by Moxie North
Excusing herself she headed out the door, leaving Everett to himself.
Spotting the doors leading off the living room, he pushed them open and the blast of hot air hit him in the face. You don’t realize just how cold the room was until you got a taste of the real air.
Stepping to the edge, he leaned over and looked down the side of the building. They were up pretty high, but his cat liked to be up high. It kept the advantage. He looked out over part of the strip, but most of his view was of the mountains in the distance. Not that they were actually mountains. He was from California, these were barely hills.
But he liked having less noise from the cars and busy streets. He stood there soaking in the warmth for a while.
There was a knock on the door a short time later. He headed back into the room closing off the fresh desert scent and gave a shiver as the icy cold air coated him again. He opened the door and there was neatly dressed waiter with a cloth covered cart. Swinging the door wide so he had room to maneuver, the man brought the cart in and looked expectantly at him.
“Just leave it there please,” Everett said, reaching for his wallet to tip the man.
“No, please, Mr. Hayes. No gratuities for the Klein’s special guests. Enjoy your meal,” the man said, then gave a slight bow and exited the suite.
“Nice room, free food, no tipping. I may move here,” Everett murmured to himself.
Spotting a control panel on the wall, he walked over to it, flipped it open and adjusted the air of the room up ten degrees. His fucking nuts were going to freeze off in this room.
Returning to the cart, he started pulling covers off of the plates. There was what looked like a twelve-ounce steak on one plate. He could smell it was cooked medium rare just like he liked it. He uncovered a baked potato and a caprese salad.
He hit the kitchen and opened the fridge finding it fully stocked with not only every soft drink but various bottled waters and beers. Grabbing the first beer he could reach he came back to the cart, picked up the salad, dumped it on the steak then did the same with the potato, mounding it all up.
Picking up the one plate, he made his way into the living room, plopped on the couch, and flipped on the massive TV on the wall. He tucked into the food, not really caring his food was all mashed together. It was going to end up that way anyway he figured. He didn’t even cut his steak. He just picked it up with the fork and gnawed on it.
Once he was full, he set his alarm on his phone and leaned his head back on the fluffy couch. The TV was still on, an old episode of classic Star Trek was playing. Everett could hear the soothing tones of Spock as he dozed off.
Chapter 5
“Ms. Klein, Mr. Hayes has checked in. He’s been put in the Rat Pack Suite and we informed him of the meeting with Mr. Klein at two.”
Layla nodded, not really paying attention to the concierge as she informed her of the new shifter in house. Her VIP was due to arrive and her alcohol order was still being unloaded. She made it very clear a bottle of expensive cognac needed to be jetted to the suite and be ready and waiting for when Paolo showed up.
“Great, he has my number if he needs anything,” she said, without looking up from her tablet. “I’ll be in my office.”
She knew she should have been kinder to her concierge. They were actually really good friends, but her mind was busy. When her mind was busy her cat was busy and she needed to stay focused. What she really needed was a massage. She clicked on her Louboutins over to the spa and popped her head in the door.
“Fit me in later?” She called out to Kristine the receptionist. Looking up from the desk with a smile she said, “Gotcha!”
Great, one more thing off her to-do list. Granted that wasn’t on her list, but it should have been.
As she made her way through the narrow confusing passages to her office, she swiped her card at the doors, added her pin number and strode through, pulling the doors closed behind her. Security was one thing that they took very seriously.
Millions upon millions of dollars were sitting behind these doors at any given time. There was always an opportunity for someone to try and get that money. They always failed, but they were getting smarter and that was the reason for the new security systems.
Their old system was fine, but a casino in Reno that ran a similar one to theirs was recently hacked. They weren’t going to wait around for the same thing to happen to them.
The Kleins kept their hotel and their personal home security tight. Their house was always a hive of activity for the pack and since most people thought that they were mob of some sort, they kept their distance. But law enforcement was always up in their business. She couldn’t blame them. They did look suspicious. But they weren’t hiding criminal activity, just the fact they could turn into giant mountain lions.
As she swung open her office door she took a deep breath in. The gentle aroma of sage and citrus washed over her. Her office was painted a light gray with a dark brown couch along one wall. She’d had it covered in green pillows and a cream colored cashmere throw. She would often crash out to sleep in her office when she didn’t want to even crawl her way up to her room.
Every corner had plants, ferns, orchids, and succulents. She had black and white pictures of the desert in large frameless mats on the walls. Her desk was clear class with just her computer, phone and a blotter to write on. She kept all the actual usual desk tools stashed away behind her in a dark wood credenza. She liked the minimalist look her office had. It was serene, her little hideaway in the desert.
She sat down and logged into her computer. To the right of her monitor was a new card swipe system they were adding to their network. It seemed like overkill, but she understood. Once the new system was up and running, you would have to swipe your badge, enter your password, then the camera on the computer would do a facial recognition scan. All so she could check her email.
