trouble

Having a private security firm practically occupy a whole floor of your hotel created certain problems – trained eyes picking out a body in a laundry cart as you wheel them in and out of the lift would be the tipping of the first domino – but they also created solutions too. The drink with Ingrid Jensen had been fruitful. The woman could appear ice cold but the moment the discussion had slipped to business, she had been willing to work with him.

After the night Cat had walked in on him killing one of the wolves from back home, Grey had been even more careful than usual about allowing anybody behind the curtain, so to speak, but Jensen’s people were an exception. Another layer of protection for Destiny and the baby, a shield, somewhat for Cat too. Circles of reinforcement like battlements around a castle. None of them were likely to keep Leah out, especially not once her boy toy was dead, but it was an attempt at it at least.

Brow furrowing, Grey spread the floorplans out on the reception desk, his finger tracing lines between each of the security cameras he’d had installed during the rebuild. ”The original security system didn’t invade too far into the guest rooms but I wanna tighten up now. Your tech recommended cameras in the lifts then – the elevators – in all of the hallways too. You think you can get them in without much disturbance?” Guests had started to fill the rooms as soon as he’d opened up, drilling for days now was likely to have complaints flooding in. People didn’t want to hear it was for their own safety. They always wanted to believe they had that in hand. Fools.

The woman beside him pressed in closer, tapping her finger in bare spots on the floor plans, hovering over the far less detailed plan of his own penthouse sweet before she wisely moved away from it. He would handle his own security there with the sort of arrangements Leah had tasted before. ”Elevators and staircases. You’ll want all of your entrances covered. We can make sure they’re discreet enough that your guests won’t even know they’re there. Discreet is the name of your game, right?”

His lips curled automatically as she looked up at him with warm brown eyes, keen eyes, but the expression didn’t go more than skin deep. The act had always been there for the business. You got more flies with honey, more guests with a smile, even when they didn’t deserve it.

Grey went to nudge his sleeves further up his forearms before he reached for the plans to flip over to the utilities schematics – again devoid of all the areas he’d wanted to develop himself – frozen as the door opened and a woman and what he presumed was her kid and not some Artful Dodger style urchin looking to pick-pocket his guests. Hissing out a sigh, Grey went to hustle around the desk as the kid bolted for them but the mom – oh so obvious where the kid got it from – was already at the counter. If he went for honey, this one was going for the vinegar.

There was a chill in the smile Grey turned on her, his eyes going icy as condescension filled her expression and she leaned up against the counter like a kid at a McDonald’s. ”Good afternoon, welcome to the Grey Haven.” Said like he hadn’t heard her request. Grey straightened up, his hands going to his pockets as he eyed her coolly. ”I’m not sure who you’re looking for. Do you have a booking with us, Miss …” He let his voice trail off as he cut his gaze pointedly over her shoulder to where the brat had scooted off to. ”Is she yours? You wanna call her back before my paying guests start complaining their jewellery’s been stripped off of them.” It had started out a barely veiled barb but that pretence slipped. He would’ve laid a thousand dollars on this woman not being able to afford a single night here. He could’ve got Cat on the phone in an instant but what was he gonna say? Some woman and her kid have come asking for you, really nicely.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 709

Cat had been an anchor point in those panicked early days in New York. Motel to motel, always barely a step ahead of the Alpha’s people, Grey hadn’t been looking for one but their paths had careened together all the same. Like stags rutting – the way they’d done in the grounds of this fancy hall the primary school had taken them to in their last year – horns locking, leaving them stuck for a moment. They weren’t trying to win any sort of fight but they had stuck when they’d moved on to another hotel. He could’ve worked his way free and left her behind but Cat’s history was almost as tangled as his own, only she’d opened up about it a little more than he had. What was he gonna say in exchange for ‘my little sister got herself knocked up while she was still in high school?’ ’Hey, that’s funny, y’know, my little sister tried to rip my guts open and kill me – she failed, obviously, but I got her back with my darach juju.’ Naw. All of that had been kept behind the walls he set up between that life and the one that had gotten him here to deal with the short arsed woman with a fish wife’s mouth.

Little lines had sprung up at the corners of Grey’s eyes, amusement pulling at his mouth as the fish wife tried to take a swipe at him, and ... whatever her name was from Ingrid’s staff. Cat had obviously crossed paths with someone who usually wouldn’t have gotten past the front door of the Grey Haven, stooping to the sort of level that had him wondering if she’d found trouble before she’d turned up here and had found him putting an end to the trouble that had found him here.

Grey inclined his head, eyes cutting to Ingrid’s operative before they flicked back to the fish wife. ”I’m pretty sure her boss wouldn’t appreciate me hitting on her staff. We’re professional here … you know, civilised.” He grunted, sighing as he narrowed his eyes at her. Grey dipped in a little, lips pursing faintly. ”What makes you think asking me the same question I heard just fine the first time around’s gonna get you a different answer? Call me a perv enough and maybe I’ll cave?” The laugh rolled out, those little lines reappearing. She was gonna have to do better than that little scowl on a china doll’s face to have the Sphinx talking.

By the time he got to the point of Vesuvius like irritation her and the Artful Dodger were gonna be out on the street. He’d snatch a couple of seconds replay from the security cams to show to Cat – a perp walk, wasn’t that what the cops here called it?

