by Erin R Flynn
“Sure. What do you need help with?”
“We need to present the project to you as if it was a business offer,” Ashley answered. “We were thinking of it one day or an idea for later when things aren’t so crazy but they always are. Our professor said the idea is just too out there and not viable. We argued that it could be to the right person and we tailored some of it to present to you. He said he’d reconsider our grade if we presented it to you and you didn’t laugh.”
“Asshole,” I grumbled. “I swear some people become teachers just so they can bully kids for life.”
“You have an unfavorable opinion of teachers?” Enzo asked me, giving me a curious look.
“No, I know some good ones. I know there are lots of good ones.” I shrugged. “Brutus is an amazing one. I’ve had great trainers but remember, I get called in when there are problems, not fun.” I glanced back at Ashley and nodded. “Present it to me while we eat and I’m already busy. That’s good experience for you guys as well as you’re too young to get full and real meetings.”
“What subject was the project for?” Enzo asked them.
“We did a combined one with the professor’s permission as we took a deeper dive than was required,” Julia answered. “Econ and Marketing and Expansion. Econ sucks but Marketing and Expansion was seriously awesome. That professor wasn’t as harsh as the Econ one but he seemed to think there were some holes that made the idea not viable but creative and thinking outside of the box.”
“Which that class would approve but an economics one would not,” he surmised.
“Who’s this guy?” Simone asked as she joined us, gesturing to Enzo. “And I booked us the small hot tub just for us. Your security can line up the hall but we need girls time.”
“Perfect.”
“And he’s a friend of mine visiting to help with a situation,” Carter answered, giving her a look to take note of that but let it go.
She nodded and then looked up when the cart came over with food. “Okay, so we were thinking of adding one part now for winter and then the full menu change for January through the Chinese new year.”
I moaned when the first of it was set down. “I love hot pot. I’ve never had a Chinese one though.” I gave her a curious look. “We could do a month of Korean BBQ extra. That’s a fun one too.”
“It is,” she agreed. “The chefs want to give the hosts a crash course on how to serve and blend broth for hot pot as that’s part of them sitting at the table. They’re also having a tasting.”
I nodded when I saw where she was pointing. “Yeah, I’m good with that. If nothing else, learning any extras is never something bad.” I focused on the visiting chef. “What’s the difference between Chinese and Japanese hot pot?”
“They’re spicier normally. Japanese hot pot is meant to be mellow and comforting where Chinese is meant to bring the heat to the cold in a few ways.”
I sighed as the others chuckled. Of course it would be spicier.
“Sera, there are several people up front saying you invited them for this?” Beth told me as the hot pot was getting set up.
“Oh fuck,” I breathed, blinking between her and Simone. “Oh fuck. I’m so not allowed to be boss anymore.” I kept cussing as I crawled over Dain and raced to the entrance to find a huge mess of my making. “Wow, a lot of you came.”
“Did you not check the replies?” one of the closest YouTubers asked with a raised eyebrow.
I let out a heavy sigh. “There was a problem in my FBI trip to Russia and one of the division chiefs was almost killed. Oh, and there was a bomb at a church yesterday downtown. So life is a bit hectic. I forgot I didn’t clue in Simone and Noah.”
“Why are several popular food review YouTubers here with luggage in the entrance, Sera?” Simone asked with a growl.
“It worked well for the Dorcus resorts and then I heard Laila did the same and a few wanted to come try our changed menu or review here but we don’t allow cameras or pictures. I offered them the chance if they did better blurring than I’ve seen in their videos—”
“And to help build the menu, right?” that same guy asked. “I came because of that. I’ve never gotten to review potential menus and have input plus the other places you said we could review while here.”
“Yes, and we’ll get you to review our normal menu too,” I promised.
“This is genius and I will handle it. You’re grounded,” Simone grumbled, leaning in and giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Easy fix going forward. CC me on messages you send even asking. I’ll follow up then.”
“Simone, you do everything for this place. I should help more.”
“No, you need to be more silent and go eat non-spicy hot pot,” she lectured me, shooing me off.
I went, feeling horrible I’d made a mess for her to clean up. All I seemed to be doing lately was making messes and bringing danger and trouble to us. I sat in the booth heavily and snuggled up to Dain when he slid in again.
“We all have overflowing plates. Please don’t be so down on yourself, my love,” he murmured against my hair. “It was a genius idea. It might be time for you to have a personal assistant besides the Betas or Carter or I carrying out orders.”
“I’ve heard ‘life managers’ are a profession on the rise,” Enzo added, giving me a look that clearly said he had one. I nodded, thanking him for the input. It was a good idea but how the hell could I find someone I could trust that much and with so much?
I got lost in hot pot and the presentation. That was easy as it was a good one for sure. The kids had really done a lot of prep and research and were coming at it from an angle I’d never thought of.
“So you want me to buy land for solar farms and then implement them?” I muttered when they were done.
“Yes, and what we think the professor missed as he’s not an agriculture professor is we’re saying use brownfield sites,” Julia explained. “I think he assumed we meant in Brownfield, Illinois, which doesn’t make sense, but fine.”
