Serving the Wolf's Den (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (17 page)

“You had a choice. She could have stayed behind the bar, but you put her back on the floor. I think the reason is pretty clear.”

“I put her where I needed her. With you calling out and other issues, it was the only logical solution.”

“Again, it comes back to me. Believe me, Max, I’ll never recommend anyone else for a job here. I had no idea you were going to give her a lot more than a job. I thought you had a pretty firm rule about that kind of thing.”

“This conversation is over, Rhonda.”

Rhonda shrugged her shoulders. “The truth is, Max, I’ve always really liked you. More than that, I’ve always respected you. Firing Maura the way you did doesn’t sit well with me, but”—she backed away from his desk—“I’ll drop it for the sake of my job that I need to keep. I better get to get back to my tables before you fire me, too.”

“No one’s firing you.” Max sighed.

Rhonda was halfway to the door when Max called after her, “I meant to ask you how Todd’s doing.”

“He’s home and feeling a lot better,” Rhonda said without turning around. She shut the door behind her.

Max knew she was right. He didn’t like himself much these days either. What had once been a refuge for him was now a bitter reminder of the woman he had sent away. Selling the place looked better and better to him. He needed to get back to what he did best. Medicine would help him forget Maura, and if it didn’t, at least he wouldn’t be in a place that did nothing but remind him of how much he missed having her in his life and his bed.

On the way home that night, in the car, Toby questioned him about his conversation with Rhonda. Max knew he had been itching to talk to him all night but had waited until they were totally alone.

“I guess Rhonda doesn’t know where she is either.”

“That’s what she’s telling me, but she could be lying. It wouldn’t surprise me if Maura asked her to keep her whereabouts a secret from us.”

“We need to find her, Max. We need to fucking find her. If anything happens to her, I swear…” Toby said in agony.

“She needs to be away from us, Toby. The kindest thing we can do is leave her alone.”

“All I can think about is the way she looked that night. What we did to her…her kiss still haunts me. I wish I could at least tell her that it wasn’t just sex.”

“Don’t be a fool. You want to cause her even more pain? And then what? ‘Oh, by the way, Maura, I can turn into a wolf at will, just part of the family genealogy. Don’t make this any harder than it is.”

“How can you switch your emotions off so easily? I saw the way you looked at her, Max, the way you made love to her. She’s not the first woman we’ve shared, but I’ve never seen you lose control like that with anyone. How can you give that up?”

“What do you want from me? We both made the decision.”

Max was grateful when Toby turned to look out the window without continuing the conversation. He knew his brother was hurting, but damn it, so was he. Toby had been right about one thing. He had never lost himself in any woman until Maura. She brought out feelings in him that he hadn’t realized he was capable of feeling. She was so sweet and loving, and her desire to please had been his undoing. But their love had been doomed from the beginning and Toby knew it as well as he did. Their differences were too great. And yet she had fit between them like the missing piece of a puzzle.

Just thinking about how eager she had been to let them love her made his whole body tremble with desire for what he knew he would never experience again. She was the woman he had been waiting for his whole life. She had been a dream that he never wanted to end.

He loved everything about her, and the truth was, he hated seeing her on the floor while other men looked at her with blatant lust. Firing her hadn’t been that difficult. But never seeing her again, the pain was tearing him apart. He had to be strong or else or he would do exactly what Toby wanted.

Neither he nor Toby had been sleeping well and tonight was no exception. Usually when that happened they went running. This night they couldn’t run fast enough or far enough. It was light by the time they both finally found their way back to the house, exhausted.

How he would have loved to crawl into bed beside her. In human form, he would have caressed that body until she hungered for more than just his hands. In wolf form, he would have cuddled close to her, enjoying the feel of her hands in his fur, stroking him, loving him. It was better this way, better for Maura. In time, she would forget about him and Toby.

* * * *

Maura woke to the sun streaming in through the French doors that looked out onto a beautiful garden. For a moment she was confused, and then she remembered. She walked to the doors in her bare feet, wearing Joanie’s daughter’s nightgown. The house and the grounds were magnificent. Never had she ever slept in such an elegant room. She padded back to the bed and laid her head back down on the silk pillowcase. She wasn’t accustomed to such luxury.

What, she wondered again, had possessed Joanie to go to the Wolf’s Den when it was obvious she could easily afford more exclusive clubs that catered to older women who were looking for young men? Instead, she put herself out there night after night for Max to politely turn down. Whatever her reasons, they were none of her business, and after the kindness Joanie had shown her, she wasn’t about to say or do anything to insult her new friend.

She heard a soft knock at the door before Joanie entered the room carrying a tray. “You know the saying, ‘If Mohammed won’t come to the mountain…’” Joanie grinned.

Maura sat up in bed and smiled. “You’re too kind.”

“I bet you never thought you’d say that to me,” Joanie said, placing the tray down on the bed.

“You’re right. But you’ve been more than kind to me. I can’t thank you enough.”

“No need to thank me. I owed you. I guess I was a bit jealous of your youth and the fact that my boys were totally taken with you from the moment they saw you. I’m a little ashamed of my behavior. I hope you can forgive me.”

“Of course I forgive you, because honestly, there’s nothing to forgive. Not now. Not after this.” Maura felt more than a little awkward. She wished Joanie would say something crass, so at least she would know how to respond. This was a Joanie she had not known existed.

“Well, then, I guess we’re good. I want you to trust me, because there is something I need to tell you about Max and Toby, and it’s important that you believe me.”

“Whatever it is, please tell me it can wait. This breakfast looks scrumptious, and I don’t want to ruin my appetite.”

