Eric's Edge (16 page)

Soren clapped Eric on the back a few times. “So. When’s food ready?”

“Get out of my kitchen so I can cook it.”

Soren backed away. “Okay. Okay. I guess I’ll go check on Dustin at the Bear dungeon and see how our detainees are holding up.”

“I’ll go with you,” Bryan said. “I’m curious to see if they’re more willing to talk if they know that we already have the majority of the information we’ve been asking them for.”

“I’ll go, too, and do my mind-bending law school grad thing on them,” Astrid said. “I’m good at making deals when I have enough information to throw at the other side. We just need to figure out what we can offer now to get them to give up the rest of what they know about Gene.”

“Maybe we can even find out some things about Gene’s family and get to them the same way he sends his flunkeys out to get to our families,” Eric said as he eyed his pantry shelves.

The footsteps behind him stooped.

He turned to see three Bears and two Shrews staring at him.

“What?” he asked.

“That’s a good idea,” Bryan said. “It’s the kind of dirtiness he wouldn’t expect from us. Snatching his lieutenants is one thing, but we should consider playing by his rules now and hitting him where he hurts.”

Tamara punched her husband’s bicep.

“Ow!”

Eric knew it had to hurt. He’d been punched by more than one Shrew. They were small, but mighty. He suspected that if she didn’t hold back, Tamara could punch a hole through a lesser shifter.

“We’re not hurting any kids or old people.”

Bryan glowered at her and rubbed his arm. “Shit, baby. I didn’t say we were. We’re not going to hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it. He doesn’t need to know that, though.”

The kitchen emptied out, and Eric gave his head a shake and started laying out ingredients. He needed to put his brain on mindless things. Too many major events had occurred in less than a week, and at some point, he was going to have to go flat on his back to digest some of it.

There was the weird shit happening to him as a Bear. The ever-increasing political intrigue between Gene’s group and Bryan’s. The lodge needed major renovations that Eric was probably going to have to dip into savings to pay for. And then there was Maria…

If only his issue with her were simply a matter of
thinking
. He’d been doing a lot of thinking over the past few years, and he didn’t believe there was anything left to think about as far as she was concerned.

He’d told her everything. Gave her what he could. He’d still be her friend, but that was it. Anything else was up to her.

Maria was used to there being a thrum of activity at the lodge whenever she arrived, but apparently the season was inciting a level of unprecedented chaos.

She slipped through the front door with Dana on her heels, and fixed her bag over her shoulder. Furrowing her brow, she scanned the crowd clustered around the reception podium and finally found Eric in the middle.

She squeezed through the chattering guests and sidled up next to him. “Is this one group?”

“Nah.” He ran a credit card through the machine. “This is three. Two are on the way out, though. One’s coming in, and I’m expecting eight more folks by the time the morning ends.”

She cringed. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Really?” He raised an eyebrow incredulously.

Maybe she deserved it. She generally didn’t volunteer to do things for him. She’d always been the
taker
in their relationship, and that needed to change. “Yeah. I got a few minutes. Dana’s waiting on Patrick to catch up to her, and Bryan is supposed to meet us here.”

“Can you strip the beds in rooms two and three? I wouldn’t ask, but Astrid had an appointment this morning.”

“Okay.”

Before she could press through the crowd, he grabbed her by the wrist and gave her a gentle pull back.

“Maria?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She meant it. She envied him for being able to ask for help as easily as he did. It just wasn’t a big deal for him, and she wanted to get to that place herself.

She waited for the hug or a squeeze for him, and stood in surprised disappointment when he initiated neither. Managing a half grin, she bounded up the stairs, keys in hand, and headed first to room two.

She needed some busy work and time to gather her thoughts. She owed it to herself to fret, for once, about things unrelated to work, even if they made her sad. Even if they made her feel regret. She had to work through them.

Thinking of the slightly blurry picture her grandparents had texted her, her grin broadened even as her head swam. There was so much to process—emotions from so many events that needed filtering all at once. She found it hard to believe she had
family
that had real Thanksgiving meals and mailed holiday cards. Maybe the cards were trifling things to some people, but Maria hadn’t gotten them as a child. She’d moved too much—was
sheltered
too much from people who might have cared. She wanted those little connections almost as much as she craved stability in her life.

She hummed as she tied back the curtains and opened the window to let in some air.

Down in the parking lot, more cars pulled in, and she groaned for Eric. “When it rains, it pours.”

Folks didn’t usually show up all at the same time. There must have been some sort of event happening in the area that necessitated folks checking in simultaneously.

She pulled the sheets and pillowcases from the rumbled bed. She tossed those into the hallway along with the used washcloths and towels, and made her way down to the second floor utility room. In it, she found the cleaning cart and a walkie-talkie. She took both. She turned on the walkie and said into it, “Hey, innkeeper, where are the spare sheets?”

