The Mane Attraction (34 page)

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Authors: Shelly Laurenston

BOOK: The Mane Attraction
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Chapter 29
“
G
et up!” Mitch tried to wake up, decided not to, and turned over.
“Get. Up!”
“What?”
“You need to move ...
now!”
Clothes hit him in the face. “Get dressed and get out.”
“Is this how you treat all your men, Sissy?”
Ronnie appeared in the doorway. “Why is he still here?”
“ ’Cause he won’t move!”
Mitch sat up. “What the hell is going on?”
“Daddy.”
He frowned. “Don’t start calling me that, Sissy. I’m not one of those guys who finds that hot.”
“Not you, you idiot.
My
daddy.”
“What about him?”
“They’re coming home.” Ronnie picked up the clothes Sissy had thrown at him and threw them at his head. “Our parents will be home in an hour. So get your ass up.”
“Brendon and you will clean Ronnie’s house. We’ll clean this one.”
“Ladies ... aren’t you a little too old for this?”
The two She-wolves rounded on him, and he held his hands up before they could start swinging. “Fine. Fine. I’m going.”
 
 
All furniture was put back in its proper place and anything damaged during the fight between the lioness and Dee fixed or hidden. Sheets were changed, nearly every available surface had been scrubbed, and any signs of feline DNA had been removed. Sissy was just flipping over the couch cushions to hide the claw tears when she heard the truck pulling up.
“They’re here!” Ronnie flew down the stairs, Dee behind her. “They’re here!”
“I know! I know!” Sissy pushed the cushions in and adjusted them until they looked perfect.
Car doors closed, and she could hear her daddy’s low voice complaining about something and her momma’s responding laugh. As their footsteps made it up onto the porch, Sissy scrambled back, her eyes searching the entire room, looking for anything that could tip her momma off.
The family room door opened, and Ronnie and Dee lined up next to her. Her momma stepped in and stopped when she saw her daughter standing there. Her eyes narrowed, and immediately, her accusing gaze swept the room.
“Move, woman. I’m exhausted.” Bubba Smith stepped into the room, but he stopped when he saw his daughter. “Sissy Mae?”
“Hi, Daddy.” She quickly moved over to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. “Did y’all have a good time?”
Bubba grunted. “I’d rather have stayed home.”
“You can stop saying that now that we are home.” Her mother dropped her purse on the table. “Ronnie Lee, your parents are back at their house ... where you should be.”
“Uh ... well ...”
Janie blinked. “Good Lord ... Dee-Ann?”
“Hi, Auntie Janie.”
“Lord, girl! Come over here!” Dee went into her aunt’s arms. “I’m so glad you’re home.”
“Me, too.”
Janie pulled back. “What happened to your face? And why are you limping?” Her lips pursed. “What did Sissy drag you into now?”
“That’s it. I’m leaving.”
Bubba took hold of his daughter’s arm before she could storm off. “Y’all stop it right now.” He pulled Sissy in front of him and chucked her under the chin, his eyes warm. “So why don’t you tell me what’s going on, Shug?”
 
 
Mitch took the sweet tea Ronnie’s mother handed him. He gave her a smile that she didn’t return. She picked up her own glass and sat down on the opposite couch from him and Bren.
“So where is she?”
“Over at Sissy’s.”
The woman let out a long sigh. “Typical. Over there with Sissy, but not over here to see me. Or to see her daddy.”
Mitch opened his mouth to defend Ronnie, but Bren lightly banged his knee against his brother’s.
“You two hungry?” Bren nodded, and Miss Tala let out another sigh. “Fine. I guess that means
I
have to cook y’all somethin’ since that daughter of mine ain’t here to take care of her man.”
Again, Mitch went to tell her she didn’t have to do anything, but Bren’s elbow slammed into his side.
Pushing herself up, she gazed down at the two cats. “Steak all right with you two?”
The brothers nodded.
“The boys are out back with their daddy. Guess I gotta make enough for them, too.” She shook her head and walked out of the room.
“Bren—”
“Not a word, Mitch. Not a word.”
 
