“You’re telling me an awful lot of what I can and can’t do.”
“Do you want Ember to succeed in her chosen profession? Because this is what it’s going to take.”
“You have to promise me you or your people will keep me in the loop should things go to shit.”
“I’ll promise you that I’ll bring you in if you can help, but I can’t promise to divert resources to call you if we aren’t going to utilize your skillset.”
He stood from his office chair, walked to a credenza, and opened a cabinet that turned out to be a mini-fridge. He pulled two beers out, popped the tops, handed one to me, and sat in another of his visitor chairs.
“I think you’re good for her. She’s one of mine in more ways than one, but I don’t feel the need to threaten you about not hurting her. It’s clear you’re being responsible and giving her what she needs. It’s clear you’re as protective of her as I am. I need you to trust me to let her do her job and keep her safe. My people will know where she is every second.”
“Thanks for taking the time for this conversation. You’re right — I’d have given Ember a hard time if she’d come to me with it.”
“I haven’t told her how it’s going to be yet, so she doesn’t know she won’t have her personal phone on her. We’ll handle orientation early next week. She’s been doing ride-alongs with my people for a while, but you knew that.”
“Yeah. She says ya’ll handle a lot of divorce drama.”
“We do, and because of the volatility and irrational tempers we so often see, my people are never sent out alone when guarding someone due to a romantic breakup of any kind. She’ll always have backup.”
And that was a huge relief. “Good to hear. Like you said, she’s one of yours. Looks like we’re splitting custody of her. I’m okay with that.”
He tilted his head and I could sense the dragon more than the man. “Not quite yet. As far as I’m concerned, she’s still more mine than yours, but you’re on your way enough that I trust you to keep her safe when she’s with you.”
On the one hand, I wanted to argue, but on the other, I understood. Besides being the Dragon King, he’s also the Swan King, second in the hierarchy behind the Swan Queen. Besides Ember being his wife’s cousin and friend, he has a legitimate supernatural claim to her, while I hadn’t even given her a prop vest yet to openly declare her my ol’lady.
So, instead of arguing, I told him, “I know how close she is to Sophia, and to you too, for that matter. You’re more of a father to her than the one who raised her. Thanks for looking out for her.”
He took a swig of beer. “Are the plans to keep you at Blaze, or to move you into a management job somewhere else?”
That isn’t the sort of thing we tell outsiders, and yet, I understood why he wanted to know. I couldn’t give him the answer he wanted, but I gave him something. “For now, I’ve reached the point I can fill in as manager at Blaze when necessary. I’m not great at it since I tend to scare the patrons, but I’m capable of running a shift here and there. As we bring more people in and the load lightens, we’ll probably move people around a little.”
“How long until you can move back into your house?”
“Club business. I can’t give you a date. You obviously know we’re getting close.”
He nodded. “I have another caretaker I can put into the safehouse Ember’s been using once the two of you are in your house.”
“And if she isn’t ready to completely move out when that happens?”
“I won’t push the issue, but I believe my wife is pressing for her to commit a little more.”
I smiled. “Please give Her Majesty my thanks.”
“You should know that Ember’s a few years older than Sophia, and my wife looked up to her cousin most of her life. The two are quite close.”
“I know Ember’s glad they’ve had a chance to renew that relationship, but I didn’t understand the background, so thank you.”
“I’m assuming you won’t be able to tell Ember about specifics related to your club and their activities. I have something to talk to you about, but it’ll mean not telling her. I won’t ask you to lie if she point blank asks you, but you’ll need to assure me you won’t volunteer the information.”
“Information regarding...?”
“Her employment with me.”
“Then I give you my word.”
“Ember wants to be treated like a regular employee. No special privileges. That isn’t completely possible, of course, but I haven’t pointed this out to her. My wife feels the two of you need as much time together as possible, and I’m not inclined to argue with her. When possible, I intend to schedule her to work when you are. This will mean weekend nights, which is logical since she’ll have low seniority. It won’t always be possible. If a client who’s used to Ember needs her during the day on Monday, I’ll have to schedule her.”
“I appreciate that, from both of you. Please thank Her Majesty for me.”
He put a business card on the edge of his desk and pushed it to me. “The email address on the back of the card is the person who handles our scheduling logistics. If your schedule changes, please let her know. If Ember complains that she thinks we’re scheduling her when you’re off, don’t verify her musings unless she directly asks if I’ve told you I am.”
“You already know my schedule?”
“Yes.”
I didn’t bother asking him how he knew. It wasn’t likely he’d tell me.
“The MC bought the warehouses behind Blaze. Also, the out-of-business restaurant beside it.”
I lifted a brow and didn’t comment. We’d bought one as the RTMC, but the other went through one of our corporations and shouldn’t have shown up as an MC property.
“I’m assuming the warehouse will be used in conjunction with your construction company.”
Accurate, but I didn’t respond. We were buying heavy equipment, and we needed a place to put it. Also, we were going to buy some generic building materials direct from the manufacturer, and we’d have to buy it in bulk.
“The restaurant could just be ya’ll buying property cheap so you can sell it for a profit later, but I doubt it.”
I sat forward, took a picture of both sides of Aaron’s business card, and attached the images to his contact information in my phone.
“With your tracking program, she’s going to see you were here,” he noted.
McGyver had set our phones up so we could see everywhere the other person had been for the past three hours. All details older than that were wiped.
I stood and pocketed my phone. “I wasn’t aware it needed to be a secret meeting when you asked me to drop by, but it’s no big deal. I’ll just tell her you warned me that I won’t be able to see her location or contact her while she’s working.”
He walked me into the hallway and pointed me towards the front of the building. So much for me getting lost and exploring.
Chapter Twenty-Four