by Lana Kole
August snickered behind her, and she rolled halfway over to see a genuine smile on his face. “Asher, I thought you were so the shit.” He looked at Maya, his amber eyes glowing. “He really did kick their asses. Everyone was terrified of him so, eventually, I could walk from class to class unaccosted.”
Maya would never say out loud what she was thinking, she was just grateful the guys were close enough to each other to be able to talk about these things lightheartedly. It seemed Asher was the hardest on himself and the others had already forgiven him.
Maya turned back to him. “We all cope in weird ways. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Amir spoke up from the other side of August, clearing his throat before speaking. “Yeah, man. I agree. I know I give you a hard time… but let it go. That was years ago. Forgiven, forgotten.”
“Speaking of... how old are you three now?”
Asher blushed. Blushed, as Maya patiently waited for the answer. “Well... when I turned into a cat, I was twenty-nine. That makes me... forty-four now.”
Maya gaped and rose up on her palms. “Oh my god, you’re twice my age!”
Asher winked. “But I still look damned good.”
Well... she couldn’t argue with that.
“And Amir is thirty-nine.”
“Holy shit!” Maya rolled over onto her back, moaning dramatically, teasing them. “I’m dating a bunch of old men!” Suddenly, she rose up again, her palms flattened behind her. “Wait. Does this mean I have sugar daddies now?”
Asher groaned and rolled over on top of her. “I don’t know about this daddy business, but I have some sugar.” With a grin, he leaned down to kiss her, his lips sliding softly against hers. Even after everything they had been through so far, kissing him—hell, any of them—still sent a shock through her system. Opening to him, she tilted her head, their tongues twining together slowly.
Before it could get too heated, her alarm sounded, interrupting the moment with its piercing reminder.
Asher froze, his lips against hers before pulling away with a laugh. “Do we have to open the bar tonight?”
“Oh, hush!” Maya smacked his arm. “Someone distracted me this morning, so we have extra things to do.” She threw a pointed look in Amir’s direction.
He just laughed and rolled over off the blanket. “Like what? Reface the beer labels?”
Maya growled at his sarcasm and his little nip at her compulsive straightening. “Take down the Valentine's Day decorations.”
They groaned, and with a laugh, she traipsed downstairs to find pair of leggings and a shirt. Cute clothes could come later. For now, it was time to clean.
Chapter Ten
Maya wore the biggest, sappiest grin on her face. She probably resembled a puppy dog as she walked down to the bar. The guys had come down ahead of her, pulling out the storage boxes so they could begin de-hearting the bar area. The thought had crossed her mind to join them, but fuck, she was sore. They should carry all the boxes for her, since they’d fucked her so hard. It was nice though, a lovely, constant reminder that she had been had. And damned well too.
Just the thought of the things they’d done together sent a shiver down her spine. The memory of the filthy, yet delicious things she’d experienced at the hands of those three was enough for her stomach to clench. Maya didn’t know what it was about them, but the security she had with them seemed special. Maybe finally, after so long, laying everything out on the table gave her a new sense of comfort, of control.
Is that why I’m such a crazy control freak? Have I been trying to wrest back a control that I’d given up to Alex all along?
Maya grimaced and leaned down to move some boxes out of the way so she could place the step stool and reach the decorations… and promptly shoved all the boxes too hard to the left, knocking a whole stack of empty crates over. Amongst the noise, she rose up and called out, “It’s all good,” to warn the guys away.
Wide-eyed, she stared at the mess of crates littering the bar floor. Glancing down, she flipped her hands over to stare at her palms, then back again.
Maybe the crates were lighter than she remembered? No. That wasn’t right. She scooted a step stool out of her way with her foot, and accidently kicked it into the wall across the aisle from her, the colliding wood was louder than she wanted it to be. Gaping, she tiptoed across the room, as if afraid to make any more noise than she already had. Sure enough, when she picked up the stool, the thing seemed light as a feather. Frowning, Maya carefully sat it down before tiptoeing to the back door, past the kitchen. As she stepped into the alley, the cool afternoon breeze brushed tendrils of her hair around, and she smiled at the peacefulness, even as she looked for her next experiment.
