Feline Good

by Lana Kole

  Feline Good

  A Valentine’s Day Reverse Harem

  Lana Kole

  Copyright @ 2019 Lana Kole

  Feline Good

  First publication: February 12, 2019

  Editing by Meagan West

  Editing by Jess Rousseau

  Cover by Lana Kole

  Formatting by Kathryn Moon

  Formatting Image by Lana Kole

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work, in whole or in part, in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Lana Kole

  lanakoleauthor@gmail.com

  www.lanakoleauthor.com

  Created with Vellum

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in, or encourage, the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This is a Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance and is not suited for those under the age of 18.

  Created with Vellum

  Dedicated to:

  Mom, for making me dinner and kicking me off social media.

  Daddy, for not reading this book, either.

  All of my hard-working betas; thank you for continuing on this journey with me and making this book the best it can be:

  Paula, Heather, Tory, Rachel, Jenna, The Other Rachel, and Allegra.

  And special love to the girls who keep me sane: Shona, Alicia, and Kat, as well as Jarica, Denise, Dani, Katie, and Meg.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Also by Lana Kole

  Chapter One

  Maya poured yet another shot of whiskey for yet another patron, and slid it across the bar with a sigh, the smooth liquor dark under the bar lights. The blonde snatched it, tossed it back, and slammed the glass against the polished mahogany, her tears a brilliant gleam across her cheeks.

  “Hit me again!” she slurred.

  Valentine’s Day was officially the worst fucking day of the year.

  It was only Thursday, and she had already thrown out four belligerent men who were drunk off their asses, sobbing and wailing and making a mess in her bar, Feline Good.

  Over a holiday about love.

  It shouldn’t even be considered a holiday. Valentine’s Day existed only for suckers, people too blind to see that love was a fairytale and ‘happily ever after’ lasted about as long as the hairspray in the bride’s hair. Corporations cashed in on desperation, while people like Maya were left to mop up the mess of tears and bleeding hearts that infiltrated her bar every year. And no, Maya did not think she was projecting her own feelings about everything relationship related onto a stupid day about love.

  All of this and she still had the damned weekend to get through. As well as a hundred needy customers tonight, she thought, as she moved onto another patron whom she dubbed Danny-boy.

  Not that I had other plans…

  Maya sighed as she swiped a rag across her bar, collecting a few drops of spilled alcohol before it could dry, and tried to scrounge up the last bit of her patience and pity that remained. Unfortunately, her stock of fucks to give was running low. She snatched up the fiver the newest customer had dropped on the bar top and slipped it into her apron pocket. With a sad smile, Danny-boy retreated back to his lonesome table with his drink in hand.

  Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at his pathetic demeanor, Maya turned to the other employee sticking it out with her. A chuckle threatened to spill out as she watched Theo adjust the sparkly cat ears atop his head. He caught Maya’s amused expression and turned a glare her way before leaning over.

  “I’ve told you a million times, these stupid headbands are nothing but a nuisance. Why do you insist I wear these again?”

  “Because, Theo, I need some form of amusement in my life. Plus, they match the theme, and, well... I’m the boss, dammit.”

  He rolled his eyes at her. “Well, not everyone can look as adorable as you do in them, what with that perfect blonde hair and edgy little septum piercing.” After Maya rolled her eyes, he wiggled his eyebrows and continued, “I don’t suppose your cute self has some amusement planned for when you get off tonight?”

  Maya methodically folded her dishtowel to avoid his knowing stare. “A date? No, thanks. You know that’s not my scene.” She waved a hand around the bar as if the patrons’ very existence proved her theory. “Dating reduces you to this. I want no part of it.”

  “You’re how old, Maya? I know you’ve dated at some point in your life. It’s not all fuck boys and desperate losers. You just gotta put yourself out there.”

  Maya gritted her teeth against the same logic Theo spouted at her once a week. Happily married, he had nothing to worry about anymore in the way of dating, and he was perpetually trying to set her up with someone. She couldn’t blame him entirely. After all, he didn’t know the full extent of how bad the clusterfuck of her last relationship had been. She absentmindedly touched the scar on her forearm, a permanent reminder from the bottle that had once sliced her open.

  Maya cut off his tirade with a raised hand before he could continue his lecture, throwing out an excuse that she needed to collect more booze from the basement. As she made her way across the bar floor, she hoped the night would soon be over. The desperation, sadness, and loneliness permeating the air of her bar was stifling at best, and at worst, like tonight, created a greasy miasma to wade through. She welcomed the cool air from the basement with relief, grateful for short respite.

  Couldn’t more people think with their heads, not their hearts?

