Summary:
As Alise is getting used to training and working on the island, she meets a new friend who baffles her and has an inquiry about the enigmatic Owen Grady, to which she finds out more about him than she intended.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
My alarm blared in my ears, jolting me out of my slumber. I groaned, wishing I could use telekinesis to shut the alarm off, even though that would mean I would probably fall right back to sleep. Annoyed by the noise, and slightly annoyed that my telekinetic abilities weren't advanced enough to turn it off, I sat up and turned off the phone alarm.
I glared at the time: 7:05am. I had finally fallen asleep around 2 am, so after only getting 5 hours of sleep I needed a cup of coffee, stat. I walked into the kitchen like a zombie, staring at the Keurig until my coffee was finally finished because I was way too out of it to do anything else.
The first sip of coffee brought life to me. It brought warmth to my entire body, the smell made my eyes open wider. Now I could function like a normal person. The sun was already out and the weather was beautiful, so I walked outside onto my small deck and sat down, breathing in the fresh air with a happy sigh.
"Hey," I heard a friendly but unfamiliar voice say to my right, making me jump in my seat when I looked over and saw a man sitting on the deck next to me. The first thing I noticed about him was the fact that he was shirtless, his six-pack on full display and that he was talking with his mouth full. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya." he laughed, taking another bite of his cereal.
I smiled, laughing a little bit at myself for getting frightened. "It's fine, really, just on my toes. It's hard not to be when you live on an island full of dinosaurs." I laughed.
"Ah, so, you're new?" he asked. I nodded.
"Relatively. I've been here a few weeks. I haven't seen you around either are you-"
"Nah, been here for 8 months. I just moved into this apartment the other day. I was sharing an apartment with my buddy, but his girlfriend moved in and that just got awkward." he explained. I nodded, understanding that completely. "I couldn't listen to their weird role-play sexscapades anymore. They roar like dinosaurs and I heard her call him 'Rexy' once and his name is Trent, so that was enough for me."
I nearly spit out my coffee upon hearing that story. "That is terrible," I said, he nodded with me in agreement. "Well, I bet you're happy on your own now…"
"Totally. It's so freeing. Not having to worry about a roommate is awesome!" He said enthusiastically before he took another bite of his cereal as I took a sip of coffee. Then I heard a phone go off and sounded like it was coming from his apartment. "Excuse me." he said, getting up and going inside.
My eyes widened as I nearly spit out my coffee again. I just realized that boy was not even wearing pants. The only thing he was wearing were boxer briefs. Not boxers, briefs. How was he having such a normal conversation with me while wearing virtually nothing? And there's not much left to the imagination when someone is wearing briefs.
"Sorry about that," he said, walking back out. I raised my brows, trying to focus on his face as much as I could. I couldn't let my gaze drop down past his chin, I wouldn't let it. But it was kind of difficult if I were being honest. "Duty calls," he shrugged. "It was nice to talk to you. I'm Lachlan." he said, reaching over our railings to shake my hand, which I returned.
"Alise," I smiled, shielding my eyes from the sun. He smiled. "Have fun at work!" I said.
"Don't I always," he actually sounded excited, I raised my brows at him, now I wanted to know what he did that made him so excited. "ACU is by far the best gig on the island." ACU is Asset Containment Unit.
"I'll take your word for it." I laughed.
"You enjoy your day. Just try not to get scared, whatever you're doing." he chuckled.
"Will do." I smiled as he turned around and left. My eyes fell from his face and to his ass. He had a pretty nice ass, the one you'd wanna squeeze. "Well, there's a wake-up call." I mumbled to myself before I stood up and went inside to make breakfast.
The day started off how it normally did, I got to the lab at 8:30, I did some private studies before Dr. Collier asked me to come in the field with him. It was the first time I was going in the field, so I was beyond excited.
When we arrived there, park staff informed us two Pachycephalosaurus' shorted out their implants by butting heads and one of them wandered to the North Plains, outside of its zone. It snuck up on a Sinoceratops, who hit it with its horns, leaving the Pachy with a gash on its stomach that needed stitches.
I was surprised to see Lachlan there with another man from ACU, giving the pachycephalosaurus a hit of carfentanil to help sedate it. He smiled and nodded at me as I walked over with Dr. Collier and the park staff. I just smiled at him, not wanting to distract from the situation.
"This looks bad," Dr. Collier stated, kneeling down and moving the Pachy's arm out of the way so we could get a better look at the wound. "What do you say we do, Alise?"
"Clean out the wound as much as we can right now then bring her to the infirmary where we'll do a deep clean and flush it with antibiotics to see if she needs stitches or any other procedure and go from there." I said confidently, knowing that was the right answer. It was the same for any animal.
"Right. Good, now, I'll hold up her arm and you can start." he said, giving me the reins. I smiled, excited and a little nervous to prove what I've learned so far. Also, I had an audience as Lachlan and the other park staff watched curiously.
