by Barb Shuler
I let my head fall back and laughed, hard.
“Why’re you bringing him donuts? What did you do?”
Max turned and sighed. “Fucking poker, man.”
“You can’t play that game for shit, why do you even try?” Liam asked.
Max shrugged. “One day I’m going to beat him.”
“Good luck with that,” I chuckled. “If you need anything, text me. I’ve got some work to do for the new office.”
“I’m good, boss. Go do your stuff. I’ll be around until Yogi and Tony come back.”
“Maximus, you do know if Ty hears you call him Tony the Tiger, he’s gonna skin you, right?” My brow rose as my question finished.
Max, being Max, just smirked. I shook my head and rubbed the back of my neck. “It’s a damn good thing your wolf is as fast as he is…”
I went inside the building and walked over to the bar. I was really contemplating moving just one bottle. I wanted to test Jayden’s eye for detail, but after last time, I decided not to push my luck. I did go around and get a bottle of water for me and Liam from the fridge that sat under the bar top.
“You tell Mia about the new office yet?” Liam asked, taking the bottle of water.
“No, I want to surprise her. I think she’ll like this setup. We’ll always be close, but not right up her ass. It gives her the space she needs to do her business stuff while we do ours.”
“It’ll be cool to have an actual office this time around.”
“I agree. Come on, we need to check the cameras one more time. This place is opening in an hour and I don’t want to be in the girls’ way.”
“You’re just scared Jayden will scalp you for messing with her bar setup.”
“It’s so hard to not move something.” A laugh escaped and Liam just shook his head.
“You’re as bad as Max with your death wishes.”
“Maybe, but I keep my life interesting.”
We headed through the back halls to what had quickly become his office and checked the monitor placement and angles. Everything looked great. With a final nod, I went back to Mia’s office and took a seat on her couch. My laptop was all I needed to work. In a few days I would be able to have everything finished, ready to open, and I could show it all to her.
I was going to skin this human alive, slowly, making it as painful as I could. He just wasn’t getting it that this was not how things were going to be done here. If I face-palmed myself, would it be wrong? Rude, maybe?
“This is the one you ordered; I have the slip here.”
I leaned over the big, ugly ass desk that he was trying to deliver and shook my head.
“Look at the slip again. It says oak, with the cabinet hutch. This desk,” I emphasized the wood by tapping the offending piece of furniture, “is cherry and has fucking cherubs on it. Who in their right mind wants something like this? I want my clients to feel comfortable when they come into my office, not like they’re stepping into a haunted mansion.”
“Sir—”
I didn’t let him finish before I snatched the order slip from his hand. A growl escaped when I saw the order notes. Order changed to the “Cherub Awaits” desk style by Sy, the assistant to Mr. Reed.
I was gonna kill him. What. The. Fuck?! I leveled the guy before me with a look.
“Take it back and bring me what I originally paid for. No one is allowed to change my orders but me, so this piece of shit goes back.”
I walked out of the office, down the hall and back to the main space, where I paced. Killing a cop was a bad idea. Killing a cop was a bad idea… It was a bad idea, right? No matter how satisfying it may be.
As I paced, I talked myself down and had almost decided it would be bad to kill him. Almost. We’d not seen him for the last three weeks or so, not since I tossed him out of Mia’s club. I loved the fact that I got to do that, too. I knew that mangy bastard was up to no good. I just hated that Mia was upset about it. He’d hurt her. For that alone I should skin him too.
My pacing stopped when Liam came in, his face drawn tight.
“What? Are the girls okay?”
“Everyone’s fine, but we need to talk.”
“Talk and walk, I need to get back over there before Mia realizes I’m gone. I’m not ready to show her the big surprise.”
Liam and I locked the doors on the way out. The delivery guys were loading up that ugly ass desk. Fucking cherubs. Seriously. Motherfucker was asking to die.
“So I found out something.”
“What? Are Max and Kody in trouble again? The last time you came to me about something, the two of them had torn down a ball pit at a kids’ play zone during a game of tag…”
Liam snorted and shook his head. “No, this is something serious. It does involve people we know.”
“I’m already on the edge of sanity and wanting to kill a cop. I’m not sure how much else I can handle before I lose it. Fucking Sylvester, asshole.”
We stopped outside the back door to Mia’s club. The bar had been busy when I’d left and the noise from inside was a lot louder now.
“Well, just let me tell you and you can take this and do what you like.”
With a nod I put my finger on the scanner, entered my code, and stepped inside. I greeted Guillermo and went into the office.
“Seems our friend, and I say those words loosely right now, hasn’t been completely honest. He’s not here by the means he said he was.”
I leaned back against the desk, my head tilted slightly. I could hear Mia on her phone in her office. My girl was always working. Liam sat at the desk and I turned to take a seat in one of the chairs.
“Are you talking about Sy? I know why he’s here. He wants my girl. That’s not happening!” A growl ripped from me, loud enough that I heard Mia pause mid-sentence. I took in a deep breath and met Liam’s gaze. His dropped a second later.
My fucking wolf was gonna make me stab him too. I shook myself, my eyes closing as I rubbed the back of my neck.
