The Hotel at the End of Time

Chapter 25 - Vain hates Wyatt, like, so much.

Vain stomped down the stairs to the main floor. Emma had certainly been quite cozy with Roman. Quite cozy. Quite, quite cozy. Cozy McDozy, that's what she should call Emma from now on. Queen of Cozytown, lording over her subjects with her cozy, Roman-stealing ways.

She tried to put the image of Emma leaning on Roman's shoulder out of her head. Roman's shoulder could be touched by anyone, at any time. She did not own his shoulder. It was a serviceable shoulder, she supposed, and although she didn't really consider his shoulders in that way, she understood why other women viewed them as touchable and lean-on-able. Was lean-on-able a word? It was now. The point was, Roman was free to have his shoulders leaned on by whoever he wanted, and it was great and cozy and she was for sure not bothered in the slightest. But he was her Roman, damn it, and she wasn't going to lose his attention to some waif-eyed, pale-faced, redheaded bookworm.

She made a mental note to remind Hush to turn down the fucking heat. Her face was on fire. It didn't even make sense to keep it that hot in there. Weird that she hadn't noticed before.

A few deep breaths through her nose helped her settle. Focus. Plenty of time to worry about all of that later. Right now, she had to talk to the Wyatt they kidnapped before Hush messed it up.

The doors leading into the den were open, robbing Vain of the opportunity to kick them, doing nothing for her mood. They had the unconscious Wyatt slumped into one of the thick leather chairs by the pool table. Mark leaned against a wall with one leg up and his arms crossed. Hush's tight control had snapped, and he wailed into his phone, putting on a show for everyone.

"You get me at least twenty men." He paced back and forth.

Vain was distracted by only getting one end of the conversation. He'd bark out sentences and pause to listen before barking out another.

"I don't care about money. They need to be armed and they need to take care of business. Don't you worry about what kind of business. No, not construction and not light housework." He made his voice ominous and deep. "Business. Capital-B business. I can't give you details. You send men and I'll take care of the heavy lifting." He nodded. "Exactly. A shitload of guys with guns. The more the better." His head tilted. "Why not? It's a legitimate offer. Oh, I'm the crazy one? The only crazy thing here is you and your stupid business."

Vain shook her head and let him continue to rant at the other end of the room. Roman and Emma walked in behind her. Blunt and Charm sat together on the couch, working on another crossword puzzle. Blunt's mouth was twisted in to deep, sad frown, and Charm rubbed his arm. Vain felt a moment of sympathy for him. Next to Roman, he was her favorite.

She walked over to the Wyatt. They'd stripped off his bulletproof vest, leaving him in his green and brown military attire.

"Mark, is this guy secure? Should we tie him up?"

Mark shrugged. "He's not going anywhere. If he tries, I'll stop him."

"Good. Blunt, get your idiot brother off the phone. I need both of you for the next part."

"Do you want to tell us what the next part is?" he asked, getting up from the sofa.

He sounded irritated. That stung a little. Soft, gentle Blunt; why would he be irritated? She was doing all of it for them. "I need you two to work your magic on this guy so we can get some answers. Let's move."

Blunt scowled—he was definitely irritated about something—and crossed the room to get Hush.

Emma sat beside Charm, and Roman sat across from them. Everyone studiously avoided looking at the Wyatt.

"How are you, sweetie?" Charm asked Emma.

Emma held up her bandaged hands. "Never better."

"Oh, your fingers. You poor thing." She gave Vain a withering glare. "Why didn't you tell anyone about this?"