by Nina Levine
I cup her ass cheeks and subtly move her away from my erection.
“I’m better. Cindy was in pain.” Queenie places her palms on my chest, one finger playing gently with my nipple. The stimulation is not helping my erection to go away. “Cindy had already made peace with her terminal disease, and now she’s somewhere pain-free.”
“That’s very distracting.” I cover her hand. “Continue.”
“I had been preparing for the day I wouldn’t see her anymore, but it still came as a shock, and it was the anniversary of my mother’s death. One lot of emotions rolled on into another making a bigger ball of emotions.” She shrugs, trying to make light of it all, but that is what a person does when they push the hard stuff below the surface. It’s a protective measure—a survival technique. I’ve done it since I lost my parents. “It was a tough night, but the world is full of tough days and nights. Cindy’s family is living it right now. I miss my mother every day, even more so now that Lore—Gino has proven he’s a piece of shit. Even though we weren’t close, he was still my connection to my mother. He was somebody she loved, and I thought he loved her.”
“And the no-bullshit part?”
She ticks off her fingers. “I’m horny. Hungry. Horny. I need to pee. Still horny. Still sad, but need a distraction.”
“How about you go use the bathroom, and I’ll get a handful of condoms because you have mentioned the word ‘horny’ thrice, then I will feed you until you are bursting. Or we can swap that order around.”
In answer, she wriggles off me, getting up and disappearing into the ensuite.
I am waiting for her at the bathroom door.
When she emerges, she’s taken the lilac wig off, and I’ve got a handful of condoms ready to tear open sitting on the bedside table. “Get naked, and I will be with you in a moment—nature calls.” I lean down and kiss the top of her head.
Before I can get past Queenie, she wraps her arms around me and hugs me. “Thank you for last night.” She pulls away and looks up at me. “I’m sorry I took my frustration out on you with my stepfather—you brought solutions to my problems that were never yours to solve. I am grateful. I also heard you last night with Hemsworth. I was too full of emotion to admit I was awake. It’s a very kind gesture to take that burden away from Cindy’s family. I have no words for—”
“Honey, as I am discovering, I would move mountains for you if you asked me to. Now we can talk about how wonderful I am later. Knowing Hemsworth, he’s going to be popping in here bright and chipper just when I get inside you and ruining playtime.”
“Bradford…”
“Queenie…” I respond in the same solemn tone.
“I don’t know what this is?” She waves her hand back and forth between us.
“We can figure it out together at our own pace. You’re still angry with me, remember, for stealing your castle from under your nose, but I did banish the evil villain. So I have that going for me. You might hate me in a few days when I show you what I have Xander and his crew doing on the third floor of—let’s just call it Queenie’s—it might make you want to claw my eyes out every time I call it ‘my building.’”
“Okay. Queenie’s has a nice ring to it. I understand you had to do what you did. I would rather you own Queenie’s building than some other gazillionaire. I might be able to sweet talk you into letting me pay my way into leasing the property back, at least.”
“Maybe. Now time is a-ticking. Hemsworth is a conscientious employee who is never late. We’ve got about an hour and a half, and I expect to enjoy shower sex too. Get naked, and I’ll be inside you in no time, making you scream BRADFORD! Because you were calling some other guy's name—Blake, I think it was—two nights ago. Not cool! Missy.” I slap her on the ass.
15
Queenie
I went with Bradford to see Cindy’s parents later that morning. There were rivers of tears. I won’t lie.
I left with swollen eyes; a soggy tissue clutched in my hand, and my heart full for the man beside me who talked with compassion and understanding with the Collins’. He convinced them to accept his generous offer to pay all their debts off, allowing them to concentrate on the cherished memories of their only child.
He talked about losing his parents during the pandemic and the hospital wing he’s financing forever grateful to the selfless health professionals. It is a side to Bradford I haven’t witnessed.
I totally lost it when Mrs. Collins told me Cindy would get cremated wearing the gifts I had brought for their daughter. She would forever be a Disney princess.
Hemsworth stood proudly watching as Cindy’s parents walked us out to the street, and I thought I saw some tears in his eyes before he bowed his head and started opening car doors. Always the professional.
Now I’m back at Kingdom of Wigs with Layken, who got a lift over with Quil. She should be working at Queenies on a day shift, but somebody offered her up to keep me company. I think Bradford may have had a hand in sending her over.
Quil is guarding me today. He’s quite the salesman. His rainbow mohawk is impressing the female customers of all ages, and I think just quietly, it helps that he’s not too shabby on the eyes either.
Bradford told me he would pick me up at six o’clock and not be alarmed when he showed up with an overnight bag he had packed from rifling through my things. I will be staying with him again tonight. All he needed to know is my wig color choice of the day, and I requested he has a supply of condoms on hand.
I was glad to have a few days away from my apartment. I needed a break from the building after the dumpster scare, and it sounds like my parents’ apartment was under construction on the third floor. I refuse to call it that slimeball’s apartment. He is dead to me.
