Chapter 11

Squatch.

I was deep into the numbers and forms when I realized there was a problem, but I had to secure everything in the office before I could exit and help control the fighting. The laptop and most of the cash went into the hidden safe, and everything we didn’t mind the cops finding went into the regular safe. I walked the office twice to make sure nothing was out that might draw police attention, and then stepped out into mass mayhem.

Different situations call for different tactics. Sometimes, you can jump onto a table and bellow out “Enough!” and everyone will stop what they’re doing and look at you. Or all but a few, and then you can wade in and stop them. That wasn’t going to work with this particular melee though. My choices were to let it play out, or to dive in and join the fray. The latter would only work if I could physically remove people from the fight. Otherwise, I was just adding to the chaos. The tech guy had turned the house lights on and the music off, which is standard protocol, but the fighting was intense and I thought maybe we needed to do something else. I touched my earpiece and said, “Tech, kill the lights. All of them.”

There are no windows, so we were suddenly in total darkness. It took my wolf a half a second to take over our vision so we could see what was happening, and I noted only three fights still happening — men who were holding onto each other and throwing fists. I jumped down from the table, took four steps to the fighting pair closest to me, and threw the current winner into the wall. He crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap.

Dementor broke up a fight near him, and Jade, our little fox shifter, punched the shit out of two men fighting near her. When they both were down, she told me, “Trinity’s in the back room. Need to check on her!”

I nodded. “Put some clothes on and offer a bag of ice to anyone who seems to need it. I hear Atlas making the bags, go grab some before you make the rounds.” And I’d need to make sure more of the cheap sandwich bags got ordered to replace our stock.

Jade turned to do as I’d said, and I made my way to the rear corner and found Trinity hiding behind the largest chair in one of the semi-private rooms. The small space reeked of pain — both Trinity’s and the man she’d been dancing for. I moved the oversized chair as I told her, “It’s me. You’re safe. What’s wrong?”

I heard Dementor calling for the house lights again in my ear, and I closed my eyes against them before I could get a handle on what was wrong with Trinity. Even behind my eyelids, the lights were bright.

“I think I broke my wrist, or my hand. It’s swollen.” Her voice was tight, as if she was holding her breath to try to keep from crying. I had to push my wolf down to keep him from responding. Beating the fuck out of this asshole was fine, but killing him would create problems. I opened my eyes a tiny slit — enough to see movement but not details.

“The bastard started pawing me when he realized no one was going to come stop him,” she said. “I punched him in the throat the first time, and he tried to strangle me with one hand while he fingered me with the other, so I hit his face as hard as I could and then kicked him a few times. Or, maybe more than a few times.”

I opened my eyes enough to see her, and her wrist was already swollen and discolored. She needed a doctor and an x-ray. I looked to her feet and grinned at the heavy stacked heels on her feet. They’d clearly packed a wallop.

“Stay put. I’ll be right back.” I stepped outside the room, opened a first aid cabinet, grabbed some zip ties and an instant cold pack, and focused on Trinity instead of the asshole. Our little human stripper had beat him bloody, and he was curled up on the floor in a stupor, his limp dick hanging out. His breathing and heart rate were about what I’d expect — I had a few minutes until I’d need to deal with him. Trinity needed my attention first.

I activated the cold pack, helped Trinity stand, sat her down on a chair, and gently rested her arm on the tall side. I put the cold pack on her arm just above the swelling. “Keep the cold as close to the injury as you can, but don’t make it hurt worse.” I touched my earpiece. “Gears. We’re gonna need Doc. Trinity’s wrist is swollen and turning colors.”

“Too late for Doc. Someone in the building dialed nine-one-one. You’re gonna have unwelcome company soon. May as well send for an ambulance.”

I sighed. “Fuck. Okay. Motherfucking asshole had plans for rape in the back room while there was no one to stop him. She beat him bloody. I know Tess isn’t available, but you need to get her associates headed this way.” I’d been looking forward to continuing the lesson Trinity had started, but now we’d have to let the cops have him. My fists were itching to tear into him, but the crime lab didn’t need to find any fist marks bigger than Trinity’s. I rolled him over, zip-tied his hands behind his back, and did the same with his ankles.

