Rio's Fire (4 page)

And that sucked.

Walking back into his classroom, Fire slammed the door so hard the frame rattled. Why did he get stuck with such a stringent man?

Fate must really be getting her revenge. Why couldn’t he choose his own mate? This had to be a mistake. All he could remember was the look on Mr. LeBlanc’s face when the shifter realized who Fire was to him. Had he ever seen anyone look more disappointed?

Fire began to pace the room, clenching and unclenching his fists.

This was not an acceptable match. But could he do anything about it?

No!

When the classroom door opened, and the next round of kids began to file in, Fire wished like hell he could have somebody else to take over. “Just…” He waved his hands toward the tables.
To hell
with it
. Fire took a seat in the chair he had been sitting in all day, but instead of gazing through his magazine, all he could do was think about the teacher next door.

And that just ticked him off. His body was trying to betray him and make him seek out his mate, but Fire was adamant about not going anywhere near Mr. LeBlanc. That disappointed look wouldn’t leave his mind. It was permanently etched in his memory—which was a good thing. It would help Fire stay away from the jerk. As he sat there, Fire decided he was going to find a way to get the bracelet off of him, one way or another.

When the bell rang to signal the end of the school day, Fire waited until the last child was gone before he tucked his magazine in to the drawer and turned to leave. He groaned when he saw Mr. Fishman standing in the doorway.
Now what?

“I am not impressed with your indolent way of teaching. I will be having a long conversation with Mayor Brac.”

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29

If the guy wasn’t staring directly at him, Fire would have been childish and mimicked him. “Please do,” Fire said as he headed toward the door.

“I’ll be watching you, Mr. Veneto.” The threat was clear in the human’s voice, but Fire brushed past him.
Let the pudgy man watch
him.

Fire wasn’t surprised when he walked out of the school to see one of the sentries waiting for him. God, why couldn’t Maverick lightened up? After what happened today, Fire was in a foul mood.

“Ready?” Tank asked.

“Tell you what,” he began. “Why don’t you drive me to the pier so I can jump off?”

Tank chuckled. “It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

The guy had no idea. He probably didn’t care either. Fire caught sight of his mate as he exited the school. The guy had some nerve staring Fire’s way. If he had the bracelet off, he would grab his mate, clutch the shifter in his arms and…drop his ass right over a damn active volcano.

“Who’s that?” Tank asked.

Fire shrugged. “An irritating teacher.”

“He’s looking at you pretty hard,” Tank teased him. “If I was single, I’d ignore his irritating personality just so I could—” Tank blushed. “Never mind. If George heard me talking this way…”

Fire finally smiled for the first time today. “Take me to get a coffee and I won’t say a word.”

“Blackmail?”

“Damn right.” Fire slid into the truck and buckled his seat belt, but his eyes kept gliding back over to where Mr. LeBlanc was standing. Tank was right. The guy was staring at him pretty damn hard. Maybe he was trying to figure a way out of this mating.

Slumping in his seat, Fire looked straight ahead as Tank drove from the parking lot.

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* * * *

Rio drove to The Lucky Clover. He normally didn’t drink, especially on a work night, but today was an exception. The place had been recently renovated, and Rio sure as hell could use a drink. His cat was protesting the idea, but he ignored it.

All afternoon Rio had thought about nothing but Fire. He had been so stunned when he realized the fey was his mate that Rio had been speechless. He had thought about the way the man had run his classroom. Rio thought about Mr. Fishman’s request. Rio had thought about a lot of things, to the point he hadn’t stopped Fire from leaving.

But he couldn’t get the hurt look out of his mind, the look on Fire’s face as he stood in the parking lot staring at Rio. He knew he should’ve gone to Fire and said something. But for one, they were at work. There was no way Rio was jeopardizing his job. Mr. Fishman would have booted Rio out on his ass. Rio loved teaching.

Ever since he was little, Rio had known what he wanted to do with his life. He adored children and would be devastated if he lost his job.