I have to sever my emotional ties with Queenie’s and look at the place as a roof over my head and my workplace two days a week. I might even throw in the job and concentrate on Kingdom of Wigs. It is my mother’s baby, and I feel closer to her when I am working here.
Last night was the first night I have ever slept anywhere but at Queenie’s, and I didn’t miss it. I realize now how thick the air was with the tension between the slimeball and me.
I’m on my own now.
I’m free.
I’m going to enjoy this time with Bradford, however fleeting it may be.
Queenie now reigns over her life.
16
King
It’s been a week since Queenie’s attack, and so much has changed in my life.
Every night I brought her back to my city penthouse. I made her dinner, well, Chef did, and then we hung out like two people should as they got to know each other. After dinner, we sometimes watched old ‘80s movies in the theatre room with Hemsworth and Chef. We took midnight swims in the indoor heated pool. Layken and her husband, Henry, visited, and we made love every night.
I thought I had it all before I met Queenie. Money can buy me anything my heart desires, but it can’t buy love.
Yes, I’m falling in love with her, and I know it is too soon for that. But what do you do?
Today is Queenie’s twenty-fourth birthday, and I’m holding a surprise party for her on the second floor of Queenie’s. The unused space has gotten a facelift. I added a small kitchen, and the bar got upgraded. It’s more like a cozy gentleman’s room of the early twentieth century with deep club chairs, surrounding low tables, and a crackling fireplace brought back to life that had been standing dormant.
Xander and the larger extended crew he brought in made quick work of turning the third floor into one big airy two-bedroom penthouse with a theatre room and study, leaving all the original features. All of Queenie’s furniture and personal items have been put back with plenty of space for her to redecorate and add other pieces.
Tonight I’m going to reveal what I have done as a birthday gift for her. I like Queenie staying with me, but now we can stay at Queenie’s as well. I’ve got two homes in Chicago, the modern penthouse and the late nineteenth-centu
ry German Baroque Lincoln Park Mansion, which was my parents’ home. I haven’t wanted to stay there for long periods since their death, but now I want to show it off to Queenie and get her input on redecorating the place.
Because it’s a Sunday and Queenie’s tavern is closed, I’ve invited the bar staff she’s worked with and all of Xander’s crew and Chef and Hemsworth. Henry and Layken are coming, and so is Nash and any plus ones. I’m keeping the party intimate, not wanting to share Queenie with any of my professional friends just yet.
Little did I know that I would be getting a surprise as well.
17
Hemsworth
The party for Queenie has gone off without a hitch. Champagne flowed, and everybody had a good time.
I’m standing by the fireplace admiring my handiwork, sipping on a cognac.
I’m happy to report that Queenie and Bradford make a fine couple. All I had to do was put Queenie in Bradford’s path and hope for the best. I was tired of all the floozies he wasted his time on. If Lorcan was going to take Bradford seriously, I had to find a kind-hearted girl to show Bradford what he was missing out on with these other floozies, but one who could stand up to him and be her own woman.
Enter Layken, Henry’s wife and my partner in crime, who also happens to be Lorcan and Fern’s daughter.
Project Mission Impossible was afoot when Layken discovered the young woman working at Kingdom of Wigs. Word had gotten around about the kind young lady giving out free wigs to women in need in hospitals and palliative care. With a little research, we learned she also worked in a dive bar.
Coincidentally, Bradford wanted me to find him a dive bar to drink his demons away on the anniversary of his parents' death. Layken got herself a job there to make sure Bradford King noticed Queenie, and the rest, as they say, is history.
We didn’t consider a couple of villains getting in the way and hurting Queenie. I mean, who knew that would happen?
Bradford started putting two and two together every time he saw Lorcan and Fern. Not that he remembered knowing them. As they say in Star Wars, ‘The Force Was Strong’ in Bradford—or something like that.
I engineered their meetups, testing the waters. Lorcan was never convinced to bring Bradford into his world of secrets (until today), and believe me, I’ve tried over the years, and Lorcan kept wiping his memory. I hate keeping secrets from my boss, but I know these two men with deep pockets can do a lot of good in this world as a team.
Lorcan can’t show his face too often in the human world because he’s lived a long life. He needs a business partner who can. Henry is forever a twenty-year-old, and Layken is forever a twenty-one-year-old. Their daughter, Talyn, looks the same age, and she’s fifty-seven-years-old.
It’s become complicated living in the human world, so now they all have a residence in the paranormal dimension.
Layken is about to initiate the conversation, which will have Queenie taking her to the new penthouse on the third floor under the guise of Queenie showing her around before she leaves for the night with Henry. But first, she will excuse herself to let Henry’s ‘friends’ inside.
Henry has organized for Lorcan and Fern to arrive any moment now as their designated drivers.
There are only supernaturals left at this winding down party; all the humans have left for the night, bar Bradford and me.
And it’s showtime!
