Page 7

Maddox

It’s become a habit of mine to keep the security feeds up on the second screen whenever Mindy is working. The nonsense she says to the snakes makes me laugh way more often than it should.

Canyon has a thing for her.

Or does he? I’ve seen him fall for a girl, and it didn’t look anything like the guy flirting with Mindy right outside of my office.

He never even attempts to get close to her or touch her.

It could be him trying to respect her boundaries. But even then, he could get a little closer than leaning on the wall across the room from her.

My brother deserves his privacy when he tries to make his move, but I can’t seem to turn off the feed.

Does Mindy like him? Or is she serious about this Waylon guy?

She doesn’t seem like the type to go for a married man. Do cheaters really have a type?

Canyon walks away from her straight towards my office.

I click off the stream.

“Louisella is a nut.” Canyon walks over to Petunia’s cage and picks her up.

Tell me something the world doesn’t know. “To what do I owe the visit?”

“There’s something off about Mindy.”

Again, not news. But how does Canyon know? Her perfectly crafted smile never faltered with him. “Such as?”

“She works way too much.”

“Lots of people work a lot.”

Canyon raises an eyebrow at me.

“Some people do.”

“I’ve never met a person that works as much as her. Even you don’t.”

Canyon has a point. I rarely work past eight at night, and I never start work at five in the morning. My workout doesn’t even start that early. But I’ve found myself in the office later and later lately.

“Also, Louisella was wrong, and she’s never wrong when she decides to play matchmaker.”

What? “Was that the whole nut thing? She told you to ask Mindy out?”

“No. Louisella told me to flirt with Mindy on that first day. I kept trying to feel her out to see if there was any attraction. Nothing. There isn’t a single spark with us. Mindy must be broken.”

Mindy broken?!? A laugh bursts out of me. “Just because she doesn’t like you?”

“Louisella is never wrong. There’s got to be something up with Mindy. You need to figure out what her problem is.” Petunia is probably getting dizzy from Canyon’s antics as he paces.

“Why don’t you figure it out, because she’s supposed to be yours?” Something about that feels off.

“That’s the thing. There’s no way Mindy and I will ever be together. I feel absolutely nothing for her. Not even the barest speck of attraction. She could be a relative for all I feel.”

Good.

“Maybe Louisella is losing her edge in her old age.” Canyon stops. “Nah. There’s something wrong with Mindy. And I actually got excited about finding someone again.”

It’s been such a long time since Canyon thought he was in love. “There’s something wrong with Mindy. Fea felt it too.”

“See? I told you.” Canyon gives me a pointed look.

“I’m working on it.”

“Let me know if you need help. I’ll keep a closer eye on her in surveillance,” Canyon offers.

“There’s no need for that.”

Canyon stops and stares at me. “You’re already watching her.”

I nod.

“Louisella and I need to have a little chat. See you later.” Canyon sets down Petunia and walks out as fast as he walked in.

And the drama has already started. I need to figure out Mindy soon before more chaos happens with my men.

That means I need to attack this in a different way.

***

Nothing. I toss my pen down on my desk. We’ve found not a single new clue to lead us to Marlie or our rat.

She has to be somewhere, and he’ll be the clue to finding her.

But I’m not going to find either of them tonight. My stomach rumbles. When was the last time I ate?

Breakfast this morning. It’s after eleven now. Mindy’s been working for a few hours now. I look over at the security cameras in the snake room. There she is cleaning out Doodles’ cage with Candy wound around her neck.

Mindy looks tired.

Who isn’t at this time of night? Has she lost weight?

There’s no way the stubborn woman would answer if I asked. But she needs to eat and take a break. This might be a good time to put my new plan into action.

Time to pull out the big guns. I call Ace down at the restaurant and order three meals sent up.

She’s alone right now. The cute girl next door smile she’s giving Candy could bring a man down.

Mindy is your employee. Don’t look at her like she’s a woman.

A pretty one at that.

I need to dive deeper than a standard background check. Social media isn’t something I worry about when I hire. Does it really matter if your employee got drunk and did something stupid? But what it is good for is to find out if she’s dating someone and who it is.

Only there isn’t a single sign that she has a boyfriend all the way back to her high school days. That’s simply not possible. Maybe she keeps her private life private.

But a woman who posts pictures of her apartment can’t be that concerned about privacy.

Still, there has to be someone. I send a quick email to Enzo, asking him to do a deeper dive in the morning.

