Chapter 3
Brandt looked down at his phone when it pinged, letting him know somebody sent him a message. He swiped the screen fully expecting it to be Tempest.
“Fuck! I gotta go. You got this?” Brandt asked Barron.
“Is it the baby?” Barron asked excitedly.
“No. Tempest is still miserable and still pregnant. It’s Remi. Vince just sent me a text telling me to come get Remi before he kicks his ass for being a dumb-ass,” Brandt said.
“Great,” Barron said.
“Yeah, lovely, isn’t it?”
“Well, go save him. We got this,” Barron said.
“Alright. If I have time I’ll be back today. If not, I’ll see you later.”
“Take him to his mommy,” Barron suggested.
“You don’t know how much I’d love to. But no, he’s part of our clan, I’ll handle it,” Brandt said. “Even if I have to whip his ass myself.”
“Good luck!” Barron called.
Brandt didn’t even cleanup before he got in his truck to go after Remi.
He just got in his truck and started it up.
Speeding down the road ten minutes later he slowed down when he saw someone familiar walking along the shoulder of the two lane highway.
“Fuck me,” he murmured as the person began wildly gesturing for him to stop as she suddenly appeared to be unsteady on her feet.
Brandt drove past her, then made a U-turn and pulled up right beside her. He rolled down the window and waited while she hurried to the truck.
“Thank you! Thank you so much for stopping!” Olivia rushed out between sobs as she stumbled to the window. She steadied herself with her hands on the window frame and looked up to see who’d stopped. Immediately her posture straightened and she stopped sobbing. “Oh. It’s you.”
“Yeah, good to see you again, too,” Brandt said.
Olivia stood there glaring at him.
Brandt lowered his mirrored sun-glasses and looked over the top rim at her. “Do you want a ride or not?” he asked.
“I’m not going to Remi’s. I’m going home to my house.”
“You can’t go to Remi’s. You’re not allowed there anymore.But if you want to go home, I’ll take you there.”
“Fine,” she said, opening the door and getting in the truck. She reached for the seatbelt, strapped herself in and then realized that Brandt was calling somebody while he waited for her to get situated. “Don’t bother calling Remi! I do not want to talk to him or see him again!”
“I’m not calling Remi.” He waited until a woman’s image filled the screen. “Hey, baby. I’m driving a friend of Remi’s home. Thought I’d keep you on video-call as a witness.”
“Why do you need a witness?” Tempest asked.
“Because it’s the same female I ran off from Remi’s this morning.”
“You ran somebody off from Remi’s?” Tempest asked.
“Yep.”
“He was very rude!” Olivia called out so Tempest could hear her.
“Who is she and why are you taking her home if you ran her off?” Tempest asked.
Brandt angled the phone so Tempest could see Olivia. “Happened to find her walking on the side of the highway.”
“Ah, and you can’t allow a woman, even this one, to be stranded on the side of the highway.”
“It’s one of the reasons you love me,” Brandt said, teasing Tempest.
Olivia had the good sense to get a sudden chill down her spine when her gaze met Tempest’s. “He was very rude, ma’am,” she said, this time with not half as much tone.
“I’m sure if he was rude, there was a reason. What is your name?” Tempest demanded.
“I’m Olivia. I’m Remi’s girlfriend. Or at least I was.
If he wants to see me again he’s going to have to do some groveling after the way he disrespected me earlier.
I will not allow anyone to correct me like a child.
And then to promise to pay my bills and even something as simple as buy me an outfit to visit my family, and then not even remember!
It’s disrespectful! And when I reminded him that he owed me for my bills, he just threw a handful of wadded up money at me! I just can’t even with him.”
“Why does he have to pay your bills?” Tempest asked.
“Because he wanted me to go get something to eat with him. Only instead of feeding me, all he did was order drinks.”
“I still don’t understand,” Tempest said.
“I told him I wasn’t in the right frame of mind after all the stress of being disrespected by your husband this morning, and because my bills are past due, and I had to go get a new outfit to wear to visit my family, and I just couldn’t make it today, so he promised to pay my bills and buy me an outfit.
I mean, once he says he’ll do it, it’s his responsibility, not mine. ”
“Ah, I understand. And for the record, you are aware that respect is earned, not demanded, aren’t you?” Tempest asked.
“If you don’t demand respect, you’ll never get it!” Olivia exclaimed.
“Bullshit. If you have to demand it it’s not real anyway. Your behavior will warrant respect or you don’t deserve it. Brandt? Keep me on video-call and angle me so I can watch her the entire time. I’m recording,” Tempest said.
