To the left was the horror room. Jax headed in that direction, passing through an arched doorway into the dark purple room. There were black light posters on the wall and the requisite shelving for books. Doug had the place of honor in the center.
He was tall and muscled, covered in faux fur, with his hands raised, elbows down, and his fangs bared. Tattered and torn pants covered his werewolf privates. Jax climbed the platform and measured his chest.
“Fifty-four inches,” she said.
“Doug’s a big guy.” Cheryl looked around. “How do you get him out of here?”
“The platform has wheels and there’s a ramp in the back. Whoever rents him can wheel him out.” She patted Doug’s butt. “I charge a thousand dollars a night. Doug’s a great income stream.”
She heard a faint clicking sound and turned back toward the stairs as she called, “We’re in here.”
“What’s that noise?”
“Ramon. He’s hopping down the stairs. For some reason he won’t fly into the basement. He’ll fly once he’s in the basement but to get here, he hops.”
“He’s an odd one,” Cheryl said, but her voice was affectionate as she spoke.
Sure enough a few seconds later, Jax heard the familiar flap of wings. Ramon flew through the archway and landed on Doug’s right arm.
“You getting laid?” he asked the werewolf.
Jax sighed. “I thought you’d moved on from that.”
“Never surrender.”
“I guess not.”
The Doug situation handled, Jax, Cheryl and Ramon returned to the main level. A few minutes later, Marcus wandered over to tell her the guys were done for the day and would be back on Monday morning.
“How was your day?” she asked.
“Good. We’re making progress. Yours?”
She groaned. “I had lunch with Shawna and her mother.” At Marcus’s blank look she added, “The new fiancée and her mother.”
“No.” He stared at her. “The three of you? That can’t have been comfortable.”
“It wasn’t. Lindsey, the mom, wanted to get to know me. Apparently she and Shawna are supertight and their family doesn’t believe in divorce so it was up to me to share with them the intimate ins and outs of why my marriage failed.”
She paused, then offered a faint smile. “It’s possible that came out a little more harshly than I intended.”
“You had lunch with Shawna and her mother? Hey, you’re handling it better than I would.”
She looked at him, taking in the nice-looking features and how he was always so calm and in control. He was good at his job, patient with Ramon, and his guys respected him. From what she could tell, there was no bad here. He was the kind of man who could very much interest her. Not that he did, because she wasn’t ready to play any boy-girl games at the moment. Still, she found herself thinking it would be nice to spend time with him.
The thought startled her so much, she nearly bolted in the opposite direction. Spend time with him? As in...
Oh, wait. It wouldn’t be for her. Marcus was perfect for Ryleigh, so as the responsible older sister it made perfect sense for her to thoroughly vet the man.
“Can I buy you a beer?” she asked impulsively.
One eyebrow rose. “Interesting. Sure.”
She smiled. “I was thinking upstairs. This time of day the widow’s walk is in shade and has a nice breeze. Plus, I know a guy so we never have to wait for a table.”
She led the way to her third-floor apartment. After collecting Lucy and locking her in the second bedroom, she left thedoor to the apartment open, then walked into the small kitchen and pulled two beers from the refrigerator. She’d barely started looking for the bottle opener when Ramon flew in.
“Can he be up here?” Marcus asked, holding out his hand for the parrot.
