“I bet she does.”When the meds were hooked up to the IV he had in, he watched it drip into his arm for a few minutes before Ivan spoke again.“At the end of the year that she’s going to be working for her father’s company, she thinks she might stay on.I want her to do whatever makes her happy, but I miss her working longer hours.”
“I don’t know what I’d do if Lisa didn’t pop in to see me all the time.Sometimes when I’m feeling a little down about having to be in bed, she’ll come in and hold my hand, and I’ll feel better.Is that what you mean?”Ivan told him that it was more than that, but holding hands was nice.“I’ll say.It’s like a calmness falls over me that makes even this tolerable.I’m not used to being down with something.”
“You were like that as a kid, too.Never one to make a cold put you out of commission for a while.”He smiled, and Devlin asked him what he was remembering.“One of the few times I remember Grandma Frazier coming to town and watching us.We had hot pizza from the store that had been made just for us and soda pops.It was a rare treat and one that kept me in good memories for a long time.You must have been about two or something like that.”
“I don’t remember.”He was glad that he didn’t remember his younger childhood days.His parents had beaten them daily when they remembered they had them.There were days when they’d tie them to the tree in the back yard and didn’t give them any water or food for days on end.That’s the memories that he had.Plus, the big one where they ended up getting nearly killed when they had a plan.
Their parents had got it into their heads that they were going to kill Lica or send him to prison by beating up on them.The plan had been perfect, too, if not for the Alpha coming around when he did; they might well have all ended up in prison.But Mom had shot Dad in the gut, and he died, and Mom had ended up in prison because she’d been the one who murdered him.
He might not have as many memories as his brothers had, being the youngest, but his were just as deadly and dangerous.If they ever found out that they could all shift, it would have been another nightmare to add to their list of things that he’d had them do in the name of getting money when he wanted it.
After Ivan left him, he read some more of the book he’d gotten from Guy.It was a thriller that he loved, and when he had to put it down when dinner was called, he wanted to read instead of eating.However, he did have a better appetite than he had before, and that made him feel better.Maybe the infection was being taken care of now that he was on something to combat it.
Lisa came to his room after dinner and got into the chair.She’d been sleeping there every night since he’d gotten shot, and tonight was going to be different.He asked her to please get into the bed with him so that he could hold her.
“I’ll behave myself.I just want to hold you so that I can sleep better.Knowing that you’ve been sleeping in that chair makes me want to pick you up and carry you to the bed.While I know I’m not strong enough to do that, I just want to hold you.”She asked him if he’d really behave.“Yes.I feel better tonight.The stuff that Ivan gave me made me feel good, but I’m not going to mess that up by being all macho and making myself feel worse than I did before.I want to get better, not feel like this again.”
“All right, but there will be no hanky panky.For as much as I want you, I’ll not have you feeling worse simply because I’m right here with you.”He said that he understood.“Good.I wasn’t sleeping all that well in that chair anyway.I’ll be glad to have a nice firm bed beneath me.”
Once they were situated in the big bed, he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly.The feeling of having her there made him feel like he could conquer the world, but he had made a promise.Tonight he was going to sleep good and with his mate.That’s all he needed.
Chapter 6
Lisa decided that she was going to have to find herself a job or go insane.She’d been working all her life, and the way things were going, by the end of the month, she was going to be begging the firm for something to do, or they were going to find her in a corner someplace sobbing with her thumb in her mouth.She didn’t want to do either.
She and the women were supposed to meet today at the restaurant in town.She didn’t know if it was something that they did all the time or just today, but she was nearly giddy with the prospect of getting out of the house and doing something different.She loved Devlin, but he was still weak, and she was tempted too much to let him just lie in the bed alone.Ivan told her that in a couple of more days, he should be up to his old self again, but that was more days than she had to deal with.She wanted him better now.
The restaurant must have known they were coming because the table was set for six and there were veggie appetizers on the table already.It was a big table too, and there was plenty of room for them to hug and get to know one another again.She’d not been part of this part of the family, so she had to remember their names and who they were married to.It was quite fun, actually, to match the men up to these strong women.They suited each other quite well.
“Selma wants to talk to you, too.She said that you have a ghost with you all the time, and she wanted to know if you want to know why.”She said that she didn’t know anyone who had died recently, but she’d like her to tell her who it was.“Good.She said that she’s not causing you any harm right now, but she doesn’t know what she wants.It could be that she just likes the way you move around.But she’ll tell you.”
