Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Emery

I watched the motel’s familiar neon sign buzz and flicker as Ronan pulled into a parking spot. The ‘vacancy’ portion had been burnt out for weeks, leaving ‘no’ glowing in angry red letters. Seemed fitting, given my current life situation.

“Thanks again for tonight.” I unbuckled my seatbelt. “It was really nice.”

Ronan reached into the backseat and retrieved a small box tied with a red ribbon he’d had when I’d come back from the restroom. “This is for you. Open it later.”

I took it and traced the delicate ribbon. “Mr. Anti-Christmas took me to a holiday market and got me a present?”

Any doubts about the secret prize for the window decorating contest vanished. Although, I didn’t quite know what to do with Levi having been joyous over losing. Did he want me to also spend time with Ronan and Max?

“Later.” His face remained stern, but there was something soft in his eyes.

I was about to protest—because really, when someone hands you a mysteriously wrapped present, how are you supposed to wait?—when the night exploded in red and blue. Police sirens wailed as three cruisers rounded the corner, followed by two black SUVs that screamed FBI.

“What the hell?” Ronan straightened in his seat, instantly alert. The vehicles pulled into the motel parking lot, lights still flashing.

“I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“This is exactly why you shouldn’t be staying here.” Ronan’s jaw clenched as he watched uniformed officers pour out of their vehicles and rush one of the hotel rooms just past the office. “This place isn’t safe.”

I wasn’t listening anymore. Through the lobby windows, I could see Gary behind his desk, looking more confused than usual—which was saying something for a man who believed squirrels were government spies.

“Oh God, Gary.” I was already reaching for the door handle. “He’s probably freaking out!”

“Emery, don’t-” Ronan’s hand shot out to grab my arm, but I was already halfway out of the car.

As eccentric as Gary might be, he’d been kind to me when I needed it most. Plus, he’d given me two tinfoil hats. You don’t just abandon someone after they give you protective headgear.

Gary burst out of the office door as soon as he saw me walking his way, a tinfoil hat on his head. “It’s happening!” he shouted, waving his arms frantically. “They’re here for the ice maker! I told you it was signaling-”

Ronan materialized between us so fast I almost got whiplash. His broad shoulders formed a protective wall as Gary skidded to a halt.

“Sir.” Ronan’s voice carried that authoritative tone that probably made employees wet themselves. “Step back.”

“No, no, it’s okay!” I quickly stepped around Ronan, placing a calming hand on his arm. “This is Gary. He’s the night manager. Gary, this is my friend Ronan.”

“Friend?” Gary’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Does he know about the ice maker?”

“I... what?” Ronan turned to me with an expression that clearly said, ‘what the fuck?’

“The ice maker is fine,” I assured Gary, using my most soothing voice. “Look, the police aren’t even going near it.”

We all watched as the officers led out a couple I’d seen around the motel a few times. The woman was crying while the man kept his head down. More vehicles had shown up, and I knew this must be something huge.

“But... but they were such nice people.” Gary wrung his hands in distress, and his tinfoil hat slipped further askew as he shook his head. “They always smiled and said hello. Had lots of visitors too, especially late at night...”

“Late night visitors?” Ronan’s eyebrows shot up as his jaw tightened. His eyes darted between Gary and me like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “And you didn’t think that was suspicious? At a motel like this?”

“Well, I figured they were just popular.” Gary shrugged. “Or maybe running an underground resistance against the lizard people.” He leaned in close, lowering his voice. “You know they’ve infiltrated all levels of government, right? Even the DMV.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing at Ronan’s increasingly bewildered expression. The thing was, I couldn’t tell if Gary was being serious, or if he was a bored middle-aged man who had nothing better to do and spent his time making up stories in his head.

“They paid cash up front for two months,” Gary continued. “Said they were waiting for their house to be ready. Though, come to think of it, they asked me to turn off the security cameras in their section...”

“They what?” Ronan’s voice could have frozen Hell over, dropping several octaves into that dangerous territory that made me want to take an involuntary step backwards. I could practically hear his teeth grinding as he turned to me, his expression thunderous enough to make Zeus himself jealous. “That’s it. Pack your things.”

“Excuse me?” I blinked rapidly, caught completely off guard by his sudden command. His authoritative tone sent a conflicting thrill through me, though I couldn’t tell if it was attraction or mild terror. Possibly both.

“You’re not staying here another night.” He pulled out his phone. “We’ll figure something out, but this place clearly isn’t safe.”

“I can’t-”

“Actually,” Gary interrupted, looking unusually serious as he adjusted his tinfoil hat, “he might be right. Not about the motel being unsafe—we have top-notch protection against alien surveillance—but those folks seemed off, and they aren’t the only ones.”

“I appreciate the concern, but I can’t afford anywhere else right now.”

