I love me some pie.
Dean Winchester
Naughty Ladies
Helena surveyed her new office in the back of the Naughty Wolf and pinched herself just to make sure it was all real.
Ouch.
Yep. She wasn't dreaming and she was going to have a bruise on the back of her hand. That was okay. It wasn't like the kind of guys who came to a gentlemen's club were looking at her hands. She'd take that mark all day, every day, twice on Sundays, if it meant this new life she'd built was real.
Kosta had given her this big fat promotion and it was exactly the break she needed. Sure, she made good money dancing. Despite what society and her ex might think, her plus-size ass was in high demand for lap dances among the gentleman who frequented the club. But getting promoted to manager meant she had a whole lot more job stability. She got a cut of the whole club's take each night and that meant she’d finally be able to pay off the mountain of debt her jackass ex had left her with.
A gaggle of giggles sounded from the hallway, breaking the silence of the empty club. Helena frowned. She'd come in early for her first day as manager and hadn't expected any of the girls to come in for hours.
“Helena, we brought champagne to celebrate your promotion.” Daphine, Debbie Joy, Heather, Kerrie, and Michelle stuck their heads in through the office door. Daphine held an inexpensive bottle in the air and Michelle waved some plastic flutes at her.
Despite her best efforts to be all business, her mouth turned up in a warm smile at them. The other dancers at the club were the closest she had to friends besides Heli. “Come on in, girly-girls, and pour me a glass. I should have known you wouldn't let me actually get any work done.”
“Really? Awesome.” The five ladies looked at each other like they were surprised Helena was down for celebrating. They half-fell into the room and plunked down on any available flat surface.
The champagne cork popped, and the wine and gossip flowed. “Of course we're not going to let you work. You already work too hard.”
Helena took her glass of bubbles and took a sip to appease the girls. “Yeah, keeping your butts out of trouble.”
Debbie Joy turned her yoga-pants-clad butt cheek toward Helena and slapped it. “No, that's what the bouncers are for. Has anyone else noticed how every single dude Kosta gets to work here is, like, ultra good-looking?”
Everyone nodded. Heather sighed and looked all dreamy. “Yeah…and built.”
“Not to mention hung like an elephant.” Kerrie waggled her eyebrows.
Michelle faux gasped. “Wait. How do you know that? Oooh. Are you sleeping with a bouncer?”
Helena let the girls have their fun for a few more minutes. She'd shoo them away in a bit so she could dig into the mountain of paperwork Kosta had left her. He was giving her a whole hell of a lot of responsibility and she intended to earn her keep. Neither Kosta nor Heli were around as much anymore since they'd taken on the project of restoring the Inn at the Bay.
Out of all the employees of the Naughty Wolf, she alone knew the real reason her boss and best friend spent all their time down at the Bay. These ladies with all their giggles and gossip had no idea the bouncers were all actually something more than well-built, sexy, hot tough guys.
So much more.
If she hadn't seen Kosta turn into a wolf with her own eyes, she probably still wouldn't believe it. Since that day it was so obvious to her which men in their little town had the beast inside of them, and which didn't. The wolf pack guys had this innate confidence, an easy and relaxed swagger that she found a little too enticing.
Which was a bad thing. She was not going there. Not with any man or wolf. She was perfectly fine on her own, thank you very much.
Daphine topped off everyone's glasses. “So, Helena. Now that you're in charge, we have a favor to ask.”
Uh-oh. Helena looked around the circle at the hopeful, expectant faces. Crap. What did they want from her?
Michelle snort-laughed. “Don't look at us like we're going to ask you for your first-born child. We just want to know if you would host Thanksgiving here this year. None of us has family around.”
“Or if we do, we aren't spending an entire freaking day with them.” Heather rolled her eyes and then her head, like spending time with her family induced a demonic possession or at least a painful kink in the neck.
Kerrie shrugged. “We want to spend it with the people here, they’re the family we choose, you know?”
Ah. Helena did know. While she did her best to keep men at arm’s length, the women at the club were more important to her than any imagined mom or sisters she’d never had, and getting kicked out of the house at seventeen didn’t exactly make her feel warm and fuzzy toward her puritanical father. Holidays were never very big in their house.
“You didn’t have to bribe me with champagne to ask that. I’m happy for all of us to have Thanksgiving dinner here. I’ll even bring the pie.” It would be nice to share a meal and talk about what they were grateful for.
“And a date,” Debbie Joy said, folding her arms.
Not this again. They were eternally on her to find a man. “What? No. That would be one more person to split the pie with.”
Suddenly all eyes were on her like she’d just fallen flat on her face on stage. Kerrie folder her arm and slumped into an exaggerated pout. “We never get to meet your boyfriends.”
“That’s because she doesn’t have any,” Daphine jibed.
Kerrie, who was newer to their made-up little family, grimaced. “Oops. Sorry. We’d like to meet your girlfriend.”
Daphine gave Kerrie a shove. “That’s not what I meant.”
Another woman stuck her head in the office. “What’s this I hear about a Thanksgiving dinner?”
“Selena, hi. We were just talking about having dinner here for the employees after we close on Thursday. You don’t think Kosta will mind, will he?”
“Well, I just love the idea. I was on my way here to see if anyone wanted to come up to my house, but this sounds like a whole lot more fun. You don’t mind if I crash, do you?”
What, like they were going to say no to the owner’s mother? “Of course you can come too.”
“Oh goodie. I’ll tell the boys we’re having dinner here. Shall we do potluck style? I have just the man to set you up with for dinner, Helena. You’re going to simply love him. I already have several heritage turkeys thawing in the fridge. Lots of meat eaters in my family, you know. I’m sure Heli is going to want to go overboard on pies. Mmm. Pie. I’ll just set up a quick Google Doc for everyone to sign up to say what they’re bringing. I’ll email you all in a few minutes. I can’t wait to meet your young gentlemen, ladies. See you all on Thursday.” Selena walked back out of the office, tapping away on her phone screen.
Mouths hung open, eyes stared wide, and the five of them waited silently for a full minute until they heard the back door open and then close. Debbie Joy was the first one to regain her mouth to brain coordination. “Wait. What just happened? Did we just get steamrolled into having Thanksgiving dinner with the Troikas?”
“Yep.” Helena took a big gulp of her champagne.