by Zoe Chant
She gave an appraising look at Lydia’s dance wear and the boom box as she came into the courtyard. “I came looking for Wrench.”
“Oh, Scarlet,” Lydia said too loudly. “I was, ah, teaching Wrench a few salsa steps,” she scrambled to explain.
Scarlet nodded approvingly. “I presume you will be joining us at the next dance night,” she said, to Wrench’s sinking stomach.
“Yes, ma’am,” he growled unhappily, hoping Ally was smart enough to stay in Lydia’s room when she heard that they had visitors.
“You don’t need to call me ma’am,” Scarlet reminded him. “I prefer to be Scarlet.”
“Yes, er, fine.”
“I need your assistance,” Scarlet continued without apparent offense. “We’ve got some unsavory visitors and I’d like to give them an official escort. I’ve got Graham getting changed and I’d like you to join him.” She eyed him critically. “After a shower, if you don’t mind.”
“Yes, ma’am, er, yeah. Scarlet.” Wrench could see Ally appear in the doorway over Scarlet’s shoulder, and just as he was wondering how to keep Scarlet’s attention, the girl sensibly vanished back into the shadows of Lydia’s room.
“Meet me at the office as soon as you can,” Scarlet said, and without so much as a glance towards the open door, vanished back along the outer courtyard entrance where she’d come from.
“Oh,” Lydia said, weakly laughing and leaning into Wrench. “I swear, she never comes here.” She began to laugh in earnest against his chest. “You know what this means, don’t you?” She teased.
Wrench groaned. “I’m actually gonna have to let you teach me how to dance.”
Wrench let himself kiss the top of her dark head, then reluctantly pulled himself away. “I gotta go change.”
Lydia stopped him with a hand at his collar and drew him down for a proper kiss. “Come see me after you’ve chased them off,” she said when she had released him.
Wrench felt like his face was somehow unfamiliar, and it was a moment before he realized he was grinning at her.
Chapter 26
Laura sidled up next to Lydia, who was standing in front of the buffet trying to decide if Ally would prefer a white lasagna or a Spanish rice. “I hear you’ll be teaching Wrench to dance after all,” she said archly.
Lydia smirked. “I’m looking forward to it,” she said archly.
They shared a moment of amusement, then Laura sobered. “How’s Ally doing?” she asked quietly
“We’ve had some close calls with Scarlet,” Lydia admitted, looking around carefully.
Breakfast had been cleared away for some time, and lunch was generally a lazy buffet affair, with people drifting in and out as they grew hungry. This late in the afternoon, most people were saving room for Chef’s culinary dinner masterpiece, and there were only a few people sitting, mostly in pairs, throughout the spacious room. Across the room, Breck was setting the empty tables for dinner, and one of the other waiters was sweeping.
“She’s a dearheart,” Lydia went on. “And she misses her mother awfully, but is being so brave. I’ve started teaching her salsa, and Wrench gave her a space in the mosaic to work on.” She chose the rice as the most likely to make the journey back to her room without incident.
“Mind if I come up and meet her?”
“It’s starting to look suspicious,” Lydia said regretfully. “My room has suddenly been the staff’s social meeting place the last few days.” She slipped a roll into the purse she’d started carrying for the purpose, and followed it with a few pieces of fruit. Then she froze, sensing the unexpected approach of Wrench. Was he still with Scarlet?
Not noticing her sudden discomfort, Laura laughed. “She’s the most interesting thing that’s happened here since Bastian came home with a shot-up mermaid.”
The air in the restaurant grew somehow denser, a neat trick for an open-air building, and both women looked around to find that a contingent of people, each looking more dangerous than the last, had walked in from the back entrance. Scarlet was flanked by Graham and Wrench, who each somehow made the unassuming Shifting Sands polo shirt look military. Neither of them held quite the same menace as Scarlet’s stony face.