A moment later, Eric responded, “You know, you’ve got a voice made for radio, sweetheart.”

“Do I?”

“Mm-hmm. Entrancing.” He chuckled. “And the sheets are in the dryer, still tumbling. I’m behind this morning.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get them when they’re done. Where’s the vacuum?”

“Uhh…might be in the closet where the water heater is. Astrid never puts it in the same place.”

“I’ll find it.” Maria clipped the walkie to the side of the cart and rolled the bin down the hall. She tossed all the dirty linens into the bag and stepped back into the room with replacement toilet paper and toiletries.

She worked efficiently, turning the rooms over and restocking things—appreciating the simple, satisfying work. It was exactly what the doctor ordered.

As she ran the vacuum around and under the beds, and down the hallway, she sang, “Wakey-wakey,” to anyone in the rooms who could have possibly slept through that kind of racket.

She was in room two closing the window and cringing at the pollen that had clung to the sill in just that short period when Eric brought in sheets.

“You’re saving me a lot of time,” he said. “It’s always better to get folks into their rooms early than to have them sitting around in the lobby with their luggage and giving me doe eyes.”

She shrugged and grabbed one corner of the fitted sheet he unfurled. “I don’t mind. I can see where it’d be a bit backbreaking, but I guess I never had a chance to play house much as a kid, and now I enjoy doing it. I think I drove Astrid nuts with that. She’d come home from work and find I’d made her bed.”

Eric snorted and tucked the corner of the sheet under the mattress.

“Um… She got used to the intrusiveness, I think. I guess she figured it was easier to let me have my way.”

“You can come to the lodge and make beds whenever you’d like.” He nodded to the top sheet folded atop the dresser, and she grabbed it.

“I might take you up on that offer.”

“As if you don’t have enough to do already.”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment, then lifted the end of the mattress for the bottom of the sheet. “I…might have some mandatory vacation time coming.”

“Dana put you on leave?”

“Well, she threatened to. I told her that…”
Shit.
Sighing, Maria ground the heels of her palms against her eyes and shook her head. “I told her that I get…overwhelmed by some cases. I knew she was going to scold me about not feeding her enough information to make good decisions about which cases she assigns me to, but I didn’t expect that she’d pull the mean mama act on me.”

“If you didn’t expect that, you don’t know Dana very well.”

“I guess I just hoped she’d let me slide without ripping me a new one, even if I deserved it.”

“Yeah, you did.”

She rolled back her tense shoulders and rubbed her neck. “Would it hurt you to lie to me every now and then?”

“I’ll never lie to you, Maria,” he said softly. “Not even when the truth hurts.”

She couldn’t meet his gaze. She could only
work
. She prettied up the bed and left the room eagerly, fleeing to the next bed that needed making.

Eric followed quietly behind her, pushing the cart along.

Please, not now. I don’t have the right words yet.

“Maria—”

“Hey, Eric?” came Dana’s voice from the staircase. “You’ve got one more down here looking for a room.”

“What do you mean
looking for
? No reservation?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Shit,” he spat. “I’ll be right back,” he said to Maria.

“Take your time. I’ll just…” She pointed to room three. “Fix that bed.”

“When you’re done with that, could you…”

“Which room?”

“Rooms, actually. A and B downstairs. Folks should be ready to check out, and if not…”

“Go Shrew on them and turn them out of their beds?”

“Politely.”

“I’m perfectly polite.”

He bobbed his eyebrows. “To everyone but me.”

“
Eric
…” She took a step toward him, but he turned on his heel and disappeared around the corner. His booted footfalls sounded down the wooden staircase, and she pulled in a much-needed deep breath to center herself. It was funny how a supposed expert at meditation so often forgot how to breathe.

She didn’t know what to do with him—what to
say
to him. Tamara had given her a heads-up about what had happened between him and Bryan, and Maria wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with that information.

She was used to Eric just being
Eric
—the laid-back innkeeper. Maybe he was still “just Eric” to her, but for the Bears, he was a linchpin. He was important. Not that he wasn’t important before, but…she hadn’t had so many competitors for his attention before.

And she wanted his attention, and not just behind closed doors. She was tired of lying to herself and pretending that was all she needed him for.

Her mind was absolutely clear in that regard, but having the will to keep him didn’t mean she also possessed the way to make it happen. She got the bed in room three made up, carried the vacuum downstairs, and headed around the corner toward the lower rooms.

Catching a glimpse of Eric leaning onto his podium and chatting toward a tall, gorgeous black woman, she gritted her teeth and, channeling one of Tamara’s irrational jealous rages, looped right back around to him.

