Quinn (The Waite Family) (9 page)

The man on the phone huffed again. “I ain’t doing your work for you.
You just put me through the line and I’ll try to speak kindly about you when I speak to her. I doubt it’ll do you much good, but I’ll give it my best.”

Alyssa just bet he would.
She debated for all of a minute then leaned back in her chair.
Anger made people stupid and she was betting this guy had it in spades. The stupid part, she thought.

“No.”
She waited a full ten seconds before she continued.
“No, I’m not putting you through, you pompous windbag.
Appointment?
Really? That’s the best you can come up with?”

“Now you see here, you’re not talking to me that way, young lady.
I’ll have you know that she and I go way…” He took a deep breath before continuing.
“I’ll not explain myself to you. Put the damned bitch on the fucking phone,” he yelled at her.

Alyssa grinned.
“My, my.
You sure have changed your tune, haven’t you?
Not only do you not have an appointment, you probably can’t spell appointment. What is your name?” she demanded right back.

“Brian Sa—” The line went dead.
Alyssa pressed the speaker button to disconnect the humming noise.

She looked up at the several people now crowding her office.
“I guess I made him mad.
Does someone want to tell me what the fuck is going on?”

Quinn sat in the chair across from her and then Drew. The other people, mostly security, just milled about the room. Alyssa could ignore them for now. She wanted answers.

“Somebody called my office earlier this week,” Quinn started. “He said he had some money he wanted to donate.”

“I don’t take donations, not unless it’s at a fundraiser for another foundation. This company funds its own charities.
What did he say he wanted to do with the money?”
Alyssa was sure she wasn’t going to like her answer.

“He got mad at me because I wouldn’t give him any information about you. He wanted to speak to you and then when I refused, he hung up.”

Alyssa sat back and looked at her. Quinn was upset, but so was she. She should have been informed about this. Then she realized that if she was informed about every crackpot that called in the offices, she’d never get anything done.

“Does Cain know?” Alyssa asked the two of them. At the shake of her head, she knew he’d be pissed when he did.
“One of you has to tell him and don’t be surprised when he has a fit.
He’s overprotective of me, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“We got a trace on the call. I’m not sure if it was long enough, but with your money and my knowledge,” Drew started with a grin, “we can do anything.”

His phone rang and he got up to answer it. Alyssa looked at Quinn. She looked sad, depressed even.
Alyssa got up from her desk and sat next to Quinn in the chair on the opposite side.

“Quinn? Look at me, sweetie.” It took Alyssa touching Quinn’s arm before she turned.
“This isn’t your fault.
I’m a very wealthy woman; people are going to threaten me all the time.”

“I know, but…Alyssa, I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you.
You’re more than a person married to my brother, you’re my best friend.”

The two women hugged and were still hugging when Drew came back.
He didn’t look happy.

“The call came from a ‘pay as you go phone’ and is more difficult to trace. Not impossible, but harder.
I’m sorry, ladies, we’ll get him.
Sooner or later, we’ll get him.”

Alyssa hoped so. She had enough on her plate right now.
She didn’t need some idiot threatening her.

Cain was pissed. On top of everything else, his wife had a crackpot calling her office.
He paced the bedroom again and looked up when Alyssa walked out of the bathroom.
She’d been crying; he could see the tear stains on her cheeks and her red nose.

“Oh, baby.
I’m sorry. Come here and let me hold you.”
He gathered her into his arms. “This thing will work out, you’ll see. Some idiot with more time than sense is all it is.”

“You don’t believe that anymore than I do.
But this isn’t just about that guy.
My mother came by again today.”
She sat in one of the chairs by the fireplace.
“I had her escorted out again.
When will she just give it up and move on with her life?”

Their families, especially the mothers, were a piece of work. And getting more and more difficult to deal with daily.
Cain sat next to her in the other chair and wondered if Shannon Howard would give up either.
She was a fool if she thought she could wear her daughter down. Alyssa was the most stubborn woman he knew.

“Yeah, mine came by too.
She’s been evicted from her home in California for nonpayment of rent. She wanted me to set up a house for her.” Cain snorted.
“Like I’ll jump right on that one after what she did to you and Quinn.”

Neither of them spoke for a while and Cain looked over and saw that Alyssa was asleep.
He watched her for as long as he could then got up and answered the door when someone knocked.

“Your guests have arrived, sir.
And there is also a young man in the kitchen who says you asked him to come by.”
Carol glanced at Alyssa who was in the chair behind him.
“Shall I turn them away?
The young miss hasn’t been sleeping all that well. I’m sure they’d understand.”