 
Bubba walked his baby girl to the rental car. She’d told him everything ... well, she’d told him enough. Enough to know that he could have lost her.
Enough to know she was madly in love with a damn cat. She hadn’t said the words, but Bubba knew the signs. He didn’t blame the cat—it just meant the feline had good taste. But he’d always hoped Sissy would find a nice wolf to settle down with. In the long run, though, all he cared about was that his baby girl was happy.
And because she was a lot like her momma, it wouldn’t take just anybody to keep her happy.
“So he testifies tomorrow?”
“There’s some prep or whatever, but pretty much.”
“You’ll be there with him?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And after?”
“Daddy ... I don’t know. I love him.”
“I know.” Bubba kissed her forehead. “But don’t forget, Sissy Mae, your Pack needs you. But you need them more.”
She wrapped her arms around him and gave him one of her warm hugs. “I know, Daddy.”
“I love you,” he reminded her gruffly and stepped back. “Now you better get out of here. You got a long flight ahead of you.”
Bubba stood on his porch and watched his baby drive away while Dee-Ann waved and headed by foot into the woods back toward Eggie’s place.
“It’ll be all right, darlin’.” Janie slid her arm around his neck. “Don’t you worry now.”
Bubba brushed his head against Janie’s cheek. She still had the softest skin.
“I’m going inside and taking a good look around,” she said. “That daughter of yours was hiding something.”
“You know,” he said after kissing her cheek and watching her saunter away. “I noticed something when Sissy was telling us what had been going on around here.”
“Oh?” Janie said, opening the screen door. “What?”
“I noticed that what she was telling us you seemed to already know. And you got quite a few calls from your sisters the last day or two.”
His mate paused outside the door, smiled, and stepped into the house.
Chuckling, Bubba put his hands on his hips and looked out over his territory. He was so glad to be home. You could keep those boats and tours and cruises—waste of time in his estimation.
His brothers walked out of the woods, already shifted and wanting a good hunt. Smiling, Bubba pulled his clothes off and began to shift.
“Goddamnit!” he heard Janie yell from the family room. “
What the hell happened to my couch cushions?
”
She stormed back onto the porch, the couch cushion in her hand, but when she saw Bubba trotting down the stairs toward his kin, she snapped, “And I better not find out y’all are playing tug again with that damn crocodile!”
Chapter 30
“
Y
ou ready?”
Mitch nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
They’d been back in Philly for three days, his testimony pushed off until this morning. Just as she’d promised, Sissy came with him.
He pulled at his tie again, and Sissy playfully slapped his hands away. “You’re gonna end up strangling yourself.”
“I hate wearing these things.”
“I hate you in them. But you’ve got to look respectable.”
He looked outside the windows of the SUV the cops had used to transport him here. It had started raining last night, and it didn’t seem to show any signs of stopping soon.
“Want to just get this over with?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
He knocked on the window, and one of the police escorts opened his door. He walked around the vehicle and found Sissy already getting out before anyone could open the door for her.
She took his hand in hers, and they walked into the courthouse.
Sissy knew something was up when that cranky cat ADA came up to them. “I need to talk to you and to
her
.” She walked off, Sissy and Mitch following. She entered a room and waited until they were inside, then she slammed the door shut.
“Who? Who was it?”
Mitch glanced at Sissy before giving the female a helpless shrug. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jen.”
She flung a file at the enormous table that took up most of the room. It flipped open, and photos sprayed out across the wood.
Mitch leaned over, moving the pictures around with the tips of his fingers. “It’s O’Farrell.”
“What’s
left
of him,” Jen snarled.
After a few moments, Mitch blinked and stood straight. “Wait. Do you think I had something to do with this?”
“Detective, everyone knows about your mother.”
“My
mother?
You’re blaming my mother?”
“And then there’s your new girlfriend—Huckleberry Hound!”
“Watch it,” Sissy sneered, “or it’s time for a declawing.”
“She’s got an uncle in prison,” the female damn near snarled.
“In Tennessee. And he don’t get friendly with Yankees.”
Mitch held his hand up. “Everybody stop.” He looked at the ADA. “So now what?”
“What do you mean ‘now what’? There’s nothing now. It’s over.”
“Really?” Mitch glanced at Sissy and shrugged. “That’s kind of a letdown.”
“You know what I find truly fascinating?” Jen rested back against the table, her arms crossed over her chest. She seemed to have calmed down suddenly, even had a smile on her face, but Sissy didn’t buy it for a second. The woman was pissed off. “I find the fact that the bounty on your head is already gone fascinating.”
“Yeah, but with O’Farrell—”
“And it’s actually rumored that you’re untouchable.”
Mitch looked like he wanted to loosen that tie again. “Sorry?”
“In fact, it’s rumored—and, mind you, I’m just repeating what I’ve heard—but I have heard it rumored that if you’re killed or hurt or even
touched
in any way, whoever did it will be killed in retaliation.”
“Jen—”
“No. Wait. It gets better. Apparently, this is all coming from Pete O’Farrell. Not Petey. He’s dead. But his son, who you would
think
would still want you dead, if simply on principle. But no, he seems to want you alive and well for years to come.”
“Uh ...”
“Oh, and people in your old neighborhood are afraid to walk past your mother’s house.”
“Jen, I am really—”
“No, no. Let us not speak of it.” The angry cat pushed herself off the table and walked around it, picking up the file and putting the pictures back. “It is funny, though. How one can get so close to their goal, only to have it snatched from them.” She shoved the file into her briefcase.
“All that work. All that effort. Gone.” Both her hands on the briefcase handle, she stood in front of Mitch, looking up at him. “So tell me, Detective, are you planning to stay on the Force?”
Mitch cleared his throat. “No. I was going to resign at the end of the trial.”
“Oh ... well, isn’t that lucky? Now you can go and do it today. Everything seems to be falling into place for you. Your life is just turning
out so well.”
She spit out the last part of that sentence between her teeth before she walked out of the room.
Mitch looked down at Sissy. “Tense girl.”
“Is she coming back?”
“Somehow I doubt it.”
After several minutes of awkward silence, Sissy asked, “What do you want to do now?”
“Well, I ...” Mitch shook his head. “Forget it.”
“Say it.”
“It’ll just annoy you.”
“Just say it, Mitch.”
“Okay. I’m hungry.”
“Mitchell.”
“You asked. I’m hungry.” His grin was wide and adorable. “Feed me.”
 
