Soar (The Empire Chronicles #1) (2 page)

Toby glanced at my hair and then back at my face.

“I usually wear it down…” Evidently he hadn’t noticed every little detail about me. To be fair, most people didn’t remember every little detail about the person serving their coffee. Still, I’d held out some hope he’d noticed more than my mad skills at filling a paper cup.

He nodded. “Oh. Okay. Cool.”

“Yeah. Well, I hope the rest of your day goes better.” I smiled, refusing to let his reluctance to talk affect me.

“Thanks. You too.” He half waved before walking out the front door. I enjoyed the view of him from behind. He could wear a pair of pants well.

“Man, that guy is hot.” My coworker, Remy, picked that moment to turn away from fixing the espresso machine. I’m sure it wasn’t random.

“That he is.” I tried to hide my disappointment at his disinterest as I helped another few customers, glad that the morning rush was almost over.

“His name’s Toby, right?” she asked even though she knew the answer. We’d discussed him on more than a dozen occasions.

“Uh, huh. I guess he kind of looks like a Toby.”

She laughed. “Whatever a Toby looks like. I’ve never met one before.”

“You know what? Me either.” There was nothing wrong with a less popular name. I kinda liked Casey for that reason. It was common enough that everyone could pronounce it, but I never had to go by Casey B in school or anything.

“Jess and Emmett are having a party tomorrow. Do you want to go?” She referred to our mutual friend from NYU who’d just moved in with her boyfriend. Jess was more her friend than mine, but she seemed pretty nice. Just another NY suburb kid like me; although she was from Westchester, and I was from Long Island. I’d gotten the sense that she wasn’t from tons of money either.

“Sure. Is this a housewarming party or something? Do we need to have a gift?” Always practical, I didn’t want to be the rude one who showed up empty handed.

“Hmm, I guess so. I’ll get something from my sister’s store. I think Jess would like her stuff.” Remy’s sister owned this cute little boutique that specialized in candles, lampshades, and other household accessories.

“Can I chip in? I don’t think I’ll have time to stop anywhere.” I also didn’t have much cash to spare. Remy was usually pretty reasonable with her money so I didn’t worry she’d pick out something extravagant.

“Sure. “

Remy was one of my few friends from NYU I still talked to regularly, and that was probably only because we worked together. When my dad lost his job, I made the decision of where to cut back easy on my parents. I took a semester off.

I’d planned on just moving home, but when Rhett offered me the closet, I jumped on it. Moving back home felt like giving up somehow. I’d always wanted to live in the city, and I wasn’t willing to let go of that dream just yet. I also wasn’t willing to let go of NYU. I’d started working full time with the hopes of making some cash and getting myself categorized as an independent for financial aid. My goal was to return part time in the fall. My back up plan was to apply to a less expensive school, which wouldn’t have been the worst option. Still, less expensive school or not, I had to pay my living expenses.

I wanted to see my other friends, but when you leave school, it’s sort of hard to stay part of the social scene—not to mention it’s kind of depressing. Who would have thought I’d ever be jealous of my friends for having to go to class and study?

“Want to meet at my place and grab dinner before we head over?” Remy rang up a customer. She wore her long, strawberry blonde hair in a braid down her back. I wished I could pull off a braid like that. I just looked like a little kid when I did it. She looked fun.

“Yeah, that sounds good.” I wasn’t surprised she didn’t suggest my apartment. I’d been trying to avoid bringing friends over. Rhett was already doing me a favor. He didn’t need a bunch of “kids” messing up his place.

The rest of our shift was uneventful. Remy left at lunch time to get over to campus for class. I tried not to feel too jealous as I wiped down the counters.

“Any big plans this weekend, Bates?” Eric snuck up behind me. He seemed to always wait until I was the only other one working to show his face. I was slightly surprised he hadn’t started out by asking about my head, but that was Eric. You never knew what to expect from him.

“Not really.”

He leaned back against the counter, his hulking figure boxing me in. “I heard you talking to Remy about a party.”

“Were you eavesdropping?”

“No. I was listening to my employees.”

“We’re not your employees.”