Scanning through her “top secret” emails, she saw her DJ for the weekend confirmed. DJ Dez was a celebrity in his own right, but oddly was one of the few that didn’t have a manager or flunky do his booking for him.
Her usual three DJ rotation for next week was in place. She knew her supplies were being unloaded and her brain traveled over what the weekend vibe should be. DJ Dez was able to mix upbeat dance and hip-hop with classic old school R&B. That felt like a blue and purple weekend. Making a note to change up the color palette before opening, she continued scanning through the rest of her email. Two from her wayward sisters. They were total bitches and she loved them to death. They were independent, constantly busy, and if you didn’t know better you’d think they were twins. They dressed alike, did their hair the same, and even finished each other’s sentences. Lord help the mates they ever found. If you got one, you got the other by default.
Layla wrote up a quick response to both sisters since they each sent her an email. Which oddly, contained basically the same information. She was tempted to write one response and copy it to the other. But they’d call her out on that bullshit in a blink.
Her phone rang and startled her out of her ruminating. Looking at the number on the display she groaned.
“Gawd, not today,” she moaned. Taking a breath and letting it out slowly she reached for the phone.
“Layla Klein, how may I help you?”
She knew who it was and she dreaded picking up the phone. But she was dancing a fine line with this particular caller.
“Hey there beautiful, did you miss me?” A slick deep voice came over the line.
Vincent Domolo was the son of a prominent Las Vegas family. A prominent Las Vegas mob family. Vincent thought he was God’s gift to women and apparently aftershave. He also was deluded enough to think that his constant smarmy advances were going to win her over. She’d gone out with him once when he said he had a business opportunity to discuss regarding her club.
What he really wanted to do was spend two hours talking about himself and his cars while she was blinded by his gold jewelry and chest hair. The
re was no business, just him thinking that an evening with him would woo her into a relationship.
He wasn’t a bad looking guy if he’d let the whole suave Italian persona go. His hair was too long, his skin too tan. Too many rings on his fingers and his fashion sense was downright horrific.
Layla’s cat was hissing the entire time, she wanted to scratch him in the face for even thinking he was good enough for them.
Since that dinner, he’d called every few days. At first he sent flowers, chocolates, and even a giant stuffed teddy bear. Like that wasn’t embarrassing. She’d wanted to return everything but also didn’t want to incite him. She called each time and thanked him for the gifts and explained that she was too busy with the hotel and her career to even think about dating. Which he responded that they didn’t have to date they could just ‘screw’. Charming.
After that conversation, she was much firmer about her stance on not dating him. He laughed and told her she was cute and sassy and he liked that. Apparently rejection is what did it for him. So he kept trying.
“Vincent, what can I do for you?” she asked professionally before she realized how loaded that question was to a man like him.
She was proven right when the low chuckle over the phone curdled her blood.
“Oh, I could think of something.”
Of course he could, she thought rolling her eyes to the ceiling.
“I’m about to head out to a meeting, Vincent,” she said, trying to keep the irritation out of her voice.
“How about I pick you up for an early dinner tonight? Somewhere nice, a little Dom, some antipasto,” he said rolling the words out exaggerating his non-existent Italian accent. He was born in Hoboken and his family moved to Nevada. There was nothing Italian about him except the spaghetti stains on his shirt.
“Sorry, Vincent, I have a VIP that I need to be available for all weekend. And we have a family friend in town that I am going to show around town.” She wasn’t sure why she even said that, but if Everett was going to be in town, she might as well use him as an excuse to keep her from having to see Vincent.
“This family friend a dude?” he asked.
Pondering this for a moment, Layla thought this might be just the deterrent she needed to swat the pest Vincent for good.
“Actually he is. He’s someone my parents want me to meet. They are always thinking ahead to good matches for their children. Our family friends would love to join forces with ours and keep it all in the family so to speak.”
There let him chew on that for a while. Vincent thought he was her only option for some reason. She was a reasonably attractive person, she knew. She was tall, curvy, kept in shape for the most part. There was always some guest slipping her a business card or worse a room key. Eww. So she knew she wasn’t a troll.
“What the hell, Lay. Your parents forcing an arranged marriage on you? What is this, the old country?” he sputtered.
What the hell did he know of the old country, she thought sarcastically. And she despised when he called her “Lay”. The way he said it was totally inappropriate.
“Well, as you know Vincent, there are all sorts of things we do for family. Isn’t there?”
Her innuendo was clear. His family was so dirty there was always a nondescript white van following them around whenever a Domolo left the house. It didn’t take a cougar to sniff out a fed on that one.
“Babe, you know I can take you away from all this. Treat you real nice. You can go shopping and hang out by my pool in a tiny bikini waiting for me to get home. You know, live the good life.”
“Wow, that’s some offer there, Vincent. I think I’ll stay right where I am working for a living and being a productive member of society instead of a lawn ornament for you,” she snapped back.
“Ahh, don’t be that way babe, you know I care bout you. We could be good together.” His voice had turned almost whiny, like their short conversation had burned out the iota of adult conversation he had saved for the day.
