Andrew: Lanning’s Leap: Erotica Shapeshifter Romance (Lanning's Leap Book 5) (3 page)

“Well, that’s what it says.” Nodding, she laid it with her things. “What do we do to start? I’m assuming that you have to get on the phones?”

“Yes. The phones.” Taking the rest of her things out of her bag, she tried to think what this meant. One more person she was going to have to share her earnings with was all she could think of at the moment. Plugging her headset into the phone, she logged onto the computer as she spoke. “Everyone has a number they use. It’s to keep track of their sales.”

“Commissions.” She nodded. Her eyes filled with tears when she thought of how much less her check was going to be now. “And do you keep track of them? Or does the company?”

“Both.”
Fat lot of good it does me
, she thought. “Once you have your day finished, you’ll want to print them up and…why are you really here? I mean, no one wants to be trained on how to do this job. It’s just me.”

“I don’t understand.” Nodding, she looked at the screen and tried her best not to cry. The tears were as useless as her aunt was. “Are you all right? Can I get someone for you?”

“It doesn’t matter. Not at all.” As she let out a long slow breath, she started training him. Telling him mostly what she did when she came in, how to log on, and anything else she could think of, especially how to clock in. “If you don’t clock in, the computer won’t compute your sales. All your work, if you do any, will be lost to you and put in an account somewhere. So it’s really important that you clock into your computer and that no one else knows your sign on. They can really screw you over if they do.”

“Who did it to you? Who is it that screwed you over?” She just stared at him when he repeated his questions. The man was entirely too nice.

Standing up, needing a few minutes, she picked up her chair—the collapsible one that she’d brought from home when her work one had been broken and not replaced—and bag and told him she’d be back. Nearly running to the bathroom, she found an empty stall and went in and locked the door.

It was too much. Her life had always been shitty, but this was really about as low as she could get. She had no money, even though she was working three jobs, no place to live. Very little clothing and no food.

Her car had blown up somewhere along the way, so far back now she didn’t even remember where. She knew that at some point someone was going to realize it was hers and come looking for her. There had to be laws about abandoning dead cars. Her Aunt Jeanie had a nice place, thanks to her and some rich shit that was letting her stay there because she was old and in a wheelchair. Not that she needed it. Aunt Jeanie could get around as well as she could. But her aunt had decided that it made her look regal, and she liked the perks it gave her.

Laci couldn’t even stay with her. Not that she couldn’t, but her aunt thought that it would be better for Laci if she learned humility. Laci was pretty sure she couldn’t get any more humiliated if she tried. But if she would buy her aunt’s groceries, bring her milk, and also take out the trash, sweep and do a load or two of laundry, she would allow her to take a shower. Just as long as she didn’t use her things and cleaned up after herself.

“Like I haven’t done that my whole life.” The door to the bathroom opened and she heard it close. Taking some toilet paper off the roll, she blew her nose and flushed the toilet. Coming out of the stall, she was surprised to see Blair there.

“What the hell are you doing?” She looked around the room, then back at him, not even bothering to answer. “There is a man at your desk that says you’re training him. How did he get in here, and why are you of all people training him? I never gave you permission to do that. Nor did I hire him in the first place.”

“He has an email.” She went to the sink to wash her hands, then turned to look at him. “I only work here. You want to know why he’s here, then I would suggest that you ask him.”

The slap took her breath away. Staggering back from him, thinking he was going to hit her again had her afraid. When he stood there, his body stiff and hard, hands closing and opening, she felt the urge to run. Not just run but never stop once she got going.

“You’re going to sit at that desk of yours and not do a damned thing with him until I get to the bottom of this. And if I find out you’re lying, I’ll take every penny of that commission check from you and burn it right in front of you. Do you hear me?” Nodding, she watched him. “You are nothing, do you hear me? Nothing unless I say so. If you think I’m going to put up with your bullshit, then you’re stupider than the man who just bought this company. He thinks he’s going to make changes. Well I have news for him. No one makes changes that I don’t approve of. You hear me?”