“Brownfield sites are unfarmable land,” Dain filled in for someone at our table who didn’t understand. “It takes into account the growing concern of farmers changing over crops to solar and losing needed farmland and produce.” He was already glancing over the report as well. “You have the federal and state tax credits?”
“Yes, and a list of corporate tax breaks and programs,” Ashley answered.
“What about personal?” I asked, glancing over his shoulder.
“We have some of them,” Julia muttered and I could smell their confusion.
I dipped some beef in the hot pot and stirred it as I met their gazes. “What people don’t understand when they bitch that corporations don’t pay enough taxes is the taxes still get paid but by the shareholders. It’s technically double dipping but that doesn’t matter when it’s the government. The corporation pays tax on the income and then the shareholders pay tax on that income as well, their part of it.”
“That should be in the fine print,” someone grumbled.
“Yes, it was something I wasn’t too keen to learn about as well,” I drawled. “So the accountants do a lot to utilize the right donations and write-offs so the company doesn’t pay much taxes but I still pay a shit ton. I mean, for the company I own solo I literally pay taxes on that income twice. It’s rather ridiculous when people see the big picture and then listen to all the bitching.”
“We could look into the personal ones,” Julia told me.
“You’ve sited the places and information in your biography so that’s what I need,” Dain muttered. “And how would you repay this investment? Your numbers are rather low from what I’ve seen the costs are.”
“Yes, but we have people to help,” Ashley defended. “We have construction people and those who can do some of the leg work. The actual installation of solar panels needs a technician but that might be a good area to have people trained in for the pack as they’ll need upkeep and maintenance.”
“The repayment woul
d be working with ComEd and taking the energy off your bills. It costs more to use their energy than they would pay for energy into the grid,” Julia explained and went over that part of the presentation again in detail. “The solar farm would produce more energy than you use. We assume. We didn’t ask for your bills.”
“I certainly would never have laughed at this,” I muttered when they were done. “I have some questions but I absolutely think this is viable and well-tailored proposal that goes above and beyond what most would ever think. You took into account details like seeing if any refugees in Greece have this current skill and certification.”
“Or other packs,” Carter added. “That might be a good one to ask Alphas and borrow any members for the job. That would cut out the risk of humans fucking with us.”
“They even have sites for sale and the required county permits and inspections,” Dain said, his tone frosty. “There’s everything here and incredibly specific. That alone shouldn’t be laughed at for such a project. This has enough to shave at least twenty hours off lawyer fees. I’m saying that as your lawyer you insist on paying when I help you. This professor needs a smack.”
“Have fun giving it to him,” I chuckled, liking the idea someone else went after some of the teachers misbehaving instead of me with the badge. I glanced up at their hopeful faces. “Yes, we’ll do this. I want you to spearhead this project for the pack.”
“Wait, you can’t be serious,” Ashley whispered as several of their jaws dropped.
“I am,” I promised. “At your age I was about to graduate college and become an officer in the Navy. All of you have been more sheltered and while I understand that, I want some of you to have a bit more real-world experience. Maybe one of you will realize this is where you see your education going and a career path of project manager for the pack even.
“I have a few changes I want to make. First, yes, it costs us more to use energy than they’d pay us for it so the energy goes to that, but I want one of you tracking how much we would have paid and that money we donate to reforestation projects as that is just as big of a problem. Second, I want ideas on how to cover all members of the pack’s power. Third, I want more sites for comparison.”
Carter snorted. “You mean to put in more panels because you know how much energy your buildings, this place, the greenhouses, and other places eat up.”
“It is,” I sighed, not wanting to burst their bubble that the one farm they were proposing at one of five sites probably wasn’t going to be enough. But the idea had promise and a long-term investment for the pack, which I was all about.
The kids were full of thank-yous and excited, sitting at an empty table to start plotting as we finished our hot pot. I reminded them to go study for exams and they could take over the world after.
Next there was a ridiculous array of dim sum. They pointed out what was traditional along with their spins, which they wanted for a separate ordering option along with an infusion option. So there was a lot of fucking dim sum.
Which I had absolutely no complaints about.
Same with the soup dumplings and braised pork belly.
I was out when the Sichuan cuisine options started arriving. All of them were spicy, though the chefs were interested in doing mild, medium, and hot versions. I liked the idea as long as their idea of “mild” was actually mild. I hated when I ate stuff people promised was mild and I wanted to curse them for lying to me. Even with me being sensitive I knew what mild tasted like.
Clearly some people had burnt off their taste buds.
“You’re not eating the skin?” Enzo teased me as I picked off the crispy duck skin from the meat. “That’s the best part.”
I shrugged. “Skin freaks me out. I don’t eat it on anything.”
“It freaks you out?” Carter asked, giving me a weird look.
“You never noticed she takes off the skin of chicken?” Dain asked.
“No, I’m normally inhaling it because American fried chicken is ridiculously delicious,” Carter said with an amused tone. “Why does it freak you out?”
“It’s not a funny story, though it will come off funny,” I warned, giving Enzo and Carter a look I wasn’t kidding. I waited until they both nodded. “I had a foster parent for a short while when I was pretty young that was into feeding the kids. Like a lot.”
