Ginny's arrival had given Alvin a new daily task: teaching the child to read and count.
Poor Ginny had happily plunged headfirst into the trap Alvin had woven with tenderness.
"Look, Ginny. This character says 'Daddy.'"
"Look, Ginny. This character says 'daughter.'"
"Look, Ginny. These are numbers: one, two... nine."
Thank God Ginny was a clever, eager-to-learn, well-behaved little girl. Alvin's chubby son in his previous life had still needed to use his fingers for addition and subtraction within ten in first grade—and sometimes needed to add his dad's fingers, too.
For three days straight, Alvin had been in a great mood. He'd even put off hitting up Kingpin for the money to buy a school bus.
The Peace Hotel was open for its usual lunch service that day.
Frank's appointment letter had come through, and he was starting his new job as Director of Punisher's Office at the Community School. JJ had gone to the school to work as a school bus driver and security guard. That left only Alvin, Jessica, and little Princess Ginny at the restaurant.
Alvin cooked the steaks, Jessica served the food and took the money, and little Princess Ginny supervised.
By 12:30, all fifty steaks had been sold. Alvin held Ginny, dressed in a little waitress uniform, and whispered to her about how terrible Jessica was.
"I bet Jess will give someone the wrong change again today. That's what happens when you don't learn math properly. My little Ginny can't be like that. You have to study your math seriously," Alvin murmured in Ginny's ear.
Ginny felt ticklish and nodded happily. "Ginny smart. Won't get sums wrong. Jess is stupid. Nick said so." What an honest little girl! But she didn't need to say it so loudly! Couldn't she see Jessica's glare was practically murderous?
While Alvin, Ginny, and Jessica were laughing and joking around, the restaurant door swung open. A thoroughly obnoxious voice called out, "Whoa, that's a huge dog! I've never seen one like it. Happy, find out how much it costs. I want to buy it to guard my house. It'd be more useful than you!"
Alvin looked toward the entrance. Chief George walked in with a middle-aged man with curly hair and a flashy sense of style. A blonde woman around thirty followed behind them. She had a capable air about her, but looked tired and haggard, as if something was weighing on her mind. A tall, heavyset white man came in with them, presumably a bodyguard.
The flashy man wore tinted sunglasses and surveyed the restaurant without a hint of restraint. He followed Chief George to the counter and took a seat.
Jessica ignored the flashy guy and served lemonade to Chief George and the blonde woman at the counter. The burly bodyguard stood behind the flashy man, wearing dark sunglasses with his arms crossed in front of him. He looked like the sort who didn't need to be served.
The flashy man wasn't angry at Jessica for ignoring him. Instead, he stroked his little mustache and mused, "Maybe I've been out of the spotlight for too long. This girl's actually treating me like this!"
Chief George was clearly fed up with the flashy man, too. He turned to Alvin and said, "Buddy, this is Miss Potts, a witness to the vampire incident. She's Mr. Tony Stark's assistant. Mr. Stark is very concerned about Miss Potts and insisted on coming here with her."
Alvin, of course, knew Tony Stark. The opening of the Marvel movies—the Iron Man! What was he in this world, though? Especially in a world where vampires had appeared, Alvin wasn't sure it was the same world as the movies he'd watched in his previous life.
Alvin smiled. "Looks like Mr. Stark is very concerned about his beautiful assistant." To be honest, Alvin had liked the character of Stark a lot in his previous life. But now that the man was standing right in front of him, flesh and blood, Alvin felt an urge to punch him in the nose and let the dogs have a go at him.
That was because Mr. Stark's gaze was currently circling Jessica. He even said, "Stark Industries would like to invite you to work in the chairman's office. The position is assistant to the assistant, with an annual salary of five hundred thousand dollars."
He was not only leering at my waitress, but trying to poach her, too. That was too much to tolerate.
Alvin's expression cooled. Looking at Potts, he said with a mocking smile, "Hey, gorgeous. I'm Alvin. Is your boss used to trying to pick up women by offering them assistant jobs and a fifty-thousand-dollar salary, or does he usually go for assistants making five hundred thousand?"
The somewhat aloof Potts didn't answer Alvin's rather rude question. She said impatiently, "Chief George asked me to come here to answer your questions. Please don't waste my time."
Stark had clearly heard Alvin's jab. He curled his lip and said in an obnoxiously smug tone, "Pepper, just treat this as a chance to unwind. There's no such thing as vampires in this world. You're just exhausted."
Stark turned to Alvin. "You should tell this, uh... exorcist fellow about the things you imagined. Maybe we can watch an amusing magic show! It'll be a nice way to relax."
Chief George covered his face in despair. He felt that bringing Stark along had been a terrible decision, and he had a bad feeling things were about to get much worse.
Alvin almost laughed from sheer annoyance. He glanced at the awkward Chief George and said, "How has this guy survived with a mouth like that?"
"Because I'm a billionaire, a genius inventor, and the chairman of Stark Industries." Stark glanced at his watch, then looked at Jessica. "We're short on time. Have you made up your mind, miss?"
Jessica didn't particularly want to deal with Stark. She just couldn't bring herself to like a guy who practically had the words "I'm rich" tattooed on his forehead.
But seeing Alvin's displeased expression somehow made her feel better. He does care about me!
Feeling mischievous, Jessica pressed her lips together and gave him a shy smile. "Thank you for the offer, Mr. Stark." As she spoke, she held out her hand and shook his.
Stark shot Alvin a smug glance and shook Jessica's hand. He was just about to toss out a witty remark when he realized the girl's hand was like a tiger trap, clamping around his right hand and gradually tightening.
Stark sensed something was wrong. He struggled to keep smiling while desperately trying to get his hand free.
If you ignored Stark's expression, he looked like a lecherous man taking advantage of a woman, holding her hand and refusing to let go.
His bodyguard and Miss Potts clearly thought so, too. Chief George didn't even want to look at him.
Alvin watched, amused, as the prideful Stark stoically endured the pain and frantically shook his right hand, trying to break free of Jessica's grip. When he finally couldn't take it anymore, he shouted, "Happy!"
His bodyguard only then snapped to attention. He saw that his boss was sweating from the pain and reached for Jessica's shoulder, but suddenly felt his pant leg being lifted. Then his feet left the ground, and his face got to test how hard the restaurant floor was.
The teeth-rattling crack made it clear that Happy's face had lost badly.
The culprits, Thor and Dom, sat on the floor, each wolf holding one of Happy's pant legs in his mouth.
No matter how much Happy struggled on the ground, his feet couldn't reach the floor to push off. He looked more like a fat worm wriggling around.
Seeing his bodyguard taken down by two dogs, Stark wisely raised his left hand and said through gritted teeth, "Okay, okay, I give up. I apologize for being rude!"
Alvin motioned for Jessica to let Stark go, then smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Stark. I used to be your fan."
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