by Eve Langlais
“Hell if I know. It’s not like he can get away with lying to me or anything. For that matter, I’m not even sure what she does in his department. He runs mateforhire.com, but I never authorized anyone else to have access. I might have to check her files and see if she’s his administrative assistant or something along those lines. That wouldn’t explain why she’s always busy, though, with him running interference or why she was supposedly at some conference. Wouldn’t it be the other way around? She’d be the one taking all his calls.” Hawke rambled on. “Things aren’t adding up. I think it’s time I cornered Clark and got some answers.”
“Well then,” Keir said with humor lacing his words. “Glad you called us and we could be of such help.”
“Bite my hairy ass, you overgrown house cat.”
Xander cleared his throat and spoke quickly before the insults escalated. “If you need help, just let us know. I’ll talk to Josie and see what she can find out. Those three are thick as thieves. If something’s up, Josie and Ally will know or will find out what it is.”
“Thanks, guys. I appreciate that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to get settled here.”
Hawke hung up after they exchanged their good-byes and smiled the first smile he’d had in weeks. His wolf grinned in anticipation and excitement. It was time to plan and hunt. His mate was done running from him, and her days as a single woman were coming to an end.
He glanced at his desk clock, saw it was still early afternoon, and called his assistant into the office.
“You wanted to see me?”
Hawke nodded and waved her to a seat in front of his desk. Rebecca was a rare gem he was lucky to have working for him. “You up for a mystery?”
She cocked one eyebrow, leaned forward, and smiled devilishly. “Are we finally going to track your mate down?”
“Bloody hell, woman. What do you know of it?”
Rebecca smirked, sat back in her chair, and started to tick off points on her upraised fingers. “One, you’ve been grumpy as hell, but I’ve also caught you staring off into space lost in thought. Didn’t mean much until rumors started flying.”
“What rumors?”
“Two”—she pointed to another finger as she moved through the count—“you’ve been visiting your pet project’s department a lot. Speculation is you’re being matched and checking in.”
“Not exactly.”
“Let me finish, please.” She glared before shaking her head softly and continuing on. “Three, I’ve heard you’ve been up in HR asking about an employee, and no, I don’t have a name. That part isn’t being spread about. It is common knowledge it’s a woman and she also works in the aforementioned department.”
“What if it’s innocent and I was checking her record for violations to fire her?”
Rebecca rolled her eyes, “Sure. The man who has demanded every manager let him know of any significant events in his employees’ lives. The man who goes out of his way to help employees in every aspect of their lives and has not once ever gone to HR to do any of this. They come to you, remember!”
Hawke blushed but didn’t comment. She was right; there wasn’t much he could say on that point at all.
“Four, word might have spread from … another office that you’d met your mate but were having problems with sealing the deal.”
“For fuck’s sake,” he bellowed as he jumped to his feet and glared down at Rebecca. “That’s being spread around the office?”
“If it helps, the women are eating it up. They think it’s romantic to see you working so hard to win her over.”
Hawke slumped back into his chair, dropped his head onto his desk, and groaned in embarrassment. He knew whose fault this was. His so-called friends loved to stir the pot; they told their assistants knowing damn well they’d love to see him squirm.
“Don’t cry, boss man. I’ll stop teasing you. What’s the mystery anyway?”
He sat up and glared at his former favorite employee. “You’re an evil woman, Rebecca. I pity the man you settle down with.” He straightened his tie, grabbed a pen, and fumbled for the words to explain without sounding like a love-sick lunatic stalker.
“You’re fidgeting. This is awesome. If I didn’t love my job so much I’d be the most popular person at lunch tomorrow with that tidbit. And you can stop growling now. I won’t tell … for now, at least.”
“What did I do to deserve this torment? I’ve tried to be a good person; I’ve never purposefully hurt anyone that didn’t deserve it. Yet the fates have saddled me with this misery and grief.”
Rebecca couldn’t contain her laughter any longer. Hawke grunted, closed his eyes, and waited. Five very long minutes later she wiped the tears that were running down her face and settled down.
“You done now? Ready to hear what I called you in here for?” He waited for her to nod in agreement. “Good. Her name is Shawna Goode. I met her a few months ago at a party Xander and Josie threw for Ally, who has since been mated to Keir. Anyway, I asked them who she was and they all found it hilarious that she worked for me and I had no clue.”
“How’s that possible?” Rebecca exclaimed in confusion as she sat up straighter in her chair and studied him.
“Exactly. That’s one of the things I want checked out. Make sure no one is hiring without informing me so I can meet the candidate. I don’t know when or how that got changed, but I want it stopped. No employee joins my company without a proper introduction and welcome.”
“Hold on.” Rebecca stood, raced out of the room only to return a moment later with a pen and pad. “I want to take notes.”
“Since when do you need to take notes?”
“Since you started acting love-sick crazy. I want to jot down all the things I’ve seen and what you want me to do. I don’t want to forget a thing.”
“Why haven’t I fired you yet?”
Rebecca laughed. “I’m too valuable and you wouldn’t know what to do without me here. Don’t worry. I won’t tell everyone yet.… I’ll wait until you’ve pissed me off, and then it’s payback.”
