Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4) novel Chapter 18

Francie was already in the conference room when Natalia arrived.

“Good morning,” Francie said in a loud, clear voice, sounding so happy to be where she was.

Natalia flinched at the loudness of her voice.

“Good morning,” Natalia said in a louder than usual voice, but not so loud as Francie. This wasn’t a competition.

Despite her loud voice, Natalia found herself laughing and enjoying Francie’s company.

“You two sound like you’re having a blast.” It was Ravi’s assistant.

“Hi, Caidy,” Francie said.

“And you’re Nattie?”

“Yes, we were never formally introduced.”

“I’ll be at this week’s meeting,” Caidy said using the quiet voice.

“Yes, we’re having fun while we sort. Such a boring job, but someone has to do it,” Francie said, using the louder voice.

The conversation turned to food and they started comparing some of the worst things they had ever eaten. Natalia ignored anything Viperian and she noted the other two did the same.

However, Ravi didn’t make an appearance.

“See you later,” Caidy said, leaving them after an hour.

“Excuse me a moment,” Francie said after Caidy had left. She almost pranced down the hall toward Ravi’s office.

“Oh, I am so sorry...”

Natalia heard her say.

“I turned the wrong way to the restrooms. Oh my, do you golf?”

Natalia stepped to the doorway and heard every word. No wonder Francie had been talking golf. Ravi was an avid golfer.

“Sherri’s done her research,” Natalia said while she listened to Ravi eagerly discussed some of the elite courses where he had played.

It was almost an hour before Francie broke away and returned to the conference room. She looked happy.

Lunch was again sack lunches that were delivered, but toward the end, Ravi strolled down the hallway.

“Making progress I see,” he said. “Nice to see you again, Nattie.”

“Yes, with the two of us, we’re making quick work of these boxes.”

“I hear there are plenty more,” Francie said. “But I don’t mind. Did you have a good lunch?”

He nodded.

Francie started to sort files and Natalia followed suit.

“We’re not bothering you, are we? As we talk? Makes the time go so much faster.”

He shook his head and stood there.

Francie continued to chatter. Natalia chimed in when she could and she put a smile on her face.

Ravi stood there sometime watching before Uri came up behind him.

“Meeting,” Uri said, and they both left together.

Francie winked and smiled. She remained quiet until, Ravi walked past a few hours later. She resumed her chatter. However, it seemed like only a short time later...

“Oh my. Five already,” Francie said. “See you tomorrow, Nattie.

“Good night.”

Natalia walked down to Uri’s office. He was finishing a phone call.

“Just one moment more,” he said.

Natalia waited by the elevators.

“I haven’t seen Sophie in a while,” she said when Uri joined her to wait for an elevator.

“She’s been working on a project and driving herself,” he said.

The elevator dinged. Natalia was actually thankful their conversation ended. She enjoyed the silence the whole ride home.

“You’re quiet,” Uri said when he helped her out of the limo.

“I’m working with Francie, and she babbles all day. It’s nice to have quiet.”

“We’re having a guest for dinner, but we don’t have to talk much,” he said.

“Who?”

“Grazie. He’s going to go over a few more things with the knife.”

She nodded.

Mag was letting Grazie in when they came back down the stairs after they had changed.

“Evening,” Grazie said.

He looked his usual happy self.

“Evening,” Uri said. “You tired out yet?”

Grazie laughed.

They sat down to dinner.

Natalia found herself looking forward to the raw meat.

“How many does that make?” Uri said after his first bite.

“Just four,” Grazie said.

“Even counting Tia’s?” Uri said.

“Yes. I’m keeping count.”

“What are you talking about?” she said.

“Children,” Uri said.

“One on the ground, three in the oven,” Grazie said with a grin. “I’m betting there’ll be two girls and another boy.”

“Sherri’s is a girl,” she said.

“Yes, I know,”Grazie said.

“I didn’t think Viperian men cared,” she said.