“Yes.” As he turned and left her, Laci looked in the mirror. His handprint was there, bright red against her skin. Taking one of the paper towels, she wet it and put it on her face. She asked herself the same question she did every time she looked in this particular mirror. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Phillip was still at her desk, but Blair was with him. The man who had been in the bathroom resembled the one talking to Phillip in so many ways that she wondered if there were two of them. This version of Blair was polite, smiling, and looked nothing like the monster that had just hurt her. Pulling out her chair from its bag, she sat down on it and started to work. Whatever happened now, it was out of her hands.

“I was wondering about the chair thing and he said you were strange about things. I think someone is messing with you. Am I right? He also said you’re the best, that I’d— Who hit you?” She jerked from his grip, but it did her little good. He pulled her back to look at her face, and she again felt the tears fill her eyes. “Who did this to you?”

“Just leave it alone. Please?” He just stared at her. Laci watched his face and knew when he’d figured it out. “Please? Just let it go. I only have two weeks left and I need this job until then.”

“Why?” She turned to her computer when Phillip asked her the same question she’d been asking herself for three months now. “Is it because he wasn’t aware I was coming? And he was pissed off?”

Shaking her head, mostly to dispel the notion that he sounded concerned, she started to tell him what he had to do to answer the phone. It was easier than telling him that her entire life for the last two years had been such a fuck up. And that she had not a single idea as to why.

“The head phones are to be on at all times. And remember whatever you say in them, even if you’re not on a call, is being recorded.” She pulled a notebook from her bag and handed him a pen as well. “I’m going to tell you things never to say to a customer. Don’t tell them a lie. It will come back to bite you in the butt. Also, don’t tell them to calm down. That’ll make them madder in a heartbeat. Even though you have a script in front of you, don’t sound as if you’re reading from it. They know. And when they know, it will make them twice as mad as they were in the beginning.”

He was writing things down as quickly as she told him. There were rules written down, several books of them that he could read, but there were things, too, that they never told you in them. Most of which she had learned on her own.

“What about turning someone’s cable on or off? Can you do that?” She nodded, her mind drifting to the one time she’d turned someone’s cable on without Blair’s approval. And how much trouble she’d been in. “I know that there are men in the fields, but they aren’t the only ones that can do that, are they?”

“Linemen. And mostly it’s them. If there is a problem with a house, you have to put in a work order and then make a copy of it for your own file, as well as give a copy to Blair. He has final say over all that kind of stuff.” Laci wondered why he did but had never cared to ask. “I understand there is a new owner. He might have a different way of doing things. You’ll have to check with him.”

A woman had had her cable shut off right after Laci had started working here. After doing some searching and pulling up other records, she’d found that the woman had unknowingly been paying her cable bill with an old account. The account had been closed when she’d moved, and no one had bothered to check why someone was paying with a dead account. Laci had been written up on a final warning for having the lineman go back to the house and turn her cable back on for her. She wasn’t even sure that the money had ever been transferred to the new account, as she’d been blocked from the woman’s account.

They answered about a dozen calls and Laci felt herself relax. When it was her break time, she told him where he could go and she picked up her things and put them in her bag. She’d learned not to leave things where anyone could get to them.

“Don’t you have a chair?” She looked at the small collapsible chair in her hand, then at his nice comfy office chair. “I know there are more of these. Or do you just like this one?”

He was kind, that’s what she decided to tell herself later, when she was regretting opening her mouth. Phillip had asked her, not demanded. It was the first bit of kindness she’d had in so long that she found herself wanting to tell him.

“They take it. And my things. I have no idea why. They make more money than.... I can’t leave my things around. Not even things that are company owned. The last chair I had, the third one that I was issued, I had to pay for it when they cut into the cushion and broke the wheels off it. Pens too. I bring my own in because they sabotage the ones that are given to me. Ink gets on my clothing. They don’t write. Or once, super glue was put on my pen while I was in the bathroom and I had to peel some of my flesh off to remove it from my fingers.” Laci looked at the people she’d come to hate. “You should really just hang out with them. Whatever I teach you, you’ll never use it. They’ve not made a single sale or call since I started working here.”