“You work
under
me.” He accentuated the word under, and it kind of made my skin crawl. At twenty-three, Eric wasn’t that much older than my nineteen, but that didn’t mean his pseudo come-ons didn’t skeeve me out. There was something almost menacing about him. You knew he was dangerous just by being near him. Why someone like that would be an assistant manager at a coffee shop, I didn’t know. But he did moonlight as a bouncer.

“Is there a point to this questioning?” Letting someone know they intimidate you is never a good idea. I tried to make myself appear unmoved.

“Come out with me Saturday night.” He crossed his arms over his unbelievably built chest. No one could say Eric wasn’t in shape. However, they might question his use of performance enhancement drugs.

“Didn’t you just say I was your employee?”

“Yes.”

“So…doesn’t that seem like a conflict of interest?”

He ran a hand through his blond hair. “It would only be a conflict of interest if you said no.”

“How do you figure?” I crossed my arms.

“I can make your life easy or hard, Bates.”

“This is harassment.”

“And what are you going to do about it?” A light smile tugged on the corner of his lips.

“Report it. Marv won’t put up with it.” The owner was a hell of a lot nicer than Eric was.

His smile became a full on grin. “My uncle doesn’t have a problem with me dating you.”

“Excuse me? Uncle?”

“Yeah. He’s my mom’s brother. That’s why we don’t have the same last name.”

“Oh.” Damn it. How had I not figured that out before? The more I thought about, the more it fit. They definitely had a close relationship.

“So Saturday, eight o’clock?”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said no. I’m not going out with you.” I couldn’t afford to lose the job, but losing my dignity would be worse. I wasn’t going to let someone bully me.

“Is there a reason you’re being a bitch?” He stood up straight, accentuating his height.

“Is there a reason you can’t take no for an answer?”

He laughed. “I like your spirit, Bates.”

“My spirit?”

“Yeah. I might even respect it a little.” He shifted and gave me a smidge more personal space.

“Okay…so that means you’ll back off?”

“It means I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say no. I’ll pick you up at eight Saturday.”

I stood up as straight as possible, trying to make my 5’7” seem even taller. “Do you think I want to keep this job that bad?”

“I think you want to put your own roof over your head so you don’t have to run home to mommy and daddy.” He relaxed his arms down at his sides.

His statement about picking me up set in. “How do you know where I live?”

“Your employee file.”

“That’s private.”

“Is it Casey Morgan Bates?” He winked. “I’m out, see you Saturday night.”

“I’m not going out with you!” I yelled, but he didn’t glance back as he slipped outside.

Perfect.

Chapter Three
Toby

“You’ve got to come tonight.” Emmett’s voice echoed across the gym. We were shooting hoops like two old friends. No one would imagine the history between us—not even him.

“Why?” I caught a rebound and easily tossed it through the net.

“Because you’ve been moping around about Allie long enough. She moved on. So should you.” Just the mention of Allie’s name made my chest tighten. Getting over an ex-girlfriend is hard, but try getting over her when you work for her fiancé.

“I don’t get it, man. You could have any girl you want. You live in a fucking penthouse for God’s sake, yet you never date.”

“You wouldn’t get it.” I went for a jump shot, using only a quarter as much effort as I’d use if it were just me in the gym.

“I wouldn’t? If you were still into her, why did you dump her to begin with?” Emmett’s sneakers squeaked on the polished wood floor.

The side effect of having a witch erase your friend’s memory is that she might erase more than you want her to. It isn’t something I’d have ever agreed to if I thought there was another choice, but the other option was a one way trip to the morgue for both Emmett and his girlfriend.

“She dumped me, man.” I caught the rebound and took another shot.

“Oh? Really?” His blank stare backed up my discovery that every memory he had involving Allie was now a little mixed up. I felt guilty about messing with his memories and holding him and Jess hostage, but in the end, things worked out for the two of them. Besides, it was either kidnap them or let my grandfather destroy the girl I loved. I couldn’t sit back and allow that no matter how much I hated treating my friends that way.

“Yes, really. She dumped me, and now she’s engaged. I’m allowed to be pissed.” I tossed the ball to Emmett.

