A Monster's Beauty (In the Arms of Monsters 3)

Arriving at Anne’s house, she was taken aback by how big it was.

“Yeah, I think my husband’s draw is that he makes a lot of money,” Anne said.

“Your house is beautiful.”

“You’ve yet to see the inside.”

“Are we bragging now?” she asked.

“Little bit. Come on. At least I have something to brag about and you’ll have a nice place to stay at with me.”

Robin grabbed Bethany from the car. This was only a temporary accommodation until she was able to move into an apartment. She’d already gotten the details on a place and put herself on the waiting list.

The moment they entered Anne’s house, noise and chaos started. It wasn’t bad either. It brought a smile to her lips. She felt it was a nice change after the quiet stillness of Preacher’s place. Silence didn’t offer her any kind of comfort.

A young boy, he couldn’t have been older than ten, charged toward his mother, holding her. “Emma’s being mean again.”

“Of course she is.”

“She’s saying when she goes to college I’m going to be forgotten.”

“Ignore your sister.” Anne ran her fingers through her son’s hair. “There’s no way you can be forgotten. Your farts stink too bad.”

“I should fart in a jar for her. Let her take it with her all the way to college.”

“Robin, I’d like you to meet my son, Elijah Junior. Junior, this is my friend Robin.”

Elijah Junior pulled away from his mother. His face went beet red as he mumbled something to her. He left only for two of Anne’s daughters to come down to greet them.

Robin didn’t recognize either of them, and then there was Elijah, Anne’s husband.

“What took you so long?” Elijah asked. “I expected you back an hour ago, and who is this?”

One look at him, and she didn’t like him. Maybe it was knowing he’d cheated on Anne and made her put up with it or what, but Robin couldn’t stand him. Then of course there was the way he spoke to her, as if Anne had purposefully annoyed him.

“This is Robin Keats. She works with me. How about I get you settled?”

“Sounds great.”

“Wait, Keats? You’re Bishop’s wife?”

Robin looked at him. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t owe this man any other kind of explanation.

“Is she deaf?”

“No, I’m not deaf, I don’t have to say who I’m married to or not.” It was also kind of embarrassing. Reaper had never once told her his real name. How … strange was that? She didn’t know his real first or last name, so her marriage certificate had been granted to Reaper. She had no way of knowing.

“Anne, I think we need to talk about this,” Elijah said.

“What? This is my house as well and I can invite whomever I want to stay over. Robin needs a place to stay, and well, she’s a friend. Besides, I thought you had a PA to go screw, or should I keep my voice down so the kids don’t know?” Anne asked.

“You’re … we need to talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. You get to do what you want, and now I get to do what I want. It’s fair. Come on.”

Robin followed close behind Anne as they walked upstairs to one of the many rooms.

“Here you go. It was an office, but after everything happened, I threw out all of his office stuff, and now it’s a spare bedroom for any occasion.”