  Some of the patrons battled the solitude with attempted connections. The nauseating pickup lines and flirting was driving Maya to the brink of insanity. As if a one-night stand on the most overrated holiday of the year would solve their loneliness problems. With a deep breath, she leaned against the cold wall of the basement storage room and slid down to sit on one of the crates, her cat ears knocking loose in the process. Yanking them off, she brushed her fingers through her straight blonde hair before righting them with a huff.

  Honestly, this day just brought back shitty, awful memories better left buried. Sometimes, I think I need something a bit more exciting in my life than the music, lights, and smell of booze in the bar.

  Don’t get her wrong, Maya loved the bar. She also owned the bar, worked in the bar, lived above the bar. Her whole life revolved around this bar... but sometimes the bar wasn’t enough. However, when she compared her life now to what it had been like when she’d had a significant other—Alex, that fucking bastard—and she remembered bar life wasn’t so bad.

  Shaking the ugly thoughts away, lest she start to sound like one of the pathetic fools upstairs, she decided she’d left Theo alone long enough. She stood and grabbed a new case
of beer before heading back up to the noisiness of the bar.

  Unfortunately, her reprieve in the basement hadn’t magically cured her of her bitterness as she made her way across the floor. The worst pickup line of the night drifted to her as she passed a table.

  “You must be a campfire.”

  A smile twitched her lips as she held in her laugh. The woman at the mercy of the joke smiled politely, waving a hand for him to continue. Maya slowed her steps to hear the punch line.

  “Because you’re super hot, and I want s’more.”

  Shaking her head, Maya returned to the bar and stacked the case of beer to the side. Another customer rapped their knuckles on the bar before she could even finish stocking the beer she’d brought up. After serving them, she shared with Theo the cheesy line she’d heard. They’d kept a tally of how many bad pick up lines they heard throughout the night, and they were up to thirty-two. When their laughter died down, she packed the rest of the beer into the back of the fridge behind the bar, her bored expression firmly in place at the monotonous work, as Theo served customers. Maya was just glad not to have to look another sad John in the face as he drowned himself in liquid pity.

  Too soon, she emptied the crate and stepped around Theo to set it just under the bar, out of their way. When she stood, a deep breath helped calm her frayed nerves and a small cat statue caught her eye. Spotting her reflection in the mirror behind the bar, even she could see the bitterness in her hazel eyes. Maya plastered on her best smile and tapped the cat statue on its nose for good luck. She would need it to get through the rest of this terrible night, and then maybe after closing up, she could lose herself in a weaving session or that book she started the day before.

  Theo snorted at the sight of her routine. “What is your obsession with that thing?” Voice full of amusement, he handed over a fresh bottle of beer to another waiting customer.

  Maya spoke as they danced around each other in the small space, as only those who have worked together for a while can do. “He’s our mascot. Besides, he practically came with the bar.” She eyed the cat she’d fondly dubbed Pharaoh before stepping around Theo to take a new drink request. He laughed at her love for the ceramic kitty, but he had belonged to her parents, and was near and dear to her heart.

  Before they knew it, the end of the night had come, and Maya ignored the groans of the needy customers as she rang the bell, signaling last call. Theo began their closing ritual, wiping down the empty tables, while Maya began gathering abandoned bottles from the rest. Between the two of them, it wasn’t long before they ushered the last customer out the door to his waiting rideshare. They might be drunk idiots, but they were her drunk idiots, and Maya would be damned before she let one of her customers drive home inebriated.

  “Theo, I think I’ve got it here if you’d like to go on home.” Her voice echoed around the empty bar, as the rest of the staff had already left for the evening.

  At his doubtful look, Maya reassured him with a smile. “Come on, I know you want to spend time with Chris on Valentine’s Day. Why don’t you take a bottle of wine home to make up for the late hours?”

  It took a little more cajoling, but Theo finally relented, a tired grin spreading across his pretty face as he sauntered into the pantry for the wine. With a grateful smile and a kiss on the cheek, he disappeared out the back door to head home. Maya sighed as she firmly shut the door, a sure twist of the deadbolt locking her in.

  The beautiful silence of the empty bar was Maya’s favorite part of each evening. Jogging up the stairs to her apartment, she unlatched the chain blocking the door off, and unlocked the door to her safe space. Three black cats swarmed her, their precious, sweet meows music to her ears as she made her way through the tiny living room, maneuvered around the loom, down the short hallway, and landed in her bedroom. She needed to charge her phone while she cleaned the bar if she wanted to finish reading the new e-book she’d started. As she inserted tab A into slot B, the green lightning bolt and a chime announced that her phone was getting ready for action. Satisfied with her ingenious time management, she left to finish her nightly tasks.