From the looks of things the kid was gonna need practice for them. She’d already wormed her way up to one of his elder guests over in the corner, gnarled fingers pinching at those cheeks, the kid giggling before she palmed a bracelet. The little brat, he’d shake out of her as he tossed them out. ”She needs a little more practice,” Grey said sweetly. ”Like her mom.” Grey sighed, pulling a hand from his pocket as Ingrid’s employee started to roll up the plans and scoot out of the way. ”More money, better manners, a new vocabulary. You want me to make a list of it all?” Shitty? He stared at her for a moment, ready to laugh again. Forget just dirt poor she was on the brink of being delusional.

He’d made his bed with the judgment, now it was gonna be a matter of laying in it or getting the Sheriff involved here to make a public scene at throwing the trash out. Grey hissed out a sigh. ”I’d say you’ve got about as much chance of that as this card actually working. You know the basic rate here’s about as much as you’ve earned in the last decade?” He’d worked his ass off to make it that way, going from those twenty bucks a night shitholes to his own palace here.

Two fingers extended to take the card but it was all it took for the bitch to wrap a hand around his wrist. Grey sucked in a breath, eyes locked on her, body frozen like she was Medusa instead of some mouthy chav without the sense to just sod off and wait til Cat came back to strut back in here. Leah probably would’ve loved her. The thought seemed enough to send his brain through that lightning bolt of memories. Leah, Malcolm, digging his fucking way out of the dirt he’d been left in by circumstances, pulling himself up by his fingernails until Petyr was gonna have so much …

What the fuck?

Grey’s breath hissed out as he pulled back. His grip was still locked tight around her card, pulling it in while the rest of him tried to catch up with what was going on. What the fuck had she done? ”Mine? Yours is obviously a fucking George Lucas film. She taken after you yet? Playing mind games on people, acting holier than fucking thou. It’s a vicious cycle you know.” One he was breaking for Petyr. The demand to get any mention of his kid out of that foul mouth stuck in his throat like a fishbone. Sister? ”If she’s got any sense she saw you and that brat coming and ran. Which one are you huh? One of the twins or ’16 and pregnant’? I’m guessing the latter since your little bundle of joy’s come along with mommy for the ride. Hey kid!” He raised his voice at the end, ignoring the bite of smug in Lucky’s voice to beckon the kid over with two fingers, a sharp, cold edge to his voice.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 979

Shitty personality? If Ingrid’s woman and the paying customers hadn’t been there in the lobby he’d have laughed out loud. It took one to know one. Hers was pouring out of her mouth on that tirade of terrible fucking observations and loving compliments. Grey shook his head, already willing to lay money on that card getting declined. It was probably three cents away from its two hundred and fifty dollar limit. Not enough for a room for a night even if it wasn’t maxed out.

His lips curled further, blue eyes narrowing down to cold little slits as her hiss rolled away. So much bitterness in one tiny little body. ”It’s a good thing I’m not expecting you to, huh? You know, it’s an easy fix right? Just walk on out of here. Problem solved, honey.” Thankfully she hadn’t stuck that pointy little nose any deeper into his life. Most didn’t bother to see anything but the appearance of money. Those who did weren’t judging themselves on how stunning they were when they looked at themselves in the mirror. There was more worth to them than that. More to him than this bitch was seeing.

Had seen.

He should’ve sent her flying across the room and out of the damn doors. It would’ve created a scene, but it also would’ve got this over and done with. No more Chihuahua like yapping and fewer complaints from his clients about empty pockets later on. Then she’d closed her hand around his wrist and images had fluttered up like she was digging through the toy box of his mind, tossing stuff out as it seemed to catch her eye. That hadn’t been him. Shit ran in families – druids, darachs, werewolves, psychics. A bitch with a kid, oh, it had to be the sister.

Grey’s fingers curled around the card, hard enough to bend it in two if he felt like it. He could cram it down her throat, choke her on the jagged shards of plastic. ”Shut your fuckin’ mouth,” The growl was low, the threat clear as the light in his eyes dimmed to something glacier cold. ”Stay the fuck away from my kid.” He didn’t think she was the same sort of threat as Leah, but one finger raised against Destiny, against Petyr … he’d snap it off at the root, wouldn’t stop until every bone in that scrawny little body was dust. Petyr was gonna be free of all of that because of what he’d done. No more vicious cycle, the whole fucking thing broken.

His brain was figuring out every way possible to kill her. Cut out of that tongue first in just about every incidence. It would mean more than an apology to Cat if she ever found out but he’d be doing her and this bitch’s kid a favour by ridding them of her. His lips were curved sourly, a fake warmth pushing up into his eyes as he set them on the kid. ”Well, you know, your sister had to tell someone how happy she was leaving your skank ass behind.” It hadn’t been easy on Cat, not the way he was making out. It always cut deeper somehow when the wound at the centre of you was inflicted by family.

Letting the card fall out of his hand on his side of the desk, Grey leaned on it, hands propped, that smile fixed on the brat who was suddenly all sweetness and light. ”Hi honey. You have a nice chat with that lady over there?” He lifted his chin in the old woman’s direction but didn’t take her eyes off of the kid. ”What happened to fair play?” he asked, his tone suddenly flat. ”You go cursing my kid’s future … I go telling yours to take back what she just stole.” Dark brows rose from the kid as her face fell. Grey drew back slowly, picking the card up from the desk like he’d never seen it before. ”You need it to pay for your hour at the motel later?” He grunted, considering snapping it again before he threw it down on the counter in front of her. ”Your sister’s not here. To you she’s never gonna be here. Open your mouth and you’ll see what else I’m capable of.” His voice didn’t rise but the threat was there all the same. She should’ve seen enough in his head to know he’d follow it through too.

Tagged: LUCKY CHRISTMAS * Word Count: 742