“Okay. It can wait but not for too long.”

Joanie sat on the edge of the bed while Maura dove into the scrambled eggs. She hadn’t thought she’d be able to eat anything after what happened, but the more she ate, the more she realized she was famished.

Joanie watched her with on a smile on her face. “There’s more if you’re still hungry.”

“This really hit the spot.”

“When you’re done, there are clothes that I’m pretty sure will fit you in the closet. Find something you like. When you’re dressed, come downstairs.”

Maura picked out a pair of black pants and lavender top that fit her to perfection. Luckily she and Joanie’s daughter had similar proportions. When she went downstairs. Joanie was waiting for her in the library to the right of the foyer. She sat down in a chair next to Joanie’s.

“How are you feeling, Maura?”

“I don’t know. Sort of numb.”

“You’re in love with them.” It was a statement, not a question.

“I don’t think I know what love is.”

“That’s what I told myself once, but I knew the truth, just you like you do. Only it was too late when I realized I had given run from the only two men I would ever truly love.”

“It’s different with me. Max and Toby sent me away. You said you ran away from the men you loved and who loved you.”

“I know why Max and Toby sent you away. It’s not because they don’t love you.”

“When you love someone, you don’t humiliate them by making wild passionate love to them one night and banishing them from your life forever the next.”

“You do when you think the woman you love couldn’t possibly love you back if she knew the truth.”

“I know they’re different. They told me, and Katie told me. I can’t do anything about the fact that I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. They made their choice.” Maura could feel the tears beginning. She took a deep breath. The last thing she wanted to do was cry all over Joanie again.

“I want to tell you a story, and when I’m done, I think you’re going to have a totally different perspective about everything. If you love them as much as I think you do, you’ll let your love guide you, and you won’t close your mind to what seems impossible.”

Rhonda barged into Max’s office without even knocking, something she had never done before.

Max looked up from his paperwork, alarmed by the wild look in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” He felt his heart beating out of his chest.

“I probably shouldn’t be coming to you with this. But I’m worried about Maura. She quit her job at Lucy’s.”

“I told you I gave her a severance package. She probably found something else and doesn’t need Lucy’s anymore.” It took every bit of his willpower not to let Rhonda see how just hearing Maura’s name affected him.

“She didn’t cash your check, Max. Don’t you check on those things?”

“My accountant takes care of that for the most part. How do you know she didn’t cash the check?”

“She called me and then came over for a visit. She said she didn’t want or need your money. That’s when she told me she had found another job. She’s working at the Pink Petunia.”

The Pink Petunia was a sleazy strip club that catered to a clientele that wanted and expected a lot more than drinks. He could tell by the disgust on Rhonda’s face that she knew it, too.

“I tried to talk her out of it. I just hope to God she doesn’t get forced to do anything more than serve drinks.”

“She better not,” Max said, his eyes flashing with anger.

“I’m telling you, Max, she’s lost weight, and there’s just something about her that makes me think she’s hiding something. She hasn’t been herself since, well, since you let her go.”

Max ran his hands through his hair thinking how he’d like to wrap them around Maura’s throat. How could she even consider working in a place that encouraged prostitution? “What do you expect me to do?”

“I expect you to stop being an asshole. She’s working tonight. I want you to go get her. Talk some sense into her.”

“What makes you think she’ll listen to me when you’re her best friend and you couldn’t talk her out of it? Besides, seeing me is probably the last thing she wants.”

Toby walked into Max’s office unannounced. “Sorry to interrupt. I thought…”

“Christ, doesn’t anybody knock anymore.” Max glared at his brother.

Rhonda turned to Toby. “I was just telling Max that I’m really worried about Maura, but I guess he’s not interested. Right, Max?”

“What’s going on with Maura?”

“She’s working at the Pink Petunia tonight.”

Toby’s voice rose. “Why the fuck is she working there?”

“My thoughts exactly,” Rhonda said, looking back toward Max.

“Well, she won’t be for long,” Toby said, heading for the door.

“Toby!”

“Don’t try to stop me, Max. I’m going to go get her. I’ll drag her out of there if I have to. She wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for us.”

“Don’t be a fool. You can’t go there alone.”

Rhonda smiled at Max. “You’re going to go, too, then?”

“Toby, get Katie and tell her to cover the bar. And you,” he said, pointing his finger at Rhonda, “will have to pick up the slack on the floor.”

“My pleasure,” Rhonda said, relief written all her face.

* * * *

Max and Toby walked quickly past where Joanie was perched on a barstool. They didn’t appear to even see her. After they had disappeared out the front door, Joanie turned to see that Rhonda was staring after them. Catching Joanie’s eyes, she smiled. Joanie smiled back knowingly and nodded her head.

Sometimes people needed a little help whether they thought they did or not. Joanie knew that Maura would have never told Rhonda where she was working. She wouldn’t have known herself if she hadn’t found out by accident when that man Bart had stopped by to see Maura. Of course, she had lied and told him Maura wasn’t there. She didn’t like lying, but she didn’t like Bart either or the way his eyes were wandering to her dead husband’s sports memorabilia that he had kept in a glass case to the right of the foyer.

He asked her to tell Maura he’d see her later that night before her shift at the club. When she acted like she couldn’t remember the name of it, he’d told her. She knew the time had come to take matters into her own hands.

She had thought when she told Maura about her relationship with Max and Toby’s uncles she would understand why they had pushed her away and that Maura would confront them about their secret. However, she had not been able to convince Maura that what she had told her was not the ramblings of an old woman who had lost her ability to separate truth from fiction when it came to her past loves.