Shane (Mallick Brothers 1)

There was nothing like family sometimes.

I hopped in my truck and headed out. But I didn’t take the turn toward my place. I took the turn toward Fee’s office building.

And I think we all know why the fuck I did that shit.

Even though she told me to take a hike.

I was just doing a drive-by, though, I comforted myself as I switched the wipers on full blast even though it made no difference. I just wanted to make sure she was home and not stranded in the storm.

That was all.

Bullshit.

That was all bullshit.TENLeaOkay, so if the office was kinda creepy on a normal night, it was downright horror movie-worthy during a storm. Seriously, with the power flickering in and out, I was starting to expect someone to jump out at me with a knife and slit my throat then play with my body afterward.

I got a bit morbid when I was scared.

Really, when they were predicting a hurricane on the news, I kind-of figured it was like how they predicted massive flooding from the last thunderstorm… and it didn’t even drizzle. Alarmists, the lot of them. So I packed my bag and headed to work figuring there would be even more business with people warned to stay inside. I wasn’t exactly wrong there, but it was really hard to work up a convincing fake orgasm when the entire building sounded like it was seconds away from ripping off its foundation. I swear when the wind really gusted, the panes of glass seemed to wobble a little in their frames. I couldn’t see much, the windows being up high, but it sounded like the weather man was right when he said it was going to be the storm of a decade. Not being familiar with the weather patterns in the area, I had to take him at his word.

“Oh, yes! Oh!” I groaned, standing and craning my neck to look out the glass front door. “Oh, ow. That hurts. Your dick is too big!”

Yeah, that shit didn’t happen in real life.

Especially seeing as most guys who wanted you to tell them that their dick was too big tended to have genuine reason to worry about their size.

Above me, the rain pounded down on the roof, an unending impossible amount of it.

“Oh, yes. Give it to me!”

Really, I wasn’t exactly sure it would be any safer at my apartment building since I was pretty convinced that when the wind blew gently, the entire building did a wave, but still, I was kind-of starting to regret coming into the office. “Oh. Yes. Yes. Yes!”

Some of the guys made really hysterical noises when they came. I was convinced if they ever had managed to get a real woman into bed, and made those noises, yeah… she would laugh right in their face.

But I wasn’t in a laughing mood as I hung up the phone and ran across the office to really get a look outside. The streetlights out front were unreliable in the best of times, and of course they chose that night to be on strike. Something blew across the street and slammed into a car parked a few over from mine, making the alarm start blaring and my heart fly into my throat.

“Shit,” I hissed as the phone rang on the main desk behind me and I ran to grab it. “For A Good Time, Call… Inc. Lea speaking.”

“Lea, what the hell are you doing there?” Fee’s voice shrieked at me through the phone. The sound of her voice somehow managed to calm me down a bit.

“Working.”

“Jesus,” she said and I could hear the noise of the kids quiet down as she, I assumed, moved away from them. “Are you out of your mind? There is literally a hurricane going on right now. They already evacuated everyone down by the water. That building has way too much glass. You need to get out of there before it all crashes in on you.”

Right. Well, when the boss told you it was time to leave work early, you didn’t argue. I walked with the cordless phone over to my desk, stashing my supplies back into my bag. And just then, of course, the power cut out. “Lovely,” I grumbled.

“Becca, quit being so dramatic,” Fee said, sounding amused as her daughter let out an Academy Award-worthy scream. “Are you going?” she asked me.

“Yes, I’m just looking for my keys before I head out into that mess,” I said, my hand closing around them and I swung my bag over my shoulder.

“Call me when you get home so I know you’re not, quite literally, dead in a ditch somewhere.”

“You’re so comforting, Fee,” I laughed. “I’ll call you.”

“Okay. Go.”

With that, I hung up the phone and all but ran across the office to the front door. The second I pushed it open, the wind took control of it and it literally took all the strength I had to prevent it from hitting the wall and likely shattering. I slammed it closed, pushing my shoulder into it as I locked it. The rain pelted down on me, soaking me through before I could even turn toward my car. I got inside, slamming the door, my heart still a frantic bass beat in my chest. I stuck in the key and turned and… you guessed it… nothing.