Adriana #3
The house was large, but the werewolves occupying it made it feel small with their numbers.
Trapp’s brothers were all ridiculously handsome, virtually identical, like a small army of differently-aged clones.
Handsome, identical, and loud. The huge man whose knuckles she had sewn up was standing over a marble kitchen island, seemingly in a shouting competition with the younger man who had been with him at the clinic the previous day, his black eye looking a bit worse. Lowell. That was his name.
Nearby, a baby in a high chair banged her spoon against the tray, delighted at the noise she was making.
A third man entered the noisy kitchen island conversation, laughing — Cambric Creek’s mayor, Adriana realized.
That’s his oldest brother. A dark-haired little boy was driving an RC truck in between people’s feet.
A young man who looked to be only nineteen or twenty hopped up onto the island, adding his two cents to the conversation, which, in the span of seconds, turned into a vehement argument about him being allowed on the counter at all.
Beyond the open kitchen, a long, beautifully set table waited, dressed in a white tablecloth, and at it sat yet another sibling, one with a split lip, in conversation with who could only be Trapp’s father.
Adriana could at once see the origin of all the Hemming good looks.
Two wolvish women sat at the other side of the table in conversation, and through a doorway, on the other side of the big kitchen .
. . came the woman she’d met on the street.
Adriana froze. Her lungs had petrified, the air in them turning to sand.
It took the other woman several moments for her notice to penetrate the din of the house; her eyes shining and her smile grew huge when she saw Trapp .
. . until her head turned, and the smile slid sideways from her face, her mouth opening in shock.
For an endless, yawning eternity, they both stood staring at each other, unmoving.
Adriana had stopped breathing. There was no way.
There was no way his fucking mother was from two slums over from her childhood home.
No way. Not possible. This is just a visitor.
She might’ve convinced herself of that if Trapp had not crossed the room, engulfing his mother in a huge hug.
“Mom, this is Adriana. We went to med school together. She’s a doctor at the new urgent care clinic that reopened.”
“. . . The doctor.” The she-wolf’s words were laced with understanding.
His mother’s voice was impossible not to notice — it wasn’t the same even, sparkling tone she’d used in the shop, but neither was it tinged with an accent that would’ve told the whole world where she’d grown up. Somewhere in the middle. That feels a whole lot more attainable.
“It’s wonderful to meet you, Adriana.” Her voice was careful, but her smile seemed genuine enough. “Looks like you found your feet in town with no problem.”
Lunch was a catered affair, with takeout trays from a local restaurant set out on the long marble island; everyone told to help themselves.
“There’s no point doing introductions until we’re sitting down,” Trapp murmured to her, as they joined his siblings around the food. “Don’t be nervous. I know it seems intimidating, but we’re all a bunch of clowns.”
His hand found hers, squeezing reassuringly, and that, she remembered — he had always been warm and kind, opening doors, carrying her things, until the moment they’d fractured. Well, shit. Maybe you really were in a relationship with him.
Either way, she was certain his words were only meant to make her feel better, at least, until they sat down. Afterward, she was swiftly reminded of what he’d said to Oleg in the ambulance — with his brothers, it was roast or be roasted.
“I can’t believe I’m the only respectable member of this family.” His brother Jackson, the mayor, started in the instant they were all seated at the table, not even giving Trapp the opportunity to introduce her. “You all look like a bunch of criminals.”
“I’m pretty sure you were in the bathroom when the fight broke out,” the brother with the black eye said in disgust, shaking his head, as if it were the most shameful thing in the world that the mayor of the town had not participated in a barroom brawl with the rest of them. “You know. Like an old woman.”
“That’s Lowell,” Trapp cut in, pointing at the brother who had just spoken. “Owen has the split lip, and that’s his girlfriend Tabitha.”
She realized now, seeing them side-by-side, that Lowell and Owen were twins.
“I still can’t believe you were involved in all this.” The she-wolf beside the split-lip brother shook her head disapprovingly. Tabitha and Owen. “You have to go back to work like this tomorrow!”
“I know! I don’t know what happened; it was like my twin alarm was activated. I heard Lowell scream and I had to save him. Nice to meet you, by the way. Sorry we all look like criminals. I was just happy to be included.”
She had no idea why everyone laughed, forcing out her own awkward chuckle, hoping her smile didn’t resemble a grimace as Trapp continued the fast introductions.
