Blaze (Queen's Birds of Prey 2)

The phone ringing woke her from a deep sleep. Answering it with her name, she was already pulling on her robe when she had to ask the person on the other end of the line to slow down. It was her dad.

“You’re to give me a key to the house, young lady. I will not be locked out of my own home like some sort of beggar.” She asked him what he wanted in the house that belonged to him. “That isn’t any of your business. It’s my home, and I’m going to move back into it. I might even kick that brother of yours to the curb. Do you believe that he changed the locks on my house like it belonged to him? I’ll show him who is—”

“He is the owner. We both are. When you left us high and dry with back taxes and the house falling down around our ears, we paid the taxes off, repaired the things that you left to fall apart, then had the locks changed so that you couldn’t sell it off, or whatever your plans for it were.” He sputtered about how dare the two of them. “Yes, well, how dare you use the money we were sending you to gamble away. You were to use that to keep up with the house and all that was wrong with it. Imagine our surprise when we figured out that not only had you not paid off the mortgage, but you were nearly sixty-thousand dollars in arrears for the taxes. Then there was the roof that had to be repaired. The water bill was overdue. Not to mention—”

“If it’s fixed up like that, you do know that it’ll be worth more. And what the hell are you doing with a pack of angry wolves on my land? They nearly ripped my pants off running me off. Was that your plan? To have them eat me alive?” She told him it was to keep him away. “Disgraceful thing to do to your own dad. I didn’t raise you to be like that.”

“You didn’t have much to do with raising us at all. Had Bryson not found us both a job, we’d have been not only out of a house, but also with no way for us to stay together. All because you wanted to go to another country to lose your money.” He told her that he’d not done any such thing. “You don’t remember calling home and asking one of us to come and get you? To bring you enough money to pay off your gambling debt? I certainly do. You took all the money I had saved up for my college fund for your stupid habit. Well, no more, Dad. We’re done bailing your ass out and letting you ruin things for us. You’re an adult the same as we are. Get yourself a job and play with your own money. We’re finished supporting your habit.”

“You make it sound as if I’m on drugs. It’s nothing like that. I can quit anytime I like.” She told him that was what all addicts said. “You’re a terrible daughter, Clara. I have a mind not to talk to you anymore. To talk to your own father that way is disrespectful.”

“I’m sick of bailing you out, Dad. Don’t you see? We tried to get you help three times already. Each time you told us that you were cured. Come to find out, you’d been lying to us all the time about even staying through the entire program. Do you have any idea that you’re sick? I know that someone told you that. You need help, and until you can admit that you have a problem, there is little to nothing we can do to help you anymore. Cutting you off is the only way we can save ourselves. I’m sorry if you think that we’re not doing right by you. But if you really think on it, it’s been a very long time since you’ve done right by Bryson and me.”

“I didn’t sell you off, did I?” She asked him if that had been on the table. “Of course it was. When I owed people a good deal of money, they said that I could give them you or Bryson for the payment. I didn’t do it, now did I? Not once in all the times I could have sold you off. Not that I might not anyway. You still good looking, Clara?”

“No, I’m ugly as sin. But really, were you tempted?” He didn’t answer her. “I guess that is very telling, isn’t it? How much, Dad? How much did it take to tempt you to sell off your children, for what I’m assuming was sex, to some person you owed money to?”

“I didn’t do it, did I? Why is it that you and Bryson always look on the bad things that I do? I do some good stuff, you know. So that should count as something, shouldn’t it?” She told him that it didn’t mean shit if he had thought about it. “You have forever seen the dark side of everything, haven’t you, Clara? My goodness, you’re nothing like me at all. More like your mother. She was a nag too. I don’t know why you have to see that not selling you off was a bad thing. I didn’t do it. Don’t I get any credit for that?”

“No—no, you don’t. The very fact that you even thought about it is enough for me to hate you.” He told her that she wasn’t being nice to him. “I guess you’d think that, wouldn’t you? I’m not going to help you, not in any way, shape, or form. And after I tell Bryson what you just told me, I’d not count on him ever helping you either. In fact, I’d not go near him for fear of him knocking you three ways from Sunday. To think that you.... You know what? I don’t want to speak to you anymore right now, if not forever. You disgust me.”

Cutting off the connection, she sat there and thought about how what he’d nearly done affected her. He’d actually thought about it. She knew that he’d not done it, but that didn’t lessen the fact that he might have at any time. Curled into a ball on her bed, Clara wondered, not for the first time, if he was ever going to get help. Now she didn’t even care. She was so upset with him that she didn’t know what to think anymore.

She must have fallen asleep, because the phone ringing woke her again. This time she looked at who was calling, and it was her brother. Bursting into tears, Clara told him everything that she’d talked about with Dad. Bryson was so pissed off that she could feel it through the phone.

