Chapter 14 Maverick #2
“Why would I tell anyone?” She cocked her head to the side, her hair sliding off her shoulder like a waterfall. “Then they would know I sneak back here.”
I looked around and realized we were in one of the kitchens. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.
“Why are you back here?” I asked.
“Can you keep a secret?”
I nodded, watching the way gold flecks in her blue eyes caught the light.
She stood up, brushing the dust from her hands onto old denim shorts that were a size too big. “Come with me.”
She grabbed my hand and led me to a refrigerated unit in the back.
“Shipments come in on Tuesdays, so I can usually nab one or two and no one has any idea.”
“Shipments of what?”
She opened the back walk-in freezer, grabbed a large cake box, and then took two forks from the clean side of the dishwasher before leading us back to a small corner where no one would see us when dinner prep started.
“Here,” she said, handing me a fork, and then opened the box to reveal an entire New York cheesecake. “Don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t,” I said. We spent a few hours back in that little dusty corner eating an entire cheesecake, whispering and giggling about our little secret.
It’s dark when I’m pulled out of the memory by my phone buzzing on the table.
Phoenix is still on my chest, snoring softly. I silence my phone and take a moment just to appreciate her in my arms. Then, I take a picture of us together. Her shoulders are covered by the sheets, and her face is relaxed, with no worry lines on her forehead or stress behind her eyes.
Just peace.
She looks like an angel.
I don’t send the photo to the group. I keep it. Just for me. Our little secret.
It’s a little after four, and I have no idea when the last time she ate was, so I call down for room service.
I keep it simple—club sandwiches, fries, and an entire cheesecake just for us.
“Maverick.” Her voice is groggy with sleep.
“Shhh. Go back to sleep, Firebird, I just ordered some food. You have at least another fifteen minutes until it gets here.”
She stretches though, her eyes blinking open in the dim light of the room. “No…I’m fine. I had a good nap. Tell me…tell me how the promotions are going.”
She struggles into a sitting position, taking her warmth with her.
“Need to make sure I’m pulling my weight?” I ask, not keeping the annoyance from my tone.
She glances down in surprise. “What? No! I just want to know if I can help.”
One look at the sincerity in her eyes and my annoyance melts away. She really means it. She always has.
“Maybe, but not right now. Right now, I want to take care of you. That is going to start with food and a movie, and you are sleeping in my bed tonight.”
“That sounds perfect.”
She smiles up at me, and everything suddenly seems manageable. All the stress. The fighting. The fucking fact that she thought I was Conrad.
Room service arrives, and Phoenix’s eyes soften when she sees the cheesecake. We eat and talk, and even though we don’t leave my room, it feels better than any date. It feels normal.
“Mav?” she asks, moving to sit on my lap.
“Yeah, Firebird?”
“Are you mad at me for being jealous?"
“No.”
“It’s just that we never really talked about what this is. I know I don't have the right to be—you said I was yours but you never said you were—”
“You are mine. The Titans, we own you. And if we own you, then you own us. At least…you own me.” The truth slips from my lips and I don’t regret it in the slightest. “I like the fact that you got jealous, Firebird. Seeing you jealous, with my best friend’s dick down your throat made me hard then, and it turns me on even more now.
Everything about you turns me on. Probably always will. ”
She leans forward and kisses me, a kiss that starts soft and turns into something heated and lingering. It’s several minutes later when she pulls away slightly, pressing her forehead against mine.
“Maverick, I have to tell you something. I—”
Her words are cut off when the shrill ring of my phone cuts through the air. I go to silence it when SOS flashes across the screen.
“It’s the front desk. They only call this number in case of an emergency.”
“Answer it,” she says, and all I want to do is throw this phone out of the fucking window.
“Yeah?” I answer the call to hear screaming in the background and then one of the concierge’s voices mumbling.
“Sir, we have an issue at the front desk. The two ladies you gave spa passes to earlier are here and demanding to speak to someone, and I think they may be impaired. Should I call the police?”
Fuck.
“No, no, I’m on my way. Try to calm them down, and make sure they stay in range of security cameras.” I hang up the call. “Firebird, I’ll be back in a bit, okay? Don’t leave this room.”
She nods, expression worried.
When I get downstairs, I am thoroughly pissed off, and doing that square breathing thing Phoenix taught me all those years ago to control my emotions. I’m tired, I have blue balls, and I am a motherfucking Titan.
This is way below my pay grade.
At the front desk, there are the two women from earlier and another one, an older one I don’t recognize. The girls are still dressed in tiny shorts and bikini tops, and the older woman is dressed like a grade-A power-tripping Karen in a pastel pink power suit.
