Her Two Bosses (NaNoWriMo '23)

Lunch at the Plaza

At the Plaza, they were directed to a small intimate dining room for special guests. The lunch menu was pre-set up. Leo pulled out a chair for Evangeline and moved a plate setting to give her room to set up her laptop. The men sat on either side of her. Introductions were being made between the party. There was the manager of the club, Mr. Dallas Felts and the accountant for the club, Mr. Corbin Lewis.

"Who is this pretty little morsel?" Mr. Felts, a man with a mud brown suit, matched with a light blue shirt asked. Evangeline felt leery about how he was looking at her. Made her skin crawl. Looked like a cleaned up human version of a sewer rat. His beady eyes looked her up and down like she was a stab of meat at a butcher's shop. Mr. Lewis looked like the live rendition of Porky Pig in a light grey suit and white oxford shirt that was stretching at the seams.

"Ms. Fenner, our secretary and she will be taking notes while we discuss business. Now, we are all starving, so let's not waste another moment." Rake waved the wait staff to start bringing out the meal. The first course was a wedge salad topped of in house made ranch dressing and other vegetables such as sliced grape tomatoes, chives, along with three types of cheese and bacon.

Evangeline cut the salad up quickly. With her left-hand typing notes on the word program, she ate with her right. The creamy dressing prefect with the freshness of the salad. She had to force a neutral face or let the whole table know that she was enjoying her meal very well.

Rake and Leo ate, seeing how Evangeline was doing the task while dining. They were impressed again with her ability to adapt. The men continued to talk as the staff cleared the dishes away. Water glasses were replenished for the second course.

"You know that with a bit of wine, I bet your 'secretary' may like the company more." The human rat laughed. Evangeline attempted to make her face into stone to kept it from reacting. Leo and Rake saw her stiffen in her chair. They did not like the fact that Felts made her feel uncomfortable.

"Continue to talk about Ms. Fenner like that, you will enjoy the company of the fish in the harbor." Leo warned, showing his prefect teeth. Rake moved slighted, like a panther lining up to pounce on their prey. Mr. Felt mumbled an apology. Mr. Lewis looked like he was scared shitless.

The second course was set before them. A filet of chicken breasts, topped with cream sauce and mushrooms. Paired with wild rice and asparagus spears and a butter roll. Evangeline wished she could savor the favors of the meals, but she was still busy taking notes as the men spoke. As she was taking a bite, she noticed an odd thing sticky up from Mr. Lewis's shirt. She lowered her face yet keeping her eyes on it, trying to figure out what it was. What could it be?

"Oh." Evangeline dropped her fork to the floor. "I am so clumsy." She pushed her seat from the table to retrieve the utensil. She was climbing underneath to hide from view of the other two men.

"Ms. Fenner, please return to the table." Rake told her as she yanked on his jacket tail hard. Surprised at her actions, he bent down to where she was. She bought her face close to his. Leo was looking at them in uttered disbelief of their angel. She would need to be punished for her behavior.

"Lewis is wearing a wire." She mouthed to Rake, trying to convey the seriousness in her eyes. His eyes went wide for a second and then deadly cold. He gave her a nod, letting her know that he got her message, loud and clear. Evangeline picked up her fork and returned to the table. A staff member took the soiled utensil, placing a clean one on the table for her.

"I apologized sirs, but I step barefooted on a fallen fork once as a child. I have a slight fear of dropping them now." Evangeline ducked her face, acting ashamed.

"No need to apologize. I bet it was quite 'painful' to step on." Rake spoke, using a code word to let Leo know that something was amiss. Leo nodded, saying that the meal was getting cold (another code word) and best to finished it. The party settle to eating again.

The conversation was strictly on the club business and nothing else at the bosses' end. Mr. Felt and Mr. Lewis at times tried to get her bosses to talk about other things like relations with certain mob dealings. Evangeline kept redirecting them back to the business aspects with questions for her notes. The hairs were standing on the back of her neck about the two men sitting across from them. There was a reason why they were trying to get her bosses to talk. Who could be listening to them? Evangeline already had an idea to who.

It was at the dessert that Evangeline did not lift up her fork. The New York styled cheesecake was gorgeously topped with a caramel sauce and nuts. Leo and Rake looked at her, asking what is wrong.

"I am allergic to all types of nuts and legumes, sirs." Evangeline let them know. The wait staff pulled the dessert away, saying they would bring out something else, whatever she liked. "Do you still have the chocolate lave cake? It was my favorite." The staff nodded, rushing off to get the treat.

"That will go straight to your hips." Mr. Felt snickered. Both Rake and Leo stared at him, silencing him with their glares. Her dessert was bought out. Evangeline was enjoying it while the men finished up the meeting. When the meeting ended, her bosses walked the men out for the restaurant.

Evangeline was packing up her laptop when her bosses came back in, closing the door. They went straight to her. Leo was standing at her back while Rake stood in front of her. His large hand went around her neck, just holding her in place. There was such a dark look in his eyes. This made Evangeline both fearful and strangely arousal. Damn her choice of books.

"How do you know what a wiretap on a person looks like?" Rake asked her, his voice dropping low, sinister. He gave just a slight squeeze, making her take in a sharp breath.

"At times, Trent wore a wire for his clients to get audio proof of claims. I always helped him tape it on." Evangeline told him. He lighted his hold but kept his hand there. His thumb stroked her tender skin.

"You kept leading them back to the business at hand when they were wanting to talk about 'other' things. And you did that well, smoothly in fact. Why?" Leo whispered in her ear. His nose traced the outer rim of her ear. Evangeline fought the urge to bite her lip for Rake was looking at her intensely.

"You two sign my paychecks. You can't do that if you are entangled in something bad." Evangeline was completely honest with them.

"You did wonderful, angel." Leo spoke softly in her ear, kissing her cheek. She stiffened at the kiss.

"Such a good girl." Rake kissed her forehead. "You probably saved us from a court hearing. Come on, back to the office." Rake let her go. Evangeline stood dazed for a moment. Leo called her angel and Rake said she was a good girl. She felt like she just fell into booktok. Shaking her head, she grabbed her bag and followed them out. They waited for her, having her in the middle of them as they walked out of the building. A glance down the street made her see a white van with a company logo on the side.

"Police surveillance van. At the corner, with the goofy company logo." Evangeline stated while they entered the limo. They gave her a look. "My husband worked with the Italian Mafia as their lawyer. He told me everything to look out for. Just in case."

"In case of what, angel?" Rake asked, saying to the nickname that Leo said to her. Angel. Why did it have to sound so good coming from their lips?

"In case I was ever approached by the cops alone. At times, they could be ruthless in their pursuit." Evangeline lowered her head.

Leo reached forward to her. "What did they do to you?" He asked, lifting her chin to look at him.

"Raid our condo one night, trashing it with a warrant. They were looking for my husband's files on his clients. They threaten to arrest him and me for aided and abetting." Evangeline told him, shaking from the memory of being woken up with a gun in her face, ripped from her bed.

"Have you been approached since your husband's death?" Rake asked, giving her a tissue for there were tears in her eyes.

"At his funeral. I told the detective to go to hell." Evangeline took a breath and squared up her shoulders. "Primo should have got the death sentence for killing my husband. Trent was a good man." She looked out the window. They nodded, agreeing with her.

The ride back to the office was quiet while Evangeline finished her notes of the meeting. Rake and Leo locked themselves in the office to work on some 'other' business. Since it seemed that Mr. Felt and Mr. Lewis were now working with the police, the Velvet Rose was going to need a new manager and accountant. Since both men decided to test the waters, Leo and Rake were more than happy to give them a proper sendoff.