Chapter Nine
Bear
“PLANS?”
I filled my coffee cup and leaned against the counter. “Find Dr. Douche.”
“Sounds simple,” Greta laughed. She was sitting in the living room dressed for the day with a bagel in one hand and a cup of orange juice in the other. “Think you’ll wrap that up before lunch?” she joked.
“Maybe,” I drawled. I grabbed my bagel from the toaster and smothered it with cream cheese. “What about you?”
Greta sighed and set her orange juice on the coffee table. “Well, I need to go grocery shopping. Which, I know Luna is not going to want to do, but I don’t think we can live off bagels and cream cheese until you catch Dr. Douche.”
“Probably not seeing that we ate the last two bagels this morning.” I set the bagel on a plate and moved to the kitchen table. “You sure you don’t want to sit at the table?”
Greta shook her head. “My ass can’t handle the kitchen chair this morning. I think I sat too much on them yesterday.”
“So, grocery shopping and what else?” I asked.
Greta shrugged. “Not really sure. I mean, we could swing by the library to pick up a few books or end up in Chicago for pizza and beer. You never really know when I get together with Luna and the aunts.”
“I’ve heard that from a few of the guys,” I laughed. I had never really been around a group of women like Greta and her family before. It seemed like if there was possible trouble or chaos, they were going to find it and be right in the middle of it. “Try not to get arrested, though. I don’t think Ransom will take very kindly to that.”
“Would you believe that those four words are ones I have heard more than I can count?” she giggled. “I remember when I was six, and I was headed to some craft fair with my mom and aunts, and all of my uncles told us in one way or another to not get arrested.”
“Did you guys listen?” I asked.
Greta tipped her head to the side. “Yes, though, it was close.”
I choked on my bagel and took a sip of my coffee. “How in the hell did you almost get arrested at a craft fair?”
Greta shrugged and took a bite of her bagel. She chewed slowly, and a smile spread across her lips. “Everything was fine the whole day, and then suddenly, Meg was sniffing candle and this guy bumped into her. She dropped the candle, and it broke. One thing led to another, and the guy who bumped into her took off, and Meg refused to pay for the candle since it wasn’t her fault she dropped it.”
“And she almost got arrested for that?” I drawled. “Were you dealing with some Barney Fife cop with a big head?”
“So, Ransom told you about officer New?” she laughed.
“I was joking, mama. I have no idea what cop you are talking about.” However, most small-towns had cops that seemed to have a chip on their shoulders.
“Well, you described the jackass perfectly. I just assumed you knew him.”
The doorbell rang, and Greta moved to get up.
“I got it, mama.” I strode to the door and looked through the peephole. “You expecting the whole crew today?”
“Open the door, Wolfie. We’ve got donuts,” Meg called.
I glanced over my shoulder at Greta. “She does know that’s not my name, right?”
Greta giggled. “I mean, yeah, but she’s never going to call you that.”
“Why?” I don’t even know why I was trying to understand this, but it didn’t really make sense to me.
“Because it’s Meg?” Greta drawled. “You really can’t expect to get an answer when you try to figure out why she does things. You just need to accept them. Your life will be easier.”
I mean, I guess that would work.
I turned back to the door and flipped the deadbolt. I opened the door and stepped to the side to let everyone in. And I mean everyone. And a dog in Reva’s arms.
“Shouldn’t you be working to find Dr. Douche?” Luna reached up and patted my cheek.
“Shouldn’t you be working?” I countered. Luna did have a job at the club, right?
Luna stuck out her tongue and moved into the house. Eight other women followed in behind her. I stuck my head out the door to make sure there weren’t any stragglers hanging out.
“You all came in one vehicle,” I called. “And it’s a truck?” What the hell?
“No,” Meg laughed. “Snapper and Mouse dropped us off while they went to go fill up. You’re not supposed to leave until they get back.”
“You can leave,” Luna shouted. “I am more than capable of making sure some psycho doesn’t snatch us all up.”
“Do you know us?” one of the women asked me.
I was in the middle of two conversations. It seemed safer to deal with the woman I didn’t know rather than Luna.
“Uh, I think I’ve seen you guys before, but I can’t say I can put a name to your beautiful faces.”
The woman blushed and turned to Greta, who was still sitting on the couch. “I like him.”
“Lame,” Luna called.
Meg pushed Luna toward the kitchen and waved at me. “Morning, Wolfie.” She winked and clicked her tongue. “I lied about the donuts so that you would open the door. I know you’ve got that cop blood in you.”
Greta snorted, and Luna busted out laughing. “She did the same thing to Ransom when she came to pick me up.”
Greta’s mom sat down next to her and patted her leg. She whispered and leaned into her.
“You really are a lumberjack of a man.”
I turned to the woman standing next to me. “Uh, thank you.”
“I’m Cyn. I’ve seen you around, but I haven’t talked to you.” She pointed to the other women. “You know Bristol, Luna, and Reva. That one there is Paige, who is Gwen’s sister and married to Demon. That makes her Greta’s blood aunt, though that doesn’t really matter around here.” She moved to another woman. “That is Indiana, who is shacked up with Frost. And then we have Fayth, who belongs to Slider.”
So, this was Marco’s mom and Leo’s sister. I nodded to all of them politely, though I was a little wary of Fayth. Not like I thought she would attack me or anything, but she had that Banachi blood running through her.
Cyn stepped closer to me. “I guess you could figure it out, but I’ll just tell you the blue mohawk belongs to me.” So, this was Rigid’s ol’ lady. She seemed like she would be a good fit with him.
Last night, most of the guys had come over for dinner. Today, it was the invasion of the ol’ ladies.