I didn't get too nervous, though. I knew what I was doing and this is exactly what I've been training for.
"That's pretty awesome. I've held baby dinosaurs before and of course pet the young ones, but I've never actually been that close to them in the field outside of thegyrosphere. I don't think I'd want to, though." Lowery said as he took a bite of his sandwich. We met up for lunch in the staff cafe later that day.
"You like the safety of your control room cause you're a wimp." I laughed, taking a sip of my chicken noodle soup.
"Well you're the one that does all the crazy stuff for the both of us, I'll leave that to you," He said, I laughed. "It's always been like that. You go out there, do the crazy things while I just watch in awe, like 'that's my big sister, she can do anything'. Balls of steel."
"And yours are deflated." I laughed, drinking more soup.
"Well you slurp when you eat soup and it's annoying," he said, obviously having no other comeback for that. This time when I took a sip, I slurped even louder, just to get under is skin. "Jerk." he mumbled, taking a bite of his sandwich.
I laughed, shaking my head and drank my soup regularly without the obnoxious slurping. Then I thought about Owen and I'm not sure why. Then I thought that maybe I could get some information about him through Lowery, he knows everything about everyone.
"So, you know Owen Grady?" I asked.
"Yeah. He's the velociraptor trainer, he's a pretty cool guy…" then his demeanor changed. "Wait, why?" he asked suspiciously.
I shrugged, "Just wondering. I met him at the bar the other night and he just seems…" I thought of a word. "Interesting." Like there was so much more to him. Like he put up a front that I could see through. He wasn't all big and bad like he made himself out to be.
"No, you don't want to talk to him." Lowery shook his head. I was confused by his sudden demeanor change. All of a sudden the compliments he paid Owen were out the door, all because I seemed interested in him? Not that I was "interested" in Owen in that way anyway. I was just curious about him.
"Why not?" I asked curiously. "What's wrong with him?"
I figured there wasn't anything wrong with him, it was just Lowery acting absurd, like an overprotective younger brother.
"He's ex-Navy and he has the tendency to date around."
I pulled a face, "What do those two things even have to do with each other?"
"They have a lot to do with each other. He's ex-Navy, so he can kill you with his bare hands, so you don't want to get him annoyed and he has a temper. And since he dates around, he's probably not the type to wait until the second date to…" he paused. "You know."
I raised my brows, leaning closer to him, my voice just above a whisper. "Have sex?"
Lowery groaned, throwing his hand in the air. "You know what I meant, you didn't have to say it out loud." Any sex talk between me and Lowery makes his skin crawl, it was quite amusing really.
I smirked, "I wouldn't annoy him and I don't wait until the second date either, so it's a match made in heaven." I joked, leaning back in my chair and bringing the cup of soup to my lips, finishing it off.
"Please tell me you're joking?! I cannot believe you just told me that!" He exclaimed. I laughed.
"I am joking, you need to chill."
"You're telling me to chill? Isn't it usually the other way around?" Lowery's brow raised and I thought about it.
"Yeah, what is this. This is weird. Let's talk about something else."
"Good idea." he said as we changed the subject. We started talking about our mom and how she's still mad at him for "stealing me away" as she would say. We were only able to talk for another 5 minutes, as lunch for both of us was up, but I enjoyed our lunches a few times a week.
I missed Lowery before I came to the island, it was nice to be able to see him every day if I wanted to. Sure, he had his annoying little brother moments, but we were always pretty close.
The next day I spent most of my day in the office doing busy work and paperwork. I thought after being in the field yesterday and doing a pretty good job that Dr. Collier would let me do more work in the field, but I guess I was wrong. Desk work is so annoying, wasn't there anyone else who could do it? Oh right, I'm the assistant. I'm the one that does this.
The day after that was the same. The only thing that was different was that I went through inventory to see what items and medications we needed to order and that was the most exciting part of my day. At the end of the day, Dr. Collier said I was doing a great job and that he needed someone to do all this work to keep things running smoothly and he thanked me. He probably sensed my restlessness. He said when I come back I'd be back in the field.
That wasn't for another 2 days. At least I had the bar to fill up my time and keep myself occupied. Normally, I'd be exhausted and want to spend the next 2 days in bed with Netflix and popcorn, but all this desk work was making me antsy. The last place I wanted to be was inside.
I went for a jog after work then went home to change for my shift at the bar.
"You good with closing the bar tonight?" Colin asked as he took the towel off his shoulder and threw it on the counter.
"Yeah sure, go ahead." I smiled, it was his anniversary and he wanted to do something special for his girlfriend before it got too late… even though it was already midnight. I didn't ask too many questions.
"Thanks, I owe ya one." he said, going on his way. I smiled as Lucy and Lachlan both walked over to the bar, Lachlan's arm over Lucy's shoulders. I had no idea they knew each other, or that they were even together.