It was tempting, but he knew that Alyssa would be angry if he did that.
“Tell them we’ll be right down. Oh, and Carol?
Please make sure that the young man, Todd Whip, is taken in to be with Doctor and Captain Grant.
And he’s probably starving. I remember being that young and hungry all the time once.”

With a small curtsy, the woman left.
Cain turned to wake Alyssa and noticed that she was awake and looking at him with a strange smile.

“Do you think the household knows I’m not sleeping well?”
She stood up and stretched. “Or just her?”

Cain couldn’t think past the need and love for this woman that settled over him.
He wanted to drag her to the bed and make love to her and he wanted to hold her until all the badness around them disappeared.
It took him a few seconds to realize she was speaking.

“…away for a few days.
I was thinking Paris again. We had so much fun there on our honeymoon.
I have some things there I need to look at and we could make a mini vacation out of it.”
She looked at him and smiled.
“Is sex all you ever think about?”

“Yes,” he answered without a bit of hesitation.
“Especially since I married you.
As soon as our guests leave, I’m going to bring you back up here and show you.”

Her sultry laugh followed them down the stairs and into the living room. Cain wasn’t sure, but he thought his wife had, by far, the sexist laugh he’d ever heard.
And he hoped to hear a great deal more of it.

Todd was nervous. Anyone could see it. He fidgeted and paced and when he wasn’t doing that, he was pacing and fidgeting.
Every time he sat down he’d pop back up like a spring-loaded game.

Cain didn’t comment, but simply watched.
Alyssa finally got up and sat on the couch where Todd would sit for a few seconds then resume his march around the room.
Cain wondered what she was up to and thought that she was going to make it worse. The kids didn’t seem to like women much right now.

“Come over here and sit down Todd.” She patted the seat next to her on the couch.
“I want to ask you about a job I might have for you.”

Todd looked panicky, but sat.
He was perched on the edge and watched Alyssa like she was going to attack him.
It was all Cain could do not to laugh at his expression.

“What do you know about football?” He glanced at Cain when Alyssa asked.
“I know a little bit, but not much. How much do you know?”

“Football?
Yeah, okay.
I like it.
I played in biddy league until my mom couldn’t afford it anymore.”
Todd glanced at Cain again. “Why?”

The suspicion in his voice was evident.
Spencer started to laugh, but a sharp look from his wife had him coughing.
Neither man, it appeared, wanted to piss off their wives.

“Have you heard of the Rodney Kincaid Clinic?” Alyssa asked him.
Todd nodded.
“Good.
Well, there are a bunch of children that come there weekly with injuries from various sports.
I was—”

“I didn’t do it.”
Todd jumped up again, anger in his voice. “I don’t even know those kids.”

“Well of course you didn’t do it. What a silly notion.
Sit down.”
Todd sat.
“I was wondering if you’d want a job organizing them. I have professionals coming in to help out, but the kids are backward or shy and won’t sign up. I thought you could help out by encouraging them to step forward and take part.
I hoped you’d enjoy that.”

Todd stared at her. Cain continued the conversation with Spencer on who was going to the state championship in basketball, but still keeping an ear on the conversation going on behind him.
Suddenly, Cait, Spencer’s wife, got up and went to the couch too.

“What a marvelous idea, Alyssa.
Todd, do you know much about basketball?” Cait sat on the other side of him. “My boys played basketball in high school. So did Meggie all the way through college.”

“Meggie Grant?
Meggie Grant is your daughter?”
The awe in Todd’s voice was evident.
“I saw her play once. Wow, she’s all that.
Pretty too.”

“Meggie is, isn’t she?
She wants to help out Alyssa too. You think you’d be willing to help her out as well with that sport?”

And just like that, Todd sat back on the couch and relaxed.
By the time they all went into dinner Todd had a job, an office at the newly built rec center, and a car to drive himself back and forth to work.
Cain looked over at Spencer as they followed Todd and the two women into the dining room.

“They’re good. Boy didn’t stand a chance against them, did he?”
Spencer laughed before he continued. “I certainly didn’t against a pretty girl at that age.”

Cain laughed.
“I still don’t.”

~~~

Quinn was watching TV when someone knocked on her bedroom door.
She turned the set off and went to the door. She hoped it was just the housekeeper leaving, but knew she couldn’t be that lucky.
It was her sister Jazzie.

“Hey. I was wondering if you know anyone who was hiring? I need a job in the security field,” Jazzie said as the barged into the room and flopped down on the bed.
“That job with the restaurant didn’t pan out.
He wanted me to use three-day-old meat to cook and I didn’t think that would be safe.”