Page 5 of An Omega in Trouble

I drove the cart back to the parking area and went to help Eddie. He was on room service duty today, and we tried to help each other out when we could.

“Hey, take this for me?” He handed me a tray full of caviar and macadamia nuts and a plate of cheapie toaster pastries. Odd combination, but nothing the guests ordered surprised me anymore.

“Where are we headed?”

I helped him take the trays to one of the villas. When he finished, we walked back to the serving area together. “I heard there were people coming in today, and one of the other guys said they were mafia. Like, big time.”

I kept walking but my stomach knotted and went sour.

It can’t be. The possibility that the criminal boss that I was sold to in a stupid poker game had come here, followed me across the country and into the desert, was minute. It couldn’t be. I wouldn’t believe it.

Still, the fear of what-if turned my stomach and made my breaths short.

“Everything okay?” Eddie asked as we gathered up another order.

“Yeah. I don’t like some of the characters that come here sometimes.”

Eddie nodded. “I know but we’re not paid to like them, right? And they never stay long. That’s the beauty of this job. We stay, they leave, especially when they’re gross ones. Come on. Two more hours, and we can rest.”

Chapter Five

Azlan

After the omega left, I unpacked and took a second tour of the villa. After living in the human middle-class world for so l’d nearly forgotten what quality accommodations looked like. The few vacations I’d taken before making detective had been to more pedestrian places, Cabo with a couple of other officers, a week skiing while staying at someone’s cousin’s cabin. Nothing like this.

The living area was large enough to host a party, the kitchen fully appointed. Not that I planned to cook. But the website informed me that not only was room service available twenty-four hours a day, but cooks were available to prepare full meals or anything else the guest required. Two bedrooms, each with a bath nearly as big as my living room at home completed the indoor space, but it was the outside that I could see myself enjoying most. A wide covered patio furnished with lounge chairs and tables faced the pool with the promised hot tub. It was hot in the desert, obviously, but with a pool to cool off in, I could see myself never leaving the villa area.

Well, maybe to check out the club. But not tonight.

Returning inside, I picked up the phone and ordered a meal to eat on the patio. The kitchen promised delivery within a half hour. The way I saw it, that gave me a half hour to take a dip and refresh myself. Wash away all the stress—or at least as much as possible—and get this vacation started.

Maybe that cute omega who gave me the tour earlier would bring the food? Probably not if his job was picking people up at the helipad, but hopefully I’d seen him around another time. I hadn’t had a chance to check the clothing-optional policies yet, but with a server coming, I pulled my swim trunks out of the drawer where I had just stashed them and changed before going out by the pool. I had let the person taking my order know where I would be, so the person could just come around the outside of the villa to the gate.

Diving in, I let the water surround me. The air had cooled somewhat with the sun’s disappearance, but not quite enough to make me want to use the hot tub. A shame, since there was a table right in the middle of it where I could enjoy my dinner. Another night, I supposed. The pool wasn’t long enough for serious laps, but I swam back and forth stretching out my muscles and killing time. My stomach rumbled, but it would be filled soon enough. Then a good night’s sleep and maybe more of the same tomorrow.

Open slats in the patio cover allowed the stars to peek through, and I climbed out of the pool and reached fora towel from the stack on the nearest chair. Refreshed, I became even more hungry. Had it been a half hour yet?

Having left my phone inside, and with no other clock within view, I didn’t have any way to know for sure, although my sense of time was fairly good and it felt like it had been a while.

“Hello?” A rap at the patio gate preceded, “May I come in?”

“Of course.”

The omega who entered was not the same one from earlier. He was good looking and professional, like Trace, but not the one I’d hoped to see. Which was silly, since he’d done nothing to imply any interest in me at all. The server set the tray on the table beside my chair and lifted the cloche to reveal my burger and fries. A wagyu burger and truffle fries, but I still wondered how many people ordered such fare. So I asked.

“I don’t suppose you deliver a lot of hamburgers.”

“More than you’d think,” he said taking the plates off the tray and arranging the silverware on the napkin. “It is very good, and I think word’s gotten out.”

“Now I’m looking forward to this more than ever.” I dipped a fry in the small dish of ketchup and popped it in my mouth. Crisp on the outside and perfectly salted. My teeth sank into the soft interior, and I couldn’t have prevented a happy sigh if I’d wanted to. Which I did not. But when went to add condiments to my burger, something was missing.

“Excuse me, but I asked for mustard?”

“They didn’t give it to me in the kitchen. I’ll run and get it now.” His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out. “Yes? On my way back. I need to return with mustard though.” He listened. “Oh, all right.” Hanging up, he tucked the phone away. “They forgot, but another server is already on the way, so you won’t have to wait while your food gets cold. He should be here in a minute or two.”

I thanked him and he left. Sure enough, almost immediately, a golf cart pulled up outside the gate, heralded by its faint whirr. I crossed my fingers.

“Knock knock. Mustard delivery.”