Jordy’s slouch was more pronounced than usual, either an aftereffect of what Cadmus had done, or trepidation that she was entering into the lion’s den, as she shuffled into the canvas marquee tent that served as the HQ for Ops during the warmer months.
It was a spacious, airy tent, and filled with lockboxes crammed with supplies that were in constant demand throughout the day, or a simple area with refreshments and water for the Ops crew to hang out and catch a breather in between putting out fires, or recharge their phones with the various outlets connected to the solar power panels. Which meant a constant flow of people. Which meant several people there right now, who quickly looked away when they saw Jordy, before scattering. As if her being called in for possibly being chewed out was something they might accidentally catch.
She was in deep shit.
She had been rehearsing what to say. That the footage was like that when she got it? That she had no idea how all the alterations had happened? It would have to depend on whatever Puma said. She’d have to be quick on her feet, but she’d always been good like that.
You got this, she chanted to herself. You got this.
But when she saw Puma’s dark head, her stomach plummeted, even though his back was to her.
The head of Ops was sitting at a desk in an ergonomic chair, peering intently at a laptop screen. At Jordy’s approach, he closed it shut, so she couldn’t even see what he had been looking at.
Cadmus’ spell had temporarily disarmed Puma’s common sense, made his brain mushy. It had made him promote a completely unqualified, inexperienced young girl to a position of authority and trust. However, Jordy wasn’t sure how long that effect would last – and now it seemed to have worn off.
He turned his chair to her, planting his long legs firmly on either side and resting his elbows on his thighs. Even crouched like that, his face impassive, he was overwhelming in his authority.
Jordy’s stomach, having plummeted, was now doing flips like a fish on the floor of a boat, before being tossed back in. To be fed to sharks.
And then he spoke. Unlike Cadmus, Puma rarely raised his voice. Somehow that was even more menacing. His tone was even, measured.
“Honor is important to me, and Simon’s trust in me translates to my trust in my crew. You were handed security footage for a matter that was extremely sensitive, and of high priority. But Simon ran the footage into a program that showed it had been clearly altered, with sections missing. Is there something you’d like to tell me?”
Puma fixed his dark, almost inky black eyes on her, and Jordy had the sensation that he could look deep within her soul. Whatever she had left of it, anyway.
She was shaking inside, and tried to steady her breathing. To sound convincing. She’d have to lie like the fate of the world depended on it. And not let him see her sweat.
“I didn’t notice anything missing from the footage when I got it.” She couldn’t keep the sullen tone from her voice. “So I’m sorry if I didn’t catch that.”
Puma narrowed his eyes, slightly. And said nothing. The silence stretched between them, as every single one of Jordy’s sweat glands decided to say Hiya. But she knew this tactic he was using. She fought the urge to babble, which would be a dead giveaway of her culpability. It was a game of chicken that she had to win.
Finally Puma broke the silence. “Okay.” He looked troubled, and slightly dazed, as he said it, as if he were fighting to clear his head. There must have been some residual effects to the spell left, because he never should have bought that lie so easily.
Jordy had to keep herself from exhaling loudly, letting the breath ease out slowly instead. But Puma wasn’t done.
“I’m taking you off active rotation for now,” he said in that scary, quiet voice. “Until Simon and I get this cleared up, you’ll be reassigned to regular-access ops duties. So I’m going to have to ask you for the keys back.”
Her fingers were trembling as she took out the set of metal keys that she had proudly carried, a smaller version of Puma’s own. She handed them over to the Ops head, as the reality of the demotion sank in.
He took them and turned his broad back, clearly dismissing her. Jordy turned to leave, and now all the people who had been looking away were now giving her side glances and murmuring to each other. A few stifled laughs. The people that she had been sneering at before, were snickering at her now instead.
