Time pirate 3, p.23
Time Pirate 3, page 23
“Hell yeah,” I said, and I leaned down to kiss the gorgeous researcher.
Joan giggled against my lips and kissed me back passionately, and when we finally broke the kiss, Emily sidled up next to us.
“Awwww,” Emily cooed. “Lovebirds.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I said as I released Joan and pulled Emily close to me. “I love you, too.”
“Good.” Emily rubbed her nose against mine and giggled. “Because I’ve loved you for a long time now.”
Emily and I kissed passionately while Joan squealed in delight.
The blonde woman and I eventually broke apart, and then I took both women’s hands and walked back up the driveway, but we stuck to the shadows. Sure enough, the occupants of the main house were too busy in their own world to notice the three of us sneaking around in the shadows, but to be safe, we went into the guest house through the back door. Darkness laid heavy in the guest house, but we knew our way around. The girls giggled drunkenly as we navigated through the dark house, and I decided they’d had a little too much to drink to make it up the stairs in their state, so I stopped us in the living room.
“Come on, let’s travel here,” I said as I pulled the pocket watch out.
Joan and Emily linked their arms through mine while I adjusted the dial. I remembered that I’d changed the times to travel back to the beginning of my gardening shift, so I made sure the watch was transporting us back to the present day, but still nighttime.
I turned the faded dial and felt the world tilt around us. Emily and Joan shrieked loudly as we spun through the time travel tunnel, and when we landed in the present day, they both looked worse for wear.
“Whoa,” Emily said, and she took an unsteady step and stumbled into me.
“I don’t think I like doing that when I’m drunk,” Joan groaned, and there was a green tinge to her face.
“You don’t like doing that when you’re sober,” I pointed out, but I held a hand out to steady her. “Come on, let’s get you two up to bed.”
The giggly women let me lead them up to the bedroom, where they stripped their 1950s style clothing off and scampered into bed in just their underwear.
“Come to bed, my love,” Emily breathed as she patted the space between her and Joan.
“In a minute,” I said as I stripped off my dirt-caked coveralls. “I just need a quick shower. Don’t fall asleep on me.”
“We won’t,” the women chorused.
I rushed into the bathroom and took a quick, steamy shower, and once I was sure all the dirt, sweat, and grime from both of my working shifts today were gone, I killed the water and toweled off. Then I wrapped the towel around my waist as I made my way back to the bedroom.
“Alright, I’m--” I began, but I silence myself when I spotted the two women snoozing with their heads together. “Ahh, too late.”
I chuckled and let the towel drop to the floor, and then I crawled into bed between the two women. Their snores lulled me into a deep, heavy sleep.
I was the first to wake in the morning, but Joan quickly followed, and then Emily.
“How are you ladies feeling?” I asked as I pulled them close for the cuddles we missed out on last night.
“I’m actually completely fine,” Emily said in a surprised tone.
“Same.” Joan frowned as she rubbed her temple. “Like, I’m expecting a hangover, but there’s nothing there.”
“Well, I suppose, it was decades ago that you got drunk,” I pointed out. “Maybe the hangover time limit has passed.”
“There’s a million dollar idea,” Joan said with a toothy smile. “Time travel your hangover away.”
“I feel like that’s one of those ideas that sounds great in theory, but people would fuck it up.” I chuckled.
“Yeah, probably,” Joan admitted. “People can’t be trusted.”
“Except Frankie,” Emily said before she let out a loud yawn and rubbed her stomach. “I’m hungry.”
“Let’s go get some food,” I said.
We dragged ourselves out of bed, and I threw on a robe and headed downstairs so the women could shower and get ready. Just as I reached the landing, there was a knock at the door. I pulled it open to see Joan’s grandmother, Eleanor, on the other side, and she crinkled her nose when she saw my robe.
“Good morning,” she said stiffly.
“Morning,” I said casually. “Joan is just in the shower.”
“Oh,” Eleanor said as she tried to peer around my frame and into the house. “Well, I’ve just come to invite you all for a spot of brunch. In about thirty minutes?”