Ace walks in carrying four covered trays. His restaurant does a lot of local deliveries, and we all know to bring them back to be cleaned. “Are you really this hungry?”

The smell alone makes my stomach growl. “Not quite, but close.”

Ace raises an eyebrow but knows better than to pry. “In that case, I’m glad I brought you some dessert.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime. You got right in before we shut the kitchen down for the night. Enjoy.” Ace walks away.

Time to pry Mindy away from her work. She doesn’t have any cages open now, which gives me the perfect opportunity.

By the time I get there, she’s in one of the four freezers that we keep the snakes’ food in. With clipboard in hand, the picture in front of me is all business.

Don’t notice how well her overalls fit. “Evening.”

Mindy jumps and spins around. “Oh. Hello.”

“How’s everything going tonight?” Smooth. Really smooth.

“Good. Though Peaches might be sick. This is the second feed she’s refused.”

That’s not good. “I’ll arrange a vet visit for her in the morning. Are there any other problems?”

“No. Nope, everything here is just fine.” She shakes her head, which releases a few tendrils of hair that fall over her face.

A beautiful face… but tired. The dark rings around her eyes are even more pronounced in person than they were on the camera. “Have you taken your dinner break yet?”

“Dinner break?”

“Well, we could call it a lunch break, if you prefer.”

She tips her head to the side. “I just got here. I don’t get a dinner break.”

“You work full-time for me. Of course, you get a dinner break as well as breaks through the night as you need them.” And it’s the perfect excuse for me to get to know her more.

“But—”

“There are no buts. That’s a basic entitlement of all employees. Since it seems like you haven’t prepared for that. Would you care to join me? I have way too much for one person and would hate for the food to go to waste.” That excuse sounds legit, though it wouldn’t hold up to questioning. Thankfully or not, she seems too tired to push it.

“I could eat something. Let me just wash up.” She nods towards her overalls.

“Sure. We can meet in my office whenever you’re ready.” I walk off to give her the space she needs, leaving the secondary door open as well as my office door open.

Ace provided dinnerware, as always. I grab a bottle of my favorite local beer after setting up one of the tables.

It doesn’t take her long to emerge at the back of my office with Cow wrapped around her neck. “It smells great in here.”

That’s an interesting choice. “The local restaurant delivered.” I nod towards the table. “What would you like to drink?”

“You have beer from 4 Streets.” She knows her beer bottles.

“Sure do.” It’s brewed by four boys that grew up here. We gave them the seed money to start their microbrewery, and they made it into a regional brand.

“I’d love one of those.”

“Any specific one? There’s Snake Bite, which is a smokey IPA with notes of peaches and peppers—” named after the snakes in this room “—Cherry Bomb, and Purple Madness.”

“Cherry Bomb, please. It’s delicious, but I can’t wait for them to bring back the seasonal Mango Mania.” She doesn’t just know them. Mindy has a favorite seasonal brew.

“How did you find out about them?” I hand her an ice-cold bottle and carry my Snake Bite over to the table.

“Their brewery is located in West Springs, which is a town an hour outside of Urbium. A couple of times a year, my friends meet up there. The four guys that own the brewery are so nice.” She takes a long pull from her beer. There are no girly pretenses. Mindy likes her beer.

“We should eat before it gets cold.” I lift the lids off the platters.

“Mmmm. That looks as good as it smells.” She joins me at the table.

Ace made some good choices. The ribeye steak would be my first pick, but the stuffed pork chop would be a delicious second, and there’s enough chicken pasta to feed an army.

Mindy takes a large portion of pasta and the pork chop.

After a few minutes of silent eating, my curiosity gets the better of me. “So, what are you saving for?”

“Huh?” Mindy sets her fork down and stares at me.

Way to ease into a conversation. “You already have a full-time job. I assume you’re working this hard to save for something like a down payment on a house, a wedding, or a honeymoon.” At least you didn’t blurt out, who’s Waylon and why did you give him all your money?

Her hand trembles a little bit. “None of those. I’m… um… going on a vacation with some friends and want to save up for it.”

That’s a perfectly reasonable answer, but she’s lying.

Why?

“I… Um… Better get back to work. Thanks for the food and the beer.” She rushes out of the room.

Way to go putting your employee at ease in order to pump her for information.

Fiona is right. Mindy will never share whatever is wrong until she feels completely comfortable.