Tyr
The night-shrouded house lit up with a flash of headlights as a car drove up the long driveway. The muffled sound of the garage door opening and closing rumbled through the kitchen walls before the door connecting the garage to the kitchen opened. In the semi-dark, the silhouette of a tall, lean man reached for the nearby light switch next to the door.
Nothing happened.
“What the…?” He flicked the switch a few more times, as if that would somehow make it magically work. When the magic didn’t happen, he moved deeper into the kitchen with the clear intention of checking the two pendant lights hanging over the travertine-topped peninsula counter.
As he moved deeper into the house, Loki shut the door behind him with a bang. Almost at the same time, I turned on the light at the cheery bay window breakfast nook where I sat.
The man nearly jumped out of his skin and gaped at both of us, arms pulled in tight over his chest. “What…?” He squeaked the word, and though his hair was still a rich mahogany, I could have sworn several gray hairs suddenly appeared. “Who are you? What the hell are you people doing in my house?”
“Good evening, Brody McSwain,” I said while Loki loomed over him until his chest brushed the man none too gently. The man let out a faint scream. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tyr, and this is my brother, Loki. Say hi, Loki.”
“Cocksucker,” Loki hissed, bumping him again.
I shrugged. “Close enough.”
The man, Brody, almost hyperventilated. “How did you get in? I-I have alarms—”
“I’d get a new security company if I were you, McSwain.” Romeo emerged from the depths of the house, a shadow darker than shadows. “A toddler could bypass your system, and I’m no toddler.”
Now with everyone in place, I offered my father-in-law a tight smile. “Now, Brody—may I call you Brody?”
“Wha… I-I—”
“Great, thanks. Brody, here’s the thing. Romeo, Loki and I are here to collect a debt. My father taught Loki and me how to do this when we were just kids, so by now Loki and I are very good at debt-collecting.”
“The best,” Loki added, still hissing.
“I’m pretty good at it too, though my specialty is security,” Romeo offered helpfully. “When it comes to breaking bones, the brothers are masters of the game.”
“Masters,” Loki echoed ominously.
It was nice to see how much fun they were having. “I hope you’re picking up what we’re putting down, Brody. We’re not leaving this house until you’ve found a way to pay your debt.”
“You’ve got the wrong guy. I swear, I don’t have any debts. Not the kind that would make leg-breakers like you visit me. I mean no disrespect,” he added on a gibbering half-laugh that sounded hysterical. How my brave Ginger came from this jellyfish, I’d never understand. “I j-just have the mortgage on this house, one credit card… oh, and I bought a new car, it’s very nice, it’s a Maserati—”
“We’re not talking about that kind of debt, Brody.”
“Yeah, deadbeat.” Loki moved close to hiss in the older man’s ear, and I almost laughed when the other man mewled and hugged himself. My brother could really bring the psycho when he wanted to. “That word mean anything to you, Mr. Maserati? Deadbeat ?”
A flash of understanding bloomed in Brody’s gray eyes before he edged away from Loki. “Um. N-no.”
Romeo sighed. “Bad move, McSwain. Very bad move.”
“Agreed, Romeo.” I shook my head in mock regret. “This skinny assclown just lied to us. What do we think about that, Loki?”
“Fucking hate liars.” If my brother’s voice got any lower he’d be undetectable to the human ear. “Wanna crush them with my bare hands.”
I nodded approvingly. “I can see why. Brody McSwain here knows he’s a fucking deadbeat dad who owes over half a mil to his child, but he just denied that to our faces. Obviously he thinks we’re stupid.”
“I’m hurt,” Romeo offered.
“I’m insulted.” Loki’s giant hand came down on the back of the older man’s neck and squeezed. “Can I show this deadbeat shit stain just how insulted I am?”
I pondered Ginger’s dad. “It might have to come to that, but I’m trying to be reasonable here. After all, he is Ginger’s biological father. Oh, yes,” I added when McSwain gasped as if he suddenly had a hot poker shoved up his ass. “We know your daughter. She wants what’s owed to her, which is half a million bucks in back child support, something she’s legally entitled to, even at her age. But she doesn’t want to jump through all the legal hoops because, well, you’re an asshole. And assholes like you drag shit out and make everything even more painful than it already is, rather than quietly fulfilling your parental responsibility to your only child. So we came up with this solution. What do we think of this solution, boys?”
“Quick and efficient,” Romeo said. “Like tearing off a band-aid.”
