Chapter Forty-One
Lily was floating on air all morning at the Staff Childcare Center, much to TraceyAnn’s annoyance. Between Lily dreamily replaying the “best hits of” from the night before in her mind, and Luna’s perpetual effervescence, TraceyAnn was having a hard time finding people to gossip with, or at least conjure up the appropriate sounds of shared outrage for her.
Even the twins were better behaved in general. Brady and Clover were benefitting greatly from getting all that attention each evening from the boys. They adored their uncles “Bawwic”, “Mewwic”, “Awwin”, “Teebo” and of course, Col. Even Uncle Miller and Uncle Simon were spoken of with great fondness.
TraceyAnn tried to glean as much information as she could from the twins, but was deterred by their chatter about movies featuring talking animals that they would watch with their “uncles”.
The only dash of reality that threatened to dissipate the clouds that Lily was walking on came about when Rika had stopped by, with the advance that Lily had forgotten that she requested.
Lily now had the cash she needed to make that deposit at the auto repair shop. But…..somehow she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She knew she should drive over there, or arrange for someone to drop off the deposit for her. But of course that would set into motion the repairs that would allow her to leave.
And of course she knew why she was dragging her heels, and it wasn’t from the aches and soreness from her amazing nights with Col. Well, maybe partially.
She didn’t want to go.
But she had to. Maybe it was a coincidence that someone had asked about her car, and someone had trashed Rosa’s trailer. It was still a necessary reminder that Rey was a potential problem for her. And not one that she could drag Col, or Simon, or the rest of them into. If it was Rey, then she had already created a complication for Rosa, even if Simon was going to take care of it.
Her thoughts were going in circles, as she fought to process the revelations of the night before. If Rey were to find out about the boys…she shuddered. It wouldn’t be past him to try to extort Simon in some way. Or just outright sell the story to the media. He was just capable of anything. She had to assume the worst about anyone that would peddle TheRage.
Round and round her thoughts went, like a dog chasing its tail. Or a wolf.
When the front door opened, she welcomed the distraction. Especially as it was the freckled face of someone familiar.
“What’s going on, Jordy?” TraceyAnn looked up at the short girl wearing the Ops vest and carrying a metal clipboard.
Jordy looked as if she was going to ignore TraceyAnn at first, scanning the room. And then her eyes lit on Lily. Jordy’s face split into a huge smile, before she answered TraceyAnn. “Puma’s having us do walk-arounds, personally checking to make sure the facilities are in shape, that all supplies have been stocked and replenished, that sort of thing.”
TraceyAnn looked skeptical, but shrugged. “Do what you have to do, then.”
Jordy walked towards Lily. “Hey, former roomie.”
TraceyAnn was circling them, with a look of suspicion aimed at the Ops member, but Jordy seemed intent on talking with Lily.
“Hi,” Lily said brightly. “How’s your promotion going?”
“Oh, nothing to complain about,” Jordy said. “Way more responsibilities, but it’s all good. What about you, how have you been doing?”
Lily smiled. It was so nice of her former roommate to check in on her. “Like you, no complaints.”
TraceyAnn butted in, addressing Jordy. “You know Katie here is now working directly with Simon too.”
Jordy’s eyebrows shot up, and her high pitched voice went even higher. “Oh really? Doing what?”
“Oh, just some tutoring.” Lily tried to shrug it off as no big deal. But she hadn’t counted on TraceyAnn.
“She’s working with the personal security guys that are always around Simon, and Simon hired her personally.” TraceyAnn sounded like a proud parent, while Lily blushed. And then she gave a start. Jordy’s glare was dark enough to drill holes into her.
“Really? What are they like?” There was something unsettling about Jordy’s interest.
“They’re nice guys,” Lily said. It might be vague, but it was also true. There wasn’t much more she could share about them, anyway. It was none of Jordy or TraceyAnn’s business that they could turn into wolves, or that Lily was having hot, wild sex with one of them. Multiple times. In the same night.
TraceyAnn saw an opening, and she went for it. “Oh come on, you can tell us more than that.”
Lily shrugged, with a smile on her face. “There’s not really that much to tell. But they’re friendly—” She thought of Barric and Merek “—well, mostly. You should say hi the next time you see them.”
“How’s Miller doing?” TraceyAnn asked, but Jordy seemed to brush that off. Apparently she wasn’t interested in hearing about Miller.
“Where are they from?” Jordy asked, her eyes focused on Lily with unsettling intensity.
