7. Champion #2
I hefted her so she was at my eye-level. “Don’t joke about dogs dying of cancer. You’re going to make me cry, and then you’ll have to hold me all night, and you’ll never make it home.”
She wrinkled her nose and then smiled brightly. “That’s all right. I had a perfectly good pillow.”
“I see how it is.”
She laughed, a sweet rumble that I wanted to go on and on. “Seriously, I have some extra pillows you can use until you get to the store. I’ll have you get them from the hall closet after you put me on the couch, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t. I could carry you all day.” I didn’t need to see the alarm in her eyes to realize exactly how that had sounded.
I headed out, carrying her quickly enough that I didn’t seem reluctant to put her down.
She had me get the key out of the hide-a-rock, because she didn’t have her bag.
That still made me mad, but I’d deal with it.
The house was comfortable, small and cozy, with gorgeous floral paintings on the walls and nick-knacks on the tables and shelves that weren’t worth a fortune, more sentimental than anything. I loved that. Her couch was slip-covered and overstuffed, the kind of couch you could spend all Saturday on.
I put her down, grabbed a throw, the remote, and then headed to the kitchen without asking, bringing back a plate with snacks and juice. “If you need anything, call me. Here’s my number.” I placed my card down next to the food. It had ‘Nix’ on it in bold letters with my personal number below.
She looked at the coffee table that I’d loaded up with necessities. “That’s very neighborly of you.”
“We are neighbors. I’ll bring your philosophy homework too. I’m used to setting people up who have broken limbs.”
She raised a brow. “Are you?”
“I’ve had a lot of odd jobs.” That was true enough.
“But now you got wrangled back into being a fine son. Poor you. Look, to pay you back for your hospitality, I can give you a real summary of all the girls on your list.”
I crossed my arms. “A real summary? What would that look like?”
“How long do you have to date this girl?”
“Six months.”
“That’s some time.”
“That’s only because you’re so young. Six months is an eternity until you’ve put on some experience.”
“Oh, ancient one, your wisdom is always so elevating. What do you want in a girlfriend?”
“I don’t want a girlfriend.”
She rolled her eyes. “But if you did…”
“I guess I’d like someone…” I looked at her, waiting for help before I shook my head and shrugged. “I really have no idea.”
She snorted adorably. “Wow. That’s specific.”
“There’s a reason I don’t date, haven’t ever really dated anyone long-term.”
“You’re just casual.” She nodded her head very seriously, definitely mocking me.
I pointed at her. “This from someone who won’t date anyone either. So commitment makes us queasy. That’s not a crime or even immoral. Didn’t Paul say something about how much better it is to be single?”
She laughed fully that time. “You should tell your mama that. I’m sure she’d just roll over if you bring in the Good Book. Get out of here before I ask you to fix something.”
I raised a brow. “You need something fixed?”
She sighed heavily. “Stop. I have no idea how you stayed single. You’re the perfect man.”
“I’m really not. Really, really not.” Her saying that I was the perfect man so factually made me incredibly uncomfortable.
Just because I didn’t hurt women and didn’t mind helping out didn’t make me a good guy.
Everyone who knew me back in Vegas would laugh outright if they heard this sweet little innocent proclaim my perfection.
“And humble? Really, stop, Nix. You’re too much. Get pillows out of the hall closet on your way out. I’m closing my eyes and taking a nap. You must have been really great in home health care. That must have killed your mama having you work for a living.”
I paused. “I must have been.” I had a lot of friends with broken bones, because that was the game we played, but I wasn’t going to clarify. “Call me if you need anything. If your hips get worse, tell me and I’ll take you to the hospital.” I gave her one last backwards glance before I headed out.
I wasn’t comfortable leaving her all alone, but I was just next door, and I had things to do.
When I got back to the small house, I threw her pillows onto the mattress and went to the kitchen to find Daniel washing my dishes.
I stood there for three seconds before I cleared my throat. “Seriously disturbing.”
“Easily disturbed. You had a girl over here last night. Have you made your choice or are you just warming up?”
I sat heavily on a stool and picked up a grapefruit, rolling it around on the laminate counter. “Michael Dupre. Have you heard of him?”
He went very still. “The Dupre’s are not good people.”
“How not good are they? Or I should say, how difficult will it be to rip him apart and hang him to dry?”
“Difficult. Impossible, actually. The Dupre’s have an agreement with your mother.”
That changed things significantly. I swore for a few minutes, working through the different flavors of curses while I rolled the situation around my mind. “I can just kill him.”
He turned around to stare at me. There was extra tension around his eyes. “For fun? That seems like it’s not the best idea.”
“He roughed up my neighbor. She’s not going to be walking for a few days. It’d be fun and righteous. There’s nothing better than righteous wrath. It’s much better than just cold-bloodedly doing the Crocodile’s work.”
He frowned thoughtfully then shrugged. “It’s a distraction. I’ll let your mother know that he’s interfering in your business, and that should take care of it.”
I scowled at him. “Where’s your sense of honor, of justified violence? It would be a good fight, I might even lose. How can I give that to my mother? Besides, he’s her stalker, been after her for years.”
“Give her a gun. Let her defend herself. If she’s not the one you’re choosing, put it behind you. This is temporary. If you mess with things, his relatives will avenge him, and then her and her family will all suffer from your interference. You know how it works.”
I scowled at him. “Give her a gun? Where’s the fun in that? Still, I guess it’s a solution. I’d have to teach her how to shoot so she didn’t end up shooting herself. Still, Daniel, you’re soulless if you don’t want to beat Dupre’s corpse.”
“I’d love to beat Dupre’s corpse, but it’s not a current priority.”
“You’re seriously disturbing.”
“You’re easily disturbed. Focus on the task, Nix. Choose a girl, get back to work, forget about your mother’s alliances, her business, since you don’t want to take responsibility for it.”
I shuddered. “Do you understand what that would look like? Responsible for my mother’s House of Beasts? No. Out of the question. I’m not her.”
“That’s what I said. You’ve met a few of the options so far. Who are you leaning towards?”
“I’ve just talked to Miss Wilson and Miss Smallfield. Out of the two…” If I dated Sunshine for six months, Michael wouldn’t touch her. My mother would definitely see to that. But Kitten was against dating for whatever reason.
“Why doesn’t Sunshine date?”
He shrugged. “She doesn’t share her reasons publicly. You prefer her to Smallfield? She doesn’t seem to be your type.”
“She’s incredible on a board.”
He nodded. “That explains it. She reminds you of the females you work with, the ones who don’t threaten you, and she isn’t interested in dating you, and you don’t want to date. In other words, you need therapy.”
I ran my hand through my hair. “I need some therapy, all right. Punching Dupre until he never thinks about hurting another woman again would count.”
“Back to that?” He carefully dried and put the dishes away where they’d been before like it really was his house.
“I fight. I win. Now I’m playing some dating game? I don’t need therapy, I need reality.”
“You whine more than I remember. You should probably go to class and meet a few more girls. More data points are always useful.”
“Sure, I’ll go do that. You can vacuum the rug.”
“You don’t have a rug,” he said as I slammed out the front door with a frustration as familiar as my name. My last name. I’d changed it legally from Hammer to Death-Hammer, and I’d never been willing to go back, but my mother had shown her hand, and it was the winner.
I had too much to lose these days. When you have nothing, you can spit in the face of oppression and be your own person, but now, having a team to protect, I could play a stupid game for six months and maybe let Dupre walk for a little while.
Daniel was right. I could more than easily play and win whatever competition was placed before me. I wasn’t the champion for nothing. Even Kitten saw that, even if she didn’t want me to be her champion.