She wanted so badly to say something back, to even flash them the finger. Both of them. Grow an extra hand so she could give them that finger too. Her eyes grew blurry with unshed tears. But she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction, so she held them back and kept walking, chin held high. Besides, Puma was just a few feet away. She didn’t need to have him decide to fire her outright, instead of this polite suspension and demotion, rolled into one.
Jordy needed to do something, anything, otherwise she would break down in an embarrassing display of weeping. But mostly she needed to silence that little voice inside — the snide jeering that maybe she was the one. She was really the loser with a capital L that she claimed everyone else was. That her cute little display of superiority was just masking the fact that deep down, she actually was a steaming sack of shit putting up a front. Exactly as her dad had shouted at her, right before he disowned her.
Shut up. Don’t go into that spiral of self-pity. Jordy was outside of the tent now, and out on the Fairegrounds where the majority of people didn’t know, or more importantly, didn’t care about what just went down for her.
Time for some action. Hey, now that Jordy was off active rotation, how about going to find out definitively what her old roommate was up to. And this time get accurate information for Cadmus, right from the horse’s mouth.
Yeah, that sounded like a plan. Figure out a way to stick it to that Shady McShade, because now that she knew what Cadmus was capable of, she wanted to share the joy.
Jordy squared her shoulders with renewed purpose, tilted her chin back up high. And as she stuck her hands into her vest — which surprisingly Puma had not asked for her to turn over also — she felt the hard edges of something…..some things, plural, that made her smile.
At last something was still going her way.
She had only given the metal keys back to Puma. Not the card keys, that granted her access to everything with electronic locks.
Jordy still had the keys to the kingdom.
Lily was helping Alfonso and two other 8 year olds with the comic book they were designing as a group, when Rika came into the Staff Childcare Center. The HR Director was carrying a large shopping bag that bore the name of one of Gardendale’s more fashionable stores. Or at least that’s what TraceyAnn observed. Loudly.
“Been shopping?” TraceyAnn asked Rika, and the HR Director beamed.
“Yes, but this is the kind of errand that I like, so I made sure to do it personally.” She gestured at Lily. “Simon asked me to purchase a dress and shoes to go with it, for your special event tonight.”
“Special event?” TraceyAnn sniffed information to be had, so she made a beeline over to where Rika was now standing next to Lily.
Lily blushed. Somehow asking Miller to take care of the twins, so she could go straight from the Center into meeting Col for their date, had turned into a larger production. Yet another sign of Simon’s thoughtfulness and generosity. TraceyAnn was still expecting an answer, so Lily chose her words carefully.
“I’m having dinner with one of the guys that Simon’s hired me to work with. He needs more experience with fine dining, smooth the rough edges.”
Rika nodded with approval at Lily’s tact. Lily’s blush deepened at what else Simon might have told Rika.
“Oh, is it with Aylwyn?” TraceyAnn was still giddy over how Aylwyn had kissed her hand.
“No, it isn’t.” Lily said, and before TraceyAnn could pry further, Rika smoothly interrupted.
“I hope you like the dress I picked out!”
“Oh yes, I can’t wait to see it!” Lily was in awe as Ri
ka carefully pulled out from the tissue wrapping the most beautiful dress that she had ever seen. It was an ombre silk concoction in shades of red and orange cut on the bias, flowing like liquid heat when Rika held it up by its two thin straps.
“It’s gorgeous.” Lily breathed, and she looked at Rika, her eyes shining brightly. “Thank you so much for this.”
“I figured that color would work with your complexion and coloring,” Rika said. “I used the measurements you have on file with the costume department.”
Lily held it against herself, wishing that there was a full length mirror.
“The shoes are flat mules that you’ll be able to wear every day if you choose.” Rika said, and she revealed the shoes that she had picked out.
They were exactly what Lily would have chosen for herself, if she could afford it. And she understood what Rika was saying. This dress and pair of shoes were hers to keep. As was everything else that had been purchased for her back at the house. Simon’s generosity was seemingly limitless.