“Please tell me you didn’t have a cannibal fucking foster mom,” Carter hissed.
“No, but something was wrong with her. They wouldn’t tell us and I found out when I was older with the FBI she was put in a mental hospital.” I shook my head. “She seemed to be short a knife of the set and like she enjoyed the idea of feeding us, like it made her super happy. I’ve wondered if she was a serotonin junkie or something. She would totally guilt us if we weren’t completely stuffing ourselves.
“And I know it’s silly but we read ‘Hansel and Gretel’ in school while I was there and I was convinced she was going to stuff us in the oven. It wasn’t like I hadn’t had messed up parents and foster parents already, so you know that was where my mind went. And she was really careful on not touching us and didn’t like to be touched so I couldn’t check if we were in danger.
“One of the kids kept getting sick at school and someone reported it to the authorities. We all went to the group home I was from and I heard the couple say she wasn’t allowed to be a foster parent anymore. I had nightmares for a while wondering if kids were cooked or what.” I shivered. “She used to say the skin was the best part while smiling at us. It just… We all have skin. No thanks. It grosses me out.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t eat the skin either,” Carter admitted, staring at his plate. “Fuck, Sera, you have had some seriously messed up foster parents.”
I chuckled darkly. “Even DCFS and the people who ran the group home said I must have been someone bad in my past life as I drew out every crazy and got assigned to every weirdo. I’ve always been a crazy magnet it seems.”
Enzo snickered and that was enough to break the tension at least. Good. I hated talking about it. Even if it was easier now after working with Phobie, I still didn’t want to talk about my childhood at all or at least for very long.
There were so many rounds of food and I was so stuffed at the end I thought I might explode. But everyone was taking the tasting seriously, which I appreciated for sure. After a bit of a break, Simone stood and waved me over. I glanced past her and saw Jacqueline pushing out a cart and groaned.
Desserts. She was our cake guru and dessert genius. She’d never made anything I didn’t adore.
“Dr. Sloan is going to actually smile when he hears how much I ate,” I teased as I went to move over Dain. Instead he got out and offered me a hand. I accepted and he went with me over there to see what was going on.
“First, I love Chinese food. I love Chinese people—in general—and I loved my classes and training in their cuisine,” she told us, glancing nervously at the YouTubers taping all of this. “What I’m not a fan of is Chinese desserts. I know, I know, they’re not as sweet and better for you than our evil French ones or your fatty and over sugary ones. Yeah, says the people who have pork belly for everything.”
I wasn’t the only one who swallowed a snicker. She did not like it when people picked on others, which was sort of amusing since she was currently picking on herself.
She frowned. “I actually do like Chinese desserts, though most ‘desserts’ are buns with meat. That’s my problem. It’s not conducive to a place like this. Though I hear in Hong Kong they have great desserts but from all over the world. Fine, so the chefs are planning to do an infused option menu and that’s what I did. Most of mine are infused.”
“Like?” Simone asked.
She picked up one dish and held it for us to see. “This is a tres leches cake but with Hong Kong–style milk tea and a coconut cream and actual black tea baked into the cake.”
“That looks amazing,” one of the YouTubers groaned.
“I did make some traditional items like
the egg tart, youtiao, and sesame balls,” she continued. “But I also made variations of them all and I have more ideas on that. I also did meldings like pear tarts with Chinese pears, tea cakes made with actual tea or Chinese spices. The jellies aren’t hard and fun but I was thinking in trifles almost like Japanese parfaits.”
“What do you think?” Simone asked me.
I snorted. “Don’t ask me. I’ll like it all.” I pointed to what looked like an ice cream sandwich with donuts. “Or I’ll just pick the ice cream stuff because I’m not lactose intolerant anymore.”
“You were when human?” one of the YouTubers asked.
I nodded. “Severely. That would have made me puke. If I took two pills it wouldn’t have been so bad but still made me sick.”
“And yet Brian had no idea you were lactose intolerant,” Jacqueline muttered, giving me a curious look.
I shrugged. “Ice cream is his favorite and he always acted like the cutest kid when he ate it. It was worth getting sick to see it. He thought I was a huge klutz because I would normally drop my cone or whatever but it was how I explained not eating it.” I shrugged again when they all stared at me. “We weren’t dating when I worked for him. I was just a dork with a crush on her boss so I suggested ice cream sometimes.”
“You were the only one who ever thought you were a dork,” Brian said from behind me.
I swallowed a sigh, too many scents around me not cluing me in he was there. “Actually, there were several senior female agents that made it clear my lack of game and social skills was mortifying for all women in the FBI.”
“I never knew you suggested ice cream just for me, ate it because I liked it.”
I cleared my throat and went to move away but I felt him reach for me, Dain blocking him like he was leaning in to see the desserts.
“That’s not all you’ve missed and the cameras are on,” I said at a level the humans wouldn’t hear, hoping their equipment wouldn’t either. Brian didn’t push it at least. I focused on Simone. “Whatever you feel is best. The club is all you, Simone.” I rolled my eyes when she snorted. “I had the crazy idea. You made it a reality and kept it going to this level. You know what’s best.”