“I don’t understand why an establishment like this would allow prostitutes to just walk around freely and use the spa,” the older woman shrieks. “When my husband hears about this, I swear he will—”
“Get an erection for the first time since you have been married?” The blonde says, slurring her words. She rocks unsteadily on her feet, hanging onto the desk as if she could fall at any moment.
“Ladies, what seems to be the problem?” I ask. The words are addressed to the guests, but I am really asking the concierge.
The look of relief on her face is instant. “Sir, Mrs. Langford had an appointment at the spa when these two…ladies…came in and were talking during their treatment.”
“No,” Mrs. Langford snaps at the concierge, making me instantly hate her. “They were giggling and smoking, and I swear I watched them snort something and start the most crass conversation I have ever heard. It was offensive to the ear.”
“Fuck you, Grandma,” the blonde says. The brunette just giggles. “He’s going to kick you out. He isn’t going to do shit to us. He’s the one who made sure we got the drugs and everything else we needed.”
Hold the fuck up. No, the fuck I didn’t.
“Did he, now?” Mrs. Langford pushed out her hip and glared at me.
“No, I assure you I did not. I apologize for the interruption and inconvenience, Mrs. Langford. Kelly, can you hand me the spa schedule?”
The concierge passes me the tablet, and I scroll through the calendar. It seems…wrong.
Mrs. Langford should not have been anywhere near the two girls getting massages. The girls should have been in one room, and Mrs. Langford in one of the private suites.
Something was off up there.
“Mrs. Langford, I apologize for the inconvenience. I am going to upgrade the rest of your treatments to happen in a private suite. You may rebook anything you like, and it will be on the house. If you would like, you can go over the treatment offered in the bar, with a glass of complimentary champagne.”
I shoot a look over to the concierge and see that she is sending the necessary notes.
“That will be acceptable,” she says before huffing off towards the bar.
One crisis handled.
One more and I can get back upstairs and lose myself between my little Firebird’s thighs.
“I need you two to kindly not spread rumors that I am dealing drugs at my resort,” I say as I turn to face the young women. “That’s slander, and grounds for—what the—”
They’re both slumped on the counter, their skin clammy and pale.
Fuck my life.
“I don’t know what happened,” the concierge says. “They are clearly on something, but I don’t know what to do. What do we do?”
“Calm down, first of all,” I say, keeping my tone cool and even. If I panic, she’s only going to get worse.
I check one’s pulse. Thank fuck for fucked up frat parties. It’s there, but faint. When I pull back her eyelid, her pupils are tiny pinpricks.
Mrs. Langford said she saw them snorting something. Whatever it was, must have been tainted.
This is the last thing I need.
“Call 911 and tell them we have two possible ODs. Let the dispatcher know we have them in the gift shop office and tell them where the closest door is.”
“But they are here—”
“I am going to move them to where the paramedics can get to them as quickly as possible, with the least amount of disturbance on the floor. Can you do that?”
She’s pale but nodding. I don’t believe her.
“Hey, look at me. What is your name?”
“Beth.”
“Okay, Beth. I am sorry for using the wrong name earlier, but I need you to keep it together. Can you do that?”
My words are calm, measured, meant to keep her calm and focused. It always works like a fucking charm.
She takes a deep breath through her nose and pushes her shoulder back.
“I can do this.”
“Good, what room are they staying in?”
“Why?”
“Because they accused me of selling drugs on the property. I didn’t, but I need to make sure there is nothing pointing to the drugs being supplied here in their room.”
“Room 1125, sir. Do you need a key made?”
“No. Now make the call.”
She picks up the phone as I wave over one of the guys in security, and we scoop up the girls and carry them to the gift shop office. It’s empty, just a desk that is rarely used.
As soon as they are situated, I grab my phone and start heading off problems before they happen.
Mav
Two girls are OD-ing on something. Paramedics coming. Con, the cops are going to want to talk to you.
Con
coming now.
Mav
The girls implied they had bought the drugs on the premises. Room 1125. Storm, can you take care of that?
Storm
Is someone selling on the property?
Mav
That’s what I want you to find out.
I take another deep breath and send a message that I really don’t want to send. But it isn’t for me. It’s for her.
Mav
Atticus, I left Phoenix alone in my room. Can you check on her? Make sure she is staying put.
Mav
I think it’s best we don’t leave her alone too much right now.
Atticus
Yeah, I could use a break. But I’ll make sure all video surveillance of the women in question are provided for the police.
And just like that, the plans for my evening are fucked.
I look up and through the glass doors of the lobby just in time to see the blue and red flashing lights.
Here we fucking go.