Chapter 9

Chapter

Nine

Cory

My nerves were fraying. I appreciated Bosley working out security for my hotel, except for one important thing. The men were all mobsters. I was sure that Bosley didn't think I knew or that I'd realize, but I did. I knew way more about the underbelly of Takoda than he'd ever expected.

Now the problem was, how did I let him know that I wanted them out of here? Since there hadn't been any rival Family-type run-ins so far, I guessed that these men were all part of the same outfit. Maybe. My brother-in-law didn't come around here because this was Buccelli territory. Did that mean Bosley was in business with the Buccelli Family? Was he one of them? I didn't know, but I was wrecked and something had to give.

The other issue I was facing was that I didn't want Bosley to go. It had been…nice having someone to work out and chat with, to laugh. The orgasms didn't hurt, either. It had been so long since my dick had any action that wasn't my own right hand. If I brought this all up, would he want to stay around? Would he be allowed to spend time here with me knowing he was a made man? Everything about this was such a mess and it had me shaken.

On top of that? There'd been no break-ins in the five days since these guys had been around. That was good on the one hand, no more unhappy guests. But if something would just happen, and they caught the perpetrator, then I'd never have to breathe a word of what I suspected—what I knew in my heart of hearts—to Bosley. For me, that would be the best ideal solution. Then he'd stay around. Or would these so-called security guards leaving mean he'd be going, too?

A knock at my door pulled me out of my morose musings, and I called, "Come in."

Harlow stuck his head through the door. "Cory, we have a problem."

He stumbled into my office as Babyface, Dante, maneuvered his hulking frame in. "Cory, there's a couple out here who are saying someone went through their things."

"Applesauce."

Dante's face screwed up in confusion, and I waved him off. "Go ahead."

"Yeah, the problem is, you see, my guys and me, we didn't see anything. I've got a guy monitoring security footage, and he hasn't seen any suspicious activity on any of the floors. I've been walking every floor, in the stairwells and all, and I haven't seen anyone suspicious either."

"Are they at the front desk?" I asked.

Harlow nodded. Sighing, I stood and ran a hand down my waistcoat, straightening out any wrinkles and preparing myself for another confrontation. "Then I guess I need to go speak with them."

Dante stepped into my path, cutting me off from exiting. "I don't know if that's a good idea. Maybe you should let me talk to them. They're pretty upset."

Glaring at him, I stepped to the left, but he mirrored my motion. "Dante, get out of my way. This is my hotel, and these are my guests, so I need to deal with this."

He shook his head. "I don't know if Mr. Bosley would like that. Maybe you should let me handle this for you." He nodded his head like he was answering his own question. "Yeah, I'll handle it for you."

Gripping his biceps, I stood up straight and stared into his eyes. "Dante, I appreciate that Bosley brought you in, and you're here as a favor to him, but I don't need anyone handling my business. For right now, consider me your boss."

Quickly, I stepped around him and made my way to the front desk where an irate man in his mid-thirties was raising his voice at a pale and trembling Huey. Behind him, face fluctuating between scared and mortified, a woman around the same age was tugging on the gentleman's shirt and begging him to calm down. "Excuse me. I think I can be of service here."

That drew the man's focus to me, as I spotted Bosley approaching from behind, looking like he was ready to rip someone's head off. Shit. This was going to get out of control if I didn't get a handle on it now. "Mr.…"

"Gregory. Lloyd Gregory. My girl and I came down to The Velvet Room for an early dinner, and when we returned to our room, our clothes were ripped out of the closet and thrown all over the place, and our toiletries were upended in the bathroom. I'd like to know what you're going to do about this?"

"Okay, Mr. Gregory. I'm Cory, the owner of The Gin Mill. You have my sincerest apologies that this happened. Tell me, was anything stolen?"

He squared up to me. "I don't know. I was furious and came down here to demand you do something. This is an outrage." Behind him, the woman shook her head no.

Good to know. "Sir, I can assure you this is not a normal occurrence here." Or didn't used to be. "In fact, I have a competent security team in place."

I pointed over at Dante, and he squared his shoulders and bared his teeth. Applesauce . That wasn't helpful. He looked like he planned on beating the crap out of Mr. Gregory. Needing the focus back on me, I said, "I'd be happy to make this up to you. You said you'd already had a meal this evening, correct?"

"Yes, and when we got back?—"

"Yes, yes," I said quickly, cutting him off. "What you found is just terrible. We'd be happy to help you set your rooms to rights, and while we're at it, how would a massage be for you and…" I gestured toward his girlfriend since he hadn't given her name.

