“If they have money, why is she so desperate for a job?” Alena asked.
“Most of the granddaughter’s money is tied up, and she’d take hefty penalties to get it out. That said, she could do it and she’d still be well off. My guess is, she figures she can work and pay the bills and leave the money where it is. These women have been careful all their lives, and they’ll continue to be. They don’t mind hard work.”
Player leaned back in his chair, running both hands through his hair repeatedly. It couldn’t be that big of a coincidence. She couldn’t just drop into his lap like this. “Code? Come on, man. Stop giving me a hard time. Is that Zyah? Is she the one applying for the job?”
Code flashed a grin at him. “The applicant is Zyah Gamal. She lives with her grandmother, Anat Gamal. She’s unmarried and is twenty-seven years old. Smart as hell, Player, and far too good for you.”
“You know this woman, Player?” Czar asked.
“Yes. Hell yes. She’s mine.” He claimed her without a qualm. “Doesn’t know it yet and doesn’t like me very much right now, but she’s definitely mine.”
Czar scowled at him. “What do you mean, she doesn’t like you very much? That doesn’t sound good to me.”
“I might have screwed up with her,” Player admitted.
“Might have?” Preacher echoed.
“Yeah, just a little,” Maestro said, nudging Code. “Came in begging us to look at the security tape after the party. Wanted to see if his dream girl was real.”
“Made her cry,” Destroyer said. “She left in tears.” He crossed his arms and leveled his gaze at Player.
“Can’t have that,” Savage said. “We need this woman to work that store. I’m not doin’ that again.”
Lana rolled her eyes. “You never actually worked in the store, Savage. You, Destroyer, Reaper or Maestro didn’t ever pull a shift.”
“Are you kidding me?” Alena burst out. She glared at Czar. “Are you kidding me, Czar?” she repeated, sounding outraged. “All of us had to pull a shift at that store. Why did they get a pass? It isn’t like Savage is busy or anything. He just sits around sharpening his knife.”
“I offered to cut up vegetables in your kitchen for you,” Savage said. “Don’t be jealous because some of us are manly men and we have to look pretty and be ready to defend you from the evils around you.”
Alena flipped him off. “No one said the lot of you are in the least bit manly.”
Savage flexed his muscles.
Lana laughed and punched him. “They did all the grunt work, Alena. Inez refused to have them scaring the customers in the front of the store where anyone might see them. They unloaded trucks and shelved everything in the middle of the night.”
Alena looked from Savage to Reaper, Destroyer and then Maestro. “I can’t see it in Maestro. He’s so sweet. The others, yes, but Maestro? Why did Inez blackball him?”
“He gave her the death stare the moment she tried him on the register behind the counter,” Lana explained and burst out laughing. “That was all it took. He was sent to do the grunt work with the rest of the scary boys.”
“Let’s reel it back in,” Czar said. “I’m serious here, Player. We need this woman. The club needs this grocery store up and running in the community. We need to make it work. Inez has done her best, but she can’t stay forever. We’re trying to fit in here. What I really like about Zyah Gamal is the tie back to the community. Aside from the fact that she’s more than qualified, the woman’s grandmother is friends with Lizz Johnson, and she’s a fixture in Sea Haven and a good friend of Inez’s. You might claim her, and ordinarily I would say any brother who wants a woman, we all do what we can to help him out, but in this case, she’s a real asset to the club. If you’re not certain, Player, or you think she’ll head for the hills, then you’ve got to stay away from her, because she’s a huge benefit to us. Frankly, we need her.”
“I have to see her again, because she seems too good to be true. If what I think happened really did, I’d be a fool to let her get away. I was so out of it. Too long without sleep, but I swear she was able to heal my brain after I tore it up keeping Master and me covered when the Swords walked into that diner. We had to have the illusion around us for hours. I was in a bad way by the time I got back. I was seeing caterpillars dropping loops of fog around Jackson Deveau’s neck when he stopped me on the highway. The migraine was bad.”
“Waterspouts and lobsters,” Maestro affirmed. “Drinks rising in the air and pouring out by themselves. Women calling for the queen’s maids.”
Loud laughter burst around the table, just as Player knew it would. He forced himself to smile. “I was seeing the White Rabbit,” Player added. “It was that bad. I was even afraid for Maestro, thinking he was about to become the White Rabbit, grow ears and everything.”
“I had the truck keys,” Maestro explained. “Not the pocket watch.”
Again, there was laughter.
“I made a run for my room after taking a shower.” Player smiled at Lana. “You had your special touch in the bathroom, that scent you like. It helped enough to get me down that hallway. It was moving, and the door was shrinking. Maestro had closed all the doors leading to my room, thankfully.” He gave them a little grin, like it was all a big joke, when it wasn’t.
He was careful not to tell them that the pocket watch had gone from the White Rabbit’s to Sorbacov’s watch. All of them would remember that watch vividly. Sorbacov liked to pull it out and look at it while the children were being tortured, as if he were slowly marking the time. It was part of his cruel amusement. There were too many memories surrounding that watch, and when it began to intrude into Player’s alternate world, the danger to everyone around increased significantly.
He kept playing to their amusement, yet at the same time wanting Czar to see that Zyah had really taken away his migraine and the crazy illusions that his fucked-up brain tricked him into believing and then projecting when he was that far gone.
“I got to my room, slammed the door and everything changed. She was inside dancing. Music was playing and candles were burning. She was exotic and beautiful. Every movement, every word she said, the sound of her voice, I could feel a difference in my head. I sprinted down that hallway thinking my head was going to shatter, just explode it hurt so damn bad, and then she was talking in this voice and every word felt like she was somehow mending my brain.”
Player frowned. “I’m not saying it right. It was more than that. It wasn’t an illusion. She really did it. She has a gift. We laughed and talked all night. We did a hell of a lot more than that, and I wasn’t telling my body what to do either. But I was exhausted, and there at the end, I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. I’d somehow convinced myself the brothers had hired her for me. You drilled it into us never to let anyone stay. I kicked her out and, worse, gave her money, which she left on my nightstand. It was brutal when I woke up and began putting pieces together.”
Czar swore and shook his head. “This isn’t adding up. This woman is like some fucking miracle. Looking at the photo Code has of her—she’s gorgeous. She has some fancy job that treats her like a rock star, gives her all kinds of money, and now you’re saying she’s gifted. What the hell is she doing taking a job in a small grocery store in Caspar that doesn’t pay shit?”