Chapter Thirteen
THE NEXT morning there was an interesting occurrence.
And it didn’t include Stash butt naked. Mr. Fresby called and asked to speak to me directly while everyone, but Ally, was getting ready for work.
He asked me to come in with the crew today.
They were going to be holding “interviews” to get to know the employees and their procedures better.
He wanted me with them to “sniff” out the bad seeds.
Evidently, I was the proverbial bloodhound.
I honestly didn’t have an issue with it, though, and told him I would be there.
It would be nice using my “talent” for good.
It would be a first for me on a professional level.
I was actually excited about it and hurried and got ready, wearing a black vintage button up with fluffy sleeves, grey, cuffed pinstriped capris with D-Rings on the bottom, and black, platform sandals with tiny skulls around the edges.
I was running out of clothes, and really, this was as professional as I wanted to go.
When I exited the bedroom and walked into the living/dining room’s flurry of activity, no one noticed me at first as they ate or rushed into the kitchen or tried to straighten a tie in the reflection off one of the picture frames hanging on the walls.
I shrugged and got a bowl of grub and sat down.
I was eating carefully, praying I didn’t spill any oatmeal on my shirt when Cole looked up from his newspaper that had been plastered to his face – sans glasses – and glanced at me.
He looked down, and then his eyes snapped back to mine.
He took in my attire slowly, ogling my chest that just wasn’t all that, before asking coolly, “Where are you heading off to today?”
I’m thinking it was that dose of danger he let drift into that one question that had heads turning to him and then following his line of sight.
I felt like waving and saying, “Good Morning, everyone!”, since I was in such a fine mood.
There really is something to sharing your dark and twisty past with someone, or someone’s, who care.
Plus, I got to use my blasted “talent” against the bad guys today. I felt like doing the jig.
But instead, I spoke as calmly and professionally as I could, placing my spoon in my bowl right before the spoonful slipped off and plunked, splattering the edges of the bowl. Whew. That was close. “Mr. Fresby called this morning. He asked that I attend today’s meetings with the employees.”
If anything, his face went colder. “To do what, exactly?”
“Analyze.” I shrugged and started to pick up my spoon.
“brENT!” Cole shouted at the top of his lungs, and my spoon clattered into the bowl. I inspected my clothes frantically. Nothing. They were fine. That didn’t stop me from scowling when I looked up at Cole.
“What?” Brent hollered from the communal bathroom. They had to use that one since their bedrooms had been invaded by their staff, once they saw their bosses had vacated. I wasn’t fond of being woken up in the mornings to my bathroom door banging shut constantly…or the bickering.
“Did you know that Mr. Fresby asked Ember to join us today at Sensations? And she, evidently, accepted to analyze during our meetings?” Cole yelled, his eyes never wavering from mine.
I kept on scowling and crossed my arms. What the heck was this about?
“The hell he did.” Brent strode out of the bathroom, buttoning up his shirt. I noticed Chloe checking him out. My scowl faltered to her for a second, before I remembered I had bigger problems at the moment, and snapped my attention back to the men who were behaving oddly.
“Why wouldn’t he?” I asked, a frown on my face. “Why are you two so mad?”
“Because we told him that you weren’t going to be working on this assignment,” Brent hissed, placing his fist on the table next to Cole, leaning on them.
“Why would you do that?” I was mystified. “He didn’t seem to mind me so much after talking with him after the limo ride.”
“Because you don’t like doing it! It was obvious after the Peter debacle!
” Cole stood up and started pacing. Everyone sort of backed away.
Brent stood motionless, fists still on the table, staring down at the gleaming, dark wood.
Chloe was staring at his behind that looked pretty darn good in his dress slacks.
I was starting to get ticked. At a lot of people.
Plus, my breakfast was getting cold. “Look, that was very kind of you, but I’m actually looking forward to this.
I’ll get to do something I haven’t been able to do before.
I’m not actually going to be talking to anyone.
Just listening to you question them and taking notes.
” I paused. “I want to do this.” Chloe caught my eye again, and I growled.