 
Mitch stared up at his mother. “If I find out you’re lying to me—ooh! Stew.”
He dug into the bowl of stew Gwen put in front of him.
“I’m not lying. I didn’t have anything to do with O’Farrell buying it.”
Mitch let out a breath. “Okay. Good.”
“See, I was gonna wait until you testified first ... then I was going to have him killed. So you could feel like you’ve accomplished something. Then Uncle Joey was—”
Mitch held his hand up. “Please don’t say another word.”
“Yeah, but—”
“No. No more. And it will never be discussed, ever again. Right, Ma?”
“If you’re gonna be that way—fine. Now would you like something to eat, baby-girl?”
Sissy blinked at his mother’s abrupt change of conversation. “No thanks, Miss O’Neill.”
“Roxy, baby-girl. Roxy.”
“Just do what I’m telling ya, Ma. Okay?” Mitch glanced around the table and then at his sister. “Bread?”
Sissy threw up her hands. “You
ate
two hours ago.”
“Why do you insist on having this discussion every time?”
“Because I keep hoping something will change ... preferably
you
.”
“I’m not changing. I like how I am. I’m perfect.”
“You’re delusional is what you are.”
“You two”—his mother grabbed his cheeks with her left hand and Sissy’s with her right, then she squeezed until their lips pursed out and it kind of hurt—“just so
fuckin’
cute!”
“
Ma!
”
 
