Page 13 of Ivory's Familiars

“Vaughn said as much yesterday, albeit in a much ruder fashion,” she pointed out, causing Ronan and Seth to laugh. Seems they knew exactly what the other man was like and didn’t care. She didn’t really mind either if she were being honest. She always preferred honesty to subterfuge, which was another reason why wearing a false face bugged her. There was only one problem with their plan; “I understand the necessity and I’m very grateful, but I can’t just have you prowling around the bar, dogging my every step. I have to work and people will ask questions.”

“We won’t get in your way. You’ll hardly know we’re there at all,” Seth assured her.

She eyed them dubiously. They were tall, built, and jaw-droppingly gorgeous with dangerous auras that screamed bad boy. There was no way they weren’t going to stand out like sore thumbs.

“I know what you’re thinking, Ivory,” Ronan’s voice interrupted her thoughts, “And we can blend in when we need to.”

She very much doubted that, “This is a small town,” she reminded them, “You won’t be able to do much blending. I really don’t want the world to know I’m being stalked and protected by three bodyguards.”

“Because you’re keeping secrets,” Vaughn pointed out, his voice rough.

She shivered in reaction to his early morning voice despite the accusatory words he was using. Rather than engaging in a verbal sparring match with him, she simply shrugged, taking another sip of the life-affirming coffee in her hand. She saw Ronan cast a dark look in Vaughn’s direction, who merely raised an eyebrow. The man was clearly unrepentant.

“We don’t want to tip our hand to your stalker either. If he realises his access to you is being blocked, he will either back off or move up his end game,” Ronan explained, ignoring Vaughn’s accusation.

She worried her lip – she hadn’t considered that having bodyguards would piss off her stalker, “Are you going to be in danger here? Is this guy going to resent your presence enough to try to hurt you?”

“Well, yeah. Hopefully,” Seth answered, causing her jaw to drop.

“You want him to come after you?”

Seth shrugged, his shoulders lifting and falling and drawing her gaze, “It would make life a little easier – draw him out, reel him in, take him out.”

He sounded so casual about putting himself in danger. She knew it was their job but she didn’t want to be responsible for putting them in harm’s way. Before she could voice her objections, Ronan spoke;

“Seth’s right. More often than not, just us being here will be enough to force the offender’s hand. But it’s just as likely that he will take out his rage on you rather than us. That’s why it’s so important for you to do what we tell you.”

She swallowed loudly, unable to suppress a shiver of fear. Whoever it was killed animals and jacked off on underwear. She really didn’t want him to focus any more attention on her. She would do her best to follow the instructions and heed the commands of the experts currently taking up residence in her house. But it still didn’t solve the problem of their conspicuousness. She didn’t care what they said about being able to blend, there was no way her staff wouldn’t notice them. Wait a minute … her staff, she thought, an idea hitting her suddenly;

“What about if I hire you?” she suggested, excitedly.

“Um, you kind of already did that,” Seth pointed out.

She flapped a hand, “Not in that way. I mean at the bar? That way no-one would question your presence and you would have a legitimate reason for being there.”

They all looked at each other and she could practically hear the wheels turning in their heads. They weren’t immediately objecting so she took the opportunity to forge ahead; “My head bartender has been at me for months to hire some bouncers,” she looked them over once more, trying very hard not to linger on their biceps and pecs, “You certainly look the part.”

“Bouncers?” Ronan screwed his nose up in distaste.

“Bouncers, huh?” Vaughn’s eyes lit up, the idea obviously appealing to him, “I could do that. Takin’ names and crackin’ skulls,” he rubbed his hands together in glee and she laughed at his exuberance. Of course he would like the idea of that.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Seth acknowledged, “Undercover. We’ve done similar things before.”

Ronan looked thoughtful for a moment and Ivory held her breath. It seemed that Ronan was the unofficial leader of their threesome – at least when it came to business matters anyway. Another minute of contemplation followed before he finally nodded his head, “I think we could make that work. Vaughn and I have actually worked in a pub before anyway.”

Excellent, she thought. She had just hired herself three new bouncers.

CHAPTER TEN

Three days later, and nothing of consequence had occurred in regards to her sinister friend. She had received no new packages, no emails, no letters. It was as if he had just up and left … or was waiting to drop a bomb. Her nerves were beginning to get the better of her and waiting was almost worse than the horrible deliveries, she thought, as she wiped her bar down. It was mid-afternoon and only a handful of patrons graced her tables. Herself, Lee, and Stella – her cook – were the only ones currently working. Oh, other than her new bouncer of course, she amended, trying to discreetly ogle Seth from across the room.

Her three new bouncers, slash bar staff, had settled in very easily. It was disconcerting at just how easily they had been able to integrate into her daily routines. They were right; they could blend when they needed to. Nobody had questioned the three men’s presence and Lee had been ecstatic to learn the men would be doubling as bouncers as well as helping out behind the scenes. He was more than a little smug when they had successfully broken up a fight between three men on their first night. His look had been full of ‘I told you so’, which she had studiously ignored of course.

They had received great pleasure upon seeing Trucker Pete’s face when he had rocked up the night before. The man had been completely sober and suitably terrified when he realised the three huge men who he had pissed off were now hanging around on a permanent basis and were in charge of security. She was sure Vaughn, in particular, was gaining some kind of perverse pleasure at making Pete sweat. Libby’s eyes had bugged out of her head when she had shown up for work their first day. She had told Libby the truth of course, that the three newest Hex employees were actually the private security she had recommended. It had only made her friend drool more.

The past three days had been spent with at least one of them with her at all times, while the other two utilised their secret bodyguard resources to try and find her psycho. They had questioned her relentlessly, asking the same questions over and over again, trying to find any small clue to the person’s identity. She knew they had completed background checks on everyone in her life – including Trucker Pete. So far, everyone had checked out, much to Vaughn’s irritation. She wasn’t any closer to finding answers but she did feel safer. That was despite the fact that her lust had been on a slow burn for days.

As they were asking her questions and getting to know her, she had been doing the same with them. And so far, she liked everything she heard from Seth’s cheeky personality to Ronan’s intellect, and Vaughn’s grumpy persona. They were truly wonderful men.

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