Remington (The Theriot Family 1)

“What are you…?” I turned over and saw a small monkey in a pink t-shirt sitting on my bed. I scrambled up and yanked the sheet over me.

“What… Where did you come from?” Was I actually expecting the monkey to answer? I’m not sure it would weird me out anymore than him being there in the bed with me.

The creature studied me, then made some tutting sounds and jumped up and down.

“What have you done with Remington?”

He looked at me and grew more insistent with his bouncing as he pointed toward the door.

“He went out the door?”

I wasn’t sure why I thought the monkey understood me, but I did.

Surely Remington hadn’t been hiding this little guy from me all this time. If he had a pet, I’d know by now, wouldn’t I?

I really couldn’t see Remington having a pet monkey. The animal must’ve escaped from somewhere and gotten in. Was there an open window? I didn’t think Remington would do anything that compromised his security like that.

I slid from the bed, holding the sheet against me as if I didn’t want the monkey to see me naked.

I fumbled around in the drawers where Remington had insisted I place the clothes he’d bought me, found a pair of pajama pants, and pulled them on. I grabbed a t-shirt as the monkey bounced up and down on the bed. I hoped he’d follow me. I didn’t want to leave him there alone.

“Do you know where Remington is?” I asked the little creature.

He danced around excitedly, then hopped off the bed and skittered away down the stairs. I followed him. As I did, I heard voices coming from the kitchen. That meant Remington wasn’t alone. I almost turned around and headed back to the bedroom, but I had to know why there was a monkey in the house.

Glad I’d gotten fully dressed, I moved cautiously down the steps toward the kitchen.

“Who’s there?” I didn’t recognize the man’s voice. A second later, a man who looked a lot like Remington, though shorter and stockier, stepped from the kitchen and pointed a gun at me.

The monkey danced around, jumping up and down between us.

“Move, Tony,” the man ordered.

Did the monkey belong to him? I raised my hands in surrender. “I… I… Please don’t shoot. Who are you?”

Remington stepped into the hall, his face dark with anger. “Lance, put the gun down now!”

Lance kept the gun trained on me and looked over his shoulder. “You telling me he’s with you?”

“Yes.” Remington put his hand on Lance’s arm, which only made me more nervous. Lance seemed very volatile.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had someone here?” he asked as he tucked the gun into the back of his jeans. Lance smiled and held out his hand as if he hadn’t just held me at gunpoint. “I’m Lance. It’s nice to meet you.”

I tentatively took his hand, but Remington growled. “Lancelot, keep your hands to yourself.”

Was his name seriously Lancelot, and did he really have a pet monkey? At least I assumed it was his pet as it was now perched on his shoulder. He didn’t seem the least bit disturbed by that.

Lance raised his brows and looked at Remington. “It’s like that, is it?”

“It’s not like anything but you touching my man after you tried to shoot him.”

“It was just a handshake. Jesus.”

I was also startled by the vehemence of Remington’s reaction, though maybe he was just wound up from the fact that Lance had been holding a gun on me. I was still more than a little shaken by that myself.

Remy closed his eyes and took a slow, careful breath. I watched his chest rise and fall and couldn’t help but think about how gorgeous he was.

“Lancelot, this is Henri. Henri, this is my brother Lancelot.”

I’d known they had to be related. They certainly had an interesting family dynamic.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Henri.” Lancelot’s voice was now low and sexy.

Remington glared at him, and I assumed he was being flirtatious to piss his brother off.

“Nice to meet you too. I take it this is your monkey.”

He turned to the little creature. “Did you already meet Henri?” he asked in a baby voice.

“Are you telling me that monkey has been wandering around the house?” Remington’s anger was back.

“You were too angry with me to notice,” Lance said.

“He woke me up. That’s why I came down. I was trying to figure out why we had a monkey in the house.”

“Because my idiot brother takes him everywhere and doesn’t keep up with him.”

“I knew where he was.”

I worried Remington’s glare would turn Lance to stone. “You knew he was waking up the man who was waiting in my bed?”

“No, but I knew he was upstairs. You didn’t tell me there was a man waiting in your bed.”

“That’s because it’s none of your fucking business.”