Grazie looked up at her and for a moment he looked serious, then he smiled.

“I can only be a father to them when I’m allowed. Tia and Sherri won’t let me. I know Corean wants me to. And I know Besa does as well. I’ll be very happy to do so.”

“Was Besa out in a parking lot, too?”

She was somewhat surprised by what she had seen versus what Grazie just said on Viperian fathering.

Grazie laughed.

“No. We used her garage. I might have overdone it. She had to take Monday off of work. I guess she had a black eye. We needed a bigger garage.”

Uri chuckled.

“You can always use mine.”

“What about you? Just the one?” he said with a nod toward Natalia.

“What are the rumors?” Uri said.

She heard the hint in Grazie’s voice.

“Mina is boasting a Uri baby. Besa told me. I guess we were one day after you.”

“I won’t be nurturing that one.”

“I also heard it took three tries.”

“I have Nattie. Hard to look at another woman.”

Grazie almost laughed himself off his chair.

“Eat,” Uri said, pretending to be offended, but he ended up chuckling as well.

Dinner passed quickly, then they all went to the garage.

“Show me what you did,” Grazie said, handing her a short stick.

“When?”

“When you dispatched your attacker.”

“Oh. He grabbed me by the waist, then one hand went up to fondle my assets.”

Grazie chuckled when he put his arms around her.

“I won’t fondle the assets,” he said. “Then what.”

She stuck the stick in his side, twisted and repeated the same moves.

“So you stabbed him in the side, twisted the knife, then as he pulled away and you turned and gutted him out.”

“Then I back slashed across his face, and the knife ended here and then he lunged forward and grabbed me.”

“He lunged into the knife?”

“He was high on kite,” Uri said.

“Oh,” Grazie said as if that explained everything.

“By the time Verle did clean up, he was bled out,” Uri said.

“Nice. And the knife was retrieved.”

“I retrieved it,” she said.

“You didn’t run?”

“No.”

“Next time, you run. Never assume your attacker is dead or disabled. Even with a knife in him, he could have grabbed you again and used the knife on you.”

“Okay.”

She swallowed hard, seeing what he meant.

“This is not a valuable knife. Don’t ever fear losing it. It’s easily replaced.”

“Besides, we have a good cleanup crew,” Uri said.

“Yeah, you should know,” Grazie said. “Okay, Uri. You grab her like this.”

Grazie demonstration how he wanted Uri to hold her.

“To get out of this hold, you go for weak points based on where the hands are. By nature you want to twist or flail arms backward to escape. For this particular hold, you move swiftly inward. His thumbs are the weak link, then you jab back out.”

Natalia did like he said with some force and was able to get out of Uri’s hold.

“You’re going to make my life in the bedroom more interesting after this,” Uri said, keeping a straight face.

Grazie doubled over laughing.

“Hey, focus here,” he said as he recovered.

“I’m focused,” Uri said. “And so is Nattie. What about you? Stud boy.”

Grazie smiled but regained his composure. Uri grinned back at him.

“Okay, next hold…”

The evening flew by. It was Mag who interrupted them.

“Cookies,” she said before turning and disappearing into the house.

“Gotta go,” Grazie said, but he followed them in and left through the front door.

“What’s in the cookies?” Natalia said, picking one up.

Uri just laughed. Mag was nowhere in sight.

Natalia went to bed with no answer.

Wednesday morning was a repeat of Tuesday with the exception that Francie stayed quiet. Natalia wondered what was up especially since Ravi didn’t make an appearance.

“Ravi not around?” Natalia said when they sat with their sack lunches.

“I was told he was in meetings all morning,” Francie said in a low voice.

They were almost done when Natalia felt the vibration from Caidy. Francie let loose a loud giggle. A moment later, Ravi walked by, glancing in at them. He smiled, but continued on his way.

“We’ll give him an hour to settle,” she said in a quiet voice, then she upped her volume.