“Have you reported them?” She laughed and felt her heart twist up. “Or is Blair in on it? Is that why he hit you?”

Laci knew she’d said too much. Gathering the last of her things, she told Phillip that he had about ten minutes before she’d be back. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to not come to her desk again, but she liked him. Even with them only just meeting, she felt as if she’d known him her entire life. But friendships could get her killed, and she decided to keep her mouth shut from now on. No matter how tempting it was to unload on him.

Chapter 2

Andrew was sitting at his new desk talking to Phillip through their link when Warren came in. Phillip was telling him everything that he’d learned and some things he had speculated about. Warren didn’t knock but just barged in and sat in the chair across from. He wanted to get up and slap the shit out of the man. Instead, he smiled and asked him what he could do for him.

“There is a young man in my customer service department that claims that you hired him. I don’t know why you’d do something like that when we both know that I’m going to have to let him go in a few days.” Andrew asked him what he meant. “There are rules here. Ones that I have put into place so that there would be a good crew here. I don’t care for you hiring anyone off the streets like this. From now on, when one of your buddies needs a job, send them to a place more suited to them. Perhaps the hamburger joint down the street.”

“Oh? And even though this is my company, you feel that I should run my hiring through you?” Blair nodded and smiled at him. “I see. Anything else I should be passing by you first?”

“I’m so glad you asked. I would like to know first off, are you going to be showing up every day? I use this office at times, for meetings and such, and you have put me off my schedule with you being here all the time. Perhaps I can make you a schedule and you can come when it’s not being used.” Andrew was so shocked that he only nodded. “Also, the personnel files. I know that you’ve asked some of the staff to get them for you, and I wish you’d just stop doing that. I have them just the way I want them, and if you go mucking through them, there is no telling what you might do. I will tell you about each person working here if you wish to know. They’re my family, after all.”

“I see. And you know each person that works here.” Blair told him again they were family. “What if I asked you about your customer service department? Even though as far as I know that department isn’t under your job description, you’d be able to tell me all about the people working there.”

“Of course. And everything is under my job description. I’ve been doing it for so long here that I know it better than anyone.” He tisked at Andrew, and he felt the bubble of laughter come up to his throat. “We both know that you only purchased this place because it was a nice tax write-off for you. Rich men like you, in my experience, get bored easily, and you just buy things you don’t need and then get bored with whatever bobble it was that you thought you’d change. There is no reason whatsoever for you to be here. I have things under control.”

I need to talk to you.
He asked Phillip to wait, he was talking to Warren.
Yeah, about him. He hit the girl I’m training with.

Andrew felt his anger toward the man in front of him double, and he asked Phillip what had happened to her as Warren babbled on about the things he wanted Andrew to do from now on. Mostly to stay home and leave him alone. When Phillip told him what he thought was happening, as well as the rest of what he’d been telling him about the girl, he stood up. Warren did as well.

“Are you leaving? Oh good. I have two things I need to do on your computer. And then there is the—”

“I don’t want you using my computer or this office again. I changed the password so that you can’t anyway. And I’d very much like for you to give me the keys to these filing cabinets today. I want to look over all the records in them.” Warren asked him why he’d do a fool thing like that. “Because it’s my office and my computer, and most importantly, it’s my fucking company. I’m having the locks changed today.”

“Oh no, that won’t work for me. I mean, unless you’re planning to give me the keys. It will make it most difficult for me if you don’t just give them to me when the man changes them out if you insist on wasting your money like that. I would hate to have to have someone come in and take the door off to get in if you don’t cooperate with me.” Andrew asked him why he’d do that when he’d just told him to stay out. “I told you. I used this office when I have meetings. What do you think would happen to this room if no one could get in? Why, it would be a waste of space. No, no. I think you should just leave things the way they are. And please don’t lock out the computer. I have no time to be trying to figure out what you’ve used as a password. As I have said to you, I use that as well.”