She’d forgotten that Summer had two little girls, Selma and Harley, and one of them could see ghosts.It came about when Selma had been shot in the head by her father when a drug deal had gone bad, and it had nearly killed her.If not for the magic of Brandy, the little girl would have died, and that would have been the end of it.Summer was mated to Ayden, who had his own set of problems.
He couldn’t be around nor eat red meat.He’d been on an undercover thing for a restaurant that Brandy was thinking of buying.But they were losing money hand over fist, and no one could figure out why.Come to find out, they were selling off the meat that would come into the place that was supposed to be serving the customers.And to compensate for the restaurant not having enough meat, they were killing off the staff and serving them up for dinner.It made Ayden so ill that even his wolf couldn’t eat or be around red met anymore.
“I have another job for you.You worked out so well on the first one that I’d like to hire you full-time to be a person who goes to the wait staff at a few of my places and sees how things are being run.I learned a great deal from you the first time.”Lisa said she’d love to have something to do with the firm.“Good.I have a list of several places that you can start on, and that would help me out a great deal.The last time, it was only having cloth napkins at dinner, and that was easy enough to fix.”
“It was a bit more than that, but I understand how the staff can give you a heads up that the bosses wouldn’t understand.”Brandy told her that she was having the menu redone, too, and that was going to make everyone happy.“Yes, they were tired of telling people what they didn’t have on the menu anymore that had been discontinued.Having all of that taken off will shorten their time at the table, too.”
Amber, Guy’s mate, worked for the firm as well.She did the books for a few smaller companies that Brandy owned and that helped them out as well.As soon as their books were done, she’d turn them over to them to show that they’d been making a profit.That was good for everyone.Especially the companies.That’s why Brandy purchased them so that they could get on the other side of being inthe red.It was helpful to everyone that things were looking up for the companies.
Mac worked directly with Brandy as her second.She was also there to keep her safe when they were out and about.She took her job very seriously and protected Brandy all the time.Edmond did the same for Lica, her husband, when he was out and about.Being the alpha and alpha bitch for the large pack could be dangerous if anyone got it into their head to take them out so that they could be the alphas of the pack.So they were happy to guard them against threats that might see them as easy prey.
She knew that she should know Sen better, but she didn’t see her as much as she did the other women, and that was why.She knew Ivan well; he’d been to the house several times over the last couple of weeks, and she’d gotten to know him very well.But his mate was working full-time for her father’s firm—with the help of Brandy, and she didn’t see her much.She liked her, however.
Just after their orders were taken, Sen passed out envelopes.She opened hers to find a large check in the amount of two million dollars.The others told her that they didn’t need it, but she kept her mouth shut.If she knew her better, she might have complained, but she just let the others do the talking.
“I don’t need this.I’m sure you know that.”Brandy was a billionaire, too, and she thought that she knew how to spend money better than the rest of them did.“You can divide this up between the others and let them have it.”
“In order to make it fair for everyone, you get a check too.This is from my first week in office.I got a bonus check for pulling in a couple of companies that my father couldn’t.The board thought that I should have a big percentage of the money now instead of waiting for the quarterly reports to come in.I decided to share with everyone.So you’ll take the money and have fun with it.”She put her purse away and smiled around the table.“I was a struggling waitress not six months ago, and now I can hand out checks this big and not feel the pinch of it.Please take it and have some fun with it.”
She’d heard how Sen’s father had made himself sick by being nice all the time to Sen when all he wanted to do was to yell at her about doing things his way.He’d not wanted her to be married, but since she’d been married to Ivan before her father came into the picture, it was never discussed that they should divorce.Howard Ranger died of an ulcer eating away at his stomach, plus a heart attack that took his life before he could change his will to suit him better.The man had been a monster and a tyrant to Sen and Ivan, and she won in the end.Inheriting not just his wealth but his business too.
“Well, I’ll take it.”Everyone around the table laughed with her.“I’m an out-of-work waitress too, and I know how that feels.Devlin and I need to get our house in order, and this will go a long way in making it happen.Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this; it’ll go for a lot of stuff around the house.”
Brandy gave her the list of places she was going to go to, and she was excited about that.Having something to do during the day was awesome, and she was looking forward to finding out what improvements Brandy could make with the restaurants to make them better.Like she said, it might be something as small as cloth napkins or a new menu, but whatever it was, it was a boost to the morale of the people working there.
The rest of the lunch went great.The food was brought to them by several waitstaff, and she had a feeling that this was the norm when they all got together.Brandy would pick up the check, and everyone else would leave the tips.The staff would make out very well for the table of six that lingered a bit too long.But it had been fun, and she couldn’t wait until next week when they got together again.It was all meeting after the food was taken away.