“Is it time to break a leg yet?” Loki asked.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “So there it is, Brody. The reason we’re here. Are you going to be a good boy and cough up everything you owe?”
Sweat glistened on McSwain’s brow. “I d-don’t have that kind of money.”
“Yeah, you do,” Romeo scowled, crossing his arms. “You don’t think we came here without doing our homework on you, do you? Jesus, now I’m insulted.”
“He’s good at insulting us,” Loki muttered.
“You have three active bank accounts, Brody—a checking account, a savings account and an account for household emergencies. You also have a 401K that looks very robust, and you have this house, which would more than cover the debt right up front. So, yeah. You’ve got the money. Pay up.”
“But… just paying in one lump sum will bankrupt me. I’ll have nothing left.”
“Not our problem.” Again Loki bumped him with his chest. “Pay up. Or suffer.”
“Or leave.” I smiled at McSwain as his frantic gaze jerked back to me. “Our friend would be fine with those three options, Brody. Either pay up now, suffer the consequences of not paying up now, or leave Chicago forever.”
McSwain goggled at me. “Leave?”
“Forever,” Loki hissed in his ear.
“Would he have to pay anything if he chooses to leave?” Romeo asked, raising his brows innocently.
“Why, not at all, Romeo. See, our friend Ginger has decided that Chicago just isn’t big enough for the both of you,” I went on, looking back to McSwain. “So on her behalf, we’re going to either sink you financially, or throw you out physically. Or just break all your motherfucking bones and leave you for dead. Decide.”
“Decide,” Loki echoed in his death whisper. Clearly he was having the time of his life.
Nervously McSwain licked his dry lips. “It… it would take some time for me to move—”
“No it wouldn’t, Brody. It’s actually very easy. Just pack your shit and go. I don’t care where. Just get the fuck out of Chicago. You have three days.”
“Three days ?”
“And if you’re not gone by then, bitch,” Loki shriek-whispered, while out of the corner of my eye I saw Romeo stifle a laugh, “we’ll burn all your shit to the fuckin’ ground. Maybe I’ll bring marshmallows and have myself a fuckin’ weenie roast.”
I bit my tongue to keep from reminding him that weenies were what people brought to a weenie roast, because there was no point. He was rolling now, and nothing was going to stop him. “It’d be a crying shame to burn down such a beautiful house, Brody. A real waste.” I frowned as a mental light suddenly went on, and I looked around the open, airy kitchen with all the latest bells and whistles already installed. Hm . “Say, how many bedrooms does this place have, anyway?”
At that, Loki snapped his head around to look at me, before he busted out laughing.
*
Ginger
“And from the master bedroom on the main floor, we connect to what I think must’ve been an office but will now be the nursery. So in total, we’ve got the four bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, the master and nursery down here, plus another couple bathrooms on this floor, and a huge walkout unfinished basement that Tyr’s claimed as his personal space, so he can turn it into a gym and a home office. Oh, and we’re going to keep the small bathroom that’s already down there next to the laundry room.” I led my girl posse of Roxie, Mabel, Shiloh with her one-month-old son Zachary strapped to her in a soft-material baby sling, Misty, whose baby bump was now apparent, and Alice, Loki’s raven-haired, totally kickass wife, who held her eighteen-month-old daughter, Catherine. Catherine had her mother’s Black Irish coloring, with the raven hair and porcelain-white skin, but like all Colgraves, her black-fringed tiger eyes seemed to glow from within.
Someday, Catherine Colgrave was going to be a freaking force of nature.
“It’s so convenient to have the nursery close by.” Absently Shiloh rubbed a hand over her snoozing son’s back. “Romeo brought the bassinet into our bedroom when we first brought Zach home, but once the new-baby jitters wore off, he put everything back in the nursery next door. He’s definite when it comes to teaching our kids about boundaries and how to be independent.”
“I don’t think any Gravedigger man is going to raise a Mama’s boy.” Misty peeked at little Zach all snug in his sling.
“What about Tyr?” Roxie asked, looking around the mostly empty rooms, no doubt already decorating them in her mind. “What’s his philosophy when it comes to raising kids?”