Andrew asked Phillip to call him. On the phone. Now. As soon as the phone rang, he told Warren that he needed to take this and to close the door on his way out. The man looked like he was going to argue, but Andrew turned his back to him. It was that or get up and knock the man on his ass. As soon as the door closed, Andrew turned back around and counted to ten. Phillip was laughing when he decided he was as calm as he was going to get right now. He told him what was going on with the other man.

“Yeah, he came down to the department I’m in and asked me what I thought I was doing there. When I showed him the email that you sent out, he then took off. When the girl returned, she was marked. He’d hit her and when I asked her about it, she cried.” Andrew was going to get to the bottom of this shit now. “There’s more. Do you want to hear it?”

“No. I don’t think so. I just wanted to buy me a company, tear it apart, and put in something that I thought would be fun. I don’t even watch cable.” Phillip laughed. “This girl, it’s like we thought it was, she’s the one making the sales, isn’t she? And they’re taking them. I take it she’s not doing this out of the kindness of her heart.”

“Not hardly. And you might also like to know that she’s on the run. I don’t know who from because she doesn’t.” Andrew asked him if he’d taken a walk through her mind. “I have. There is a lot of pain in there too. She has an aunt that is a real piece of work. Oh, and by the way, she’s living in one of Carter’s places. The aunt, not the girl. Her name is Laci by the way. Laci Wintermute. There are some things I’m going to have Hannah look into for me. A shooting in Nevada. She was there, apparently, when things went south, and she hasn’t a single idea why this person was after her.”

“And this is the point where she started running?” Phillip said that he thought so. “Okay, let me look. And I need a favor. Can you hang out with her for a couple more days? This guy, there is something about him that makes me think that he’s the one doing the sales changes, and that he’s going to make Laci pay big time for today.”

“I’d not doubt that at all. But no, I don’t mind hanging out a couple more days. I feel really protective of her. And she’s smart too. When I did my little walk, I found that she’s homeless, so you know. Living in one of the buildings not far from here. I don’t think she’s safe there.” Andrew said he’d have someone watch her. “Good. I was going to do it, but you can. Andrew, there is something incredibly sad about her. I don’t mean like the kind that you’ve lost something and it’s breaking your heart. But a deep sadness that makes me want to take her home with me and keep her safe. I don’t think I’ve felt that way in a while.”

Andrew called the locksmith and arranged for him to come out today. Then he called someone to come in and give his computer a look over, and to install some cameras in his office. Andrew had a feeling that a little thing like locks wouldn’t keep Warren out of anywhere he felt he should be able to enter. Then he called Hannah. He told her what he had heard from Phillip and what he thought was going on.

“Yes. Here it is. Oh my.” He asked her what she’d found. “Grocery store robbery gone bad. Six dead, including the store manager and a cop. Wait, not a cop, but a man dressed as one. They’re still trying to figure out why he was there.”

“Do they have any leads?” She said that it didn’t appear so. “Any mention of a woman by the name of Wintermute?”

“No. But hang on.” While he listened to the keys on her computer click, he looked at his computer’s history. There were things on it that he knew he’d never looked at. Before he could look into things, Hannah spoke again. “Wintermute is mentioned in another article. Several as a matter of fact. A Laci shows up several times in the college happenings, a local college paper as being in the dean’s list...let me see. Fourteen times. Impressive. Full time student. Fluent in several languages. Then there is an obit. Only child of Peter and Sarah Wintermute. An aunt too. Jeanie Wintermute is mentioned. That was four years ago. Doesn’t say what happened.”

“Phillip said that it’s the girl that I was telling you about from the cable company.” She asked him if it was the one giving up her sales. “Yes. But I don’t think it’s so much she’s giving them up as they’re being taken from her. I think this piece of shit here is making her somehow. And she goes by Beth Summer.”

“Her middle name is Elizabeth. And Wintermute? Probably why she goes by Summer.” He nodded and realized that she couldn’t see him, and told her he thought she might be right. “I have to go to the doctor’s in an hour. Max is gone with Kendra, so I’m coming in alone. Wanna take me to lunch and let me swing by and meet this girl?”