“Phone call’s already been made for the lawyers. You should make the call for an ambulance from there.”

He was right, of course. I pulled my phone from my pocket and made the call.

“They have an ambulance on the way,” I told Trinity. “The club will take care of your medical bills and up to two weeks of sick pay. Beyond that, you’ll have the option of working here, at the spa, or somewhere else if we have a position open you’re qualified for. Tell the cops the truth about the asshole. Did he penetrate you?”

“Just his fingers.”

“That’s penetration. Press charges. The best defense is a good offense.”

I turned and looked at him, and snapped a picture for documentation. He’d curled up on his side, and his limp dick was still out. His breathing was more labored with his hands bound behind his back, but he wasn’t in distress. I wanted to pummel him, but I promised myself I could do it later, if he didn’t go to jail. He looked up at me, but I wasn’t sure he was focusing right. Didn’t matter, he could hear me. “You’ll see justice no matter what. You’d better hope you see jail time for this.”

I walked outside the room, grabbed one of the shifts the girls could wear when they walked next door, and brought it back in. “Let’s get this on you.” Trinity was topless, wearing only a thong.

She let me help her get into it, and was quick to put the ice back on her arm. “Fuck, that hurts. Thanks for the ice. It helps a little.”

I touched my earpiece. “Status of the EMTs?”

“An ambulance is en route, along with the popo,” Mad Dog said in my ear. “Walk her out. They should all be there by the time you get out the front door with her. Carry her. No one will shoot you if you’re carrying a wounded woman. Let her know Frost should be at the hospital before the ambulance gets there with her. She needs to tell them he’s her brother.”

“I’m going to carry you,” I told Trinity. “I’m sure you can walk, but we need the police and ambulance to understand you’re injured and need medical attention.”

She nodded, and I leaned down and gingerly lifted her into my arms.

“Kitty’s a lucky woman,” she told me, her head against my chest, her arm cradled on her stomach.

“Frost should be at the hospital by the time you get there. Tell them he’s your brother.”

Mad Dog had Crush dealing with the two girls already next door, and Dementor had pushed Crystal out the back door with instructions to head to the suite. Without a keycard, she’d need the code to get the elevator to that floor, but she’d repeated it back to him and seemed to have it. I held Trinity with one arm so I could touch my earpiece and talk. “Crush, can you confirm the girls in your care are safe?” I’d already checked in to make sure Kitty was with him, now I was checking on all three.

“Yes. Kitty’s in the safe zone. When Soul finishes in a few minutes, I’ll take her. I understand Crystal’s on her way, so I’ll have three in my care.”

“Roger that. Thanks.”

I engaged my mic so it would stay on, and I was standing in the parking lot with Trinity in my arms when three police cars pulled in. I could hear an ambulance, but couldn’t see it yet. I stood without moving, statue still. The cops parked so they were shielded by their cars when they exited the vehicles.

“She needs medical attention,” I told them, my voice loud enough to be heard. “We have the situation under control inside, but there may be more who could use an EMT. Lots of fists were flying. To my knowledge, no one used a weapon other than their fist.”

Two officers I’d spoken with in the past came around the vehicles, guns drawn but pointed down. “Why don’t ya’ll disarm me, just so everyone’s less jumpy,” I told them. “It’s on my right hip, but there’s no way I can get to it while I’m holding her. Miss Carpenter here was in a back room, and a customer took advantage of the situation and tried to rape her. She hurt her hand defending herself. I think her wrist is broken. I have him restrained and will be more than happy to see ya’ll take him in. Miss Carpenter will do whatever is necessary to press charges.”

The ambulance pulled in, and the officers waved the driver to pull up close. I put Trinity on the stretcher and then motioned to an attorney I recognized when he pulled in.

