Page 12 of Conri

“I’m still looking into the one about the greenhouse.I didn’t think about growing the baskets filled with flowers locally.They spend upwards of three hundred dollars on each of the ones that are put on the street lights.Then they have to be watered, too.But I’m still looking into that one.I don’t suppose you know who is in charge of that, do you?”He told him to try maintenance.They might be the ones doing it.“Good idea.The third one I’m just going to forget about.With your notes on it and the way I see the town thinking about buying them shirts to do themselves is a wash.The Twelfth Man Club is a bunch of cheerleaders and their moms running the place, and I don’t know that they’d want to print-screen their own shirts.Too messy and time-consuming.It’s a good plan and would save them a bunch of money, but I don’t see anyone doing it.”Cass woke up then.

“I’m sorry.I must have been a little tired.I’ve not been sleeping well.”She smiled at his brother.“How are things going with you, Yanick?I heard you had a date with Missy Albert, and it didn’t go the way she wanted it.”His face got beet red, and now he had to know what happened.

“If not for you, she would have had enoughevidenceto make me have to marry her.I’m steering clear of her family from now on.”He asked what had happened.“Cass gave me a heads up about Missy being pregnant by her boyfriend.I guess it’s all over town that the boyfriend isn’t stepping up to the plate.He doesn’t trust that he’s the only one that has been with her.Well, I wasn’t going to either.Apparently, she’s been telling everyone that she’s going to havemychild.I put a stop to that immediately.I said that I would sue if she kept running her mouth.I’d never heard the rumors, but Cass did and told me about them.Her dad wanted me to marry her so they could get their house ‘fixed up real nice,’ he said.”

It wasn’t funny, but he laughed.That sort of thing had been happening to them since before it was known they were wealthy.Being shifters made it so there was no chance for Missy to have Yanick’s baby, but he did wonder at the evidence she had.

“Yanick had donated a bunch of clothing to the clothing drive, and she’d gotten ahold of some of his clothing through that.It was iffy if the police were going to believe him or not.”Cass stood up and hugged Yanick.“I always have your back.Remember that.”

When she left them to their business, he sat up straighter in his chair.Yanick asked him if he’d been able to find out anything about Cindy, something that they’d all been calling her since the house incident.He told him what he’d told Cass, the entire thing.

“I can’t imagine having a family member like that.I mean, Dad was bad, and he knocked us around a bit, but he never would have killed us, I don’t think.”Conri didn’t say anything, but Yanick didn’t seem to notice.“Well, I need to get going.I have some things I have to take care of at the house.I’ve decided to have all the carpets pulled up and replaced with hardwood floors.It’s apparently the way to go nowadays.Also, before I forget to tell you, I’ve been out to the greenhouse a couple of times.It’s coming along nicely, and the people working there seem to be having a good time.”

“Good to know.Brew asked me about it the other day, and I’d not had a chance to get out there.Thanks.I don’t suppose you’ve been to the car dealership?I heard good things going on out there since they figured out the commission checks and when they can get them.”He said that he’d not but would go out there tomorrow.“Thanks.I want to be here when Howard and Elizabeth come home.They’re not going to be in a good place when they talk to Howie.”

After his brother left, he went to find Cass.She’d not eaten anything last night, and he was worried about her.This thing with her sister was taking its toll on everyone in town, too.But he was especially worried about the Warmer family and Cass.

“I was just going to have a cup of tea.Would you like some?”He told her that he’d love a cup.“Good.I’ve been thinking about us and wondering if you’d sleep with me tonight.Not today.I wantto talk to my dad and mom when they get back.They’re devastated, I would imagine.I know that I am.And we don’t even have to have sex, but just sleeping on you earlier, I slept better than I have in a while.What do you think?”

He couldn’t speak.His body was so ready for her that he didn’t know if he could go on much longer, sleeping in his big bed all by himself.When he realized she was waiting for an answer, he sat up on the stool and tried to remember how to speak.Smiling at her, he told her that he was there for her for whatever she needed him for.

“So you’re all right with sleeping next to me without sex.”It wasn’t a question, but he felt that he needed to answer her.“All throughout eternity, you don’t care to have sex with me.”

It was a trap.He didn’t know how he’d tumbled down the path that was going to get him into trouble, but he was as sure as he could be that he was on the crest of a fall that was going to have him regretting opening his mouth.Finally, he decided on the truth.

“I would have sex with you on this table with the tea cups rattling around.Against the wall, the door, hell, even the floor.But not until you say that you want it.And I stand by that.If you want to just sleep with me through all eternity, then I’ll figure out some way to make it happen for you.Forever.”She looked at him like she didn’t know him.“I told you before, if you want to have sex or make love with me, then you’re going to have to tell me.I’ll not force you into anything ever.I promise you that on the heart of my mother, you’re safe with me.”

