Island Stripe Pride - Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Hanging around Werewolves was making her way too comfortable with animalistic noises. Maggie would have to be vigilant about that in case she wound up insulting some Shifter or other.
“Okay, fine,” Joelle huffed, “no more sex talk.”
The two females continued watching the old sitcom Joelle had on the TV. Soon the two of them were giggling while they ate and commenting on the show rather than the state of Maggie’s non-existent sex life.
Thank goodness.
Life had been serving the Flint girls lemons for almost a year now, but they still had each other. That was one constant.
Shit, she thought as the credits began to roll. Maggie knew the time had come. She had to tell Joelle what happened, though.
That was a rule they’d made a year ago when she’d first walked into the teenager’s room and explained what was going to happen to her. It was then she’d made the promise to always be honest.
True, Maggie had not seen much of Joelle before then. The girl was fair like her mother had been, with freckles and red hair that made her the prettiest thing Maggie had ever seen.
“So, you want to be my real big sister now?’ Joelle had asked through angry eyes.
“I was always your big sister, Jo-Jo. Like it or not. But I think we can do this together if we try,” she’d returned.
“I guess Dad didn’t want you mixed up with Pack life.”
“I guess so.”
“No more secrets. You know, I always hated not being able to see you. But now you know I’m a Wolf, and you don’t hate me for it, do you?”
“I know you are a Wolf, Jo-Jo, and it changes nothing. You are still my little sister,” Maggie stated, “And I agree. No more secrets between us. Not ever.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
It had been that way ever since. No secrets or lies. Just honesty and a family bond that Maggie had never realized she’d always wanted. Jo-Jo meant the world to her. Period.
“You want to tell me what it is that has you so upset you’re not devouring a second bowl of pasta, right now?” Joelle asked.
“Well, I was going to wait till after dinner-”
“They didn’t give you the extension,” Joelle beat her to the punch, as always, “It’s because of me, isn’t it? Because I messed up at school, and you had to get me. You were late because of me,” the teen whined, trembling with emotion.
Shit. If the girl was stressed, that meant the Wolf was stressed. And that in turn meant accidents happened.
“Hey, look at me Jo-Jo,” Maggie crouched in front of her, careful not to invade her space, but she wanted her to see her as anything but a threat.
“Maggie, back up,” she growled.
“Hey,” she tried again in her most soothing voice, “Remember what Cat taught you? Just breathe. You are in charge of your Wolf,” she told the younger girl, concern in every word, “That’s it. Good. Very good, Jo-Jo.”
“Okay, I’m okay,” Joelle nodded her head, then she jumped on Maggie, knocking her to the floor.
“Oof! Jo,” she wrestled her sister, gaining the upper hand and tickled the teenager until she was crying with laughter.
“Better?”
“Yeah, better. Thanks, Mags.”
After they caught their collective breaths, the females straightened up the disheveled furniture. Joelle was still grinning as she wiped the spilled mac and cheese and began talking a mile a minute about the mysterious Maccon City cat burglar who was hitting up resorts on the beach strip.
“Diana said we’re lucky cause we’re on the end of the strip, and the cat burglar hasn’t hit us yet,” Joelle was saying, “Why is it a cat burglar, anyway? Why not a wolf burglar or a bird burglar?”
Maggie was only half-listening. She figured even a locally famous thief could see the small resort had nothing worth stealing. Not that she wasn’t secretly proud of the little place. After going through her father’s books, she saw that business had taken a huge nosedive the past two years.
About the time her Dad had hired the manager, Edward Coleson. Why her father would have taken a chance on a man like him, she would never know. He was a greasy, slimy, little prick who didn’t seem to like working very much at all.
After she came to the hotel to take up residence with Joelle, and oversee things, he’d been resentful and condescending at first. Then he’d gotten downright nasty. The more duties she tried to take over from him, the more secretive he became. Finally, she found out that he’d taken over five-thousand-dollars from the petty cash the hotel supposedly kept on hand over the course of six months with no receipts for purchases or repairs filed. When she confronted him and demanded he show proof of what that money was spent on, he’d vanished.
Good riddance too. She did not like the way the older man had looked at her or her sister. With him gone, they were better off. The only other problem was Edward had been responsible for sending in the payments to the bank. Only now, it looked like he’d pocketed those as well.
She was certain now that calling Rafe Maccon had been the right thing to do after her encounter with the bank manager. With the Pack’s lawyers on the case, they would hopefully find the man who it seemed was a Wolf Shifter with no Pack affiliation.
Meanwhile, she hoped she could reason with the company who bought the mortgage. The hotel was Joelle’s legacy, and she would fight tooth and nail to keep it alive.
Maybe if she drew up some plans? That might help. With the new beautify New Jersey beaches initiative, everyone was hopeful for better this year. She had foolishly spent weeks working on new advertising plans and ways to improve the hotel’s business.
Fuck, she sighed and tried for calm. Maggie did not even want to consider having to look for other places to work and live. But it was a real possibility now.
Shit. She really didn’t want to have to have this conversation.
“Jo-Jo, we have to talk,” she said.