18
King
“Thank you, Bradford, for such a wonderful night and my birthday present. You have spoiled me.” My woman leans in, kissing me, wearing a stylish ice-blue wig that’s in a messy bun with a tiara nestled on top. It goes well with her silver-gray cocktail dress and four-inch heels.
“You can keep that thong I know you are wearing under that dress and those heels on later,” I murmur against her earlobe, “simply breathtaking.”
“You aren’t too shabby yourself in your penguin suit. Layken wants to get a tour of my birthday gift before they leave. Her father is coming to drive them home and take Hemsworth as well. She’s just gone to let him in. He’s a businessman/investor like you. I’m going to meet Layken upstairs in a moment.”
I thread my hand around the back of her neck. “I like you a lot.”
Queenie beams a smile back. “I like you a lot too, enough to let you have a sleepover in my new apartment.”
“Well, who’s a lucky guy? I’ll be up in fifteen minutes.”
I watch Queenie say her goodbyes to the remaining men scattered around the floor, and then I make my way to where Hemsworth and Henry are in a huddle, whispering with their heads close together.
“What plot are you two hatching together?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“And that is a load of BS.”
“Right you are, sir.” He smiles and looks sideways at Henry.
“You never told me how you two met. There has to be close to fifty years difference in your ages.” Henry is tall and fit with dark reddish-brown hair. Tonight he’s suited up, making him appear older, but he usually wears jeans and T-shirts.
Henry winks at Hemsworth. “We met in a Burlesque club many years ago.” Hemsworth groans and blushes, muttering words underneath his breath. Is Henry joking? “What? He’s about to know everything, might as well know you used to enjoy getting your freak on.” What the hell does any of that mean? Hemsworth smacks his forehead with his hand still muttering under his breath.
Henry puts his hands firmly on both my shoulders, holding me in place. “Bradford King, things are about to get interesting. Deep down, I know you already know the answers, but keep an initial open mind until that intuitive brain of yours kicks into gear.” What the hell does that mean? He looks over my shoulder. “Yo! Mom and Dad, get over here and introduce yourselves,” he hollers across the room with a mischievous grin on his face waving his arm in the air while Hemsworth shakes his head and looks down at the ground.
“Henry, I wish you would stop calling us that. It’s just weird,” the female voice replies.
“When is he going to stop calling us that?” A smooth, slightly accented male voice joins in.
I tilt my head to the side. I’ve heard that voice somewhere.
Henry looks me in the eye. “See, there you go already, that powerful mind of yours is ticking over. You are going to do just fine. Bradford King, I would like you to meet my in-laws. Again.”
Henry releases the hold he has on my shoulders, and I turn around, coming face to face with—
It was a little longer than fifteen minutes before I went upstairs. Layken was keeping Queenie busy while I relearned Lorcan and Fern are vampires, well Fern is a Dhampir. Half-human, half-vampire, and their five children are some other mix of that, and Henry is a mage.
I was so focused on listening to the stunning brunette who walks with the grace of a ballerina and her GQ-model-of-the-year looking husband who wears a suit better than me that I’d forgotten about Xander and his crew, who had gone suspiciously quiet.
I look around, Xander’s eyes meet mine. He nods and smiles.
“I knew it!” I shake my head. What the—“Fucking hell, Xander, I’ve known you nearly my whole life,” I mutter because I know he can hear me.
“It was only a matter of time, old friend,” he hollers, grinning.
“What are you?”
“We are all bear-shifters.” He refers to his crew. They raise their drinks. “You were always too intuitive for your own good. You’ve been down this road a few times.”
“What? Are you telling me my mind has been tampered with repeatedly over the years?”
“I’ll leave it to Lorcan to explain that one. Just remember all the good times we’ve had, and I’m still the same person you have always known. Don’t go having a hissy fit because you are the last to be picked from the playground to join the secret club.”
I roll my eyes. “Fuck-off!” And Xander and his crew laugh.
“Are we quite finished, gentlemen?” Lorcan raises an eyebrow, waiting for a reply.
Not even close.
Epilogue
King
I’ve been dating Queenie for seven months, and I can’t imagine not having her in my life. We now live together in the Lincoln Park mansion, and with her designer eye, she’s turned the place into a real home I want to one day fill with children.
With Queenie’s blessing, I handed over the reins to Hemsworth to manage Queenie’s tavern, which has had a full renovation from top to bottom. He lives on the third floor, and I now drive myself around after dusting off my collection of cars, and I did get that motorcycle.
With Henry and Lorcan’s contacts, Queenie’s has become a cool place for Supernaturals to hang out among the ‘humans’ in plain sight. Not that Queenie knows it, but I’m sure her intelligent mind will put two and two together soon enough.
Roemer and Carrollo got their day in court. We won’t need to be worrying about them for a long time. It helps to have friends in high places.
Lorcan and I became business partners, and we are slowly bringing Old Town back to life and investing in other areas of Chicago.
I’ve got a ring in my pocket I’ve been carrying around for a few days, trying to think up the best proposal ever.
I’ll keep you posted.
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