“I don’t know what to say.” Clara told him that she’d told Dad off. “Good. It’s less painful for him than what I’ve been thinking about doing to the bastard. As much as I hate to say this, since he remembered it so well, I wonder when the last time was that he offered us up. I’m betting that it was recently, and that it was you. Christ, what a deadbeat person. I can’t believe sometimes that we’re even related to the bastard.”

“I know. I was thinking the same thing last night. No wonder Mom left him. If only we could find her. I’d love to find out why she really left, wouldn’t you?” Bryson said that it wouldn’t do any good, as she’d had nothing to do with them for so long. “I guess you’re right. Anyway, I’m going to see if I can get out of here sooner. Not that I couldn’t just drive home, but I would have to just turn back around and turn in the rental car. I’ll let you know if I do. I just want to go home and scrub this entire conversation off my skin. It’s doubtful that I’ll ever be able to trust him with anything that he says again. Not like I do anyway, but this just makes me sick.”

“Come home, Clara, and we’ll hang out and eat too much food and write him off as he has us.” She said that she would. “The fucking bastard. I’m going to knock him on his ass the next time he comes around. You can count on that.”

“Usually I would tell you that you shouldn’t use violence to take care of him, but the way I feel right now, I’d gladly knock him there a couple of times myself.” He told her that he loved her. “I love you too, Bryson. I’ll be home as soon as I can make it.”

Not only was she able to get an early flight home, but she was home before lunch. She and Bryson stopped for pizza and drinks. Her dad was in for a whole lot of hurt if he came sniffing around them again. The bastard was going to be unwelcome anywhere they were from now on.

Chapter 2

Blaze wasn’t thrilled about having to t

alk to the employees of the new business she owned. Not that she didn’t like to talk—she did that all right. But it was being the center of attention that got her all worked up. And today she was going to have to tell these people what was going on with their new company. She knew it was going to make a few of them quit, but as long as it was the few that she was going to have to fire anyway, she didn’t mind that so much.

She had to stand up on the table to speak to them all. It annoyed her that there wasn’t even a place to hold meetings like this one in the building. Not yet, at any rate. There were going to be a lot of changes in the next few weeks. The room quieted down and she cleared her throat.

“As many of you know, there was a change of management to your workplace.” There was a lot of grumbling, but nothing that she didn’t expect. “As of yesterday morning, my family has taken over. The name will change, and there will be some changes in the way that you’ll work for us, but nothing more. I hope that we can all work well together and—”

“What happened to Deter?” Blaze asked the man’s name. “Why does that matter? I want to know if you took advantage of the old man.”

“No, I didn’t do that. But he took advantage of a great many people that trusted him with their designs. And when I ask for your name, Mr. Shoop, I expect you to give it to me. I don’t like searching for it like we’re not going to be working together.” He sat down, acting as if he had no more interest in what she was telling the group. “For the next two weeks you all will be out of the building. And in that time—”

“How the hell are we supposed to make our bills if you do that? Oh, it’s Mr. Shoop again, in case you didn’t remember. Most of us are working here to pay for things like food and water. You rich people sit around on your asses and make us work for a living while you make money off of us.” She smiled at him. “You think this is funny? I don’t. I’m betting none of the people working—”

“Perhaps if you shut up, Bill, we can find out the rest of what she was going to tell us. I swear, you are the biggest troublemaker that I’ve ever had the displeasure of working with.” The second man looked at her. “My name is Bryson Williams. I’ve been working here for the last ten years. And if you’d not mind, I’d like to hear what you have to say to us. I’m thinking that you already know most of us, and those of us that you’re not going to keep. So, here’s to hoping I’m not one of them.” He tipped his hat at her.

“Bryson, you’re staying, should you want. As I was saying, I’m going to be closing down the plant for the next two weeks. You all will be paid what your regular pay is for those two weeks. My sister Remi is going to take the names of those that wish to pick up both checks today or wait and pick them up at the end of the week, the way that you’ve been paid all along.” People were nodding, and she could see that they were more on board than Bill was. “While closed up, we’ll retool the production lines for the product testing before the blueprints are sent out to the customers. The second floor of the building, which I’m to understand has been closed off for some time, will be cleaned, and a cafeteria will be put in. Hot food as well as sandwiches will be served daily. Those will be part of your package that you’ll receive when you return. All the benefits that will be coming to you will be explained when you return. There will be more benefits, instead of things you might lose. I want you to know that is something that we’re working on as we speak.”

There were a couple of questions, nothing that she didn’t expect, so Blaze answered them. She did noticed that Bryson was taking notes, which was good. Before this meeting, when she and her sisters had gone over the files of each of the people working there, they had singled out Bryson to take over the day to day management of the plant.

“Also, we would like to know if you can think of something, just about anything, that would make your working environment better. Bill, you don’t need to comment on this. So unless you have an actual request, then please put your hand back down.”