“Also, we need to check into HR,” Hawke said loudly, trying to drown out her words. “There’s something odd going on there. The employee list on my computer has Shawna listed as working in one department, but in actuality she works for Clark Benoit.”
“How is that possible?” Rebecca paused, stuck her pen in her mouth, and started chewing on the end as she thought about what he’d said. “Have you checked their records?”
“No, I’m afraid it will tip someone off that I’m looking into it. I’ve never gone there before; I’ve only ever had to look on the computer for the information I need.”
“Good point. I can do it without suspicion. I have my ways.”
“Okay, ninja Rebecca. Next thing, I need to find out everything I can about Clark Benoit and his department. If I’m honest, I don’t recall setting him up with a department. He was hired to run the computer. I can see him having an assistant, but from what I saw he has two or three people there, besides him and Shawna.”
“Have you seen the latest stats on the matches, by the way?” Rebecca asked hesitantly.
“No, why? What’s wrong?”
“In the last few weeks the matches haven’t been working out. We went from an almost perfect match rate down to about half that. I’ve sent memos to Mr. Benoit asking what the status is and for an explanation. The only response I received was, well, to put it mildly, sexist, degrading, and rude.”
“And why have you not let me know this before now? I’d like a copy of that response ASAP. Please schedule a meeting with him first thing tomorrow as well.”
“It was verbal. He’s too smart to put it on paper. I can give you the gist of the conversation, though. Basically, told me to go eat another cake and leave the computer stuff to people who knew what they were doing and that he didn’t have time to answer my questions.”
“Hold off on the meeting for a day or two. First, I’d like to look at his f
ile and talk to some of his coworkers and get their take on the man. I want to know everything about him and his time here before I call him in and hand him his ass.”
CHAPTER 3
“It’s been two weeks, Shawna; open up the door and talk to me,” Josie demanded.
Shawna groaned, climbed to her feet, and opened the door for her pain-in-the-ass friend. “I talked to you yesterday, and Ally a few days before that. It’s not been two weeks.”
“Since anyone has seen you yes, it has. And no offense, but you look like shit. What’s wrong? Are you sick?”
“No.” Shawna yawned and moved back to the couch to flop down in exhaustion. “I’m just tired. It’s my first night off in a week and a half. I have to be back at the gas station at four A.M., though. I’m just trying to catch up a bit.”
“When did you start working at a gas station?” Josie asked in confusion.
“Couple days ago. I needed more money.”
Josie huffed out in annoyance, “Stop killing yourself and let us help. You’re working what, three jobs? This is insane.”
“What do you want? I don’t have the energy to fight with you right now. I want to sleep, not argue.”
“Fine. I’m here because Hawke fired your old boss this morning. Apparently, the day you got sacked was also the day he found out some disturbing things about Clark. He’s spent the last two weeks doing some research and gathering evidence and justification so the man couldn’t file a grievance.”
That was the best news Shawna had heard in days. If she weren’t so dead tired she might just celebrate. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer man; now if it had only happened before the ass licker had let her go.
“Are you listening to me?”
Shawna cracked open one eye and peered at her friend. “Sorry, what was that? I was throwing a party in my head. It’s all the energy I have right now.”
“Carajo! I said Hawke has been trying to reach you. They’ve discovered that you were running the Mate for Hire site and they want you back. Apparently, once you left, things got bad quick. Your old boss didn’t know how to do it. He screwed things up so bad that they had to temporarily shut the site down.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” Shawna jumped up with more energy than she’d felt in weeks. He’d gotten what was coming to him after all. Karma did come back around sometimes. “I’m sorry the computer got screwed up, but so damn happy they discovered what a useless person he was.”
Josie rummaged through her purse and pulled out a business card. “Here. Take this. It’s got Hawke’s direct office and cell number. He’s desperate to get you to come back and work for him. He’s got incentives for you to come back too. Things were pretty screwed up; he wants to fix them.”
“Why are you bringing that to me? Why hasn’t he called or something?” she asked skeptically.
“Your file with Naughty Goddess still has your old address and phone. No cell or email address on file. He wanted to come in person, but we persuaded him to let me try. If he doesn’t hear from you soon, though, he will show up here. Mark my words, he’s determined.”
They spent another half hour catching up on their lives and then Shawna fell back onto her couch and closed her eyes before the door was latched. She quickly fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
Days passed in a blur as Shawna ran from one job to the next, never staying home longer than it took to change clothes or take a catnap before she was off again. She knew her friends were worried about her, they continued to offer money and support, but Shawna wouldn’t accept it. The amount of money she needed to pay off wasn’t something she could borrow from them. No matter how much they insisted. She’d been able to make this month’s payment, but it had been late and a fee had been added on. She was drowning and didn’t know how she was going to survive this.
“Shawna.” A weak voice spoke softly on the other end of the phone.
Shawna strained to hear the woman’s voice. “Mama, is that you?”
“Hija. I miss you.”