One of the cops looked at the attorney and then back to me. “Your lawyers must be on speed dial.”

I shrugged. “Calling them in is above my pay grade, but someone clearly did.” I turned back to the ambulance to make sure they were taking Trinity to our preferred hospital, and told them her brother was on his way and would probably be waiting for them.

One of the cops told another to ride with her and get her statement, and a female cop climbed into the ambulance. I hadn’t counted on that, but Trinity knew the drill. She’d be fine without an attorney for a little while, but I was glad Frost would be there to help run interference.

The rest of the night was a clusterfuck, and if we hadn’t ended up with four attorneys on site reining LEO back, there’s a good chance some of us would’ve been arrested. The fuckers wanted to arrest me for using zip-ties on the damned would-be rapist. Unlawful imprisonment. Thankfully, the lawyer explained how the law works, and how I was in my right to restrain someone who was a danger to those around him.

When the last LEO was finally gone, I helped Dementor lock up, and I walked Atlas — Soul’s brother — up to the fifth floor. I called Kitty on the way, and she let us into the room without us even having to knock.

“Crystal, you can go if you want. They didn’t see you and won’t likely stop you on the way out of here. If you’re nervous about leaving, we can put you in a room for the night.” I looked at Soul. “They will remember your brother, so if the two of you try to leave, there’s a good chance they’ll stop you and want a statement from you, which could get messy since your choices are that you were next door on a break — which they know will mean you were with a john — or you left the scene of a crime.”

“We can put ya’ll in adjoining rooms on this floor. Not suites, just regular rooms,” Crush told them. “Five-oh won’t have the manpower to keep surveillance up tomorrow.”

“I think I want to stay,” Crystal said.

I lifted a house phone and called the front desk. “I need keycards for two adjoining rooms on this floor, plus another room. Three standard rooms, total.”

“Code?”

I drew a blank. It’d been a long-damned day. I closed my eyes and put myself into the room when I’d been given codes for this kind of thing, and I remembered the jingle. Hotel Motel Holiday Inn. From there, remembering the eight-digit code to push on a keypad to get that tune came to me, and I rattled off the numbers.

I hung up and Crush said, “I’m staying, too.”

“I assumed you’d sleep on the pullout in here. Do you want me to get you a room?”

“If my room has two beds, he’s more than welcome to the other one,” said Crystal.

Crush looked at me “Was there a reason you wanted me in here?”

Yeah, because I was exhausted and I wanted him to watch our backs, but I didn’t want to say it out loud, so I shook my head and told him, “Nah. Crystal will probably feel safer having you close, though this floor’s moderately secure. I’ll move the sofa across our door once you’re all gone, to give us a few extra seconds of warning if someone tries to come in.”

They all stared at me, probably trying to figure out who I thought was going to attack us. I leaned against the wall, crossed my arms, and told them, “There are no specific threats I’m aware of, but I don’t trust public locks. A dozen people have access to the master machine downstairs, and thousands of people probably know how to hack a master card for a hotel room or an elevator, but there’s no specific reason to think we aren’t safe.”

Crush grinned at me and looked to Crystal. “I appreciate the offer. If you have two beds, I’ll take you up on it. If you don’t, I’ll sleep on the pullout in here.” He looked at me. “Work for you?”

I nodded. “I’m setting my alarm for noon, and then Kitty and I will head to the RT restaurant for breakfast. Are ya’ll sleeping till you wake up, or setting an alarm? We shouldn’t all leave the parking garage at the same time.”

“I rode in with D,” Crystal told us. “I’ll need a ride home if you don’t want me using Uber.”

She lived in the MC’s apartment complex and didn’t have a car. She caught a ride when she could, and called for an Uber when she couldn’t.

“I’ll take you,” said Crush. “And I think I’m gonna want a different kind of ride tonight and again tomorrow morning, so we’ll set our alarm for noon as well, but we should still be behind Squatch and Kitty.”

