G R E Y

“I don’t need your leadership advice. I don’t see you running a successful pack…or whatever it is you kitty cats have.” Rolling his eyes, Cal signaled the bartender to close out his tab. Tapping his hands on the bar=top, he added, “Why don’t you throw that guy’s first drink on there?” he nodded toward Grey, a smirk playing on his lips. “I have a feeling his financial situation is going to get a lot worse real soon.”

“You do realize we live in a half-abandoned city, right?” Lennox laughed, shaking his head. The list of romantic spots was pretty small. He knew he would figure out the right way to do it, but the pressure of proposing in the perfect way (because despite what Sage said, Lennox thought it had to be perfect) was weighing on him. “Enough about my bullshit. How are you doing? Did you go to that party the other night?”

“Why do you care? It would be better for you if something major did happen to me.” Cal down the rest of his drink, wiped his mouth, then faced Grey again. The few people sitting between them had slipped away, clearly afraid something bigger than a verbal spat was going to occur. “Because my word does matter. My pack has a lot of pull in this city and with the type of people who hire you. So, if I start spreading the word about how terrible you are at your job - well, Shadowfalls might not be the sanctuary for you.”

“What? You mean to tell me you don’t want to give the pole a whirl,” he joked. “I’ve always got some work, but how are you with getting your hands dirty? Disposing of ends that may have already been tied? Or wiping the slate clean as if the ends never existed?” he wondered. 

Ends that had already been tied... Grey kept his face carefully blank, but that sounded an awful lot like ‘innocent people killed by vampires’ thirst’ and as hard as Grey was working to be okay with shit like that, it was the kind of thing that made him want to pull out the stake he kept in his boot --just in case-- and take out this vile nest right here and now. But instead, he just gave a slight shake of his head. “Nah man, I wouldn’t know much about that kind of thing.”

Cal ground his teeth. He wasn’t usually one to weigh his options, but he wasn’t a total idiot. He knew if he took a swing at Grey, they would both walk away with more than a black eye, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to give Candy a reason to play non-sexy-time doctor. So, instead of swinging, Cal gripped his glass harder. He was so tense that his jaw twitched. “One thing. Where someone came to the club, unannounced. And besides, the guards at the club are just hired hands. They aren’t my guys. But yeah. Whatever. If I have my way about it, you won’t be able to work in this city much longer and I’ll finally see the last of you.”

Lennox rubbed his face, as if that might help clear his thoughts. Of course, it didn’t. “No one knows anything about it. Isn’t there anyone in this town who knows something about getting engaged? Other than the whole buying a ring part?” Lennox supposed this was his own fault. He was the one who had waited so long. “I don’t know! Maybe it’s that simple. But what if it’s not? I think I’d rather stick my head in ice water than plan this.”

“You know…everything in me right now wants to say get your own drink and call you an ass, but I’m a lover of free things. So I’m going to get it.” She saw one of the servers and she headed their way, making sure to put her drink on his tab as well. She came back with a beer for him and a whiskey sour for her. “I should probably say thanks for the drink. So thanks. I’m Skye.” 

Grey knew that he was liable to get his drink thrown in his face, but on the off chance she wanted a drink more than she wanted righteous justice, he’d take the risk. It paid off when she brought him a beer, and he smiled, victorious. “Thanks, you’re a doll.” He nodded to her as she introduced herself. “Nice to meet you, I’m Grey.”

“It’s my goal to have dancers in here that have you completely mesmerized. I probably would have done the same thing. I’d be a bad business man if you wanted to look anywhere other than at the talent. I consider it a compliment.” 

“In that case I guess you’re succeeding,” Grey nodded, he couldn’t argue with the results. “Speaking of business, I’m looking for work if you’ve got any. Not on the stage, obviously, but if you’re got any ends that need tying up, or anything....”

“Ah, there you go again, passing the buck because you can’t just own up and admit to the fact that you fucked up a job.” Cal rolled his eyes, swiveling around on his bar stool to get a good look at Grey. Damn the werecat for ruining his night at the club. “Or that you purposefully fucked up a job, anyway. No one in my ranks would double cross me like that. It’s a no win situation, and none of them are dumb enough to try it. Stop trying to blame them for your failure.”

Lennox snorted, “Yeah, it’s not a hard guess. Catticus doesn’t exactly hide his hatred.” It was a miracle no one had thrown a huge fit about the cat yet - especially since Catticus liked to bully customers he didn’t like. Lennox plopped into the chair across from Grey and sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I need to plan a proposal. A marriage proposal. And you know what? I think planning that part might actually be more frightening than the idea of marriage.”

Lennox glanced at Catticus, who was lounging by the window. For a cat that refused to go back outside, he sure liked to watch the people on the street. “Well, at least he’s not specifically targeting you anymore. There are a few customers he really hates.” All of those customers happened to be werewolves, so Lennox didn’t feel the need to scold the cat. He kept shelving the books in his arms, glancing back at Grey as he did so. “So, are you in here for a quick cup or do you have time to chat?”

Cal’s jaw twitched at the sound of the familiar voice. Shadowfalls might’ve been a city that was growing every day, but he still managed to run into this particular guy more often than he cared for. Rolling his eyes, Cal straightened up on his stool. “They care. They might just suck. They wouldn’t be the only ones in this city who are terrible at their job. You know all about that.”

Skye was for a change watching other people take off their clothes and she enjoyed watching. She was getting up to track down a server when she heard someone speaking and requesting another beer. She turned with a frown. “I don’t work here. I didn’t accidentally dress like the servers did I?” She looked down at herself to see that she wasn’t dressed like them. Her eyes were looking out for servers close by but not finding one. 

Grey cast only a cursory glance towards the girl, it was dark in here and she was wearing more clothes than the dancers. “Close enough. Tell you what, you bring me a beer and I’ll buy you a drink too,” he offered, figuring it was better than getting up to try and find a server.

Roman chuckled at he was passing to hear Grey say that he’d have another beer. “I wasn’t asking, but I’d be happy to get one of the servers to get you one. Enjoying yourself I see!” he chuckled as he held up a hand to wave down one of his servers and let her know to get him another beer. “One beer is on the way though. Imagine had I been some random person, he said amused. 

Grey glanced up as he heard the familiar voice, giving a good-natured grin. “Oh, yeah, sorry man,” he tore his gaze away from the stage to nod to the owner of the club as flagged down the server, nodding to her gratefully. “Thanks, yeah, that probably would’ve been awkward. Probably would’ve thought I was a total dick... assuming you don’t think that already,” he shrugged.