“I’m sorry, continue.”
I kept my eyes averted. I wasn’t here to show dominance or to be an asshole, though it seemed to be a permanent state of being lately. I was here to listen to a friend tell me some things that were most likely going to mean I needed a run and to kill things.
“Sy said he was here due to a transfer.”
“Yeah, he followed us. That was the plan from the beginning.”
“It’s a lie. He didn’t get a transfer.”
My head came up. “What?”
“No transfer, boss. He was fired for sketchy reasons. The files I found said he was let go due to misconduct and falsifying a report. I don’t know what his angle is, or what game he’s playing, but he’s not being up front and that makes me wonder what he’s really doing. Other than trying to steal Mia from you. We all got that already.”
A knock on the door was followed by Mia coming in. I took her hand and pulled her to my lap. The second my arms went around her, I started to calm. I buried my face in her neck and made a hand motion for Liam to carry on.
“What’s going on in here?” she asked, relaxing into me.
“Found out Sy lied to us. He wasn’t transferred here. He was fired. He’s here on his own; he’s no longer a cop.”
“What? Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I have the paperwork to prove it. He was fired for misconduct, Mia. They don’t just fire cops, so whatever he did was bad. The fact that he’s already tried to get to you doesn’t make any of this better.”
Liam had a point. Mia was apparently the reason he was here. He was after my girl. My mate. My love. Mine.
The growl that vibrated through me had Mia squeezing my hands.
“We need to find out why he’s here, then. I can call him. He’ll talk to me; if I ask, maybe he’ll tell me. There has to be something. I mean, I know he’s got more feelings for me than I do for him, but he’s not ever just lied to me like that. I’ll talk to him.”
My arms tighten
ed slightly, keeping her caged to my chest. The wolf was slipping forward. The thought of someone trying to take what was ours set him off.
“No calling him,” my voice was a raspy growl, “I don’t want you interacting with him. Please, leave it to Liam to track down what he’s doing. A call could encourage him to make a move again. Next time, he won’t walk away. He will be shoveled off the floor in tiny pieces.”
“Okay. Okay, calm down, ogre, I can’t breathe.” Her words rushed out and I loosened my grip on her, slightly.
“Did you just call me an ogre?”
“Um,” she let out a small laugh, “Yes, Jayden gave you that nickname. It fits right now.”
“It’s funnier than caveman,” Liam added, chuckling.
I was surrounded by comedians.
“So the kitty thinks I’m an ogre. I’ll have to visit the bar again.”
Liam let out a booming laugh and I grinned. Oh, the kitty was in for it.
“If you make her mad, you’re on your own. I’m not taking sides.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to pick sides. It won’t be that kind of war. But game on.” I grinned bigger. “She won’t see me coming.”
“She’s going to kill you.”
“No, but she might try to use me as target practice. Like she did poor Angus.”
“He finally learned, I guess you’re not going to.”
“Where’s the fun in that, baby?”
I felt my wolf relax inside of me. I’d been able to sufficiently sidetrack him. He enjoyed teasing Jayden as much as I did. She was his pack, his to protect and apparently drive nuts. I’d find one thing to use against her. Just one. It would be a fun challenge.
“I need to go finish working. Are you okay?” she asked as she turned in my lap. I pressed a kiss to her lips.
“Yep. Go finish the work. We’ll go check on the bar and outside. By the time you’re done, everything will be ready to shut down for the night and head home.”
I kissed her again and waited until she was back in her office before I met Liam’s gaze.
“You find out what he did. I don’t care what laws you have to break.”
“On it, boss.”
I left him to his work and headed up the hall toward the bar.
18
Mia
It’s been a couple of days now since Dalton and Liam told me that my former friend had been fired from the police force. Did I wonder if him covering for us was going to come out? Of course, but I knew if they came looking for us, Dalton could talk his way out of it, as could the guys. Add Sy’s shady dealings and it would go away.
I had to keep my phone on silent because Sy was incessantly blowing it up with calls and messages. I was tired of “I’m sorry,” and “I didn’t mean to upset you,” mixed with “Please forgive me.” I wanted to change my goddamn number. Rubbing my temples as my phone danced over my desk, I picked up and threw it against the wall as hard as I could. No phone meant no phone calls. I would replace it later. Jay and the girls had Dalton and Liam’s numbers in case they couldn’t get a hold of me, so I would just enjoy the peace and quiet for now.
My office door opened. Dalton stuck his head in and looked down at the bits of phone on the floor. “And here I thought I was the one with the temper.”
“The vibrating was annoying me.” I shrugged my shoulders and turned back to my computer. After seeing that I was okay, he disappeared again. He was good about not wanting to disturb me while I was working. It was how we had managed to get through all of this without killing each other.
While typing out my next supply order, I thought about the building. We had all this land, but only the one building. While Bar None was quite large, we still had a lot of space. After I finished typing the order and sending it off to the supplier, I picked up the blueprint of this place.
I had been looking to expand and maybe open up a restaurant on the same block. The two buildings would be attached but not accessible from each other. The parking lot was already big enough to be able to cater to both, especially with Bar None not being open during the day and only four nights a week.
