Frankie laughed and leaned her elbows on the bar.
“I bet. Especially with a pretty thing like that. Who’ve you brought with you?” Frankie asked, looking me over slowly.
I swallowed. Ordinarily, such an objectifying comment would make me uncomfortable in an entirely different way. Still, given what had recently happened in the Pack House, it felt like taunting an angry wolf.
I felt Cole’s hand slide across my back and around my hip as she pulled me gently towards her.
“This is Harriet, my omega,” Cole told her.
“My, my, my, you chose good, Cole,” Frankie responded with an exaggerated hum of approval and pushed herself away from the bar and walked towards a fridge. “Two dressed for business, waiting on you,” she continued as she pulled open the fridge door and reached in, retrieving a large glass bottle of water. “Don’t think they expected Heaven’s Bar when they walked in, all ego and squeaking shoes.”
“Have they been disrespectful?” Cole asked, walking us towards the bar, releasing me and taking the two empty glasses that Frankie passed, holding them in one hand and the neck of the glass bottle in the other.
“Nothing I couldn’t put a stop to quick,” Frankie answered.
Cole nodded.
“How long have they been waiting?” she asked.
“Better part of an hour,” Frankie said.
“Running up a tab?” Cole continued.
“They like their spirits,” Frankie said with a nod towards the shelf of bottles behind her.
“I’ll take care of it on my way out,” Cole told her.
“Back room,” Frankie said, and I followed Cole across the empty bar through a door labelled Restrooms and into a hallway.
We walked past the restroom doors, which signalled their gender with little wooden images of an angel and a devil, respectively, and further down the narrow corridor, through adoor labelled Staff Only, and turned the corner into another narrow corridor. Cole led us to a door near the end, next to a fire exit.
She stood outside the door for a moment, and I waited with her, wondering who was waiting behind the door until Cole cleared her throat. I looked up at her.
“My hands are full,” she said and looked pointedly at the door handle.
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” I said as I moved forward to open the door.
The moment the door was ajar, I could hear the loud voices of two men talking over each other.
“You should have seen her,” said one.
“Did you fuck her good?” said another.
Cole kicked the door open more fully and walked in.
The disruption silenced the men.
I followed into the room behind Cole.
It was a small space, only one narrow window near the ceiling. It was cracked open, and I could see wisps of grey smoke and noticed that one of the men held a short cigar in his hand. He was pale, with reddish-blonde hair and a weak chin. His cheeks were red, and a glass of clear liquid sat in front of him. He wore a dark blue suit, and his tie was loose and undone at the collar of his shirt. The other man had darker features, brown skin and hair, and he wore a suit too, grey, but his tie and pocket handkerchief were still in place.
The second man stood as Cole entered and jumped forward with his hand outstretched.
Cole set the glasses and water down on the table.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you again. I’m sorry we arrived early; there was a mix-up with our schedules,” he said, his eyes glancing to the bottled water. “We thought, given the location, that this was a less-than-formal meeting. I hope you don’t mind us having a drink?”
“Not at all,” Cole replied.