He glanced behind him at the lady, then put an arm out, bringing her up to his side. "This is my girlfriend, Rachel."

"Nice to meet you, Rachel." I smiled at her warmly, and she flushed, seemingly pleased at being included in the conversation. "As I was saying, while we straighten up your room, I'd be happy to send you into the spa, Behind Closed Doors, to enjoy some of our services. Of course, they would be complementary."

Mr. Gregory grumbled under his breath as Rachel clasped his forearm, grinning excitedly. "Then, when you're done, you can head on over to Discreet Delights for an evening cocktail or two. Unless you already have plans?"

"No, we ate early so that we could get dressed and go to the speakeasy. You have a jazz band in there tonight, right?" Rachel asked, beaming at my plan.

"Indeed, we do. So how does that all sound? You two enjoy an evening on us, while my security team works on figuring out who broke into your room."

"Can we, Lloyd? That sounds fabulous to me."

He glared around at the little audience we'd drawn. His gaze skimmed right over Huey, and I fisted my hands at my side. I had no problem offering them a night on me, but it ticked me off that one of my employees had been berated so thoroughly. He hadn't deserved that.

When his gaze passed me and landed on Dante, he took a step back, and I resisted the urge to glance and see what face he was making now. Then his gaze focused over my shoulder, and he stumbled back. This time, I had to look.

I found Bosley scowling, but his face softened once our eyes locked. My heart warmed at his fierce protectiveness, even if it wasn't entirely appropriate for him to be intimidating my guests. I turned back around. "What do you think, Mr. Gregory? Do we have a deal?" I held out my hand for a shake, wanting to seal the deal. We were drawing far too much attention from other patrons.

He went for it, gripping tight. "Sounds good. But we'll clean up our own room."

Harlow stepped up in between us. "Are you sure? I'd be happy to help."

Rachel smiled sweetly. "No, sweetheart, it's not that big a deal. I appreciate it." She grabbed her boyfriend's arm. "Come on, Lloyd. Let's go clean up the room and head down to the spa."

"I'll let the receptionist know to expect your call. The menu of Behind Closed Door's services should be right on your vanity. Please, enjoy whatever interests you."

Rachel's curly hair bobbed on her shoulders as she happily dragged her man to the elevator. The half-timid woman who I'd first seen was gone with the excitement of massages and mani and pedis. I wasn't sure that was what pacified Mr. Gregory. He was probably more enticed by drinking for free, but whatever worked.

Turning to Harlow, I said, "Can you please run down to the spa and let them know to expect them. Assure the staff anyone who has to stay will receive overtime."

"No problem."

I watched as he hustled away, then made my way over to Huey and grabbed his arm, pulling him back into the hall separating my office from the check-in desk. "Are you all right?"

He ran a hand shakily through his hair. "Yeah, big cheese." He forced a little laugh. "He was just so mad, you know?"

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. Our customers shouldn't treat any of my staff that way. Do you want to take a cigarette break?"

"Na. I can wait until Harlow gets back."

"No, I insist. Go, relax, smoke a cigarette, maybe even take your dinner break now, if you'd like. I'll cover the desk with Harlow."

He nodded gratefully, went and grabbed his smokes from under the counter, then he beat a path out the front door.

I made my way to the computer he generally used and sighed. Another crisis averted.

"You okay?" Bosley asked from across the counter.

I blew out a shaky breath. "I'm fine. It's just so frustrating. Dante said they didn't see anything, so I don't know how this is happening."

Bosley hummed. "Don't worry. I gave Dante some tips." He gave me a smirk. "He'll get this figured out before you know it."

He didn't have to say the or else for me to hear it in his tone. This was it. Bosley and I had to have a conversation about Dante and his crew. It was nerve-racking enough having someone disrupting my hotel with these random break-ins, but this mafia presence was freaking me out. "Bosley, I don't suppose I can ask you a question."

"Will I give you some stress relief? Of course, quirky Cory." He winked. "Your wish is my command."

I shook my head. "No, that's not it. Can you come up to the belfry with me once I'm through here? We need to talk."

"The belfry?" He quirked an eyebrow. "You gonna have your wicked way with me up there?"

I wished that was the plan. That would be enjoyable. Orgasms would mean he wasn't leaving, whereas the things I had to say to him might mean he'd be exiting the premises and taking his merry band of outlaws with him. "No. That's where I live."