She spied the cinder block next to the brick wall on her left, and Maya cracked the door just a smidge before stalking over to it. Grimacing, she leaned down and deftly picked up the cinder block. With one hand. Barely straining her muscles.
“Huh. How about that.” Maya stared, shocked at the ease with which she held the damned thing. Normally, the cinder block would have required both hands underneath, propping the block against her stomach as she penguin-walked to the back door to hold it open on hot nights.
It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine.
She would bring it up with the guys later.
As she returned to the bar area, she eyed the basement door, wondering what was taking them so long. Maybe they’d decided to search for the amulet amongst the cobwebs in the basement.
To calm her mind down from the mess it usually was, she pushed her strange strength out of her mind. Of course, her thoughts turned to the guys—could she truly handle what they were proposing?
For three years, she had been scrambling. It might not have seemed that way on her exterior, but Maya knew deep down, she’d been struggling. Living with the guilt of losing your last semblance of family while on rocky terms was not an easy thing.
Maya hadn’t been living, she had been surviving.
Not that she couldn’t make it alone, as she had proven these past few years. But Maya had always wanted someone to share her life with. She feared that was why she latched on to Alex so fiercely and ignored the signs.
Doubt crept in. Was she repeating past mistakes?
At this moment, with giddiness bubbling up in her veins like freshly poured champagne, Maya thought about it all. Living. Could she actually enjoy life now that she had someone to share it with? Three someones?
Was it crazy? Yes. But not unheard of. This was the twenty-first century, after all.
Maya paused—analyzing her thoughts like she was so used to doing. It was something she had learned from being with Alex. Was what she felt true, or was it something she fabricated to cope?
This whole situation, should she ever say it out loud, would pair nicely with a straitjacket. But as she studied the feelings inside like a cell under a microscope, she recognized them as genuine.
“Call me crazy but…” This feels right, she finished the thought in her head.
For now, Maya was content to ride the wave of euphoria still carrying her. She didn’t believe she was making a mistake. Amir, August, and Asher weren’t anything like Alex. She felt stupid for even entertaining the thought.
Better stupid than dead though. And Maya knew that’s where she would be if she hadn’t finally recognized Alex for what he was—a controlling, abusive, asshole.
Now, she could finally sit back, relax, and for once, enjoy her evening. And she had plenty of reasons to do so.
“Now, if we could just find the amulet, defeat Sekhmet and her goons, and—”
Asher interrupted her, a smile in his voice. “Are you talking to yourself again, crazy girl?”
With a simple nod, she leaned into him when he came up behind her and turned her head to kiss him. She giggled as his damp hair touched her face and brushed it aside before kissing him again. Before he could deepen it, she turned back to the streamers she was carefully rolling back up.
<
br /> Maya and Asher settled into a comfortable routine. She would roll, he would de-stick all the shiny hearts from the wood, and they would both place the items into a box he’d brought up from the basement. She had no idea where the other two had gone.
Maybe chasing mice?
Giggling at her own thought, she smacked Asher’s hand away when he pushed a glass to the edge of the bar.
“What are you doing?”
He stared at her wide-eyed, innocent. “I dunno.” And then he promptly smacked the glass off onto the floor. It shattered, and Maya shook her head, battling the smile on her face as he stared at her in bewilderment. “I honestly have no idea why I just did that.”
“Mhmm. Sure.” Once she finished with the streamers by the bar, the other two finally joined them, and Asher swept up the glass. A comfortable silence settled over them as they all went to separate corners of the room and continued undecorating. August became enthralled with a flying piece of streamer, and Maya smiled when he caught it in his hand reflexively. Maya grinned, then outright laughed. They looked at her like she was crazy, but she just shook her head.
