Chapter 25
Beer and Brats
It was like I’d blinked and a few weeks had passed. Darryl would be arriving soon, so I wanted the house looking good, but keeping it clean was an uphill battle with Roscoe and Adam simply existing in the same space.
“Damn it, Adam,” I muttered while sweeping, lifting the cushions to find more crumbs while dishes clanked in the kitchen. “No cooking!”
“I’m hungry,” Roscoe said, peeking into the dining area.
“You just ate breakfast.” I lowered the dustpan and swept the rest of the mess away. “It hasn’t even been an hour.”
“It’s second breakfast,” he said with a grin.
“This isn’t the fucking Shire. Darryl is going to be here this afternoon, and I don’t want this place to look like slobs live here.”
“You know what you need?” He held up his new frying pan. “Some French toast.”
“The grocery bill is getting out of control again,” I said, brushing by him to dump the contents of the dustpan into the garbage. “We’re up to five hundred dollars a week now, and that’s on the cheap.”
“Werewolves gotta eat good.” He pulled out the eggs and milk. “We’d make more money if you’d just let me pee on you in front of the camera again.”
“I hate you,” I whispered, placing the broom in the closet. “I saw some farms outside of town. You should look into employment that doesn’t involve torturing me.”
“You—you want me to be a farmer?” he asked, his ears lowering. “That’s hard work.”
“See what the other werewolves are doing for work. You can’t just stay in the house eating all the time.”
Roscoe patted his stomach. “I sure can,” he said, skillfully cracking six eggs into a bowl one-handed and whisking with the other.
“What about a restaurant?”
“I’m a walking health code violation, Cody. I can’t be in a commercial kitchen.”
“Then shower more.”
“That’s not what I mean. I got too much fur. It gets in everything.”
“Wear a full-body hairnet.”
Not fully appreciating the joke, his eyes narrowed.
“We live in a town with a bunch of hungry werewolves. You think they care? I bet you can start your own business if you talk to the mayor.”
“That guy hates everyone,” Roscoe said, dropping a pad of butter into the pan. “My ass still has phantom pains.”
“You’re such a baby. You’re like double my size, and I manage.
” I hopped up on the countertop, letting my legs dangle over the side.
“If there’s one thing I know about Mosavi, it’s that he respects hard-working and motivated werewolves who actually contribute.
If you want to get on his good side, show some initiative and ask him what it would take to start a business here.
And if all else fails, I could pull some strings with Willa. ”
“I dunno,” he said, flipping the bread. “Do we really want to get on the guy’s good side? I still get a bad feeling when I’m around him. Plus, he did get the police on us during Adam’s party.”
Austin walked into the kitchen to refill his coffee mug without saying anything.
“See, Austin’s a grouch, but at least he’s all subby and soft.”
The larger werewolf quietly took a sip of his coffee before punching Roscoe hard in the gut. As the smaller werewolf coughed and sputtered, Austin looked back at me.
“Lawn’s done. Need anything done here?”
“Nah, I think we’re good. Thanks for doing that.”
“Mhmm,” he grunted before taking another sip of coffee and walking out of the kitchen.
I looked over at Roscoe who was still holding his stomach. “What a great guy.”
“Damn, is he gettin’ stronger? Jeez.”
“Back to the topic at hand. Do you want to stay on Mosavi’s bad side?
Because I sure as hell don’t. We’ve already got targets on our backs after the shit you and Austin pulled that night, and we can’t exactly leave this town to live somewhere else.
Hell, it was hard enough finding this place, and it was only because Mosavi intervened. ”
Roscoe looked back at me and slipped a piece of French toast on a little plate, squirting some syrup on it before scooting it toward me.
“Plus,” I sighed and picked up the plate and fork, setting it in my lap, “I don’t think he’s a bad person, and I think I really like Willa.”
“I ain’t lettin’ my guard down.” The werewolf placed more battered bread into the pan.
“You just got the wind knocked out of you by a subby and soft werewolf. I didn’t even know you had a guard to put up.”
“You know what I mean. We don’t know what his motives really are, and anyone who hates ferals ain’t someone I want to get to know better.”
“He told me that the woods and the ferals are cursed. That’s why they look so different. He’s protecting us from that and the witches.”
Roscoe didn’t seem all that concerned as he fried the other side of the bread.
“Considering how freaked out you are about curses, I kind of expected you to care about cursed woods.”
“They didn’t seem cursed to me.” Roscoe flipped the French toast and caught it in his mouth. “They seemed happy.”
“They couldn’t even talk. That’s not normal.”
