only met Gary twice, but as far as men go, I like him. No creepy vibes or worries that he’ll shoot me in the back when I turn around, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let my guard down just yet.
“Thank you. What’s your name?” I stand and walk over to take the plate from her.
“Clara, ma’am,” she replies, and I swear she curtseys. I have to hold back a snort.
“It’s Viddy, Clara, and thank you. I love pastries of every kind. It looks delicious.”
She lifts her head and blushes before mumbling a goodbye and scurrying outside, pulling the door closed behind her.
I move back to my desk and kick off my heels, still unaccustomed to wearing the torture devices for long periods of time, but the blood-red heels and matching skin-tight dress make a statement that jeans and a T-shirt just can’t do. They say I’m here, and I mean business.
Lifting my phone, I dial the man I’ve been avoiding and wait for him to pick up. I lift the cup of hot coffee and take a cautious sip, trying to avoid third-degree burns, but needing the hit of caffeine. I’m running on nothing but fumes after a chaotic week.
“Cherry, this is a pleasant surprise,” he answers, his voice making my nipples pebble in response as per flipping usual.
“Reid, I have a favor to ask of you. Are you free at all tonight?”
“Mmm... I can only pray this is the kind of favor I hope it is,” he teases.
I roll my eyes. “Get your mind out of the gutter. I need something and you are the only person I know in the city right now.”
“Okay, that’s fine. Come by the apartment tonight at about eight o’clock and we can talk then.”
“I’ll be there,” I reply before hanging up.
I sit quietly, listening to the low hum of music playing below as I eat the delicious flakey pastry.
The mental list I had started for myself the night Reid dropped me off at my apartment has grown, even as I check things off it. It seems for every job I do, three more appear.
Now, a little over a week after I arrived in tattered jeans with a backpack and not much else, I have a penthouse apartment, a closet full of clothes, and a business to operate out of. The next part of my plan, though, requires me to start collecting allies because something tells me I’m going to need them. Unfortunately, building alliances will take time, which is why I can’t cut Reid out completely. As pathetic as it is, he’s all I’ve got.
Hitting the button on my desk phone, I wait for Gary to pick up.
“Yes?” He answers gruffly.
“Gary, could you come upstairs for me for a moment, please?”
“I’ll be right there.” He hangs up, so I sit and wait until I hear a loud knock at the door and invite him in.
“Ma’am?” he questions, sitting in the seat in front of the desk when I point to it.
“Please, call me Viddy. I need your help. I need someone who knows people. The previous owner told me you’ve lived here since you were a kid, so I’m guessing not much happens in division twelve that you don’t know about,” I state, watching him.
He shrugs casually, but he doesn’t deny it. “What do you need?” he asks, looking wary, as if I might want one of his kidneys.
“Truthfully? I need people I can trust. I want every single person in this building safe at all times, but while I’m here, I might attract an... unsavory element,” I hedge, making him snort.
“What would you like for me to do?”
“I’m going to need a security team for myself, but before that, I want a team of men and women on the doors and inside the club whose sole duties are to protect its customers and the staff.”
He looks at me thoughtfully before smiling. “I know a group of people who might be able to help with that, actually. They are veterans, all of them highly trained, but for one reason or another find themselves back as civilians, and the adjustment has been difficult for them. They’re a little rough around the edges, but they are good guys, and I trust them with my life,” he adds.
I study him for a minute, taking in his close-cropped silvering hair and weathered face.
“Did you serve with them?” I ask him softly.
“Some of them. The others I know from the veterans center down near the park,” he replies,