That night, I embraced my inner night owl and pretended to bump into her. We shared a booth and small talk. I had an early breakfast at that same restaurant often after that, hoping to run into Paige again. And I did. Several times. One of those times I mentioned needing a job — badly, something that paid more than minimum wage since tuition was so expensive.
Reluctantly, she told me she worked at the Denver Dollhouse. I believe she was embarrassed. She shouldn’t be. She’s a single mom supporting herself and a daughter. Not sure I could manage that and I told her as much. That put her at ease.
Before I knew it, Paige offered to recommend me, instructed me on makeup and took glamour type photos to submit with my application. Though Paige was a means to an end, I’ve grown to like her a lot. Our relationship has bloomed to a full-fledged friendship within a few weeks.
“Knock. Knock.” I call softly through the screen. I don’t want to wake the baby if she’s sleeping.
“Hey, girl.” Paige settles her long dark hair over her left shoulder. “How’d it go?” She studies me with her caramel colored eyes while she unlocks and pushes the screen door open.
“I got the job.” I smile. “Thank you so much.” I hug Paige.
She laughs. “Oh, girl, don’t thank me yet. Wait until you have to deal with disgusting, slobbering men. Then tell me how you feel.” She tilts her head in thought. “Then again, they’re always disgusting and slobbering.” She giggles. “At least at the Dollhouse we get paid well for putting up with them.”
I smile, hoping it won’t be that bad.
“Mama,” a tiny voice calls from a room down the hall of the small house.
“Did I wake Ava?” I frown. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s time for her to get up anyway. Grams will be here soon.”
Ava’s grandmother comes to babysit her the nights that Paige works.
“Mama.” The little sound is still sweet, but much more insistent this time.
As Paige hurries to fetch the baby, she motions to the couch, well-worn, but clean as it can be. “Have a seat.”
When Paige comes back, little Ava is nestled in her arms.
“Hi, sweetie.” I smile at the sleepy-eyed two year old, her dark hair all askew from sleep. The little girl returns my smile. “Sha.” She reaches for me.
Paige hands her off. I cuddle Ava into my arms. She’s soft and warm from sleep.
“Did you have a nice nap?” I ask her.
Ava, her head tucked under my chin, simply nods.
“Want to stay for dinner?” Paige walks into her small kitchen. I hear a clanging lid from the other side of the half wall. “I’m making vegan chili.”
“Oh my, it smells and sounds delish. But I’m going out later.”
Ava lifts her head to look at me with her mama’s caramel eyes. “Park?”
“No, sweetie. But I promise to take you soon, okay?” I smile at her.
“Okay.” She grins and lays her head back down on my shoulder. She is so sweet. I just adore the child.
“Want something to drink, Shavone?” Paige says. I hear the fridge open.
“Water, please.”
When she returns, Paige hands me a bottled water. She sets Ava’s sippy cup on the coffee table before curling into a chair opposite me.
“Thank you.” I twist the cap and drink half the bottle in one go.
“When do you start?” Paige smiles.
“Thursday night.” I say.
“Oh, that’s a busy night. They usually start newbies on a Friday or Saturday?”
I wrinkle my nose. “Aren’t weekends busiest?”
Ava scrambles off my lap. She retrieves her sippy cup and then wanders to her toy box tucked on the side the couch.
“Oh, no. Men have to be with their wives and girlfriends on the weekends. It’s during the week that they sneak off to drool over other naked women,” Paige says with more than a hint of disgust.
I shake my head and laugh. “Who knew?”
Ava toddles back to me with a colorful puzzle ball. I smile at the little girl and help her open the toy.
“You just wait, honey. You will see the worst that the male gender has to offer. They turn into absolute pigs inside that building.”
“Mr. Cruz said as much.” I wrinkle my nose again. I’m not looking forward to it.
“Antonio was there?” Paige’s eyes widen.
I nod. “And Enrique.”