Maria slipped an arm around his waist and he looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Problem?” she asked.

“Maybe. I’m trying to figure out how long it would take to get the loft in sleeping condition.” He looked to the woman who was calmly wrapping a large hair elastic around her gathered dreadlocks.

The locks hung down her back and had to weigh a ton, but they were so pretty with all the silver beads embedded here and there. Maria’s father used to do something similar with his.

“It’s drafty up there,” he said, “but I can bring you a space heater and move you into a different room when someone checks out tomorrow. Alternately, I could call my friend down the road. I’d hate to send a guest to my competitor, but if you’re not going to be comfortable…”

“I’m sure your loft will suit me fine.”

Her voice was low and lilting and…familiar, and her gaze tracked down Maria’s chest to the pedant that hung between her breasts, and then down at her own torso.

Maria had a pendant the same shape, and Maria had a hunch that if she looked closely, they’d have the exact same designs.

Who the hell is she?

Maria couldn’t read anything off her psychically. She usually didn’t have to try so hard to get absolutely no information for the effort.

“I usually only put groups of skiers and college kids up there because it’s slightly exposed, and those folks always keep weird hours.” Eric sounded like he was
trying
to convince her to go down the road.

He’s ashamed.

Maria gave his waist a squeeze. He was trying hard to keep the place together. Everyone who mattered knew that.

“I’ve slept in worse,” the lady said, “and it’s just for the night. What do you need? A credit card?”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it until tomorrow. I’m not going to charge you until I get you into a real room.”

“I’m most grateful.”

“Just call it Southern hospitality.”

Just call it flirting with a pretty lady.

Maria tried to keep her smile on, but gave up the endeavor when it twitched at the corners. Eric was just being Eric, likely due to an absence of a reason not to be.

“I’ll show you where it is.” Eric gave Maria’s hand a squeeze, and then let it fall from his waist.

She would have snatched his hand back if there were a chill way to do it. She obviously sucked at the
he’s mine, find your own
thing. “If you need anything at all, just tell me. If you can’t find me, slap a note onto the kitchen door or something, and I’ll catch up to you.”

He led the stranger toward the stairs, leaving Maria feeling empty.

Maria shouldn’t have taken it personally—Eric was just flirty by nature, and he usually didn’t mean anything by it. And usually, it didn’t bother Maria. She knew she was the only person he was intimate with, but there was no reason that couldn’t change at any time. She hadn’t asked for more, and maybe he was going to decide soon that what he’d been offering up to that date wasn’t enough.

She didn’t know who that lady was, but her gut or her Shrew intuition said be wary.

She was somehow connected to her, and Maria would have to tread carefully in finding out how.

Dana pushed the front door open at that moment and carried in two duffels Maria knew contained a variety of weapons.

“What are those for?” Maria leaned against the podium and rubbed her tired eyes.

“Tamara thought it’d be a good idea to keep some here just in case, and I agreed. There always seems to be a Shrew here for some reason or another, and I wanted to make sure we’ve got gear everywhere we need it.” Dana set the bags on the bench by the door and clapped her hands clean on her dark jeans. “So…who was the lady checking in?”

“I don’t know yet. All I know is that the innkeeper Bear thinks she’s pretty.”

“Well, she is pretty, but he’s not interested. Learn to read your man better. He barely made eye contact with her. And you know, you and that lady have the exact same mouth and jaw. Same foreheads, too. You know I wouldn’t make the observation if the similarities weren’t so notable.”

Dana was a master of observation. Because of her Shrew mutations, her eyesight could only be called superhuman. She saw things on a level no one else did.

“If you’re not related somehow, I’ll eat my boot.”

“She has a pendant like mine,” Maria said softly. “My grandmother Hattie gave it to me.”

“So, what do you think that means?”

Maria could put two and two together as well as the best of them, but she didn’t like leaping to conclusions. She shrugged. “Her voice is familiar. She sounds like the woman who called me.”

“Maybe she’s checking up on you. I would probably do that. I’m protective of my family and would want to know why people are reaching out to them.”

“What do you think I should do?”

“I don’t know about
shoulds
, sweetie,” Dana said. “But what I would do is wait and see. If she doesn’t approach you, you don’t have to approach her just yet. There doesn’t need to be a confrontation unless you want there to be one.”

“I don’t want confrontation. I want things to be chill and easy for a little while. I just want some normalcy for a change. I was starved of it growing up.”

“The ship has sailed on normalcy for us. The best we can get is not having someone try to slice us up or put a bunch of bullets into us in any given week.”

“How did this become us?”

“Because there’s no one else who could do it.” Dana held her arms out and raised her eyebrows. “You’re usually the hug initiator, but you look like you need one.”