“Appreciate the offer,” I said with a nod. “I’ll ask the others.”
“In our family, it’s customary to accept an offer to dine with the hosts,” Eleanor said in an even tone as her steely eyes bored into mine.
“Right…” I said slowly. “So, I guess we’ll see you in half an hour.”
“Wonderful,” Eleanor said, and then she turned on her heel and marched away from the guest house.
I sighed as I shut the door and went back upstairs to tell the ladies the new plan. Emily was still in the shower, but Joan met the idea with a big eye roll.
“I hate when she does that,” Joan grumbled as she tugged her brush through her hair. “Obviously we have to go now.”
“We’ll make it quick,” I assured the brunette. “I do have to work in DC later this afternoon, anyway, so that’s a good excuse to duck out early.”
“Oh, good,” Joan said, and her face relaxed into a smile. “I love when you have an excuse for us to leave early.”
“Yup, and I love you.” I smiled back. Now that we’d finally said it to each other, I wanted to tell them both all the time how much I loved them. “I guess I’ll need to get dressed now, too.”
“No, don’t,” Joan said in a whiny voice as her eyes fell to the bulge in my robe.
I grinned and tugged at the soft fabric belt of the robe, and I let the lapels hang open, so I could flash my naked body.
“Mmmm,” Joan murmured.
The beautiful brunette reached a hand out and stroked my dick gently. All of the blood in my body rushed to the area, and my erection sprang to life, but I pulled out of reach of Joan’s touch.
“You control yourself,” I teased. “We don’t have enough time for that.”
“Fine,” Joan pouted as she turned back to her hair brushing. “But soon.”
“Soon, I promise,” I said.
I changed into jeans and a shirt and then packed my work bag. In that time, Emily finished in the shower and got dressed alongside me while I filled her in on the new plan.
“Alright, I guess we should go,” Joan sighed after thirty minutes had passed.
“Do we know who’s going to be there?” Emily asked as she nervously smoothed the front of her dress.
“No, but don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll still redirect attention from you.”
“Thank you,” Emily breathed gratefully.
Together, the three of us headed out of the guest house and up to the main house. We cut through the kitchen again, and Joan led us to the dining room, where Joseph and Eleanor were already waiting for us. The table had been set, and Joseph gestured for us to sit.
“There you are,” Eleanor said in an impatient voice, and she motioned for a nearby male servant. “Bring the food out now.”
“Sorry,” Joan said, though she didn’t sound it at all. “You didn’t give us much warning.”
“I didn’t expect you to still maintain the same sleep schedule you did as a teenager,” Eleanor replied stiffly.
“Oh, give me a break,” Joan muttered, but Emily kicked her under the table and shot her a terrified look. Joan waved it off and reached for the carafe of orange juice in front of us. “Just us?”
“Just us,” Joseph said with a nod. The old man sipped his steaming mug of coffee as he regarded us. “How’s the guest house treating you?”
“It’s good, sir,” Emily said, and I noticed her voice was squeakier than usual.
“You don’t have to call me sir,” Joseph said and flashed the blonde a teasing smile.
I noticed Eleanor wrinkled her nose in disgust, but she didn’t say anything.
Just then, a few workers filed into the large dining room carrying platters of food. Within moments, the dining room was filled with the scraping sound of cutlery serving up food, and soon we were tucking into the meticulously prepared brunch. Scrambled eggs, sausages, toast, bacon, sliced avocado, pomegranate seeds, thinly sliced salmon, bagels, cream cheese. Pretty much everything I could possibly want for a morning meal was in front of me, and I wasn’t shy about enjoying it all.
We managed to make it through most of the meal without any issues. Joan did a lot of eye rolling, but she answered her grandmother’s prying questions dutifully. As the workers started to clear away the plates, Joan blotted her mouth with a cloth napkin, and then she chose violence.
“So, I spoke to Rosemary yesterday,” she said casually.
I felt the air thicken with tension as Joseph froze, and Eleanor tried to hide the shock on her face.