“No, kidding?” Paige whistles through her teeth. “He rarely shows his face on the floor. He’ll have a drink with certain customers. That’s it. Rest of the time, he hides out in his office.”
I knew it. I knew it was odd that he interviewed me personally. “Tanya wasn’t even there. Enrique interviewed me on his own — with Antonio’s assistance.”
“Whoa.” Paige purses her lips. “You should make it known that Enrique hired you. No one will fuck with you then.”
“You think so?”
“Oh, yeah. Since Enrique himself brought you in, they’ll all think you’re his doll — if you know what I mean.” She winks.
My eyes widen. “But I’m not.”
Paige laughs, shrugs a shoulder. “So? Who needs to know the truth. Like I said, no one will fuck with you. Not even customers. It’ll make work a hell of a lot easier for you.”
Interesting. If customers respect me, they could be more likely to answer my questions. This could work in my favor after all.
Given that Enrique did the grunt work today, Paige and I discuss the possibility that Tanya, the current Dollhouse manager, will be replaced soon. Somehow I doubt it. He was there today specifically for me. The status of the current manager had nothing to do with it. The surety of that thought resurrects my unease that Enrique is aware of who I am and what I’m looking for. I just hope that doesn’t make Val’s situation, whatever it may be, worse.
“Well, he seemed to like me. Thanks for advising me to use a lot of makeup. I think that helped make me look more mature.”
Paige studies my face. “You did a decent job. I can show you how to disguise yourself more.”
I look at her curiously. “Disguise? I don’t understand what you mean.”
“With the right contouring, you can be a totally different person. It helps if men you know in real life come into the Dollhouse, or if customers see you in the grocery store — they won’t even look twice at the real you. I had an ex-boyfriend as a customer once. He didn’t recognize me at all. Of course, he was staring at my chest all night.” She laughs and I laugh with her. “Anyway, the right makeup gives you some personal privacy.” Paige adds.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” I murmur. “I’d love for you teach me. I’ll be happy to pay you for your tutoring.”
A bit offended, Paige waves off my offer.
While I play with Ava, who generously brings me several of her toys, Paige promises to take me shopping for makeup and show me how to use it.
I hug the baby and Paige goodbye, and head home to wash the gunk off my face. Clicking the seatbelt, my phone rings.
“Hello.”
“May I speak to Miss Gentil, please.”
“This is she.”
“Miss Gentil this is Clark with Bank West. We’re showing some unusual charges on your trust account.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Have you been to Houston recently?”
“No, sir, I’ve been in Colorado all summer.”
Val!
“Clark, can you tell me what the charges were for?”
chapter six
“BETTER RETHINK THAT, Nash. The Alliance doesn’t want you there.” Ben screws in the final motion sensor over the patio door just off the kitchen.
“I don’t give a fuck what they want.” I stow the screwdriver he hands me.
“The Soft sisters aren’t on the agenda next week. The hunters are.” Ben walks to the Sub-Zero and opens the door. “Thanks for stocking the kitchen, by the way. Want a beer?”
&n
bsp; “Naw. Water. I have training with Shav in” — I glance at the time — “an hour. Look. She’ll be on the hunters most wanted list soon. Besides, off-the-agenda discussions happen at most meetings. I’m going.”
“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Ben hands me a bottle of water. He twists open a Tommyknocker, takes a long draw. “Damn. Colorado makes some fine beer.” He licks his lips, takes another big draw.
I crack open the water. “Have you heard from Francisco’s team?”
“Yeah. The surveillance perimeter we set up around the compound holds. He added extra cameras and sentinels. Not a soul goes in and out without us knowing about it. Speaking of which, a male pair of hunters left in a van headed west, looks like New Mexico.”
“Francisco put a tail on them?”
“Of course.” Ben says it like trusting a Native is something we do every day.
“And Val?” I swallow hard. If anything happens to Valerie, Shav would never forgive it — or me.
“Four wolves are with her every minute. She’s as safe as she could be given the circumstances.” He drinks from the bottle. “Are you sure you want to keep this secret from Shavone?”
