Without Reservations

liked holding Chay’s hand. He squeezed Chay’s 152 www.samhainpublishing.com

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    hand and shrugged. If people didn’t like it, that was their problem. “Not really.”
    Chay grinned and rolled his eyes. He pulled on Keaton’s hand. “Then quit giving me shit and look at this car.”
    Keaton looked. He wasn’t impressed. Finding the perfect car was proving more difficult than he’d thought, it appeared it was going to take more than one day of shopping. They had similar tastes. However, all the cars he picked didn’t have enough legroom for Chay and Chay seemed to find the biggest damned cars on the lot. Which made Keaton feel like a twelve-year-old stealing his parent’s car for a joyride. The sports cars sat way too low for Chay. He couldn’t stand feeling like he was sitting on the ground. When Keaton complained that the luxury cars were too
    “suburban housewifeish” for him, Chay laughed so hard he scared the salesman off.
    He was about to tell Chay he didn’t like this car either when an
    “Ahem” came from behind them.
    Keaton turned, letting go of Chay’s hand.
    A man in a gray suit stood there smiling at them. “Can I help you, gentlemen?”
    “I’m looking for a new car. Something that isn’t too big and something that isn’t too small. Something sporty and American.”
    “Good. Let me see if I can help you with that.” The man extended his hand. “Brad White.”
    “Keaton Reynolds.” He shook the man’s hand.
    The man sized Chay up, extending his hand.
    Chay shook it. “Chayton Winston.”
    Brad nodded and looked back to Keaton. “Is this your first car?”
    Keaton barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.
    Chay, the fiend, started cackling. “No wonder people are looking at us funny, Bit. They think I’m some perv who’s robbing the cradle.”
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    Keaton sighed and shook his head. He grinned at a very startled Brad. “Just ignore him. He has a warped sense of humor. No, this isn’t my first car.”
    Brad gave him a wobbly smile and flicked a glance at Chay. “Okay.
    You want something sporty, American, not too big.”
    “Right. It needs to have leg room for him and not make me look like a kid who stole my parent’s car.”
    Brad chuckled and led them to the other side of the lot.

    Keaton ended up with a two thousand six, red Dodge Charger. It had been a contest between the silver and the red, but the final selling point had been how good Chay looked behind the wheel of the red one. He signed all the papers and now he was waiting on them to bring the car around. Chay had just left to get Pita and some food. They were going to meet back at the house.
    Then again, maybe he’d skip dinner and go to bed. He didn’t feel too good. His stomach cramped.
    The man drove up with his car and he climbed behind the wheel. He thanked the man and left the lot. Damn, his eyes were blurry. He blinked, trying to focus. Fortunately, he wasn’t too far away from home.
    Damn. Could his eyes be shifting? He blinked again, everything was still in color. How odd. Halfway home, the stomach cramps became more intrusive. He felt so terrible he didn’t even get a chance to enjoy his new car.
    By the time he pulled into the garage and got out, he was so dizzy he had to lean on the car before shutting the garage door.
    The smell of food assaulted him as he opened the kitchen door. Pita came running toward him.
    Chay stood at the counter unpacking hamburgers. Without looking up he asked, “How’d it drive?” He turned, holding out a plate with 154 www.samhainpublishing.com

    Without Reservations
    burger, fries and ketchup. He frowned. “Babe, you look terrible. What’s wrong?”
    Keaton reached for Chay but missed due to the lack of clarity. He would have fallen but Chay grabbed him.
    He clutched his stomach as another more violent cramp hit him.
    “Bathroom now,” he managed to wheeze out.
    Chay set the food on the counter, swooped Bit up in his arms and ran for the bathroom. They made it just in time.

    Chay ran his hand over Bit’s hair again as the phone began to ring.
    He didn’t like this. Not at all. He’d tried to heal his mate immediately by cutting his finger and making Bit ingest the blood. It was a known fact that werewolf blood could help heal their mate, but Keaton had thrown that up too.
    “Hello?”
    Chay started at the pack doctor’s voice. He’d forgotten he was calling him. “Doc Baker. This is