At that moment the door to the Center opened, and Lily was surprised to see Jordy walk in. She smiled at her former roommate, hoping that Jordy wasn’t just here to fix an Ops problem. The girl’s eyes flicked up and down over the group of three women, and the dress that Lily was holding up.
TraceyAnn’s bellow-like voice boomed. “You’d have to wear that with something strapless, and maybe thongs too to avoid the VPL.”
“VPL?”
“Visible Panty Line,” TraceyAnn explained, without lowering even a decibel, and Alfonso and the two other eight year olds who were nearby giggled.
Lily’s cheeks reddened the same shade as the deepest hue of the dress.
”Oh! I knew I forgot to get something!” Rika exclaimed.
TraceyAnn nodded smugly. “Can’t wear something like that with everyday underwear.”
Rika looked apologetically at Lily. “I’m so sorry. I won’t be able to go back into town. Would you mind terribly stopping by a specialty store before your dinner date? I’ll call ahead, and make sure that it’s all credited to Simon’s account. He’s footing the bill for anything you need, so—” She winked at Lily. “ Knock yourself out. I know for a fact that he’ll be happy if you did.”
Jordy quickly interjected, “I’ll be happy to take you to the store—which one is it?”
“It’s Undercover Frills on Main. Do you know it?” Rika looked at Jordy, who promptly pulled out her phone, and started tapping at the screen. Meanwhile TraceyAnn’s eyebrows shot up.
“No, but I can find it.” Jordy said.
“Oh, thanks, but it won’t be necessary,” Lily said quickly, touched by Jordy’s offer. “When Miller picks up the twins, I’m sure it’ll be no problem for him to drop me off in town on his way.” And then she would ride home with Col. She did an internal somersault at the thought of it.
Strangely, Jordy screwed up her face as if she smelled something bad, before rearranging her features into a pleasant smile. Lily felt bad. Maybe she had been too quick to shut Jordy down when she was only trying to be helpful. But before she could apologize, the girl turned and left.
“I hear she’s in the doghouse with Puma.” TraceyAnn bellowed. Good lord, did the woman have no internal volume control?
Rika only smiled, refusing to divulge any information.
“Then it was really nice of her to drop by and offer that ride,” Lily said. “In fact, everyone has been so nice. I can’t thank you enough, Rika!”
“Don’t forget to thank Simon too. Undercover Frills is an amazing store,” TraceyAnn said, with a slight sneer. “I can’t imagine how incredible it would be to go there on an all-expenses paid shopping spree. And maybe next time he’ll foot the bill for whatever you want at the biggest jewelry store in town.”
Rika was quick to shut that down, as she noted Lily’s shocked expression. “Actually all of this is an expression of Simon’s gratitude to Katie, for the hard work that she’s been doing.” She gave TraceyAnn a firm look. “And I’m sure that’s all that’s being said around the Faire, correct?”
TraceyAnn might be gossipy, but she wasn’t stupid. She flashed a pained smile at the HR Director, who had the power to hire—and fire —anyone at the Faire. “Of course. I’ve only heard nice things said about Katie. And of course I’ve only said nice things about Katie.”
“Of course,” Rika echoed. But her tone made it clear that if she found evidence to the contrary, she would be swift to act.
Puma wasn’t the only one who kept a doghouse.
Simon found himself in a highly unusual situation. He didn’t think he had ever been in a position to give another guy advice on how to act on a date. And yet, here he was, with a guy that was almost twice his size, total date-bait, who was hanging on his every word about how to treat Katie tonight, when they would finally be having dinner together — by themselves — for the first time. A dinner that, Simon could confess to himself deep down, he wished he were the one having with Katie.
He still had a crush on her, but after seeing the chemistry between Col and Katie, he had to admit there was something so right about it. They belonged together in a way that Simon hoped one day to find for himself.
Miller had picked out the clothes for Col to wear, with the help of Merek who was turning out to be the resident clothes horse. Although Aylwyn arguably came close at times.