“Jackson is at the end of the table; he’s the mayor. That’s Liam; he’s the baby. He’s the one who goes to Mercy. This is my sister-in-law Victoria, you already met Vanessa, and this is Grayson.”
“We’ve met,” his huge brother from the previous afternoon intoned, holding up his stitched hand. “What was that sound you made, Lowell?”
“You’ve already met my mom, Sandi,” Trapp went on, obviously choosing to pretend his brother hadn’t spoken at all. “And this is my dad, Jack. Everyone, this is Adriana.”
“What are you talking about? That was my battle cry!”
“You jumped on that guy’s back like a spider monkey,” the mayor-brother added. “That didn’t sound like a battle cry.”
“What do you mean, a battle cry?” his twin interrupted. “I thought you were dying! I thought someone stabbed you! You’re telling me I got punched for nothing?!”
“That was an ancient Wolvish war cry!” Lowell insisted, incensed.
“I can’t believe you had a party I couldn’t go to!” the youngest brother added.
Adriana didn’t know if she was allowed to laugh as an outsider, but she wanted to. Are they all kind of ridiculous?
“Lowell, you sounded like a yodeler getting plowed by a centaur.”
“Grayson!”
“Mom, you weren’t there. You’re just going to have to take our word for it.”
“I still don’t understand why you had to hit me as hard as you did,” Trapp added, scowling at his brother. “I have a fucking concussion because of you.”
At the end of the table, the mayor was laughing in the most unmayoral way, she thought. “Trapp, he laid you the fuck out. I’ve never seen anyone go down so hard.”
“Lowell thought you were dead,” the split-lip brother announced, in a tone she thought could only be considered tattling. “He claimed your cabin before they had even picked you up.”
“This is a great preview of what my wedding is going to be like, isn’t it?” Vanessa sighed, eliciting the first laugh from their father.
“I had to knock you out or else you’d still be swinging. Look at my face, Trapp. I have to go to court like this later this week. Look at my fucking hand, that I have to deal with now for the whole month. And she couldn’t even do an invisible stitch.”
All eyes swung to her. Heat burned up her neck. “You can’t do a ladder stitch on knuckles! Your movement would be impeded, and it would tear!”
“Yeah, you were behind him in school, right? Well, he’s a dumbfuck, so . . .”
“Grayson!” Their mother’s voice was appalled.
Beside her, she could feel Trapp shifting, tightening, getting ready to defend her. Say something! You can’t just sit here. Roast or be roasted.
“Look,” she blurted, finding Trapp’s hand beneath the table. “I know this is probably upsetting for you. You were both the perpetrator and the victim, so there was no ambulance for you to chase, and that manicure looked fresh.”
Vanessa burst out laughing, saving her from her own awkwardness. “It was fresh! Like, that morning!”
Her cheeks warmed when Trapp’s hand squeezed hers, laughter continuing at his brother’s expense.
“Okay, wait, this is serious,” Trapp interjected, waiting until he had everyone’s attention before continuing. “No vendetta against the coffee shop. I appreciate the support, but that’s going to make everything worse.”
“Fuck those sheep,” Lowell pounded a fist on the table. “I’m never stepping foot in that place again.”
“Well, that’s fine, because you live in Tokyo.”
“I can’t agree to that,” the huge brother, Grayson, shook his head. “Because at this point, it’s not even about you, Trapp. It’s the principle of it.”
“Rhonda is too giddy at the thought of sticking it to someone,” their father added, shrugging. “I can’t take that pleasure from her now.”
“Just for the record,” mayor-brother added, “I never agreed to boycott anything. I can’t do that. But I’m not giving back that coffee machine.”
“I’m on a crime spree now,” Lowell continued with far too much enthusiasm. “First the fight. Then I took the whole bowl of suckers from that doctor’s office. We should go rob the scoop truck next.”
“Are you bragging about literally taking candy from babies?” his twin asked, aghast.
“Okay, well, I don’t need an apology from anyone, and I don’t want anyone here insisting that I get it.” Trapp paused, making a face. “But why am I the only one who didn’t get a coffee machine?”
Grayson held up his hand. “The whole month, Trapp.”
“In fairness, you did bust your hand open on his head,” Jackson pointed out. “And to assign blame where it truly belongs—”
Adriana held her breath, wondering if he’d be bold enough to call her out as an outsider in front of them all. Of course he would. They haven’t stopped yelling since you got here.
“Who throws a party two days after the moon and invites a bunch of wolves? You should have known there was going to be a fight.”