and he wasn't even trying to pretend like he wasn't following me.

  And then, because he did turn out to be a shifter, when I told my friend I was concerned about the man who had been following me, within seconds he came walking up out of nowhere, trying to tell me the reason he was following me was because we were mates.

  That one had actually made me laugh. It might have been a bit overdramatic for a laugh and slightly bitter, but I remembered how he talked about that blonde girl the first time we met, and I knew enough about mates to know that if I'd been his mate, he wouldn't have even noticed her.

  Every set of mates I'd seen had been so completely wrapped up in each other, even after years of being mated, they sat around and made heart eyes and couldn't take their eyes off of each other.

  After I'd recovered, he'd admitted that the real reason he'd been sent, had been to keep me safe, since it seemed, somebody somewhere had a list of names, and my name was on it.

  Over the next few months, we became pretty good friends. He was always there, sitting in the driveway in the morning, ready and willing to drive me to work. He would stay close all day, making sure someone didn't do something crazy while I was scanning groceries and taking money, then he would walk me out to the car, give me a ride anywhere I needed to go for errands. Afterward he’d drive me back to the house I was living at with four other guys, all streak members, and be back in my driveway the next day.

  On my days off, he'd text me to see if I wanted to go anywhere, and if I did, he'd take me. If I didn't, he'd wait until I did.

  In all honesty, I couldn't really complain about the super-hot chauffeur/bodyguard I ended up with. Even if I often wished we could be more. What I was pretty sick of though, was how Lacey always seemed to show up and ruin my good time.

  It was hard to blame the girl too much, since River really was just a super attractive man, but damn. And to make things infinitely more confusing, River never seemed interested in her.

  The only thing I could reason out about any of it was, even though Lacey was his type, he wasn't really interested in a relationship, period.

  All I knew was, the amount of time I was spending with River, really wasn't helping me get rid of the enormous crush I had on him, which was why I would have to figure out how to spend less time with him.

  Chapter One

  I wasn't going to freak out. I wasn't going to freak out. I could live with River. I could live with the man I'd spent the last three and a half months falling in love with. No big deal. Nope. No big thing at all.

  Then why the hell was I about to have a panic attack as I climbed into his car at the end of my shift? Something I'd done so many times, I couldn’t even really remember how I got back and forth to work before he came into my life.

  He was easy to get along with. Well, he was until you acted like a disrespectful dick, then he could turn into quite the cold bastard, his eyes going from warm and friendly to frosty in a beat of time… just before he tossed you out on your can. I'd witnessed it when some angry-about-life dick had reached out and flicked my nametag one day, after I'd told him his coupon was expired.

  He'd threatened to report me, got a little too close… and ended up getting literally tossed out the door. Thankfully, he was a shifter, because he'd actually skidded on the sidewalk just outside the doors, on his face, leaving skin behind.

  It was odd. We'd actually become pretty good friends over the last few months, spending our days at the store, joking, laughing and just generally enjoying each other's company, but I didn't have a clue where he lived or what he did, outside of coming to pick me up every day, babysit me until I was done with work or whatever else I did that day, then take me home every night.

  I knew it was the man's job, but more than once I'd thought about how much it would suck to have to spend so much time watching over a full-grown man and chauffeuring him around all the time.

  It didn't bother me, but considering I was crazy about the man, it was safe to say I was taking advantage of the situation every chance I got.

  He seemed like a clean individual, his car was always spotless, and he smelled absolutely amazing. He had a great sense of humor. Everyone who came into the grocery store who was either a part of the streak, or at least working with the streak in some fashion, always seemed to enjoy his company.

  He was strangely calming when one of our crankier customers tried to give me a hard time. It was like all he had to do was reach out and put a hand on my arm or something, and I immediately went from ready to toss a spoiled-ass fifteen-year-old giving their clearly strung-out mother shit about not getting the named brand cereal, to smiling sweetly and bagging the damn groceries, which was my actual job, not fixing asshole kids.

  Working in customer service would teach you patience whether you liked it or not.

  My issues and worries about going to stay with River definitely weren't because I didn't like him. More like they were the opposite. I definitely liked him. I really, really liked him. The kind of like that sounded a lot like wedding bells, but if living in a shifter house had taught me anything, it was that there wasn't much privacy to be had while living with shifters and all their ridiculous senses, and if you had any secrets, they didn't stay secret for long.

  And then there was the fact, though I'd known the whole time that all of this was a possibility, that someone would again kidnap me and try to sell me into the world of being breedin
g stock. Somebody had actually been into my place of business and taken a picture of me.

  They knew where I was.

  Which was why I was going to go stay with River. In his home. Where there would be endless hours, minutes, seconds of time spent in his company, trying to keep myself under control and my secrets under wraps.

  "Are you okay?" River asked, reaching out to touch my shoulder, and making me start slightly.

  It wasn't like I'd forgotten his presence. I definitely would never do that. I was, in fact, overly aware of the man, but his voice was sexy and sudden in the quiet vehicle, sending shivers dancing through my body.

  "Yeah," I said quickly, inwardly cringing at how guilty I was sounding. "Why?"

  He gave me a concerned smile, the light touch turning to a solid grip on my shoulder before he gave it a little shake. "You seem nervous."

  I loved when he did that. Not necessarily the shaking, though it didn't both me, but the touching. I loved when he touched me. I knew it was completely platonic on his side of things, and I was enjoying it in a completely inappropriate way, but there were just some things that couldn't be helped.

  "No," I said quickly, before rolling my eyes. "Uh, maybe a little. Where do you live?"

  "I moved into the alpha house when I got back into town, but we're actually going to be staying in one of the little cabins around it. The alpha house can be a little too much sometimes if it's not something you're used to, and we'll only be sharing a bathroom with each other rather than everyone. I don't know if I could handle you being in the fucking communal showers."

  "Huh?" I didn't really know how to take that comment. Was he worried about what I might do because I was gay? Or was he worried about what the other shifters might do because I was chosen?

  Should I be worried about the shifters of the streak? Were they dangerous to me? Or maybe he just didn't trust them as a whole. It was a bit hard to know exactly who to trust since it had been proven that there had been more streak members involved in the planning of the fall-out shelter, and we hadn't quite figured out how many were even involved.