  Returning to the bar with the kitties’ tiny paws padding after her, she spent another thirty minutes tending to the tedious, but necessary task of cleaning every surface. A furry body got in her way several times in the process as her three cats tried to nudge her for attention. She only permitted her fur babies to roam through the building and into the deserted bar after hours. Maya hated keeping them cooped up all day, but with the constant flow of customers coming and going, she didn’t want to risk them escaping into the busy street outside.

  Fluffy, the longest haired black cat, rubbed up against her legs. When she glanced down and saw his cute little face peering up at her, she couldn’t take it anymore. Faster than he could escape, she reached down and grabbed him up in her arms, planting kisses all over his furry little head. Maya mumbled nonsense as she rocked back and forth while giving her fur baby some lovins.

  “Oh, I just love you so much! You’re so freaking adorable. Cutest little fluffy-butt ever. Yes, you are. I love you so much.”

  He tensed in her arms a split second before an irritated growl warned her he wasn’t happy.

  She pulled away and glared down at him. “Don’t get grumpy with me. You asked for it! Now take it!” After planting one last kiss on the top of his furry head, she let him jump down. He landed on his four paws and trotted off, tail twitching in irritation.

  Her heart full, she headed to the kitchen.

  Deciding to make good use of the leftovers, she dished them into to-go plates, bagged them up, and snuck out the back door while the cats were distracted. It took her less than a minute to walk to the end of the back alley, leave the packaged food for the homeless, and return. As soon as she turned her back and walked a few feet, the rustle of the plastic bags came like clockwork, and she smiled to herself as she returned to the bar. Maya knew firsthand what it was like to depend on someone else for her next meal, and she tried to leave food out for others in need as often as possible.

  After locking the back door, she found Tubbi lounging on one of the tables, sprawled out in front of the TV as if he could actually understand what was playing. A Buffy the Vampire Slayer rerun was on, and Maya watched the blonde babe stab an undead, turning it into dust as she continued her chores. Fluffy glared at her from his vantage point on the last stair, probably waiting for her to crack open a can of tuna. Muffin, however, constantly followed her, meowing to get her attention, hoping for a belly scratch. Smiling at his furry body weaving in and out between her feet, she tried to avoid stepping on the little guy.

  After the bar was swept, mopped, and ready for the next business day, she stood for a moment to take in the quiet, even going so far as to crack a beer open for herself, before double-checking the front door lock.

  Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering echoed from the back of the bar. Hoping it was the conclusion to one of her cat’s curiosities, she slowly turned. Unfortunately, she spied all three of her cats on alert, ears perked to the sounds echoing down the hallway from the kitchen. Mumbled curses and the loud screech of the old back door opening filtered through to her from the out-of-sight kitchen and down the short hallway. Fear shot down her spine, and chills spread across her skin in dread. Her cats reacted first, all three of them hissing as their fur bunched up, before they scattered.

  See if I feed you extra treats again, you traitors!

  Maya followed suit, sliding behind the bar and hiding, heart in her throat. Memories from long ago threatened to overwhelm her, memories of a rainy, dark evening. Remembering the mistakes made, she slid her hands frantically over her pockets before cursing to herself, searching for her phone. Of course, tonight of all nights I had to leave it charging upstairs. Perfect.

  From the herd of footsteps sounding down the hallway, more than one intruder made their way toward her, and she soon heard a gruff voice dispersing muffled orders. Forcing herself to keep calm, Maya
reached under the bar and grabbed the bat she kept for emergencies, wishing it was a gun instead. Keeping her footsteps light, she darted over to the walk-in pantry beside the cash register, quietly pushing the door open and tucking herself away between an inset of shelves. She just needed time to think.

  Maya froze. She didn’t know if it was the bottle of Jack to her left, the extra pint glasses to her right, or the deja vu of hiding between the same shelves fifteen years later… but it dawned on her why her parents hadn’t called the cops all those years ago, the first time the bar had been broken into.

  This was now her fucking bar. Her entire family, for generations, had owned this place, pouring decades of blood, sweat, and tears into it. She’d be damned if some assholes were gonna get the best of her, especially not with the training Uncle Malak had drilled into her.

  A voice broke her out of her reverie, and she gritted her teeth. One of the attackers spoke, his deep voice heavily accented, and a lot closer than she thought possible. They moved quickly. Efficiently, too, if the distinct orders to start searching were anything to go by.

  “Come out, little mouse, we know you’re in here.” Voice full of snide derision, his steps grew closer to her hiding spot, the sounds muffled through the door. At his tone, her hands curled around the cool metal of the bat as she prepared to defend herself and her fucking bar.

  Maya wasn’t dumb, though, even with years of training from her uncle, she knew calling the cops was still the smartest thing… if only she hadn’t been too cheap to update the bar phone from an old landline with a stretch cord. As it was, they were moving too fast for her to risk stopping and dialing the police.