Sighing, she was so done with him. “Sorry Vincent, but I really need to go. See you around!”
With that she hung up the phone before his whimpering could continue.
Leaning her head back against her chair, she closed her eyes. Vincent was definitely not her type of man. She’d dated a bit, but it was all very casual. She knew her true mate was out there somewhere. Someone who would get her, cherish her, love her forever. Hard to believe that the perfect man was out there, but she had to hope and have faith that the fates wouldn’t leave her alone in this big bad world.
Now was not the time to mope, there was always work to be done. Realizing if she wasn’t at her desk, she couldn’t answer her work phone, she jumped up and headed back to the club to hide out just in case Vincent decided to make an appearance.
Chapter 6
Knocking on the door, Everett waited for a moment as he clearly heard William Klein finish typing on his computer. He’d be able to smell him even through the door so he wasn’t going to be surprised when Everett walked in.
The clicking stopped and he heard a simple, “Come in, Everett.”
As he pushed opened the door, he saw William walking from behind a giant desk with his hand outstretched.
Everett moved straight towards the man and grasped his hand firmly.
“Nice to meet you,” Williams said. “I appreciate you being able to come out and help us out on this little project.” He gestured to the couch along a long wall inviting Everett to take a seat. All the furniture was black leather, chrome accents. Very modern and slick. It matched the man, but not in a bad way.
William Klein was all polish and glitz. He was tall like the Hayes boys, but his hair was longer than was probably fashionable, it curled around his collar and he made it work against his probably four thousand dollar suit. Everett thought that would be a lot for a suit, but he had no idea. His mom bought his last tuxedo for a family function.
“I’m happy to help. It’s not really work if I get to nose around your computer systems. It’s more like a vacation, William.”
“Please call me Will, I’m hoping your brother didn’t have to twist your arm to get you here.” He laughed as he poured each of them a tumbler of scotch. Good thing he liked scotch.
“Not at all, packs have to stick together.”
Handing him the glass, he sat back down next to Everett on the couch. “This is what I need you to do. Make sure that the company I’m paying a boatload of money is first off, doing what they are supposed to be doing and secondly, that no one is working against the grain so to speak.
All of our building security should be tied into our lock down system for our vaults. There should be no computer terminals that can be accessed without three forms of identification. I want to be able to access our entire system from our family house. I realize this could potentially leave us open to breaches, but I want you to make sure we are as tight as possible.
Our computer networks should be on a constantly randomizing system to limit the potential for hacks. I also want full access to all of our security cameras both at the hotel and at home available in both locations. No one, and I mean no one, should be able to see those cameras unless they are physically sitting in our locked security room or our home. No access to computer terminals in the hotel. I would like a kill switch that can be engaged for our home cameras when we know there are humans watching.”
Everett listened and took mental notes. He didn’t need to write this down. His cat was already itching to get started.
“That’s all easy enough, who is the firm you are using?”
“Campbell and Cross, they were very highly recommended and usually work banks and top level military locations that are run by civilians. The last thing I wanted was one of my competitors systems running in my hotel. I needed fresh eyes and a new plan for our business and pack.”
Everett knew who Campbell and Cross were. They were good, great even, and not cheap to come by.
“Do they know I’m
going to be looking over their shoulders?” The last thing he wanted to do was to fight tooth and nail trying to see how they were installing and setting up the hardware.
“It was part of my conditions in them getting the contract that we would be having complete oversight by a contractor of my choosing. What I’m paying them, they better ask to wipe your ass if needed,” Will joked, but there was an air of sincerity in his voice.
“I’ll skip that if you don’t mind. The computers I can handle, but other dudes near my junk? No thanks,” he said, swigging his scotch.
Taking a drink from his own glass, William looked at him for a long moment. “Do you think if we told our mothers that we liked boy shifters they would stop trying to find our mates for us?”
Everett thought about it for a moment then started laughing, “No it would just expand their pool of potential candidates that they can run us by.”
Will clearly saw that he was probably right and started laughing along with him. “Oh well, it was a thought.”
“So when would you like me to get started?” Everett was itching for something to do.
“Today if you don’t mind, at least to get a run down, look over the schematics of the system, then shadow the crew tomorrow. If you come to our house for our pack run tomorrow, you can see what they have already installed there.”
Standing up, Everett put his glass on the coffee table. “If you don’t mind, I’ll go get started.”
Will walked back to his desk and gathered a key card, handing it to Everett he said, “Here is your card, I made your password your last four of your social security until you change it in security. You’ll be able to set up your facial recognition too.”
“I’ll head there now,” he said, turning to the door.
“Don’t forget, tomorrow at sundown. And I’ll check back in with you at the beginning of next week.”
Everett gave him a salute and strode out the door. He made his way down the hallways, asking for directions a few times. It seemed everyone already knew who he was. He started to wonder if they handed out his photo. Then he realized they probably did.