“You got it,” Brandt said.
Olivia cut her eyes at the woman on Brandt’s phone, before rolling them and gazing out of the window like she didn’t care.
“Is there something you’d like to say,” Tempest asked.
“Nope. Not a word. Just anxious to get home,” Olivia snapped.
“Smart girl,” Tempest said.
~~~
Vince looked up expectantly when the door opened. “’Bout time,” he said, angling his head to the right to indicate where Remi was.
“Got here soon as I could. Had to take somebody home.”
“His friend, I’m guessing?”
“Yep. She do that to his car?” Brandt asked.
“Honestly, I haven’t gone to look. But wouldn’t surprise me. She was in a rage,” Vince said.
Brandt shook his head as he started toward Remi.
“If you could manage as little damage as possible…” Vince said, gesturing at the two or three tables he’d purposely sat on the opposite side of the room from Remi.
“Do my best,” Brandt answered. He walked up behind Remi, watching him sucking down a chocolate shake. From the looks of it, he’d had several bottles of gin, and about five milkshakes. “How’s it going, Remi?” Brandt asked.
Remi stopped sucking on his straw and awkwardly twisted his body to get a look at Brandt. “Really? You’re going to hassle me here, too? I’m minding my business, enjoying my new favorite drink, and you’re going to come in here and fuck with me some more.”
“I’m not fucking with you, Remi. I’m just coming to give you a ride home.”
“Why? I got a car.”
“You got no business driving in this condition.”
“I am perfectly fine.”
“You know how much you have to drink to keep yourself drunk. At any point your liver is going to call it quits. Nobody, no matter who they are should ever drink this much.”
“None of your damn business, Brandt.”
“I’m not here to argue with you. Come on, let me get you home and I’ll leave you to it.”
“No. Go away.”
“I’m not going away, Remi. Get up and come on,” Brandt said, exerting just a little of the Alpha influence he usually maintained a tight hold on.
Remi hunched a little, but remained sitting.
“What is your problem, Remi? Anybody that’s tried to help you lately has done nothing but try to be understanding, and you treat everyone of us like shit. Not a single one of us is responsible for the situation you’re in.”
“I never said you were! What I said is leave me the fuck alone.”
“That’s not going to happen. You’re not only clan, you’re family. We care about you, and contrary to what I might prefer to do to you at this particular moment, I’m going to get you home safe.”
“I don’t want to be part of your clan, or part of your family. I just want to be left alone!” Remi bellowed, trying to stand and turn to face Brandt all at the same time, but he was unsteady on his feet.
Brandt seized that moment to exert not only all his Alpha influence, sending it in waves to wash over Remi to make him even more unsteady, but without warning, his fist shot out, connecting with Remi’s jaw, dropping him to his knees, where his body dipped over, face first onto the floor.
Brandt shook his head as he hauled an unconscious Remi up off the floor and tossed him over his shoulder.
He unceremoniously stalked out of Vince's Place, throwing a wave toward Vince as he cleared the door.
Brandt yanked open his passenger side door and dumped Remi into the cab of his truck, then got in the driver’s side and started it up.
He glanced over at Remi as he put his truck in gear and punched him again just for good measure before he backed out and headed home.
“Asshole,” he grumbled, glaring at a still unconscious Remi once more.
~~~
Daisy smiled to herself when she heard a light tapping on the front door of her art studio. Five taps, then complete silence. She knew that knock. “Come in, Carson,” she called out.
The door eased open and Carson cautiously looked around the main room of the studio. Several students had already arrived and started work. “Am I late again?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“You’re not late. You’re never late. You get here when you want to unless you want to take a particular class. Did you want to take a class today?” Daisy asked.
“No, ma’am. I just wanted to paint my own picture.”
“I saved your favorite work station for you,” Daisy said, smiling at the boy.
Carson looked over to the far left corner of the room, where the easel and small table already set with paints and brushes and a fresh cup of water sat waiting for him.
He liked that workstation because it was right by one of the windows that let in the afternoon sun, and because he could see everybody entering the front door, as well as from the hallway that led to the other rooms. “Thank you, Ms. Daisy.”
“You’re welcome. I put some of your favorite colors on your table, but if you want anything different, go ahead and help yourself.”
“I will.” Carson didn’t make eye contact with anyone else as he made his way carefully through the other workstations before setting his backpack on the floor, tightly pushed into the corner and out of the way.
“Hi,” Charlie said from behind her.