“Pissed. Sure. But not pathetic. Come over. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet someone.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just because you’re getting ready to propose doesn’t mean the rest of the world wants that bull shit.” Falling in love once was bad enough. I had no intention of doing it again.

“Will you come or not?” He went for a shot but missed the basket.

“I’ll come.” I caught the rebound and easily tossed it through the net again.

“Cool. You need the address?”

I smiled to myself. I knew the address since I was the one who found the apartment for them. Neither of them seemed to think it was odd that they were paying a fraction of the price they should have to live in that kind of place. Messing with people’s memories seems to be fraught with side effects. “I’ve got the address.” I may have kidnapped them for a little while, but I was paying them back in the only way I could—with money.

“Awesome. Jess is inviting a bunch of her friends from school. Maybe one will catch your eye.”

“Doubtful.” If I was looking for a girlfriend, it wouldn’t be a college girl. One of the benefits of dropping out of Princeton was avoiding that crowd. Agreeing to the party aside, it wasn’t my scene anymore. I’d never pictured myself the drop out type, but I couldn’t live in Princeton and work my job in New York. Something had to give.

I sensed my cousins before I saw them. I’d always had stronger senses than other people. Even before I really understood what I was, I knew where the trait came from. My mom’s family.

“What do you two want?” I took another shot without turning around. I could have whispered and they would have still heard me.

“We’ve got a problem.” Tim sat down on the bottom bleacher. He was the older of the two and the more talkative. Tom never said much. I’d kind of inherited the henchman when I took over for my grandfather, but they came in handy—sometimes.

I let Emmett grab the rebound, and I joined them by the bleachers. “What’s the problem?” I knew it had something to do with the attacks, but I didn’t know what.

“The count is up.”

“Fantastic. Same signs?” I spoke as vaguely as possible. Emmett’s mind may have been toyed with, but that didn’t mean he was completely dumb.

“Yeah. We can’t keep ignoring this.”

He was right, whether I wanted to admit it or not. “Give me ten. I need to shower.”

“No prob, boss.” Tom and Tim stood up at the same time and headed to the exit. “Meet you at the office.”

“Is everything okay, man?” Emmett set aside an empty bottle of water he’d gulped down in less than a minute.

“Yeah. It’s just work stuff.”

“They work you to the bone.”

“They pay well.” The excuse sounded believable to my own ears.

He dribbled the ball. “That’s something. So we’ll see you tonight?”

“I’ll be there.” I nodded before heading into the locker room. Surprise, surprise, it was time to go back to work.

***

At least my office had a good view. That’s what I told myself when I dragged my ass into work every day. That way I could pretend I was just like every other sucker out there, going to work just so I could pay the bills. But that wasn’t me. I didn’t have a normal job, and I had enough money to pay my bills for the rest of my life. I’d inherited my grandfather’s position and taken on a new one for the king, otherwise known as the guy who stole my girlfriend. Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled with the situation, but it wasn’t the kind of offer you turned down. Besides, my nature wouldn’t let me. The drive for power was in my blood.

“So what’s the update?” I took a seat at my giant mahogany desk. It was way too big and old fashioned for my taste, but updating my office wasn’t a priority. I still hadn’t even gone back to Princeton to pack up my dorm room. There wasn’t anything I wanted from it. The only personal mementos I had there were pictures of Allie and my mom. I didn’t particularly want either.

“They’re moving outside the city.” Tim paced the room. “We’re not going to be able to hide them anymore.”

“And we’re sure it’s shifters? There’s no other explanation?” I knew the answer, but my life would have been much easier if it had been a different one.

“Yes. You know it as much as I do.” He leaned one hand on a bookcase. His brown hair appeared almost red in the late day sun that was spilling in through the window.

“How big is this? Is it just one wolf pack or several?”

Tim paused for a beat. “It’s also bears.”

“Bears?” I asked with genuine surprise.

“Yeah. It’s got to be them. That’s the only explanation for what happened at Forest Hills.”

“You almost make it sound like wolves and bears are working together.” I flipped through a pile of papers on my desk. You’d think in the digital age, we’d be done with paperwork.