“I’d love to have lunch with you. But Phillip is going to be with her a couple more days until I get this figured out, and I will.” She told him she knew he would. “Where are Kendra and Max this week?”

Kendra, the queen of the Genjar that his other sister-in-law was a part of, had decided that she needed some downtime. Last week she and Max had gone to an amusement park for the entire week, riding rides and eating junk food. The two of them were accompanied by the royal guard so no one was worried that they’d get hurt, but Andrew was slightly jealous of the two of them. The two of them were having a blast last he’d heard from them.

“Hiking. And before you claim that sounds tame or something like that, they’re hiking in the Smoky Mountains. Backpacking it across the entire park and taking pictures, Max told his mom. Murph said that they’re living off the land and sleeping in a tent. She was pretty sure that they’re both loving every minute of it.” Hannah laughed, then moaned. “This little guy is really getting huge, and I don’t know how much longer I can go with him in there.”

“You’ve only got a few days left. You feeling okay?” Hannah, was married to Misha—his oldest brother—and was pregnant. So were some of his other sisters-in-law. Linyah, who was married to his brother Thomas, was due in three months. His other sister-in-law, Murph—who was married to Carter—was due in five. While Phillip and Charlie weren’t having a baby just yet, he knew that they would be soon. Their mom was in heaven, knitting every day and keeping the nursery full of booties and blankets. “You’d think Mom would be thrilled with having a baby in the house soon and leave Rider and me alone. But I think she’s harder on us now to find a mate than she’d been before.”

“She just wants to see you guys as happy as we are. And we are.” Andrew laughed. “Are you ready for your mate, Andrew? I mean, if she comes along now, are you going to shove her away?”

“No. I don’t know what I’d do, but I know that I’d be open-minded and open-hearted. I’ve seen the way my brothers have gone about this, mucking things up. I don’t want that to happen with me.” He thought of Misha and how he’d done Hannah when he’d first met her. “Besides, I have you and the rest of the women in my family to knock me around a bit should I fuck up.”

“You know I will too.” When someone knocked on his door, he told them to come in. Hannah laughed again. “I should get going myself. I know you’re busy. I’ll look into this some more and come by to pick you up for lunch. Okay?”

“I’d love nothing better.” He told her he’d see her and hung up and looked at John Wentworth, his expert computer guy, with Blair right behind him. Andrew stood up and moved to the door. Blair was opening his mouth to no doubt tell him he wasn’t going to do this when Andrew told him to get out.

“I’ve explained to you why you can’t do this. Whatever am I going to do if you come in here changing things? Do you have any idea how much longer it’s going to take me to do my job if I have to keep working around your mess?” Andrew only backed him out the door. “Mr. Lanning, you’re making things very difficult for me. And I just don’t like it. You’re not cooperating with me and you’re going to have to do as I want soon or I’ll just have to write you up.”

“Yeah, you go ahead and try that on me. But so you know, I don’t care.” Slamming the door in Blair’s face when he was out of his office, Andrew stood there trying to control his cat and his temper. The fucker was going to make him hurt him if he kept this up.

“I’m assuming that you want the works.” Andrew turned and looked at John when he spoke. “He’s a little shit, but I’m thinking you figured that out already.”

“He doesn’t want me to change my computer because he claims that he needs it more than I do.” John laughed and sat down at the computer desk. “What do you see when you look at this?”

“Cloned.” Andrew knew what he meant but asked him to explain to be sure. “Your computer has a cloning program on it. I would say that the little fucker has done it. Whatever you touch, he can see. History, files. Even emails. He can get into them.”

“You only just sat down. How the hell did you know that?” John laughed and pressed on a few keys, then showed him the running program. He also showed him where the camera on his desktop was running. “He can see me in here?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Conversations too. And to be honest with you, I saw it on his computer out there. I only glanced at it, but it was the same as you have here.” Andrew asked him if he could disable it. “I can, but if I were you, I’d start fresh. If he can do this, which I’m assuming he did, there might be more programs running that I haven’t found yet. I’d also disable the camera on a new one too. You having someone setting some up in here?”