“Money isn’t an issue.” Ronan was already typing on his phone. “We have plenty of space.”

“We?” My voice came out embarrassingly squeaky. Did I misread the situation entirely? He had said nothing about having a significant other or a family. Either way, I couldn’t just stay with my boss.

Especially not when he did things to my insides.

“We’ll get your things now, before anything else exciting happens. Gary, I assume you can help check her out of her room?”

Gary nodded solemnly. “I’ll need her to sign a form releasing us from any responsibility if the ice maker has already compromised her brain waves.”

“I... sure, Gary. Whatever you need.” I looked between the two men, feeling surprisingly touched by their concern, weird as it might be. “Thank you. Both of you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.” Ronan guided me toward the car where I’d left my purse. “We’ll have to wait and see what Levi and Max have to say about this. I’m sure it will be fine though.”

“Wait, what?” I stopped in my tracks. The idea of Ronan living with anyone was surprising enough, but with Levi and Max? “That’s what you meant by we?”

“Yes, we live together. Well, sort of. We each have a house within the house. You’ll see.” His tone was matter of fact, like sharing living space with two other incredibly attractive, successful men was the most normal thing in the world.

I tried to wrap my mind around what ‘a house within a house’ even meant, but all I could picture was some sort of Russian nesting doll situation with increasingly smaller homes.

“I can’t stay with you guys. That’s... that’s preposterous.” I struggled to maintain my composure as my mind raced through all the ways this could go horribly wrong. “You’re my bosses and I barely know you. For all I know, you could be really hot serial killers who lure unsuspecting employees into your weird house-within-a-house situation.”

Ronan’s lips twitched upward. “If we were serial killers, we’d be terrible at it. Wrap It Up would be a pretty obvious calling card, don’t you think?”

I stared at him, mouth agape. “Did you just make a joke? You? Mr. Serious-Business-Face?”

“I have been known to occasionally engage in humor.” His deadpan delivery only made it funnier. “But in all seriousness, Emery, we’re not axe murderers. The space you’d be staying in is basically a granny flat. It has its own entrance, kitchenette, and a door that locks from both sides between you and the main house. You’d have complete privacy.”

“A granny flat?” I raised an eyebrow. “Do any of you have a grandmother living there I should know about? Because after Gary’s conspiracy theories and the raid on the motel, I think I’ve hit my quota of surprises for the night.”

“No grandmothers.” He shook his head, looking amused. “Just three guys who value their space but also like having movie nights and someone to hang out with.”

The mental image of Ronan, Levi, and Max having movie nights in their pajamas was almost too much for my brain to process. “Do you wear matching onesies?”

“Only on alternate Tuesdays,” he said with such a straight face that it took me a moment to realize he was joking again.

I couldn’t help but laugh, the tension in my shoulders easing slightly. “Two jokes? Are you feeling okay? Should I check for a fever?”

His expression softened. “Look, just stay for a few nights until we can find you somewhere safe. No strings attached. If you hate it, we’ll help you find another place tomorrow.”

I glanced back at the motel, where police were still investigating, and Gary was now trying to explain something to an officer while pointing frantically at the ice machine.

“Fine, but only because I’m pretty sure Gary’s about to get himself arrested for harboring a rogue ice maker.”

“Smart choice.” Ronan’s relief was visible in the way his shoulders relaxed. “Let’s get your things.”

We retrieved my purse from his car and headed toward my room, carefully skirting around the cluster of law enforcement officials. The whole scene felt surreal, like I’d somehow stumbled into an episode of CSI: Budget Motel Edition.

“You know,” I said as I unlocked my door, “this isn’t exactly how I pictured my evening ending.”

“No?” Ronan followed me inside, his presence filling the small room. “And how did you picture it ending?”

The question hung in the air between us, loaded with possibilities I definitely shouldn’t be considering about my boss. Especially not when I was about to stay with him and his two equally attractive business partners.

What was I getting myself into?

“Well, for starters, I didn’t think there’d be quite so many police officers involved.” I grabbed my suitcase from the closet. “Or that Gary would finally get his government conspiracy theories validated. Sort of.”

“Speaking of Gary...” Ronan picked up one of the tinfoil hats sitting on my dresser, examining it with a mixture of confusion and amusement. “Do I want to know?”

“Protection from the ice maker rays, obviously.” I tried to keep a straight face.

He carefully set the tinfoil hat back down, his fingers lingering on the crinkled surface for a moment. I caught the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth that suggested he was fighting back a smile. “Well, I can promise our ice maker is completely ray-free. Though I make no guarantees about Levi’s cooking.”

The way he said it, with that dry undertone of someone who’d clearly suffered through more than one of Levi’s culinary experiments, made me wonder what horrors awaited me in their kitchen.

Not that I planned on staying for long to find out.