I have no choice. The truth would rip her heart out.
“She would’ve followed Val which could get both of them killed. No one wants to take that chance.” If the Alliance hadn’t agreed, I would have kidnapped Shavone to hide her away. “Beyond that, until Val gets her shit together, I don’t want her anywhere near Shav.”
I scrub my hands over my face and look around the mansion. “We’re all set.”
Nodding, Ben leans on the outer kitchen island. “I hope your scheme works.”
“It will. She needs a place to live. She won’t pass up free.”
“I hope so. Fuck. I’m going bonkers here by myself.”
I polish off the water, walk to the trash can tucked under the inner island. “This kitchen alone will sell her on the place.”
My cousin looks doubtful. “She’ll trust a near stranger and move in with him, but not you?”
“She’s stubborn, you know.” Swallowing hard, my wolf weeps. Since Val left, there’s been nasty tension between Shav and me. She senses shit, bet she senses I’m keeping something from her. “And you’re not a stranger, Ben. She knows you.”
He grips my shoulder. Doesn’t have to say a word. He knows how I feel about her.
I had hoped to make my move by now. I’ve waited so long, wanted her for so long. My skin’s cracking from all the cold showers. I snort. Jacking off twice, sometimes three times, a day and I still can’t get her out of my head.
“Tell her you attached. Better yet, let your wolf do the talking.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Or showing.”
“Not yet. it’s not the right time.”
My cousin shakes his head. “You’re wasting time, Nash. What are you afraid of?”
“It’s complicated as hell. This shit with Val.”
I’ve known Shavone since she was a kid. It just might freak her out that I want to fuck her until she comes like a freight train and keep fucking her until she comes again, slow and hard like a steamroller.
My balls tighten and my cock twitches. I want to make her come. I want to see her come — over and over and over until she passes out from pleasure. Then, tuck her in and watch her sleep. When she wakes, I want to fuck her to exhaustion again.
I’ve scented her essence at training. She’s attracted to me, too. Just need to wait for the right time.
“My first duty as a wolf is to protect her. I can’t do that if she runs from me.”
“Sounds like she already is.”
“Fuck.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “She’s so damn stubborn.”
“That’s twice you said that.” Swallowing a gulp of beer, Ben grins. “Sounds like she grew up to be quite a pistol. I can’t wait to see her again.”
“How old was she the last time you were here?”
“I don’t know. Twelve, or thirteen.” He finishes his beer. “Is she as hot now as she looks in her photos?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “She’s mine.”
“Could be ours.” He shrugs. “If I feel it, too, that is.”
A ménage with Shavone? My cock stands at attention. Shavone spread out on a bed, writhing with need as we tease the hell out of her, screaming her pleasure when we make her come. “Unfortunately, I don’t think she’s into that.” I adjust my pants.
Ben chuckles. “Have you asked her? She is a witch.”
I shake my head recalling her relationship with Dillon, how she was with him. So faithful and loving. The kid’s dead and I’m still jealous for Christ’s sake. “She’s a one man kind of woman — and witch.”
“What about BDSM?”
“Oh, fuck no. Of that, I’m positive.”
Ben grimaces. “Monogamous and vanilla? How boring.”
I grin. “I don’t think so. If training is any indication, she’d be a handful in bed.” I shift on the stool, again, my cock painfully hard.
“You’re a damn idiot and a fucking masochist torturing yourself.”
“I have to handle this right. If I don’t” — it’ll all blow up in my face. Thanks to Val.
My phone vibrates in my pocket.
“Speaking of the stubborn witch.” I slide to answer, put it on speaker. “Yes, Shavone, you have to train today.” I chuckle. Ben grins.
“Nash” — she burbles out something incoherent.
The smile wiped off my face, I stand. “Shav? What’s wrong?”
Crooking his head to listen, Ben leans in.
She sniffles and mumbles.
“Baby, I can’t understand you.”
“Motel.” She says more, but I can’t make it out.