“I see.”She didn’t move when the tea kettle began to scream the steam out of the little spout.She did, however, move the cups off the table and to the counter.When she turned her back to him, he decided that he could take in a deep breath, and it nearly killed him when he realized that she was in heat.As soon as she turned back to him, his breath caught in his throat.She was crying.“I don’t know how to be sexy.Or how to start sex with someone.I’ve had it before, but it was more of a one-night stand that didn’t mean anything to either of us.I don’t want that with you.”

“I don’t either.And honey, if you were to be any more sexy than you are right now, I’d be a dead man.I swear to you, you’re the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.And I love you with all that I am.”She nodded, wiping at her tears.“Don’t cry, honey.It breaks me down inside to see you crying over something that I’ve said or done to you.I’m so sorry that you don’t feel like you’re sexy.You are.So much so.”

“Will you make love to me tonight?I know that’s hours from now, but I really do want to be there for my mom and dad.Howie is coming over as well tonight.I’m thinking that by the time dinner rolls around, they’re going to be going to bed.This sort of thing wears them out.You know, stress.Howie will be stressed too about Margaret and his son, but—I’m babbling.I do that when I’m nervous.”He told her that he loved her.“I’m glad you didn’t say that you loved me when I babble, or I’d be doing it all the time.You make me nervous.”

“Why?”She told him.“I don’t actually lift cars for fun, you know.I’m just this big because I’m the alpha.I do keep in shape.And as soon as the two of us bond or make love, you’ll be stronger, too.Not like me, but you’ll be able to handle yourself all the time, too.”

“So, you’re all right with sleeping with me tonight?I don’t know how sexy I’ll be after talking with my parents, but I want you in my bed.”He told her he’d be there for her.“Good.Something epic to look forward to.”She kissed him on the mouth and left him there.He’d not gotten any tea either.

Chapter 6

Howard was so depressed that he didn’t think it could get any worse.His firstborn, his daughter, wanted him to kill his family and then allow the police to kill him for attention for her.It has always been about her, he’d only just realized, and he should have done something about it back when she was younger, he knew now.

“Dad, it’s going to be fine.She’s not going to get out.”He looked at his son and wanted to cry all over again.“I’m trying to think of positive things about her, to be honest, and I can’t get over the fact that she killed Maggie and Howard the third.Why would she do anything like that to me?I thought that we were close.I was no competition to her at all.”

That was all it took for him to start to cry again.His grandson was gone because, according to Cynthia, he was in the way.An innocent child who hadn’t even taken his first breath was gone because of his daughter.When Howie had come to sit with him, the two of them clung to one another, sobbing about the fairness of her getting to live while others around her had not.

Howie was grieving all over again for the loss of something so profound as his son and wife.And there was nothing he could do about it.Just hold onto him like before, telling him that it was the will of some higher power than them that had made the decision to end the life of two of the people that he’d come to love.He thought that was better than saying that his bitch of a sister had done it and he was sorry.

None of them were doing well tonight.Elizabeth had gotten in touch with her doctor and told him she needed something to calm her nerves.He ended up leaving something for him, too.The stress wasn’t good for his head.Howard got up from the couch and went in search of Conri.The man had a calming effect on him like he’d never felt before.He found him and Cass in the kitchen having tea.

“May I have some?”Conri said that he’d make it, and when he stood up to do so, he kissed Cass on the mouth.Usually, it bothered him when they would do that, but tonight, it was wonderful to see them enjoying each other like nothing was going on.“You have become the balm that I needed all day.I can’t believe that it was only just this morning that I had a talk with Cynthia.It seems so long ago now.Like I’ve been grieving for what she’s done all my life.”

“I’m not saying that what she’s done is all right, but you do know that you’re giving her just what she wanted in telling you that.”He asked Conri what he meant.“She’s the center of your life right now.Getting the attention that she wants.”

Howard sat there sipping his tea and thought about what Conri was saying.He was right, of course.If she were here now, she’d be loving that they’re all thinking about her.Really making her a large part of their life right now.When he was given some cookies to go with his tea, he started to turn them away, but he thought once again about giving her attention.After taking three of them and eating them with his tea, he did feel better than he had before coming into the kitchen.

“It’s hard not to think about what she’s done, but I believe you’re right in letting her ruin our day.We need to move on, think about how we’re going to build a new house, not dwell on the fact that she’s the one who blew up the house in the first place.”He finished his tea.“Yes, you’re right.We need to focus on the things we need to in order to not give her anything that she wants.Thank you, Conri.Thank you so very much.”

When he went back to the living room, he asked Elizabeth if she wanted to take a ride with him.One of the houses that they’d looked at to build was right here in town.They could go there, have a look at it, and make a decision as to whether they like it or not.Then, perhaps, go out to the building site and try to imagine what the house was going to look like with the place they’d picked out on the ranch.

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