The other party, led by Beehag’s pasty heir Benedict, somehow managed to look sleazy and dangerous, with less veneer of civilization than Scarlet’s company. One of them was a fat man in a suit worth more than all of Lydia’s clothing put together, and there were three men who had the courtesy not to carry large automatic weapons, but looked no less warlike for that restraint.
“Oh, sweet daisies,” Laura whispered at her, clearly from Tex’s influence. “They’re like a caricature of bad guys. I honestly am expecting to hear the score to an awful movie right now.”
But Lydia was watching Wrench, observing the tension in his neck and the line of his eyebrows. “Something’s wrong,” Lydia said, hands clenching on her tray.
“I’ll say,” Laura agreed. “Scarlet looks like she’s going to grind her teeth to nothing.”
Benedict was pointing out the spacious area and gesturing to the view. “It’s a state of the art kitchen and service facilities,” he was saying, barely within hearing distance. “Two walk-in fridges and two walk-in freezers.”
“Three freezers,” Scarlet corrected him frigidly.
“No,” Lydia said quietly. “Something else is wrong.”
Then one of the goons stepped forward into view from behind his buddies.
Laura sucked in her breath audibly and nearly dropped her tray. Shifter reflexes helped her catch it at the last moment, but the silverware rattled, and she turned away so quickly that the water in her glass sloshed over.
“What is it?” Lydia asked, torn between watching Wrench and comforting her friend. “Who is that?”
“Blacksmith,” Laura hissed. She slipped behind one of the columns, out of easy view.
“That’s Blacksmith?” Lydia gasped, following Laura.
“No, it’s not him,” Laura whispered. “But it’s one of his regular hires, Bruno. I think. Usually does dirty work.”
Like Wrench did, she didn’t say, but Lydia added it in her own mind.
She shuddered. “Are they here for Ally?” She wanted to drop her tray and rush up to her rooms to check on the girl.
“They shouldn’t know about Ally, but they could be here for me,” Laura said. “Or Wrench. Or possibly Jenny. Take your pick. Plenty of us have pissed him off, and if he’s gotten wind of the sting...”
Then Jenny strode in, by way of the side entrance, and Lydia had to glance at Laura just to confirm that the other woman was still at her side.
Jenny had lawyered up—she was wearing heels and a fine linen suit, and had her hair back in a twist. She was carrying a leather portfolio, and she had reading glasses she probably didn’t need perched on her nose.
“Excuse me,” Jenny said, approaching the company fearlessly.
The man that Laura had recognized started just slightly. If Lydia hadn’t been watching him when Jenny walked up, she never would have noticed.
Scarlet turned to greet Jenny, introducing her to the group. “This is my lawyer, Ms. Smith.”
Benedict and the buyer both look slightly unnerved by the presence of a lawyer, and they exchanged wary looks.
Jenny gave them a dismissive nod. “I’m sure you’ll be interested in knowing that I’ve been reviewing the lease for the resort.” Her back was to Lydia now, but there was confidence in every line of her body.
“You can’t block this sale,” Benedict started to whine immediately.
“Of course not,” Jenny said firmly. “But there are very specific terms for showings, which include two weeks of written notice, and mandatory payment of lodging and services at regular market cost.”
The buyer was frowning, and looking at Benedict with distrust and skepticism.
“It’s not too uncommon to overlook such details in such a lengthy document,” Jenny said sweetly to the buyer before turning t
o Benedict. “And I would love to have a chat with your lawyer about some binding references to a previous contract that we don’t appear to have on file.”
“Believe me, you'll be hearing from my lawyer,” Benedict snarled at Scarlet.
“I’ll be sure to give him the contact information for my lawyer,” Scarlet told him serenely. “In the meantime, let me show you back to your helicopter pad, where we will conclude this tour.”
Wrench and Graham each took a coordinated step forward, and Benedict took a cowed step back, nearly colliding with the muscle behind him. “This isn’t over,” he threatened. “You’ll get your written notice and I’ll be back. You can’t stop me from selling this cursed island. You can’t!”