 
Janie Mae sewed her section of the quilt while three of her sisters worked on theirs. The fourth sister, Darla, was on the phone in the main part of their pie store.
“This is gonna be beautiful when we’re done, Janie Mae.” Francine examined the nearly finished quilt.
They’d been working on it a couple of times a month for the last few months. Janie knew it would be for Sissy and Mitch. She knew long before Sissy or Mitch did. The two of them—thick as planks.
“I think so. I love these colors. But I’ll have one of you give it to Sissy. If I give it to her, she’ll automatically hate it.”
Roberta shook her head. “You two are pathetic.”
“I wasn’t the one who got in a fistfight with Momma at Uncle Wayne’s funeral.”
“She started it!”
Darla walked back in, settling down in her chair and picking up the section where she’d left off. “It’s all settled.”
“Good. And how is Eustice?”
“He’s doin’ fine. Prison suits him.”
“I always thought so,” Francine muttered.
“They think some street dogs got into the jail somehow, so we’re fine.”
Janette rubbed her eyes. “How do they actually believe street dogs got into a jail?”
“Because no one wants to know the truth,” Darla explained. “They’d rather believe a roving band of pit bulls is sneaking into prisons to randomly attack mobsters than that humans are shifting to wolves and tearing him apart while in the shower.”
“That’s just sad. Full-humans are sad.”
“And how’s Travis?” Roberta asked, already forgetting what they’d done to protect one six-foot-five king of the jungle.
“Oh, he’s fine.” Janie gave a brief wave of her hand before returning to her sewing. “Complaining like a big baby. But from what I heard, he deserved what he got. What he said to his baby sister was wrong. And Sammy handled it just right. He’ll be a good Alpha. Bubba sees that now.”
“I told you that boy would be Alpha of this town one day. He’s smart, calm, and I like that mate of his much better.”
“And you’re going to tell Sissy what Travis did was wrong, right, Janie?”
Janie smirked at Francine’s question. “Actually, I told her she was ungrateful, and she should have left her big brother alone.”
Three of her sisters laughed, and Francine stared at her in disgust. “What is wrong with you?”
“I’m not making it easy on that girl. I will not have one of those daughters that sits around constantly talking about how great it was when she was sixteen. There is a whole wide world out there for her, and I expect her to go out there and get it. Nothing is going to hold my daughter back.” She smiled with pride, thinking how far Sissy had come and how much further the brat had to go. “Not even me.”
“Mitch. Wake up, darlin’.”
Oh, yeah. He could definitely wake up to that voice every morning.
Smiling, his eyes still closed, he reached for her, but Sissy laughed and batted his hands away. “You need to get up.”
“Why? Can’t I sleep a couple more hours? It’s not even light out.”
“That’s because it’s seven o’clock at night.”
Mitch forced one eye open. “Then why are you waking me when I just went to take a nap an hour ago?”
“Because you actually went to take your nap forty-eight hours ago.”
Now both of Mitch’s eyes were wide open. “
What?”
“No need to yell. You needed the sleep, I’m guessing.”
“Are you sure?”
Sissy grinned. “Am I sure that you slept forty-eight hours? Yeah, I’m sure. Except for you stumbling to the bathroom a few times, you’ve been out cold. Thankfully, it was not due to blood loss this time.”
She patted his leg. “Come on. Time to get up. Your momma made you dinner.”
“I am up.” He motioned to the tent he was currently making with the sheets. “Time for you to get to work.”
“That’s charming.”
“I never promised you I’d be charming.” Of course, now that he thought about it, Mitch hadn’t promised Sissy anything. He hadn’t been able to. But now, that was pretty much over. O’Farrell was dead, and the bounty on his head miraculously gone—he would not ask about that. Some questions shouldn’t be answered.

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