Motel? What the hell does that mean? Has she been kidnapped? Being held?
“Where are you?” I bark out.
“S-st-Stapleton neighborhood.”
“Give me the cross streets.” Keys in hand, I’m halfway to the door with Ben right behind me.
“I’ll follow you,” he mouths.
I nod.
“Close to the training center,” she spits out between gasps or sobs. Not sure which. Is she hurt? Fuck.
“Tell me where you are. I’ll come get you.”
“Just meet me there.”
“Shavone! Where the fuck are you?” I growl.
There’s a deep sniffle like she’s getting control of herself. “Just meet me early, okay?”
“Shavone.” The line goes dead. Did that little shit hang up on me?
Starting the truck, I hit redial.
“Don’t you dare hang up on me! Fucking ever!”
“Nash.” She sniffles. “Please stop yelling.”
Oh, baby, all I do is yell at you these days. I try to calm down. “You’re okay to drive?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t sound like it, Shav.”
“I am.” She clears her throat. “I’m literally around the corner from the gym.”
“Okay. Stay on the phone with me until you’re in the parking lot.”
For the next few minutes, I listen to her breathing and sniffles.
I hear a change in the audio in the phone. The traffic noise stops. “You doing okay?”
“Yes. I’m here and turned off the engine.”
“Good, baby. I’ll be there in ten.” I disconnect and tap Ben’s number. “She’s at the gym and sounds better. You can veer off.”
“Alright. See ya.”
Exactly ten minutes later, I’m running through the parking lot and yanking open the door. In the lobby, Shavone stands with her back to me, staring out the side window.
Holy hell. Sky high heels, a clingy dress that barely covers her ass, curls spilling down her back. She’s trying to kill me. My cock twitches.
Not now, wolf.
“What the fuck are you wearing?” My bark startles her.
She turns from the window. Her eyes are huge with dark smudges and mascar
a running down her face.
Aw, baby. I lose the attitude real quick.
“What’s wrong?” I set my gym bag on a chair.
“Val’s in Houston.”
“What makes you think so?” I keep my voice as neutral as possible. How the hell did she find out? Witchcraft? I thought Jack cloaked her.
“She withdrew a lot of money from a joint account and used an ATM in a motel there.”
Damn it, Val.
I’ve got to get Shav off her trail. “How long ago?”
“Um.” Doubt flashes across Shavonne’s face.
Jesus, I hate doing this to her, making her doubt herself.
“I don’t know. I didn’t think to ask.” Phone in hand, she taps on it. On speaker, it rings.
“Clark, Bank West.”
“Clark, this is Shavone Gentil. About that large sum you told me about, can you tell me when it was withdrawn in Houston.”
“Absolutely.” There’s clicking noise like the guy’s on a computer. “Three weeks ago.”
Shavone’s shoulders droop. “Thank you. Please call me if it happens again. I mean the second it happens anywhere.”
“Yes, ma’am. Anything else?”
“You’re working to get visual identification?” Shav murmurs, moisture in her eyes.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m in touch with the local police and the bank that owns the ATM. Not all have cameras, though.”
Damn it. I’ll have to call Houston PD and shut that down.
“I realize that. The second you hear anything” — she’s cut off.
“You’ll be the first to know. Miss Gentil,” Clark says.
“Thank you.” She ends the call.
As usual, I’m torn. I want to comfort her — tell her everything’s going to be okay. But it’s not going to be, not with Val. And touching Shav is torture. My beast always wants to touch her every where.
A hard glint takes over Shavone’s eyes. She quickly swipes at her cheeks with her fingers. Here she comes, Stubborn Shav.
“Will you go to Texas with me?”
“Hell, no.” I scowl at her. “You’re not going, either.”
“Oh, yes I am. It’s a solid lead.”
Like it or not, I need to discourage her. “It’s a three week old lead. Val could be on the other side of the world by now. Don’t be stupid, Shav.”
Soft Shatter (Wolven Moon Book 1) Page 4