Clearly, Benedict was reluctant to give Scarlet an opportunity to sue for breach of contract, and they left with more haste than they’d come, the buyer shaking his head and muttering under his breath.
Laura didn’t relax with their exit. “This isn’t over,” she said darkly. “It wasn’t a coincidence that Blacksmith’s thug was hired for this job.”
Chapter 27
Wrench was thinking along very similar lines. It wasn’t chance that Bruno had been hired for this visit. It couldn’t be.
There weren’t coincidences in this business.
They knew he’d squealed, and there was payback in the works. The biggest question in his mind was, did they know about Ally?
He’d kept his sister and niece secret for so long, and now the very worst sort of people knew about them.
Ally was here, within reach of a man that Wrench knew first hand had fewer morals than even he had ever had.
“What’s the problem?” Graham asked gruffly, pitched so that only Wrench would hear.
They were standing at the edge of the pad at the top of the resort, watching as one of the heavies got into the helicopter and started it. Scarlet, arms crossed, was clearly intent on staying until every last one of them was gone from her resort.
This suited Wrench just fine, because he knew that he would not be able to relax until he knew that Bruno was off the island.
“An old associate,” Wrench answered Graham in a similar tone.
Graham grunted his understanding.
But watching them fly off wasn’t the relief that Wrench was hoping for. So soon after Ally had arrived, Bruno’s visit could be nothing but a warning. They must know she was here, just as they knew that hurting her was more of a threat than anything they could threaten him with.
If he chose to continue on his plan to testify, he was jeopardizing Ally, as he’d already risked Renna.
Could he go back?
All he had to do was turn his back on Laura and Jenny. It wouldn’t be hard to get a phone call back to his contacts with Blacksmith. The staff at Shifting Sands trusted him now; it would be ridiculously simple to merely complete his contract, and deliver either of the sisters to satisfy the terms. Ally and Renna would be safe—as safe as the double-edged protection of the cartel could make them.
Which was a helluva lot safer than a rag-tag resort staff on a tropical island could keep them.
But Lydia… Lydia thought he was better than that.
He was used to disappointing himself, but he could not for a moment bring himself to disappoint her.
A terrible thought occurred to him.
What if the cartel found out about Lydia?
He rubbed his brow crossly as Scarlet turned to dismiss them. “Thank you for your assistance, gentlemen. I will return you to your regular duties.”
She looked tired for a moment, then her usual expression of confidence returned as she tipped her face up to the sunlight. The oppressive heat did not seem to bother her. Though Graham and Wrench were both sweating, she looked as cool as ever as she left them to stride back through the resort entrance towards her office.
“You okay?” Graham asked.
Wrench knew that a shrug or a one-line response would get Graham to leave him alone, and before this week—before this crazy resort of people who actually cared for each other, or the unexpected discovery of his mate, that’s exactly what he would have done.
But instead, he surprised even himself by asking Graham, “You ever feel like you’re only really good at awful shit?”
Seeing Bruno had reminded him too keenly that however hard Wrench tried to fit in here, his real skills were violence and mayhem.
Graham gave him a long thoughtful look. “Yeah,” he said at last. “When I was a kid, I did underground shifter matches. They pay good money if you can fight, and I can fight.” He said it with the same sort of confidence that Wrench knew too well. “But it’s a… bad scene.”
It was more words than Wrench had ever heard from Graham, and he was surprised to recognize the faintest hint of a British accent.
“It isn’t the violence that’s the problem,” Graham continued. “Fighting, guns, they’re each just another sport. But you draw money into the mix and you start to get people that make money their goal and don’t care who gets hurt.”
Wrench stared at him.
“What?” Graham asked.
“That was unexpectedly fucking deep,” Wrench said. “You don’t talk like a groundskeeper.”
Graham shrugged. “Unplumbed depths, man.”
