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Smiling when she shoved him off her, none too gently, Bryson pulled her to him and held her. Finally, his mind started to settle into a groove that he could think with. Instead of getting up, as he knew that they both should, Bryson told Blaze what he had planned for the day.
“If I can get up anytime soon without fainting from you exhausting me, I have a meeting with Nathan Raglan at one.” Blaze asked him to remind her who that was. “The son of the couple that had gathered coats for the needy. He is going to be in for a gr
eat surprise. I just need a way to get him out of the building so that he doesn’t push the kill switch that he has in his office.”
“Pull the fire alarm. Or better yet, give him notice that there is going to be a fire drill today and that his people are going to be timed for getting out in a good timeframe. I’ve used that one several times.” He loved that idea. “Also, if you know he has a kill switch on the computers, then I’d say that he’s doing some very bad things other than just selling the coats that are donated to him through charity work. I’d take Remi with you. She’s good at finding out shit like that.”
“Thanks. I think she was going anyway.” She sat up on the side of the bed and turned and looked at him. “I felt my bird when I came. It wasn’t a strange feeling or anything like that, but it does feel that way now.”
“It was powerful what we did. I’ve never, in all my years, ever felt anything like that before when I came. It was like I was being broken into small pieces, then put...no, slammed back together in a better way. You do that to me often and we’ll both be crippled up in bed without the strength to move.” He had no idea why, but he felt like she’d just given him the best compliment in the world, and told her so. “Only a man would think that. I was trying to make a point.”
“Oh yeah? What was your point?” She leaned over and nipped him on the thigh. Laughing, he got up with her and brushed his teeth while she showered. “I was thinking about the money that is to come to me from Dawn’s family. I think I’d like to donate it to local charities to help out with backpacks and the like. Also, with Mercy working on the high school that is nearly finished, I thought that they could use some help with classrooms. What do you think?”
“Do you know how much money there is?” He said that he’d never asked. “Maybe you should before you make those kind of decisions. Hand me a towel, will you?”
Before handing her the towel, Bryson dried her back. “I’ll call the council today and find out. Are you thinking that it’s a great deal of money?”
“I haven’t any idea, but I would guess that it’s a bit. They were very wealthy people before they decided to invest in the School of Wiccan Arts. The school is now defunct due to no one being there to run it, but you might want to look into how much money there is. Mercy will love the help, but I’d hope there was enough to go to all the classrooms rather than just a couple. Understand?”
“I do.”
Getting into the shower after she left the bathroom, he decided that today was going to be a productive day. He had plenty to keep him busy at work running the charity groups, but today he was going to take care that Nathan got just what he deserved for running his parents’ goodwill into the ground. After getting dressed, he headed downstairs for breakfast.
“Lady Blaze is in the office. She said for you to start without her.” He said that he’d wait. “I thought you’d say that, so I made you a fruit platter to keep you from starving.”
Their cook, Stella, laughed when he ate most of the watermelon first. It was something that he’d enjoyed all his life. When Blaze joined him a few minutes later, she was all smiles. Whatever she’d been doing, it had come out the way she wanted it to.
“I’ve called a buddy of mine with the IRS. He just looked up your friend Nathan. He’s been in the red since he’s taken over the Coats and Warm business that he stole from his parents, claiming that it’s a charitable organization and he donates all his money to the kids. His words to Jamie, not mine. So Jamie Nolan is going to meet you at the offices. I was able to point out that there is a big yacht in the docks in Florida, and that Nathan owns two homes abroad—one in France, the other in Switzerland. That’s where I bet he runs to when things are found out here. So the fire drill is going to be helpful that way too. Oh, and Jamie is going to call in a couple of favors this morning, and have the fire department call in for a drill. It’s all set up for you.”
“Thanks. I wouldn’t have thought of the other things. You’re brilliant.” She laughed when he kissed her on the mouth. “This is going to be epic. I have a feeling that he’s not going to know what hit him before the end of the day. Holy shit, I wish his parents could have lived to see this. They would have loved him getting his comeuppance.”
“Just you be careful. I don’t want you hurt in any way.” He promised her that he would. “I have to go to Columbus this afternoon to look into some things there that we have running. I’ll be back at dinner. Keep me informed. Remember, tomorrow we work on the magic that you have. I would love for you to be able to call on it when you need it. I’m sort of jealous that you have some of the things that you have.”