It took all Shawna had to not break down in tears at the frail sound of her mother’s voice. It’d been almost six months since they’d last been able to speak. Letters were not enough; she needed her. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Calm yourself, hija. I’m just tired. They got your payment, they—”
“What? They what?” Shawna pleaded, worry and terror fighting for dominance now.
“It’s your brother; he’s very sick. I don’t have long to talk, so just listen. I’ve got a plan; I’m going to get him to someone who can help. Just remember we love you very much. I’ll call again when I can.”
Before she could respond the line was dead. Ice flooded her veins as she recounted the cryptic words her mother had spoken. What help was she getting? How was she getting him help? Nothing Shawna could come up with settled her mind. Her family was in danger and there was nothing she could do.
Her knees buckled and she collapsed onto the hard walkway to her apartment; giant sobs of terror wracked her body as she clutched at the phone, willing it to ring back.
“Miz Shawna?” Robbie rushed to her side, pulled her to a standing position, and half-carried, half-dragged her the rest of the way to her apartment. “Where’s your key?”
Shawna could hear him, but words failed her as she dug in her pocket for the key to her house. She blindly handed it to him, lost in her world of pain and worry. She’d already lost too much; she couldn’t lose her mother and brothers too.
“Come on, Miz Shawna. Almost there,” Robbie’s soft voice cajoled. She collapsed onto her well-used couch and let the sobs free once again.
She wasn’t sure how much time passed before the sound of soft voices roused her from her semiconscious state.
“Carajo, Hawke, I said put him down,” a low voice demanded. Shawna struggled to open her swollen eyes as she heard Hawke’s voice reply in a menacing tone.
“He’s in her apartment alone with her like that. He’s going to tell me what’s going on or I’m going to rip out his intestines through his nose.”
“As graphic and disturbing as that sounds, you need to chill the fuck out. If you’d listen to me and stop your masculine posturing, you might hear better.”
Shawna finally managed to open her eyes in time to see Josie and Ally standing next to Hawke, trying to pull his hands off poor Robbie’s tattered shirt.
Robbie nodded his head vigorously. “I’ve been trying to explain. I found Miz Shawna like that and helped her in here. I’d never hurt her. I called Miz Shawna’s friends to come help.”
She watched as Hawke released his grip and took a small step back. “Fine, but he will explain and it better be the truth.”
Shawna had had enough of this; she pushed herself to a sitting position, wiped the tears from her cheek, took a deep breath, and gave a demand of her own. “Leave him alone; he’s done nothing wrong.”
Everyone froze in stunned shock before they all began talking at once. She was exhausted physically and emotionally; hearing all of them try to talk over one another was more than she could handle.
“Quiet!” she screamed as she jumped to her feet like a deranged lunatic and glared at everyone. “I’m having a very bad day and I don’t have the patience to sit here and listen to you scream at each other. If you want to talk to me, you can all sit down like the adults we are or you can get the hell out.”
Shawna didn’t wait to see if they listened or not; at this point she didn’t care. She dropped back down onto her couch and closed her eyes. As the seconds ticked by and she didn’t hear the front door open and close she knew it was time to figure out why they were all here.
“I can feel you all staring at me,” she grumbled as she opened her eyes and took in the faces around her. “Why are all of you here? And don’t even think about all talking at once. I am so close to going postal today.”
Robbie sat up a bit straighter and quickly explained, “Miz Shawna, that’s my fault. Afte
r I helped you in and you collapsed I was worried, you see. So, I found Miz Josie’s number in your phone and called her for help. A lady needs women around when she’s hurting like you.” He lowered his eyes and wouldn’t meet hers before continuing on. “I didn’t mean to cause you more stress, and I’m sorry I went through your phone like that.”
“I’m not mad at you, Robbie. You’ve done so much for me, for all of us. How could I ever get mad? If you hadn’t been there when I got home, things would be so different right now. You probably saved my life.” Shawna pulled Robbie down so she could give him a hug and whisper in his ear, “I can never repay you for all your kindness. Thank you for being my friend.”
“It wasn’t nothing, Miz Shawna.” Robbie smiled bashfully and stepped back with a nervous glance to Hawke. “Is he okay? I mean, are you ladies safe with him?”
“He’s an old friend. He’d never hurt any of us. Don’t worry. I promise,” Shawna replied, which was quickly seconded by Josie and Ally.
“All right then, I’m gonna go, but I’ll be close by if you need me.”
Shawna watched him walk quietly out of her apartment before turning her attention back to Josie and Ally. She couldn’t deal with Hawke right now. His presence was like that of a living, breathing entity standing over her, breathing down her neck. She was too on edge and aware of his every movement. She hated that he was seeing her life falling apart. He was too put together and in control and it just made her feel worse. She wanted to hate him, she knew she put on a good act, but deep down inside she wanted to tie him to her bed and never let him up.
“Talk to us. What’s happened? Why did Robbie sound so scared when he called us for help? What’s going on?” Ally pleaded desperately.
Shawna was wrong, she could deal with him after all, and it would be easier than explaining to him. Besides, if she was honest with herself, she was curious as to how he came to be in her run-down shitty-ass apartment in the first place. She turned her attention to him and was shocked at the expression of fear and worry evident on his face.