Page 47 of Dubious Match
“I do,” Hollis says. “Do you?”
“Apparently mafia men,” he says.
“The thing is, not everyone has the ability to work a nine to five,” she explains. “Those who work in hospitality, sex workers, or even college students studying late. After about ten at night, the city turns into a very dangerous place. We’re having issues with traffickers who look for vulnerable omegas who are alone.”
“We,” Brice says slowly.
Hollis shrugs, pushing her hair over her shoulder. “I left home, I wasn’t able to leave the rest of my life,” she says. “Brice, you saw the kind of calls that I take. Last week, I got pulled into a meeting with the senior mafia heads to discuss the Forever Yours event. The initial reason I decided to do it is because I hear first hand the issues that Emilia Richardson creates. Aisling recently had someone infiltrate the shelter under the guise of needing help.”
“What happened?” I ask. Aisling and Omega’s Haven is important to us, as is their ability to stay hidden. I’m starting to see the larger picture of why Hollis’ event is so needed.
God, I feel like an ass. I told her she was an ‘alpha pimp’. Fuck my life.
“The girl tried to get close to one of the other women at the shelter and then lured her out the door,” Hollis says. “There was gunfire, a fight, and Aisling killed her. No one fucks with her people.”
“Wow,” Remy mutters. “I have never gotten those kinds of vibes from her.”
“In her defense, the girl shot at Aisling first. Emilia is getting more and more bold,” she says.
“Okay wait,” Malcolm says. “What are you doing for security for this event?”
“That was the other part of my meeting with the senior families.” Hollis tears a piece of bread off as she explains, before popping it in her mouth. “Fuck, this is good. They’ve decided to provide the security for it. I was going to hire a team, but some of them will be dressed as if they’re part of the event as they mingle. They’ll be listening and watching to ensure everything goes smoothly.”
“Walk me through it?” I ask.
I like logistics. It’s why I’m in charge of both the warehouse and the call center. Morale is high at both places, there is continuous communication and training to help with any hiccups, and I have a walkie talkie I keep with me at work.
I want to make sure she’s going to be safe, as well as everyone else.
“Sure,” Hollis says. “There will be several people checking in packs and omegas at the door. There is plenty of parking there, so that shouldn’t be a problem. I am considering doing free valet parking and asking some of the college kids I know to help out. Security will surround the perimeter, walk the event, and ensure everyone is there that should be. I’m more concerned about alphas and packs behaving themselves, which is why the familiesare only recruiting packs that have an omega or betas. While I’ll have decent ventilation and it’s outside, there will be a shit load of pheromones at this event.”
“Damn, you thought of everything,” I murmur. “Can we help with check in? Security isn’t really something that is our forte, but organization is. Set us up with a clipboard or whatever you’re using, and we can keep things moving for you.”
“If you also give us a rundown of what the event activities look like, we can also answer any questions people have as they walk in,” Mal adds. “It’ll cut down on anyone’s confusion, and one of us can be in charge of any welcome packets you may be giving along with the gift bag they’re getting.”
“Wow,” Hollis says with wide eyes.
“Tell me that we can’t run the front end of this event for you better than some mafia men,” Brice teases with a sexy smirk.
“Why was that so hot?” she mutters. “This would honestly help if you want to be involved with the day of activities. You’re also creating the gift bags, which would be a good way for people to attach a face to your company.
“Meh,” I grunt. “I don’t really care about that. We just want you to be able to enjoy the event. They’re crazy, busy, and have to be stressful. If it’ll cause less stress, we’d love to help.”
Mal nods. “Felix single-handedly runs our call center and warehouse,” he says proudly. “Training, organization, and shipping issues or customer service problems he can handle. If it needs to be escalated, then it goes to?—”
“Me,” Brice says. “It’s rare that I need to get involved now. They're sex toys, not world peace.”
Hollis chuckles under her breath as she takes the last bite of her lasagna before getting more comfortable in her seat with her wine. It makes me wonder how she’d look curled up in our porch chair with a fire, under a blanket.
“This is true,” she says. “Okay, I would love to accept the help. For the most part, I just have a few more spots to fill. I’ll be making personal calls over the next week, or returning calls from those who expressed interest after the radio show I did last Friday. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
“Us?” I ask with a grin. “We called a few stations to tell them about your event, um, theoretically.”
Hollis’ deep rich laugh makes the four of us lean forward to drink it in. I want to hear her make that sound while she’s naked, very badly.
“Well, theoretically, it was a very out of the blue but a nice surprise,” she says. “I was asked about the ROWS event, and I was as honest as I could be. Emilia and her group are fucking diabolical. They’ve managed to surprise me and pull some of my own clients to their side.”
“Like packs?” I ask worriedly.