Cats.
Peace reigned in the bar for the time being. The doors would open in a bit, but Maya had talked the guys into a little pre-gaming before the work night. It was the mix of alcohol and the comfortable atmosphere that led Maya to make bets with them.
“Can too,” she sneered at Asher.
“Cannot!” he dared her, an amused grin on his face, before turning to Amir. “You do it.”
A simple shake of the head was all Amir needed to shut Asher down, and Maya pouted at him, fighting the smile on her face.
Maya stood ready to the side of the bar, hands on her hips as she waited for someone to experiment on. “What, are you scared little Maya is gonna hurt you?”
Glaring at her from his spot on the bar stool, Amir stood with stubbornness etched in his features and in the way his shoulders were tensed.
“If you knock me out, you’ll have to carry me upstairs. Who taught you this, anyway?”
Maya shrugged as she grabbed an empty beer bottle from August, who stood with Asher behind the bar, watching intently. “Uncle Malak trained me, and this was one of the attacks he pushed me the hardest to master.”
“So, this is kind of like an archer and an apple?” he clarified.
“Exactly like that. Except with my foot and this bottle here.” She shook the bottle between her fingers and handed it to Amir to place on his head, carefully.
“Now, don’t move.” Maya grinned, backing away and ignored the worry on Amir’s face.
Standing about a foot and a half away, she took a deep breath, and steadied herself.
“Are you sure you want to—” He wasn’t even able to finish his question in time as Maya chambered her leg, pivoted, and extended her leg high, the top of her foot colliding with the bottle and knocking it right off his head. It bounced to the floor with a clatter, and she grinned at the shock on Amir’s face.
“You doubted me?” Pouting at him in a teasing manner, she crossed her arms and stuck her chin up. “Rude.”
Their voices collided as they all spoke at once. “That was fucking amazing!”
“What the hell, Maya?”
“Great Scott!”
Maya rolled her eyes at August, but giggled when Amir bopped her on the head before returning to his seat. “Okay, fine, I admit it. That was impressive.”
“That’s not the only thing I could show you, you know,” she teased.
Maya winked at the darkness that bled into his gaze, looking forward to it after the night was over.
All throughout the afternoon, amongst their banter as they waited on customers, a niggling something wouldn’t let her completely relax. The amulet.
Where the fuck could it be?
Her parents had passed the bar to Malak, who was instructed to pass it to Maya when she came of age. There had been no letters, no instructions, no random treasure chests it could be stored in. Maya just had the bar. Unless it was hidden under the floorboards, she had no clue where it could be.
It was this frustration that led her to decide to weave. Confident in the guys’ ability, she passed by the bar and tapped Pharaoh on the head before retreating upstairs, ready to lose herself in another vision that would hopefully lead her to the amulet.
When she sat down at the loom, she was struck by the intricate pattern she’d begun weaving weeks ago. The tails of three cat figures wove in and out of the red and gold background.
That’s it.
In a daze, she made her way downstairs, taking one step at a time until she stood behind the bar, staring at the cat figurine for a moment. Then, she grabbed Pharaoh and made her way to her office. Her parents hadn’t exactly lived a life of luxury, but love wasn’t measured in how many dollars you had in your pocket, or how many heirlooms sat on the shelves.
Maya knew this, but still, tears traced her cheeks as she thought about breaking the little guy.
Egyptians had to be all about the fucking balance.
With a sigh, she kissed the little figurine on the head and let go. He crashed into the ground, shattering into a hundred pieces across the dark, hardwood floor.
The guys came rushing in at the sound, and Maya heard them scramble to stop behind her as they saw the mess.
A maniacal laugh left her throat as she spied what they’d been looking for the whole time—a beautiful, amethyst jewel, framed by priceless golden curlicues, just like in her vision.
Maya laughed at the irony. “I’ve had it the whole time.”
“It’s so obvious, it’s not obvious.” August laughed with her before the other two joined in.