"Oh, nice to see you two." I smirked.
"Don't get any ideas," Lucy said, taking Lachlan's arm off from around her shoulders and leading him to the bar. Lachlan laughed, stumbling a little as he sat at the bar. "We were at the bonfire and he's pretty wasted and I know you two live next to each other, so I brought him here."
"So he's my problem now?" I laughed, joking as I filled a glass of water and put it in front of him.
"That and I don't know when the next shuttle is, so here was my best bet. Plus there's water and food here."
"Good point. Let me go grab something." I walked to the kitchen to find something, everything was off and the staff were cleaning, getting ready to close in 45 minutes. I found a basket of bread and snatched it, hoping no one would notice. "Eat up."
"Have I told you how awesome you both are?" Lachlan slurred as he shoved the bread into his mouth, chewing obnoxiously with his mouth full. "My two favorite ladies." he grinned.
I would have pointed out that we just met 3 days ago, but I got distracted by a familiar face entering the bar. That familiar face was Owen Grady. I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face, but then when I noticed I was smiling, I pushed my lips together and tried to play it off.
"I was wondering if he'd show up tonight," Lucy said. I gave her a confused look. "He's been in here every night since he talked to you… when you're not here, he'll just get a beer to go. I'm surprised he wasn't here when you were working last night, to be honest."
"Huh," I said, leaning my elbows on the bar.
"He's usually picking up chicks left and right when he's here. Hasn't done that in a few weeks. Wonder what happened." Lachlan said, his mouth still full.
"Here, let's go over here…" Lucy said, picking up the glass of water and grabbing Lachlan's arm. He let her pull him along, being sure to grab the bread basket on the way.
"Hey Owen!" Lachlan said as they passed. Lucy hushed him and Owen just gave a small nod and returned the "hey" as continued walking towards the bar.
I laughed, shaking my head as I wiped away the breadcrumbs. I put the towel on my shoulder as I looked up at Owen.
"What can I get for you? The usual?"
"I have a usual now?" he asked, sitting down across from me.
"2 shots of tequila and a moonshine, if I remember correctly?" I asked. I didn't remember a lot of people's orders, but Owen's was one I couldn't forget.
Owen nodded, "I'll just take the beer this time."
"Your day go well?" I asked, opening the bottle for him and putting it in front of him.
"Eh, it went like it usually does. Same old grind." he shrugged, taking a sip.
"I'd expect training Velociraptors to keep you on your toes, though. I wouldn't expect it to be the same thing every day." I mentioned.
"How do you know I train the raptors?" he asked, raising a brow. I realized Lucy had been the one who told me that, not Owen. That had to of sounded odd that I knew that.
"You're talked about quite a lot around here. Everyone knows Owen Grady the Velociraptor trainer, kids come in here talking about how exciting that is all the time."
"Kids come into the bar?" He asked skeptically.
"Well, not in the actual bar," I scoffed. "I'm a bartender, Owen. I know and hear everything."
"You know everything, huh?" he scoffed, I could hear the amusement in his voice.
"What's so funny about that?" I raised a brow.
"Nothing," he shrugged it off. "So, you do anything aside from work at a bar?" he took another sip of his beer.
"I work as a Paleo-vet assistant - well, I'm a trainee for now anyway." I said as I wiped down the counter, getting ready for when we close in 30 minutes.
"So you work in the field on injured dinosaurs? Take care of them when they're sick? Stuff like that?"
"Sometimes," I said honestly, scrunching my nose at the idea of the work I've been doing the past couple of days. "Depends on the day. I'm still in training. All I've been doing is filing papers and doing inventory the past two days, so no dinos for me."
"So grunt work. That sucks."
"Yeah, but I try not to dwell on it. How's working with the raptors?" I asked curiously. I'd always wondered about Velociraptors. It wasn't an exhibit that was open to the public, but there were videos of him training them. I'd also have yet to work with them yet.
"Has its fair-share of grunt work. Paperwork is the worst, but the raptors make it worth it."
"How long have you been working with them?"
"About a year. I imprinted on them when they were born."
"So that makes you their Alpha? That's so sweet. You must really love them." I smiled.
"Yeah, they're my girls." he let out a small smile, which caused me to smile even more. He was always so serious and to see that he smiled while talking about "his girls" shows how much he cares for them.
We continued talking for another ten minutes before Kristin caught my attention and told me to start wrapping up because she wanted to be out of there as soon as possible.
"Sorry for distractin' you." he said, pulling out a ten dollar bill.
"It's nice to have a little distraction, it helps the daily grind." I smiled. A small smile crossed his lips as I got lost in his emerald green eyes for a second. I snapped out of it quickly and cleared my throat and looked down at the bill he held between us.
"Change?"
"No, you're good," he said. My eyes widened, that was an 8 dollar tip on a 2 dollar beer. "See ya around." he said and somehow I didn't doubt that I would.