“Why? What else could go wrong today? Oh, do you want some pudding? I made chocolate with bananas,” she smiled, and Maggie’s heart squeezed inside her chest.
How the hell was she going to do this? Sometimes, it sucked being an adult. She would give just about anything to have to tell her sister what was going on, but from day one she’d decided to treat this like the partnership it was.
The Sunset Inn belonged to Jo-Jo as much as it did to Maggie. Though now some stranger was in charge. The term hostile takeover immediately came to mind, but the bank manager had assured her this merger was in her best interest.
Yeah. Right.
“Wait a minute! What? You mean to tell me some big deal from New York City rolled into town and took over our little hotel? What for? I thought the loan being sold meant we just had to pay someone else more money,” she yelled.
“I don’t know. Mr. Cox said the new owner was the president of a sub-company of ISP Inc, pretty heavy hitters, Jo-Jo,” she shrugged.
“So, what does this mean? Like maybe they give us money to make things better than we can run the place how we want?”
“I doubt it,” Maggie said, “In fact, Mr. Cox hinted I might be out of a job, and, an apartment,” she bit her lip.
“We have to move? This really is my fault -”
“No. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have let it get this far,” she shook her head, “but don’t worry we will find a way. Jo-Jo? You with me?”
“I need,” the younger girl shivered and shook, her Wolf pushing her hard, “I need some air, I’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” Maggie nodded and opened the door to their apartment, “The door will be open in case you need me.”
It was difficult giving her younger sister space, but necessary. She knew from experience. Joelle was a sensitive, spirited girl. She loved sports, art, and music. But her Wolf was also spirited.
Maggie was constantly pushing herself to be ever mindful of the young Shifter’s needs. Mr. Maccon, er, Rafe, it was difficult for her to call him that, was always telling her that awareness of Joelle’s inner struggles would go a long way for the two of them. And it had.
Dealing with the extra barrage of hormones that came with being a Shifter teenager was tough as hell, and Maggie had nothing but respect for her sibling. Sometimes, when her emotions became too heightened, Joelle needed an outlet.
Thus, her wreck room was born. It was a place for her to scream, paint, dance, craft, or just break things. Kind of an all-purpose hormonal outlet room. Hmmm. Maggie needed one of those for herself, she realized with an internal sigh.
“Going to the wreck room,” she growled, and Maggie nodded, carefully avoiding eye contact.
She might be tough as nails, but she was no match for a Wolf. A little while painting, sculpting, or just throwing things, and the teen would be just fine. If only she could say the same thing for her own frayed nerves and worried mind.
After the dishes were washed and put away, Maggie sat down with the paperwork that douchebag Cox had given her to read over. It was hopeless. The business who bought her mortgage claimed it was a merger, but it was designed to push her and Joelle out.
Sure, they would have some money left to buy a condo maybe, but their dreams for The Sunset Inn, or rather Oasis Beachside Resort, the name they wanted for the place, would die. She looked over at the huge vision board she and Joelle had started a year ago, when she’d come into the teen’s life.
They both added to it from things they’d seen in movies or shows, dreamt about, or heard in songs. Joelle was quite talented and had drawn a 3D mockup of the Oasis. Her additions included a renovated mini-golf course and water slide, while Maggie wanted to include a real homemade waffles and ice cream parlor on the grounds.
“We had so many plans,” she whispered as she ran her fingertips over the poster board, willing herself not to cry.
The edges had curled over, and they’d used an entire roll of tape to hold it together, but it was theirs. Looking at the photos they’d taped and glued on top of one another made her feel whimsical. The best thing of all was a brand-new logo and sign that Joelle had designed for the place. No more tacky neon.
Oasis Beachside Hotel in a hand drawn font engraved on a freestanding sign that would be surrounded by actual blooming plants, not a neon circle thing, and strategically lit by solar lights.
The latter was Maggie’s idea. She wanted to make the hotel as green and environmentally conscious as possible. She wondered what the new bosses would think about that now. The clock ticked as she read, and worried about Joelle, the hotel, and the future in general.
Sigh.
A ruckus from outside made her jump. What the heck? Was that a man’s voice?
Maggie was running towards the sound before she even considered the danger. Her sister might be a Werewolf, but she was also a teenager. If anyone wanted to mess with her, they would have to go through Maggie first.
“Maggie! Maggie! I got him!” Joelle screamed.
Three things registered simultaneously in Maggie’s overworked brain, and it took her a moment to cipher through them.
The first thing she registered was Joelle had not Wolfed out. She was currently standing looking over the edge of the balcony with a large cup of something in her hand, and the teen looked like she just won an award or something.
The second thing Maggie noted was the recipient of the concoction her mischievous sibling had whipped up was currently looking up at her from the ground floor with one single, sapphire eye glittering dangerously in the darkness.
The third was the fact that Maggie’s virginal body instantly reacted, warming and swelling under the stare of said eye.
Grrr. She yelped, covering her mouth when even her brain began to growl. Yeah, definitely too much time with Shifters, she thought, and continued to meet the stranger’s stare.