For two, Fire didn’t seem receptive. The man had immediately rejected Rio and had walked out of his classroom. A man’s ego could only take so much. And that was what puzzled him the most. If Fire was rejecting him, then why did he look so devastated as he stood next to his truck?

Parking his Toyota, Rio slipped from the cab and closed the door.

He pocketed his keys, walking right into the bar. He glanced around at what had been done to the place. Last time he was in here it had been a shithole.

It looked like the new owner had a little more class. The bar was made of dark wood, with iron frame chandeliers. Instead of stools, there were plush brown chairs with print patterns decorating the seats.

The place was definitely classier, making Rio feel a little better about coming in.

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31

He walked over to an empty chair and took a seat. The gentlemen with short brown hair and light-brown eyes walked over, giving him a friendly smile. “What can I get for you?”

Rio could scent that the new owner was a wolf shifter.

Rio gazed at the selection, wondering if he should get a beer or something stronger. Hell, he had just found his mate and it wasn’t anything like he had imagined growing up. “I’ll have a Crown Royal, black label.” That should have enough of a bite. If not, he would find something stronger. The bartender placed the tumbler in front of Rio, pouring two fingers. Rio slammed the drink back and set the tumbler down.

“That bad?”

“Just give me another.” His cat was protesting big-time, becoming uneasy around the strangers. For the first time in a long time Rio wished his beast liked people. He wasn’t in the mood to go home by himself, and school was out for the day. He tossed back the second drink, thinking how pathetic his life was. He had no friends. The only thing Rio looked forward to was spending time with the kids.

God, he really did need to get a life—if only his cat would let him.

It was something Rio had gotten used to over the years, but lately, Rio was starting to resent his panther’s aloofness. He slid the tumbler across the marble countertop. “I’ll take another.”

This wasn’t like him, and Rio knew he should slow down. He wasn’t even sure why he was drinking. The correct thing to do would be to find where Fire lived and go talk to him. Smoothing his fingers over the refilled glass, Rio moved it back and forth across the marble.

What if his mate really was rejecting him? Rio had never heard of such a thing. Could he possibly be looking too deeply into this?

Rio’s ears perked up when he heard music behind him. He turned, glancing over his shoulder to see two large wooden doors.

“We have dining and dancing in that room,” the bartender offered.

“Feel free to go in there and enjoy dinner.”

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Maybe he would. It had been a long time since Rio had gone out to eat. Downing the drink, Rio paid his tab, and then headed toward the doors. Walking into the next room, Rio took in the tables covered in white linen and the chairs as plush as the ones at the bar. This was definitely a swanky joint. There was a small dance floor in the far corner, and a few couples were embraced in slow, melodic dance. Did he really want to go inside?

To hell with it.
He could sit by himself and have dinner. Rio walked over to the podium and waited to be seated. He didn’t have to wait too long. A young-looking gentleman greeted him with a smile and then showed him to a table.

It was just dinner. He needed to get out of the house more often.

Although he wished he was having dinner with his mate, this was better than sitting on the couch, feeling as if his life was slowly passing him by.

“Can I start you off with a drink?”

Rio glanced up to see a waiter standing behind him and off to the side. That was fast. The places Rio normally ate at, he had to damn near tackle a waiter to get them over at his table. “I’ll just start off with water.”

“Very good.” The waiter walked away, leaving Rio to stare at the menu. As he gazed at the prices Rio knew he wouldn’t be coming here often. He lived on a teacher’s salary. Maybe he should’ve just grabbed a burger. He wasn’t cheap, but Rio winced at paying such a high price for dinner.

As Rio looked over the selection, a short, slim man slipped into the seat next to him. Rio looked over the top of his menu, his left brow hiking slightly. “I think you have the wrong table.”

“I’m pretty sure I have the right one.” The man batted his thick blond lashes at Rio. Rio glanced around curiously at the other tables.

He wondered if maybe this place offered more than what he originally thought.

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33

“I’m pretty sure you need to get up,” Rio said in a tight, even tone.

“Whatever you’re
selling
, I’m not interested.” If this was the kind of place the new owner was running, Rio knew for damn sure he wouldn’t be back.