I snorted as I led the way back to the roomy breakfast nook with its bay windows looking out onto the backyard, where Tyr and his brother Loki were tearing down the fence that separated our two properties. Come to find out, not only had Tyr found the most perfect house for a soon-to-be family of five, but that perfect house backed up to Loki and Alice’s property. I still couldn’t believe our luck that the house of my dreams suddenly became available at just the right time and just the right price. In fact, the price was so low I had to say yes to it, even if my father lived somewhere close by. Though strangely, Romeo himself did a search through Hyde Park residents and couldn’t find a Brody McSwain, so maybe I had nothing to worry about. “As far as I can tell, Tyr is all in on giving the kids love, respect, and encouragement in infinite amounts.”
Roxie nodded. “Sounds good so far.”
“Yeah, but everything else they have to earn. There won’t be any iPhone toddlers who throw fits because they’re not getting what they want, when they want it.”
“Ah, now that sounds just like Loki,” Alice said, adjusting her hold on Catherine to her other hip. “It’s worked so far for the boys, but beware—if you ever have a little girl, look out for your man getting all squishy around the edges. Catherine is a Daddy’s Girl, in spades. All she has to do is turn her baby tiger eyes his way, and Loki bends over backwards to give her whatever her little heart desires.”
“Who wouldn’t want to give our little princess everything she wants?” Mabel cooed at Catherine, who giggled and did such an adorably shy face-tuck into Alice’s neck that we all let out a collective awwww . “That reminds me, Ginger. Do you know what the genders of the triplets are going to be?”
“All boys.” I said it with all the freaked-out amazement I’d had since learning about the children I carried. “If they’re identical, I’m so screwed. I’m screwed anyway, being the only girl in a house full of Colgrave men, but if I can’t tell any of them apart, I’m supremely screwed.”
“Uh, I’d like to state right now that I’m not babysitting unless they’re all color-coded and maybe have ear tags,” Roxie announced, raising a hand. “My nightmare scenario would be to accidentally mix them all up, and then not be able to figure out who was who.”
“Loki’s boss, Payne, had twin girls,” Alice said, bouncing Catherine on her hip while we all laughed. “To make sure they didn’t get the girls mixed up, Payne very carefully gave them color-coded tattoos on their feet once they were old enough, while their pediatrician was in attendance. No bigger than a mole, but instantly identifiable.”
“Baby’s first ink,” Shiloh drawled. “That’s so Gravedigger.”
“Loki would be thrilled to ink his nephews, I’m sure.” My eyes narrowed as Tyr and his brother turned simultaneously toward Loki’s house, with a sharpness that told me the men were both on alert. Alice noticed it too, because her gaze became laser-locked on the scene outside.
As if on cue, a small, wildly flailing knot of arms, legs and fists rolled into view, complete with grass stains and ripped clothes, one tiny combatant tow-headed, the other raven-haired, and both of them filled with the absolute purity of little-kid fury.
“Boys,” Mabel sighed in the same tone others would say, “Men.”
“Oh, shit.” Still carrying Catherine, Alice flew out the backdoor, with me and the rest of the posse hot on her heels.
By the time we hustled out to where the fence had been torn down, the men had separated the mini gladiators, who were glaring pure murder at each other. Only a year apart—five and four years of age—there was an inch or so in height difference, with Cyrus holding the edge there. But Alex, the younger sibling, had more muscle than his more wiry-framed brother. From a physical standpoint, it was a virtually even fight, and since they were both Colgraves and both born to be Alphas, that meant that at this moment in time, the two both bitterly resented the fact that the other existed.
“I told you it was my turn, stupidhead,” Alex screeched, his face so red he looked like he was about to explode.
“You’re the stupidhead! I told you in five minutes, but you just grabbed for it because you can’t tell time!”
“Neither can you!” With his little arms held by his Uncle Tyr, Alex tried to kick his brother’s face in, using both feet.
Yep. Definitely a never-give-up Colgrave.
Alice sighed as she looked to her husband, who struggled to old their oldest, Cyrus. “How much do you want to bet we find the sad remains of their handheld gaming system somewhere in the house? I told you we needed two.”
“And I told you they only get one because brothers need to learn how to share. If it’s broken, now they’ll have none, because I’m not rewarding bad, selfish behavior, Stems. Brothers learn to share. Or else.”
At that, the brothers stared at each other, and then erupted into heartbroken wails.
Alice slid me a wry look. “Check it out, Ginge. This is a glimpse of your future with a house full of Colgrave men. Doesn’t it look fun?”
My wide eyes flew to Tyr, read the panic there, before I burst out laughing. In all honesty, it looked like a total blast.
*