“He reminded me of my parents. It’s where I got the whole... tapping him for luck thing. My mom and dad used to do it too.” Wiping a tear away, she sniffed back the ones remaining as a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind.
Asher moved closer to lay his head on her shoulder, until they both peered down at the little pieces of clay littering the floor. “Maybe... we can find you a new one.”
“It’s okay. At least we have the amulet... but now what?”
August came into her line of sight, pulling her from Asher’s arms. As he framed her face with his hands, the chill of metal from his rings sent shivers over her body when he leaned in to kiss her. Their lips touched softly, the kiss lingering, as she smiled into it. When she pulled away, their foreheads touched, and she wrapped her arms around him in a simple hug.
Three words were dangerously close to the tip of her tongue, and Maya was on the cusp of admitting her swelling emotions, when the waitress yelled for their help.
Maya sighed, wishing she could afford to take the evening off and close the bar. Instead, she tucked the jewel into her pocket and went back to work.
The evening passed uneventfully. It was a Saturday, so they were busier than normal, and it kept Maya on her toes.
The guys were a hit. It seemed word had spread about the three, sexy new bartenders at Feline Good, and women flocked in droves to see for themselves. Maya’s jaw ticked the whole night, and her head hurt from the continued grinding of her teeth. Surprisingly, when a woman got a little too excited over the new bartenders, the guys would lean over and kiss Maya on the cheek. The head. The lips, neck, and forehead. A blush would color her cheeks every time, but it made her heart flutter all the same. They were telling everyone just whom they belonged to, and for once, the thought didn’t strike Maya as odd.
Eventually, her shyness disappeared, and as the night wore on, so did her patience. Multiple times, she’d growled as a woman reached across the bar to cop a feel of a thick, veiny forearm, and yeah, she might have charged an extra dollar for the ogling, handsy bitches.
Fuck girls’ night.
By the time the bar closed and the last patron went home, Maya was itching to take each one of them upstairs and re-stake her claim. One right after the other.
Instead, as they all headed upst
airs after the nightly chores, the sound of glass shattering broke through the silence. Asher had his hand in her back pocket as they walked, playing with her ass, but they all froze at the sound. Their heads jerked apart as Maya instinctively leaned down to check for the amulet, relieved to find it in her pocket still.
She hadn’t even straightened up when August suddenly turned from where he’d been leading them, and with wide eyes, mouthed, run. Something smacked him in the chest, and he fell to the floor with a grunt. Maya gaped at how quickly it all happened. He started seizing, and she noticed the lines connecting him to a Taser gun in the hands of a man in black. Their faces were once again half covered with bandanas, and Maya cursed.
She only hesitated a split second after Asher and Amir burst into action, their shifter abilities lending them extra speed and strength to rip their way through the first two guys in sync.
Refusing to waste any more time, she turned to run out the back. She barely made it into the kitchen when a man stepped in her way. He had come from the very door she had been trying to escape out of. Narrowing her eyes in a glare, she noticed the pots and pans still drying in the sink. Taking advantage of her weird shifter strength and speed, she grabbed one and threw it across the room with all her might. A loud clang sounded as she hit her mark, beaming the black clad bastard right in the head. He crashed to the floor with a thud, and Maya rushed to grab his Taser gun. He carried the same type that had downed August, and she made her way to the main floor. From the grunts in the other room, the fight was still on.
August was out cold by the stairs, and Maya stared hard, her heart frozen in her chest as she studied him. Relief almost floored her when she saw his chest rise and fall, but she stood strong. Crouching low, she quietly tiptoed around the bar to get a look at what was happening. Amir and Asher both fought a handful of guys, and she could hardly keep up with who was where, they moved so quickly. Still, she was in awe of their strength. Amir would kick out, sending a guy flying into the table behind him, while Asher would get one in a chokehold before brutally snapping his neck. They fought in sync, lithe movements, always aware of where the other was so they didn’t get tangled up.