I had a meeting scheduled with a contractor for Monday that I needed to remember to ask Dalton to sit in on.
Picking up the pencil from my desk, I drew in where I wanted the building to go on the site map. The walls would need to be soundproofed so the music wouldn’t disturb the diners, and I would need to make sure that security watched the drunk patrons leaving the bar so that they didn’t do anything to it. Maybe we could keep the restaurant open long enough so that they could eat to sober up before going home. Nothing like grease to cure an impending hangover.
When my office phone rang, I groaned. If that’s him again, I swear to God I’m going underground.
“Bar None, Mia speaking.”
“Mia, please don’t hang up on me. I am so sorry about the other day. I just really wanted to spend time with you and I went about it the wrong way. I promise that psycho is gone and won’t ever be back.”
“Good to know.” I hung up the phone and put on my do not disturb. I couldn’t listen to the bullshit coming out of his mouth. He had been my closest friend, but if he couldn’t take no for an answer about me going to dinner with him, leaving Dalton here mind you, then I don’t know that there is a lot that he would accept no for an answer about. I just prayed that he didn’t take that out on someone else.
Finishing up my rough sketch, I took it and went to find Dalton. Knocking on Liam’s office door, I stuck my head in.
“Hey, have you seen D?”
“Yeah, he just ducked out for a minute. Said he would be back but didn’t want to disturb you while you were working. Is everything okay?”
“If you see him first, can you get him to come and see me when he gets back please?”
“Sure, no problem.” Leaving him in peace, I crept into the bar. I was waiting for someone to pop up and scare the shit out of me, but they didn’t. I moved around to Jay’s end and swapped all of the bottles to the other side. I knew D would cop the blame for that; the fights between them were hilarious. I was adding more fuel to the fire. I quickly ran back to my office before someone caught me.
An email popped up in my inbox from Liam. All it said was “I saw that.” I cracked up laughing and just shook my head.
“Don’t you have work to be doing?” I replied to him. I moved on to another project, needing to keep my mind busy until Dalton got back and I could talk to him about Monday.
About an hour later, there was a knock on my door. Dalton walked in with a bag in his hand which he set down on my desk.
“A present for you.”
“Oh? And what did I do to deserve this?”
“Nothing, just I love you is all.” If my heart had wings, it would be flying out of my chest right now. Pushing my chair back, I stood up and walked around to him. He sat back on my desk, allowing me room to be able to stand in between his legs. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I kissed him.
“I love you too. Till my heart stops beating.” I was struck with a sudden thought. “Would you bite me to turn me if it was the only way to save my life?”
“If it meant the difference between losing you and keeping us both alive, then yes, because without you, Ty would have to kill me. I couldn’t live without you. My wolf and I wouldn’t survive that. Would you hate me if I did?”
“No. Just like I would if it were you, I would want you to do whatever it took.”
“Noted. Now can we move on from this morbid conversation and open your present, please, before we have to open this bar and you forget all about it?”
“Okay! If you insist.”
Dalton chuckled. I turned to my side, still in his arms, and laid against him as I opened the bag. I couldn’t help but smile when I pulled out a brand new rose gold phone with a new sim card.
“It’s a brand new number. I’ve put all the numbers you need in there, including all of the pack’s and the girls’. You’ll just need to put y
our suppliers in there and anyone else you need.”
“My contractor.”
“Your what?”
“I have a contractor that I have a meeting with on Monday that I was going to ask you to sit in on. I got Liam to get me the contact as I know you have worked on a few different buildings here, so he got me one he knew you would approve of.”
“Okay, and why did you need this?”
“I want to add a restaurant to the building. Block it off so that they are two separate businesses but using the same car park. We can block it off so that there’s no way to get from the bar to the restaurant without going out the front door and through security next door. It’s just something for during the day and the three nights a week we don’t have the bar open.”
“I think it’s a good idea and yes, I’ll be with you on Monday.”
I picked up the sketch I had drawn and we walked through everything I would need. I penciled it in so that I knew to talk about it in the meeting. Yes, I knew what I was talking about, but I didn’t want the contractor to think that just because I was a woman that he could take advantage of that and try to rip me off. My Alpha would cut him off real quick. When my desk phone rang, I hit the speaker on the dock.
“Bar None, Mia speaking.”
“Ah good, I’ve caught you. Mia, it’s Peter Sinclair. Do you have a minute?”
“That’s about all I have. How can I help you?” I could feel Dalton beginning to tense. He hated this man as much as I did.
“I wanted to see if maybe you had reconsidered my last offer. I’ll double what you paid for the bar and even put it in writing that all the current staff will remain on.”
Rolling my eyes, I was quiet for a minute, trying to phrase my words right.
“Peter, let me make this crystal clear for you. There is no way that I would ever sell this business back to you. You ran it into the ground the first time; what makes me think that you won’t do it again? All of my staff would be out of a job anyway. You can’t throw your money around and get whatever you want. It doesn’t work like that. As it is, I’m talking about expansion plans. You should have thought long and hard before selling, buddy, because nowhere in the contract does it say anything about being able to buy it back if you changed your mind. Now, quit harassing me.”