“You have it all wrong,” the man said with a light laughter in his tone.” I’m just looking for someone to have dinner with.”

“So you just sit down next to a stranger and invite yourself to eat with him?” Rio still wasn’t fooled. The man was up to something. “I eat alone.”

“My, aren’t you the grouchy one.” The stranger leaned in closer.

“Nothing wrong with a little conversation to ease tension.”

Rio calmly set his menu down, crossing his fingers together and laying them on the table in front of him. “Who the hell are you?” Not that he cared.

“Just a hungry guy looking for someone to eat dinner with.” The man lifted his arm and called over the waiter. “I’ll have whatever he was drinking at the bar.”

Rio stood, tossing his napkin on the table. He glanced over at the waiter, barely controlling his anger. “I think I’ll eat somewhere else.”

He walked out without looking back.

“Hang on.”

Snapping his head to the side, Rio saw the bartender heading his way.

“I’m sorry. It was unfortunate that your dinner was spoiled. I’ve had problems with that guy before. He sneaks in here and tries to get cozy with single men sitting alone at a table. I’ve only been open two weeks, and I have had to put him out four times already. Why don’t you sit at the bar and order something to eat. It’s on the house.”

Rio could see the bartender was sincere. “A bouncer wouldn’t hurt.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea. Some of the patrons that are used to this place being a dive still try to wander in. I don’t refuse
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anyone, but I’m trying to reestablish this business as a more upscale place to relax and unwind.”

Rio took a seat at the bar, relaxing once more in the plush chair.

“You serve burgers here?”

The man gave Rio a half-cocked smile. “Sure do. I’ll put the order in.” The man extended his hand. “Name’s Caleb.”

“Rio.” He shook the man’s hand. “But this time I’ll take a coffee.”

“You’re on.”

Rio relaxed and let his mind wander back to Fire. He was going to have to figure out what to do. He knew he would see the fey tomorrow, but until then he was going to relax, enjoy his meal, and decompress.

Rio’s Fire

35

Fire was in a foul mood. Maverick had chewed his ass six ways from Sunday after getting off the phone with Mr. Fishman. The alpha had towered over Fire, his canines exposed, telling him that if he received one more phone call that Fire was going to be locked in chains under the house for the next hundred years.

So here he was, sitting at his desk, racking his brain trying to figure out a lesson plan. He had no clue what to write down.
How do
you plan art?
Scratching at his scalp, Fire wrote a few things down, growled, and then scratched the lead of the pencil over what he had written.

He never knew planning his day could be so difficult. Fire had always tried to avoid planning anything. The word
premeditated
was thrown around the courtroom too much. Trying once again to write some sort of plan down, Fire ended up throwing the pencil across the room when the lead broke. Just as the pencil hit the floor, one of his students walked in.

“Good morning—” What was the kid’s name again? Fire couldn’t remember. Heck, he hadn’t bothered to learn anyone’s name yesterday. Today was going to be different—even if he had to glue every child to his or her seat. There were plenty of supplies in the room to figure something out.

“Hi, Mr. Vito.”

“It’s Mr.
Veneto
,” Fire corrected. He remembered Mr. LeBlanc’s advice from yesterday. “Why don’t you have a seat right there?” Fire pointed to the table closest where he was standing. He was going to
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have to have the children make their own little nameplates just so he could remember who was who.

Slowly, the children began to filter in. Fire pointed them in different directions until the tables were full. “Okay, class, pull out your crayons and write your names on a piece of paper.” When the kids did as Fire asked, he thought to himself, maybe he could get the hang of this after all.

“Mr. Vito,” a little boy with red hair shouted, “Jeff is eating his crayon!”

Who the hell was Jeff? Fire glanced to where the redhead was pointing. Sure enough some little kid was scarfing down the color blue.
Geez
. Fire grabbed the remainder of the crayon that hadn’t been consumed, tossing it aside. “Are you trying to get me canned?”

The crayon eater shrugged. “I don’t know what that means.”