“Chloe will you please quit doing that!”
Clearly startled, she asked, “What?”
I huffed in exasperation and got up and walked behind Brent, resting my back against his. There. No explanations needed, and I took care of the problem.
Stash started chuckling and Chloe still didn’t get it.
Had she really not noticed? Was she that bad off on needing a man?
I glanced at Stash and grinned evilly since he was still chuckling, and said, “You know, you could help her with her problem.”
That shut him up real quick-like. He suddenly became very busy. Yeah, she was the sort that would scare him half to death. Revenge extracted.
“You really want to go today, sweetheart?” Cole was still pacing and chewing on a nail. He really had a thing for biting.
“I already said that,” I muttered and Brent turned around and held me from behind.
Stash disappeared out the door.
Brent whispered in my ear, “But, last night you said…” He didn’t finish. He didn’t need to. I know what I had said.
I petted his head and kept my gaze on Cole, talking to both of them, since they were both looking slightly panicked…and thoughtful? “Like I said, this will be different. I’ll get to find the bad guys. Not be one of them. It’s win-win.” I smiled.
They kinda stared, mouths slightly opened. Not really an attractive look for them.
I cut the smile out and whammy, they came back to reality. Very interesting.
I smiled again. Just to…well, be ornery.
They blanked.
Ohhh, I could have so much fun with this.
Zane snapped at me, “Cut it out! I like my friends with brains that work.”
I pouted for real.
It didn’t have quite the same effect. Instead of blanking, they turned to Zane and glared like they wanted to rip him a new one.
I grinned at him. Then, tried not to snicker at his look of disbelief as he glanced back at forth between them.
“Jesus. They’re fucking pussy whipped, and their not even getting any,” he grumbled, walking toward the door. “I don’t even know how the hell that possible.”
“Hey!” Bas hollered, running after him and catching the door before it shut. We all heard his, “How do you know they aren’t having wild, kinky sex in that room?”
Zane grunted. “Believe me, pup. We’d all know if they were going horizontal.”
I blushed and the door shut behind them, muffling whatever Bas’s next comment was.
Chloe and Peter pointedly starting picking up their bags, trying not to watch their bosses and the bright red girl staring at the closed door like we all wanted to run after Zane and pummel him.
It’s not my fault that when I get excited things…
just kind of erupt from my mouth. Or flustered. Or embarrassed.
Hmm, it’s best not to dwell.
***
Zane and Bas were talking quietly by the elevator, waiting. They looked amused, too. I would have thought they would have gone to the lobby to wait. Or gone to get the enormous conversion fan their staff had driven down.
Oh, well.
When we all piled in the elevator, I was by the buttons so I pressed “L” and the doors shut.
Silence.
Then, a resounding ring of curses zinged around the confines of the elevator. Lots of curses.
I stared at two blown up pictures. One taped to the back of each elevator door.
The one on the left was the first snapshot that Stash had taken of Brent reading and Cole typing on his laptop in my bed, looking very naked, except for the sheet that covered their waists.
The one of the right was of them, taken from the chest up, sleeping peacefully, practically face to face.
I was nowhere to be seen since I had been sleeping lower on the bed. Oh. This wasn’t good.
And, to top it off, the top of the pictures read, “They’re engaged!”
Cripes.
Stash was going to be pulp before we even had lunch.
Brent reached for the one on the left and Cole reached for the one on the right, ripping them off with impassioned rage. Zane’s gravelly chuckle was starting to be heard over Brent’s and Cole’s plotting of Stash’s demise - at full volume – when the elevator doors opened.
Oh. My. Goodness.
Stash had really outdone himself.
The lobby was littered with those same two photos. They had been taped all over the walls, back of couches, receptionist’s desk, and the glass doors. He had even gotten some of them on the second floor’s glass railing at the restaurant. It was…unbelievable.
We exited slow as molasses and stood outside the elevator doors, turning in circles to see all his papered graffiti. Whoa. I don’t think I ever really wanted to tick that man off. If this is what he did to his best friends, I would hate to see what he could come up with against his enemies.