Chapter 28
It wasn’t just that Wrench didn’t like casual touches, Lydia was realizing. He bordered on actually being touch averse.
“We will stay with open position,” she suggested, taking both of his hands firmly and demonstrating. “Elbows up just a little, good. You want to keep energy in your arms, don’t let them just droop.”
Ally, beside them, held her own arms up in a passing imitation. “Like this, Uncle Wrench,” she said cheerfully.
“You’re leading,” Lydia reminded him after a brief smile for Ally. “You step forward first, claim your space, then draw me back in. Count it out: step, shift, back, pause, step, shift, forward, pause. One, two, three, pause, five, six, seven, pause.”
Wrench staggered through the steps as she patiently led him.
“You’re not good at this,” Ally said critically.
Lydia’s swan hissed defensively and Lydia was swift to gently say, “You’ve had two whole lessons more than he has, remember? You’ll have to help him get better like you have, Ally!”
She paired them up, standing beside Wrench while he stepped backwards and forwards to the count she kept. “One, two, three, pause, five, six, seven, pause.”
“Good job, Uncle Wrench,” Ally said in lackluster encouragement, as Lydia caught her eye.
Lydia continued counting as Wrench got more comfortable with the stepping pattern. “It’s just muscle memory, pause,” she said to the rhythm. “Train your feet to fall back to this pattern, good, pause.” The music ended then, and Lydia demonstrated an ending flourish that Ally mimicked in delight.
“You don’t have to do anything more complicated than this step, if you don’t want,” Lydia said comfortingly. “Perfectly competent dancers just do this around the dance floor for whole songs. Just guide your partner around using your hands and you don’t need to do anything more complex.”
Wrench looked relieved behind his poker face.
“Show him the side-to-side one!” Ally said with enthusiasm.
Lydia traded spots with the little girl, automatically stepping into the closed position. The muscles in Wrench’s neck turned to stone as he froze, his hand where Lydia had placed it on her waist.
He swallowed.
Lydia, far from unaffected by his hot closeness, stepped back. “We’ll continue in open position,” she said lightly, going back to arm’s length. For a moment, dizzy from his closeness, she forgot what she was planning to teach him.
“Side-to-side,” Ally reminded her.
Lydia cleared her throat. “Right. Now, this follows the same pattern of pausing on the fourth beat and eighth, but instead of back and forth, we’ll simply be going side to side.”
Trying
as hard as she could, she could not stop thinking about how the dancing rhythm would translate to sex.
Chapter 29
If it weren’t for Ally’s presence, Wrench was not sure how far into the dance class they would have gotten.
It was hard enough to keep track of his feet and keep count and figure out where the beat was in the music, but with the addition of the impossible grace and beauty of Lydia’s gorgeous body as she wiggled through the steps, his brain immediately went off in very different directions.
With luck, this meant that what he was stubbornly learning would stick in his head, despite future distractions.
He paraded side to side with her, doing his weak best to follow directions like, “let your hips loosen” and “relax your shoulders.”
Paired with Ally again, Lydia drilled them through the steps until the girl began to complain, “My arms hurt and I’m hot!”
Lydia chuckled. “You’re making your muscles strong,” and let the little girl retreat to the cool sanctuary of her room.
Alone in the courtyard, Wrench wasn’t sure what to do with himself. Most of him wanted to sweep Lydia into his arms and see what other actions could be done to the seductive rhythmic pattern of salsa.
She sashayed back into his arms as if she were thinking the same thing, but was then cruel enough to take his hands in the dance position again. The arm’s length position, not the closer one, to his disappointment.
“Just a few more,” she said coaxingly as the next song came from her little boombox. At least, Wrench assumed it was the next song. They all blurred together, since he couldn’t understand a single word they were singing.
They did the front and back thing, then she talked him through switching to the side-to-side, then they went back to the first step, and Wrench actually felt remotely competent at it for the first time as Lydia praised him and she twirled away and then back into his arms where she belonged.