“Good for you,” Eleanor said after a moment of silence, and she reached for her coffee while pretending to be unfazed. “Will you be joining us for supper later? I’ll need to let the chefs know.”
“Don’t know yet,” Joan said dismissively. “But Rosemary told me a story about one night when she was young.”
“How is she?” Joseph asked suddenly.
I glanced over at the old man to see his eyes had a sorrowful look about them as they searched Joan’s face.
“She’s… okay,” Joan said, and even she seemed surprised at the question. “She has a full-time caregiver, but that hasn’t dampened her spirits.”
“Sounds like her,” Joseph said, and a smile came to his face, but the sadness in his eyes was still there.
“Yeah…” Joan said, and I could tell she was thrown off by her grandfather’s concern for his estranged sister. “Anyway, she told me this wild story, I could hardly believe it. Maybe you can tell me if it was true or not.”
I glanced over at Joan to see her eyes were steely with determination. Emily looked nervous, like she always did around Joan’s family, and the blonde woman suddenly became very intrigued by a loose thread on the tablecloth.
“What’s that?” Joseph prompted. “My memory isn’t great, but let’s hear it.”
“She said there was one night,” Joan began slowly. “Where someone tried to rob the family home?”
Joan gestured at the dining room around us, but she kept her gaze steady on her grandfather, who frowned deeply.
“Rob us?” Joseph shook his head. “I don’t remember anything of the sort.”
“No?” Joan pressed. “Rosemary remembered it pretty well. I’ve never heard the story before, but someone came up to the house with a gun.”
“A gun?” Joseph let out a bark of laughter. “No, I don’t think that happened. I’d remember a gun.”
“Hmm,” Joan hummed. “Really? Because she said the whole family was there.”
“Beats me.” The old man shook his head again. “But like I said, my memory isn’t what it used to be. I can ask Sebastian, if you’d like.”
“That’d be great,” Joan said sweetly, and then she pushed herself back from the table. “We have to get going now, though. Frankie has to work.”
“Yes, well,” Eleanor said as she rose from the table and shot me a withering look. “You better get going then. What would we do without your expertise as a… security guard.”
I could tell the words were meant to be cutting, but I just smiled serenely back at the old woman. I wasn’t going to let this dinosaur intimidate me by insulting my job. I had millions in the bank, I didn’t need her approval.
“That’s right,” I said enthusiastically as I stood up, too. “I really better get going. The other security guards like to meet up and take a trip to the food bank before work.”
Eleanor looked like a bug had just crawled up nose, and her mouth opened and closed in shock.
“Oh, yeah, the one on 8th street, right?” Joan jumped in. “That’s my favorite one.”
Old Eleanor spluttered as she searched for words, but Emily stood up then and waved at the elderly couple.
“Thanks for the meal,” the blonde woman said brightly.
I wasn’t sure that Emily knew what a food bank was, but she was definitely picking up on the vibes. I winked at her before I also waved at Joan’s grandparents.
“See you later,” I said.
Joan, Emily, and I left the elderly couple looking shocked at the dining room table, and once they were out of earshot, we burst into laughter.
“What’s a food bank?” Emily asked.
“A place for poor people to get free food,” Joan explained with a wicked grin. “They’d hate the thought of one of their own going to one.”
“Ahhh,” Emily said with a nod of understanding. “Clever.”
“Well, I don’t need to go to a food bank, but unfortunately, I do need to get back to DC,” I said with a sigh.
“Boooo,” Joan said as we cut through the kitchen. “Surely you can be a little late? You are still trying to get fired, right?”
“I’m already late,” I said with a grin.
“Ohh, you bad boy,” Joan teased before she reached up to kiss me on the cheek. “Well, I suppose Emily and I can entertain ourselves around here one more day.”
“Can we go horseback riding?” Emily asked eagerly.
“Sure.” Joan shrugged.
“Send me lots of pictures and videos to get me through my shift,” I said as we reached the guest house.
“We will,” Emily assured me.