He knew what she was talking about. One of the things that he’d figured out on his own was being able to converse with ghosts. Twice now he’d been able to help out a household that was having issues with the otherworldly people. And once Chadwick had people with children in the home that he and Blaze had gotten for free, he’d been happier about things too.
Chapter 11
Nathan hung up the phone and laughed. A fire drill? He’d never had so much as an inspection when the coffee maker he’d brought from home at his old job had blown a circuit and taken out the entire block. Now this? They were going to pull the alarms at eleven this morning, and he was to make sure that he got all his people out.
He supposed that he could understand the reasoning behind it. A new owner would want to make sure that things were up to par. But today wasn’t a great day to be doing this. He had a lunch meeting with the said new owner at twelve-thirty.
“What do you want us to do?” He looked at his longtime lover and friend Trinity, and asked her what she meant. She had been the best find he’d ever had when it came to wheeling and dealing. “You know, do we shut all the computers down? Do we leave one person behind to make sure that things are the way we want them? I don’t feel good about people having access to what we’re doing here.”
“I don’t either. But I got a call from Hamby, the fire chief, and he said that it’s routine and shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes. An hour tops. We’ll just do what we’re told and be done with it. I think that if we were to put up a fuss, that would bring everyone down on us to see why we’re not wanting a simple fire drill. Don’t you?” Trinity shrugged. “We have those shipments coming in today too. And then the meeting with the new owners. We’re having a busy day, don’t you think?”
“I do. And it’s too much. Why didn’t we buy the stupid building when it came up for sale?” He told her, again, why they couldn’t. “I can understand that a charitable organization wouldn’t have the money to do that, but damn it, don’t you think with all our money we could have put it under a different corporation? Like we did the houses and the boat. Christ, what I wouldn’t give for a few days more of warmer weather to be out there on the open seas again.”
“I know. Summer is much too short for what we have planned all year. But, as I said the other day, this is the best way to have a business. Anything ever goes wrong, we don’t have to fork out the money to have it repaired. The air goes out, or the heat, call the landlord. Like I keep saying, we really have to appear to be broke all the time from the charities that we’re supposed to be supporting.”
“Did you see that all the designer coats that were donated last month are gone? Sold almost half of them within the first hour online. Then the kids boots sold, too. I wish we had about ten grand more of those. That was a great donation to our cause.” He laughed with her. Their cause was lining their pockets with all the cash that they could get. “By the way, when you have your meeting with the new guy, see if you can get him to upgrade the Internet server. With all the online purchases, we’re running really slow. I’d hate to lose a sale simply because the computers take too long to load up.”
“I’ll put that on my list. After today, we’ll have all we need to keep us in the black. Or in the red, as the tax people think. Can you imagine what sort of shit would come down on our heads if they knew just what we were doing here?” He shivered. “Good old Dad had a great idea, but executed it stupidly. We could have been richer than we are now had he done what I wanted him to do in the first place. It was easy after he was gone to take over the business, since no one wanted to donate to him anymore. And shoving Mom into a nursing home was a stroke of brilliance on your part.”
“I love that old house. And now that it’s been updated and the rooms brought to this decade, it’s a great place to party in.” She sat down on the corner of his desk. “What time is the drill supposed to be? I’m guessing that they don’t want us to tell the others that work here.”
“No, they don’t. They want to make sure that we can get out of here in a reasonable amount of time. But you can let it slip, can’t you?” Trinity told him that she knew just the person to let it slip to. “Good. That way they can at least not be missing a sale when this shit takes place. Why don’t you let it slip when it’s happening, and say something about how we’re going to have to stop taking calls about ten minutes prior to the drill. That way, we can at least have the service pick up for us for that timeframe.”
“I like that idea.” He nodded to her and asked her if she had any other things that he should talk about with the new owners. “I was thinking that we should ask for a new fridge, because we need one for the basement at home. Maybe if he’s willing to get us one, we can trade the new one out for the one we have at home. I’d like one with ice, and even a computer on the outside. It’s really annoying to have to move shit out of the way to see what we have it there.”
