Page 93 of Hell on Wheels
“Second the shower idea.”
I roll my eyes at them, then sigh. “I thought that the conspiracy to fuck us up is bigger than Mina and Merra put together. It’s gotten more frequent and harder to prevent. Neither of them is this smart, nor did they have enough time to throw together such precision threats. The stuff happening now results from learning who we are and how we live our lives. That takes time.”
Damon nods, chewing his lower lip as he thinks. “You’re right, Sparkles. Getting someone into the restaurant to slip the peanut oil in the food takes longer than a week or two in a small place like his work. Getting past Reb’s spells without setting off alarms takes time.”
“Bribing drunk shifter sports players is pretty easy,” the lion admits. “So many of my teammates are good dudes with seriously bad heads for business. They get caught up in women and gambling and a lot of the vices in Bay City. That part wouldn’t take much effort.”
“But cornering me in blind spots at the perfect time in both your rink and my arena would take time and knowledge. The security is better than that,” I muse. “So this is certainly coordinated.”
The guys fall silent as I roll away, swinging my legs over the side of the bed to stand up. I decide to leave them with that thought while I get clean; hopefully, they’ll have a stroke of brilliance by the time I get back.
“Hey, Rogue?”
I pause, turning to look over my shoulder at Archie.
“I hate to see you go…”
“Super groan, big guy.” Damon chuckles as he smacks the broad chest he’s leaning on. “So damn cheesy, even if she has a superb ass.”
Eyeing them, I arch a brow. “I appreciate your compliments, boys, but you need to get your equally sexy asses out of bed and get clean. There will be hell to pay if I come back out and you’re not dressed to go out. I’m hungry and I want to go visit Javi for lunch.”
“Oooh, good idea!” Damon beams as he almost leaps up, holding his hand out to Archie. “I could definitely go for Pad Thai.”
“Then get your asses in gear,” I reply as I stride over to my bathroom and slip inside.
There’s a little bumping around that’s loud enough to hear, which makes me smile to myself. Once it stops, I walk to my huge stall, turning the taps so it will warm to almost nuclear hot. Humming under my breath, I line up my towels and supplies on the counter, following the ritual that makes me feel calm and collected. Doing my bathroom tasks very specifically and order has always been one of my calming techniques, and thinking about some enormous group of fuckers trying to kill my guys has me in need of that feeling.
I can promise I will destroy anyone who tries to take these boys from me; I’ve waited too long and come too far to lose them.
The Emerald Lotus is already busy by the time we get there. It’s packed with the lunch crowd from the businesses nearby and the overflow from the university in mid-town. The students from human college are blissfully unaware they’re eating in a supernatural run joint, so they jabber ignorantly at their tables while the usual clientele look on in amusement. The dragons who run the place only close their doors to the non-supes two evenings a week, but it allows for the real regulars to have a release valve.
It’s hard to be yourself when you have to make sure you don’t break a cardinal law while you’re drinking.
“Hey, guys!”
I blink back to attention when the chipper Kitsuné hostess greets us. If it weren’t the anime craze in America, the waifu-looking girl with white hair and tips resembling flames would stick outlike a sore thumb. Instead, she looks adorable and TikTok ready as she grabs unneeded menus to lead us to a table in the supe-only section. I assume. Archie or Damon requested that, but since I was mulling over shit, I missed it.
“New chick,” D says as he guides me through the busy restaurant by the elbow. “Bet she’s worn down within a week.”
“Don’t be crude. Maybe she’ll love service,” I reply with a frown. “Some people enjoy taking care of customers and shit.”
Archie snorts. “You’re being naïve, Wheels. Maybe you can say that about bartending, but most actual servers or retail workers grow to hate their jobs quickly. I dated a waitress for a couple of weeks and she told me even if your bosses are good, customers are the worst damn near everywhere.”
When we reach the table, Damon pulls my chair out, and they flank me on either side. I roll my eyes, making the cheery girl giggle. “Can you let Javier know we’re here? Thanks.”
She frowns, a crease appearing between her brows. “Why? Are you his friends or something?”
I do not have the spoons for this girly bullshit today.
“He’s my boyfriend and so are they—not that it’s anyone’s business. Can you let him know we’ve arrived, or do I need to flag someone else down?” I look the new hostess right in the eyes, hoping to cut off any passive aggressive female competition shit before it starts. I don’t have the patience for it on a good day and with our enemy pool widening daily, I definitely don’t have it now.
Her cute face fades to frustration, but she doesn’t look away. “Understood, Miss…?”
“Just Rogue will do.”
“I’m Mai, and until we assign a server to your table, I will serve you.” The shifter curtsies stiffly, then nods at the guys. “It is very busy in here, as you can see, and we had a few call-outs since it is close to the moon cycle. For now, I will notify Javier that you are here.”
Archie waits for the girl to scoot off, then grins at me smugly. “Your boyfriends, mmm? Methinks someone was marking her territory.”