A slow smile spread across his face. "I wondered." He leaned in. "I'd love to go home with you. It was so hot watching you handle that Gregory dude with such ease."

I felt my cheeks warm. "That's my job. It was no big deal."

"I beg to differ. You stayed cool, calm, and collected. I'd have lost my shit if I saw someone berating one of my employees like that. But you didn't. Then you were amazing with Huey, too. Sending Harlow off like that when he easily could've made a phone call to the spa, so you could talk to Huey alone, sending him on a break to give him a minute to pull it together…" He fanned his face with his hands. "Smoking hot."

As much as I wanted to have a serious conversation with him, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face at his ridiculousness. I had to admit, it felt good knowing that he thought I did such a good job. The Gin Mill was my livelihood and my home. I wanted it to succeed. "So you'll come up to my place?"

He stood up straight and crossed his arms over his chest. "Only if you're feeding me dinner, too."

"We'll order from The Velvet Room. I don't really cook all that often."

Bosley's eyes widened. "No way."

I shrugged. "Don't really need to since I have a five-star restaurant right here."

"That's fair. I'll have to go out and buy some groceries and cook for you sometime."

My stomach swooshed with excitement while falling with disappointment. He probably wasn't going to appreciate the conversation we were about to have, and as much as I'd love for him to stay around and cook for me and keep touching me and complimenting me, I wasn't sure I could handle his secrecy or his obvious connections. Like really, who could just call the mob and have guys show up to do your bidding?

By the time Harlow came back, Bosley was over speaking with Dante. "Where's Huey?" Harlow asked.

"He seemed pretty shaken up from that customer chewing his ass, so I sent him on break."

Harlow's mouth tightened like he was fighting anger. That was unusual for him. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head. "Sorry. Nothing. It's fine."

"It's obviously not fine. You look upset. Did something happen between you and Huey that I need to know about?"

He sighed, sounding exasperated. "No, it's not that. But he's always late, he takes a zillion cigarette breaks, and he leaves early almost every shift. I can handle the front, so I don't really mind, but…"

"But it's annoying when you're working your ass off, and your coworker is slacking."

He scratched his nose. "Yeah. But it's fine. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have even mentioned it. You have enough to worry about right now."

"No, you matter, too, Harlow. You're an important part of my team. If you have concerns, we need to address them. I'll start paying closer attention to his movements, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks. You can head back to your office or go on up to your place or whatever now. We've already had most of the guests check-in for tonight. I've got it until Huey returns."

"Are you sure?"

"Ab-so-lute-ly." We both laughed.

"Do they speak in code here or something?" Dante asked Bosley in a voice that probably wasn't as quiet as he thought it was.

Bosley smacked him on the back. "It's the Roaring 20s here, Dante. You better brush up on your slang." He smiled at me. "You ready?"

I nodded, then turned back to Harlow. "Are you sure you've got this? I don't mind waiting until Huey returns."

"I'll be here," Dante said.

Bosley gaped at him, and Dante shrugged. "What? I know how to keep people calm. I'm a nice guy."

Harlow's face turned bright red, and I needed to get Bosley upstairs and deal with the situation. I couldn't have Harlow crushing on a mobster, for fuck's sake. Applesauce . This was getting out of control. "Yeah, uh, let's go, Bosley."

As we headed toward the elevator, he said, "You're real good with your employees."

I bumped our elbows together. "What's with you tonight? Why do you keep complimenting me?"

He threw an arm over my shoulders. "I've never seen you in action before, that's all. I'm impressed."

"Thanks," I mumbled as the elevator opened and Everest stepped out.

"Hey, Mr. Letterman. You want me to take you up?"

"No, thank you, Everest. You go on home. I'm going to show Bosley the belfry."

Everest's face went wistful like it often did when he revisited the past in his mind. "Ah. The belfry. Had my first kiss up there."

"What?" Bosley asked.

Everest waved him off. "Don't mind me. Little memories sneak up on you when you're an old man. See you boys tomorrow."

We watched Everest shuffle off. "Long time since anyone's called me a boy. What did he mean about his first kiss?"

Stepping into the elevator, I pushed the button for the third floor. We'd get off the elevator there and take the stairs up the rest of the way. "This was still a church when Everest was young."

"Aw. That's kind of cool."

"It is," I replied. It was weird having an inane conversation, knowing that I was about to blow up the easy camaraderie we'd shared. It had been nice not feeling so alone, at least for a minute.