We all scented Crystal’s arousal, and I grinned. She was human and didn’t know about us, so she had no idea she’d just given away how much she was looking forward to sex with Crush. Hiring sweet butts at Blaze had created a bit of a moral dilemma, since brothers have to pay the going rate to fuck our employees. However, sweet butts are ours to fuck whenever we want. In the end, we decided they were only employees while on the clock, and were sweet butts the rest of the time. Clearly, Crystal was fine with this.

“I have some things to do tomorrow,” said Soul, “so we’ll set our alarm for ten.”

She looked at her brother for confirmation, and Atlas nodded. “Whatever. I can go back to sleep at home.”

Atlas’s apartment and car had burned during the riots, and he’d lost everything. Most insurance companies weren’t paying because of some stupid riot clause they’d put into their policies, so most everyone was fucked. Atlas had moved in with his twin sister and stayed. Soul didn’t seem to date much, and Atlas said he just had any girls he fucked take him to their place. The siblings were snake shifters — copperheads — and they made me uncomfortable. Most humans were drawn to them though, which I found interesting. Occasionally, I saw a human who sensed they were dangerous and kept their distance, but most seemed to be attracted to them.

Crush went down to get the keycards, and five minutes later, Kitty and I were alone.

* * * *

Kitty While we were getting ready the next morning, a prospect brought me clothes from Squatch’s apartment. I assumed Mad Dog had gotten them, since to my knowledge, no one else had a key. The prospect also brought a different t-shirt for Squatch.

We ate with Dementor and Ember, Mad Dog and Velvet, Frost, and Gears. We were in a room to ourselves at the MC’s restaurant, and Velvet worked with the servers to get us all taken care of before she took her seat beside Mad Dog to eat with us.

It felt odd for Velvet to have accepted me so easily, but she had. She’d told me it was because I seemed to make Squatch happy, and so long as that was the case, she’d welcome me with open arms.

The men talked a little about projects Frost was bidding on, and land they were considering for purchase. There was something about an elite boutique hotel that had finally gone on the market. Mad Dog asked me if I was settling in okay with Squatch, and apologized that there weren’t any two-bedroom units open to move us into.

“We’re good,” Squatch told him. “I like my little corner tucked away in the back, and we figured out the storage issues. No need to move.”

Mad Dog looked at him a few minutes, clearly holding some kind of inner debate, and he finally looked at me and said, “The club safe word is red. Do you understand what that means?”

I froze, unsure of what to say. I looked at Squatch, and his expression was guarded. I took a breath and knew exactly what Squatch needed to hear me tell his friends. He held trust above just about everything, and my instincts told me this was more important than I could possibly understand.

So, I pushed any embarrassment I might feel down, and told Mad Dog, “We’ve worked out the safe word thing, and I agree with Squatch about the location. It’s nice knowing no one’ll call the cops just because I’m screaming.”

He tilted his head, then looked at Squatch again, and back to me. “Something tells me your version of working it out isn’t what you want us to think, so I’ll reiterate that the club safe word is red, since you seem to know what that means. We’re having a party next weekend. We’d like you to hang out in the clubhouse with Squatch this week, so you’ll feel more like one of us before the party. I know you work in the evenings, but maybe you can hang with us Sunday afternoon, and then you can take off work Friday night, so you can come to the party.”

“You’re important to Squatch,” Velvet said from beside Mad Dog. “We want to get to know you better, and we want you to feel welcome.”

I looked at Squatch, and he put his arm on the back of my chair and rubbed my shoulder. “I’ve been keeping you to myself, but they’re right. If you take me on, you take on my brothers, and you need to spend time with them to see exactly what you’re getting into.”

I shrugged and kept my gaze on Squatch instead of the rest of the table. “I do okay with Crush, Bobcat, Dementor, Gears, and Skippy. It isn’t like I’m coming into this without knowing any of them.”

“We’re different at work,” Dementor told me. “It’s true you have a leg up on girlfriends who come completely from the outside, but you’ll need to hang out with us to truly get to know us.”

“Okay. I don’t want to take a weekend night off every week, but I can do it occasionally.”