As they were getting adjusted to the modern world, it had been interesting to see which facets of it drew their attention as individuals.
“She asked for the date, right? So that’s a good thing.” Well, at least Simon heard it was.
“If she had asked me to slay a dragon, it would be far easier to find one and vanquish it.” Col said, fussing with the tie that Merek had picked out.
“Are you talking about a dinner date, or putting on a tie?” Simon laughed, reaching out to help Col with the silk twill.
“Both,” Col grumbled.
“Well the tie I can help you with,” Simon did some intricate origami with the ends of the tie, before the semblance of a knot began to emerge. “As for the dinner, that means that she wants to get to know you better. Share an experience with you that you can enjoy together and maybe talk about afterwards.” In theory, that was.
He stepped back, pleased with his handiwork. Col was wearing a dark Hugo Boss suit that was beautifully cut, as was the cotton button-down shirt underneath. Not bad for some rush alterations earlier in the day.
“She wants to have dinner with you, Col. So just be yourself, and you’ll do fine.”
“But who else would I be?” Col was genuinely perplexed.
Simon smiled, adjusted the lapels of the jacket. “It’s an expression. It means that she already likes you for who you are, for all the things that make you who you are. She just wants a chance to get to know more about those things.”
“Ah,” Col nodded. “That is good. We should have no more secrets between us, now that she knows about our wolf natures.”
“That’s right, it’s important to start off relationships with honesty.”
“Honesty,” Col dipped his head, cracked his neck. “Yes, honesty is essential.”
If only Simon knew, he was going to regret saying those words to Col much later that night.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Even TraceyAnn was caught up in the excitement, now that it was almost time for Miller to show up and bring Lily into town. She kept hovering near the front, and as soon as she spotted the older man’s form, making his way towards the entrance, she stopped where she was, pushed her cleavage out and threw one hipbone at a sharp angle. She was ready as the door opened.
“Why, hello, Miller,” she bellowed.
He winced, but was rescued by the twins who ran up to greet him. “Unka’Miller, Unka’Miller,” they shouted. He laughed and bent over to hug them.
Lily smiled, as she always did, to see any of the fierce men from the house completely disarmed by kids. He rose up and winked at Lily. “Got the me
ssage from Rika to take you to Undercover Frills on Main?”
“Do you know where that is?” TraceyAnn called out. “Here, I wrote out the address for you.” She pulled out a piece of folded paper from her cleavage, and Lily pressed her lips together not to laugh at Miller’s expression.
If there was a caption underneath his face, it would read, Kill Me Now.
But he graciously accepted the folded note and thanked her without mentioning that he would be using the GPS on his phone or car. He even managed to not bolt for the antibacterial gel pump dispenser in the back of the center, as much as Lily was sure he was dying to.
Lily’s cheeks were hurting with suppressed laughter, although the shit-eating grin she now sported was probably a dead giveaway that she was close to losing that battle.
“It has my telephone number too,” TraceyAnn added, even louder, and now Lily had to pretend she was coughing.
“You okay there, Katie?” Miller’s tone was anything but sweet. Which set off another bout of “coughing.” But at least it saved Miller from having to answer TraceyAnn, who glided away now that her mission was complete. It would seem that Lily could have needed CPR, with the same response from TraceyAnn.
When she could breathe again, Miller herded her and the twins to Lily’s loaner car, where the seats for the twins were installed.
And then they were off to Undercover Frills on Main, and afterwards, Lily would have her date with Col.
In all the excitement and anticipation, she didn’t even feel the eyes that were boring into her with a steady hatred, only a few cars away in the parking lot.
Rey seethed with rage as he watched Lily leaving the Staff Childcare Center, accompanied by yet another guy — this one older but also a gym-body — holding two smaller kids. He had slumped down in his seat so he wouldn’t be easily noticed, but his eyes tracked them…all the way until she let the older guy get into the driver’s seat of her red Subaru.
What. A. Whore.
Col: His Destined Mate Page 33