“How do you know?” he asked with his mouth full. “How do you know that any of this is normal, and that’s not the way we’re supposed to live?”
“Because we were human,” I answered, taking a last bite before setting the empty plate next to me. “We were born human, Roscoe.”
He flipped another piece of toast into his mouth.
“Can you use a plate, please?”
“Better like this,” he said, barely chewing before swallowing. “Plus, that’s more dishes for you to do.”
“Me?” I jumped off the counter. “I’m not cleaning this up!”
“I cooked the food, and you ate it. Now you gotta work it off.”
The room turned silver, but I remembered something that calmed me back down.
“I found something in the shed the other day.”
Roscoe’s eyes shifted to the hallway, and he braced himself to run.
“Don’t bother,” I said, pushing him back. “I already moved it to a place you’ll never find. I’d imagine Darryl would have a field day using all that stuff on you when he gets here.”
“All right, I’ll clean,” he responded with a slight whine. “I knew I shoulda just thrown all that magic shit away.”
“That was the laziest hiding place. It was literally sitting on the top shelf. What, did you think I wouldn’t be able to see it?”
“I didn’t think you’d actually go in there,” he answered.
“Use the Fabuloso.” I pulled the spray bottle and a washcloth from under the kitchen sink and set them next to the stove. “I want this place to smell like Sunday at Abuela’s,” I added, before walking out.
Adam had been on a warpath for nearly twenty minutes, screaming at Roscoe and Austin for eating his chips. After they allegedly proved their innocence, he turned his sights onto me.
“All right, asshole. Where are my white cheddar popcorn chips?”
“You’ve lost your chip privileges,” I said, glancing out the window for the third time in the last twenty minutes.
“You knew the whole time I was yelling at them, and you didn’t say anything! You have ten seconds to tell me where they are or so help me.”
I ignored him as a white van pulled over to the side of the road. The sliding door opened and a huge, brown werewolf hopped out while holding a duffel bag in one hand and a guitar case in the other.
“He’s here,” I said excitedly as I dashed to the front door.
Just seeing Darryl again was a relief. Even though I’d only stayed with him for a month, he was the most level-headed and responsible person I’d encountered, especially among the werewolves.
It was going to be nice to have someone else to rein in Roscoe and Adam for a little while.
Adam leaned forward against the window sill, his little tail wagging in anticipation. It didn’t take a genius to know what he was thinking. Austin had been doing his best lately, but the half-turn was a lot more demanding. So much for only wanting to be with his kuu mate.
I opened the door as Darryl waved to the driver and the van pulled off.
“You’re late,” I shouted, running up to the huge werewolf and grabbing his bag. “Finally decided to visit, huh?”
“Damn. Nice place,” he said, giving me a one-armed hug. “Could use an ocean view, though.”
“This has got to drive you nuts.” I led him up onto the porch, and we both stepped into the house. “All forests and hills as far as the eye can see.”
“It’s a good change of scenery.” The werewolf eyed an anxious Adam near the hallway. “You gonna give me some time to unpack?”
“No,” Adam replied impatiently, before darting into the bedroom.
“How’s he been?”
“He’s been Adam. We’re all waiting with bated breath for him to finally change.”
“It’s gonna happen pretty soon, and his attitude will get better. All half-turns get moody before they turn.” He flashed me a smile as he sat his guitar on the floor next to the bag. “It’s something you get to look forward to, eventually.”
“Can’t wait,” I muttered.
Drilling noises rumbled the walls from Austin’s garage, and we both turned toward the door.
“I take it Austin’s been Austin?” He wrinkled his nose and turned away.
“He’s been doing better, actually. He and Adam have been working through some things.”
“Darryl,” Adam shouted from the bedroom.
“It’s been a long drive,” the werewolf said, slipping off his shorts. Seeing him wear anything more than a life buoy strapped to his back was kind of weird, but it was common courtesy for werewolves to put something on while taking a taxi. “Where’s Roscoe?”
“The grocery store, hopefully figuring out how employment works.”
“Does he need straightening out?” Darryl’s eyes flashed from orange to silver.
“I’ve been keeping him on a short leash. When you’re done with Adam, you mind if we talk a bit?”
“I know that look,” he said. “If this is important—”
“Darryl, my ass is literally in the air right now,” Adam shouted from the bedroom.
“That can’t wait much longer.” I chuckled and pushed the werewolf toward the hall. “We’ve got a fire pit outside, and it’d be good to have some music later.” I looked at his guitar.
“Maybe you and Roscoe can sing along.”
“I’ll leave that to Roscoe.”