I grabbed my work bag that I’d chucked by the door earlier, and I said goodbye to the women. Then I headed back toward the main house, but I bypassed it and went for the Corolla out front. I chuckled as I noticed the beater car had been cleaned and buffed, but nothing could hide the fact that it was a twenty-year-old rust bucket about to fall to pieces. For the first time, I understood why Joan had such a shitty car when she could get any new car with her family wealth. She just liked to mess with her snobby grandparents, and I thought it was hilarious.
There was enough life left in the Corolla to get me to DC and back, which was all that mattered to me at the moment, and I cranked up the tunes and started the journey back to DC.
Once I got closer to the city, I kept my eyes peeled for any black SUVs with tinted windows, but none stood out as I navigated to the employee parking lot. I steeled myself for a long shift as I grabbed my bag and headed to the museum, and I decided to text Lance on my way in.
Hey, bud. What’s up? Wanna meet for lunch today?
As I sent the message, a dark shadow was cast over my phone, and I looked up just in time to see Joe Petrov’s massive frame step in front of me. I pulled myself to a stop and blinked up at him.
“Oh, hi.” I gestured at the museum behind him. “You going in, too?”
“You don’t need to go in yet,” Petrov said in his deep voice. “We have staff meeting. You come with me.”
“Um, should I change into my uniform first?” I asked, and I gestured to my normal clothes and my bag that contained my uniform and my revolver. The Glock was strapped to my hip underneath my jacket, and I hoped my boss didn’t catch sight of that.
“No, is okay.” Petrov started to walk the way that I’d just come from, but I stayed put. Then my boss glanced back at me and raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry, yeah, but isn’t the staff in there?” I asked as I pointed at the museum again.
“I have new office,” my boss said. “For all buildings I am in charge of. You come now.”
“But--”
“Now,” Joe snarled.
The huge, hulking Russian turned and strode away from me, and I had no choice but to follow him.
But I took a deep breath while I discreetly checked that my Glock was easily accessible.
Something wasn’t right here.
Chapter 16
“New office, huh?” I asked as I jogged to keep up with Joe.
“Yes,” he answered shortly.
“Alrighty, then,” I muttered under my breath.
I lengthened my strides to stay in step with Petrov, and I stayed quiet to see if he’d offer any more information about this staff meeting. But the giant hulking man kept his eyes straight ahead and his mouth shut as he led us back to the staff parking lot. I kept my hand near my hip for easy access to my Glock. I didn’t expect Petrov to pull his own gun out and start dueling with me in broad daylight, but with how crazy life had been lately, I couldn’t rule out any possibilities.
Petrov continued not saying a word as he pulled out a set of car keys. He hit the button, and a white SUV in front of us blinked to life. The giant Russian man headed for the driver’s side door while he gestured for me to get in the passenger’s side, but I hesitated as I reached for the door handle.
I could just walk away right now. Quit on the spot and tell Petrov to shove his non-existent staff meeting up his ass. Every alarm bell in my head was going off, and I would bet all of my newfound riches that Joe here was leading me into a trap.
But even if I did walk away right now, that wasn’t going to get the Russians off my back. If anything, it would probably piss them off even more. They already had easy access to me through my work. If I walked away, they’d have to either get more creative with their information gathering or they’d get more violent with it, and I wasn’t willing to put the women at risk of violent, pissed-off Russian mobsters.
I realized I had no choice but to get in the SUV with the massive mobster, so I sighed, pulled the door open, and climbed into the vehicle, where Petrov was watching me intensely. As soon as I shut the door, the SUV lurched out of its parking space, and Petrov white-knuckled the steering wheel as he drove us out of the parking lot and narrowly avoided an incoming car. I noticed a bead of sweat at the bald man’s forehead, and I felt my heartbeat quicken.
If this mountain of a man was nervous about our destination, that didn’t bode well for me. I made sure I could still access my Glock easily as I pulled the seat belt across my chest, and I decided to get Petrov talking and see if he slipped up about his plans.
