Page 9 of Edmond

“What a ridiculous name. I enjoyed it some when she was a baby, but now? Not really. Mac.”

She didn’t have a relationship with her granddaughter. Caroline wasn’t sure if she was happy for that or not. There were times when she’d forget completely about it, and then others, she would mourn the loss of having her around to take care of her. Mac had been born when the boys were just beginning to be fun to have around. There were no diapers or bottles to give them. Throw a pizza in front of them, and it wouldn’t be noisy for a few hours. Until they wanted something else. But she’d had the money then to indulge, and not having to be stuck watching over Mac had made her days much easier to cope with.

Getting up, she decided to take a shower. But only stepping one foot into her bathroom in her room had her turning away in disgust. They had showered, at her insistence before they went to have breakfast and had made a horrid mess in her only small space that she could go. It was somewhat her fault. She’d made them take a shower in her bathroom so that she knew they were taking one. Calling the front desk, she asked for more towels and a once-over of the room. Christ, they had never become less of a snob than they’d been as children.

After taking a nice soak in the clean tub, she got herself ready to go out. She was going to find her daughter and insist that she put down her foot with her sons. Not to mention, she was going to have her pay for the hotel rooms too. She was headed out of her room when the desk phone began to beep. Christ, there was nothing she hated more than to be interrupted by a phone.

“Ms. Kensington?” She asked the man who was chasing her what he wanted. “There is a small matter of the other rooms that you have on your credit card. It’s well over its balance, we were told and there isn’t any way for you to be paying for your room. Not to mention the damage done in the other rooms that you have requested.”

“What do you mean, damage? I only asked that the room be cleaned up. I saw no damage in there.” He handed her a small tablet, and she could see what the man was talking about. “That is my grandsons’ room. How do I know that it wasn’t like that before they got there?”

“The pawn shop where they took the furnishings as well as the television to pawn off for cash. There is nothing in that room now other than a mess. I would hope that you’d be willing to compensate us for all the time and effort we went about to get your grandsons’ a room at such short notice.” Rolling her eyes at the man, she started for the door when several cruisers pulled up in front of the hotel. “I’m sorry, Ms. Kensington, I’m not going to allow you to leave without paying your bill. If you can’t then I’m afraid I’m going to have to have you arrested.”

“For what? Never mind. I don’t care. Call my daughter. Or my granddaughter. She’s into money right now. Did you know that I’m related to the Conner family? She’s my granddaughter’s sister-in-law.” She wasn’t sure how they were related right then and knew she was messing it up. “Look, you’ve established that I don’t have that kind of money. Just call Mac…what was her last name now that she’s married? Just call Mac. There can’t be that many of them in the phone book. I think she’s working at that diner someplace near here. Just do that.”

“Unless you have it written down that she’ll pay the bill here, then I’m going to have you arrested.” The cops were suddenly around her, and she was handcuffed. “I don’t have any idea why you thought that this would work for you, but I’m a tad bit smarter than you think you are.”

She didn’t have a comeback as she wasn’t entirely sure what he was saying. Ignoring him for what the police were telling her, she was put in the back of the cruiser and taken away. Mother fuck, she wasn’t going to be able to make herself out to be a better person if they kept this up with her. Sitting back, she thought that she was going to have to work harder if she was going to be any part of Mac’s money. Or life. Whatever.

Chapter 5

“I have some good news and some better news. Which is it that you want first?” Mac cocked a brow at Lica. “All right, the good news first. Your grannie is in jail. She was arrested this afternoon and is currently screaming her head off for you or her ungrateful daughter to come there and bail her out. I don’t know how that’s going to work out for her since she’s not had a hearing as yet. Anyway, that’s where she is. Also, you should know that she is broke. I mean, she not only doesn’t have a pot to piss in but the pot has been taken from her as well.”

“How did you find this out?” He told her. “So she tells the police that her granddaughter is attached to some money and has demanded that I pay that off. That’s not going to happen, I’m afraid. The better news now. And just so you know, it’s going to be hard to top that one.”

“Your parents aren’t going to go back to Cleveland, as you might have guessed, to help out your grannie. Sorry, that’s not what I meant to say but I just remembered that as well. Also, your brothers have been arrested. Grand larceny. They not only took everything out of the hotel room that your grannie arranged for them, but they hocked it all and destroyed the room when it didn’t net them as much as they thought it should have.” She asked him which town her parents going to be staying in. “Oh, good question. Right around the corner from yours and Edmond’s home. They found them a modest little house, it only has about fifty bedrooms in it, and they’re moving there. Your dad is set to be mayor of our town, and I think that he’ll do a great job at it. Moving on. In addition to them being arrested for the hotel mess, they also resisted arrest and had guns on them while being out on parole. Then there is the added charge…did you know that your brother Cole has some health issues? Anyway, your parents were getting a monthly check that they put into the bank to help with his medical needs when he was older. I guess the doctor told him that he would eventually need constant care. I don’t know what it is that’s mentally wrong, but maybe you can find out. That money is all gone, by the way.”

“Do my parents know that?” He said that he didn’t think so. “I guess it was Grannie who took it out. I remember Mom saying once that she’d been putting money in there as well to help her favorite boy out or something like that. There was nearly half a million dollars in that account.”

He said that was what the banker told Brandy when she was doing a deep dive into her life. “Her home has been taken for lack of taxes being paid for the last ten years. There are credit cards, too, that she’d gotten in the boys—your brothers’ names that she’s maxed out as well. At some point, she told the police that your brothers robbed her, and they took her maxed-out credit card to buy them dinner. The police didn’t believe that because they knew that she’d been indulging them since they were children.”

“Thanks for letting me know. And I’ll talk to my parents today. We’re going household shopping with your brothers. I guess you’re going to be there as well?” He said that they were going to make a day of it. “I thought so. Before I forget again, Edmond told me that I should do this.”

Getting down on her knees, she put her face to the ground. It smelled good, the grass, and she was glad that she wasn’t in the house to do this. Lica told her that she didn’t need to do that as she wasn’t a wolf, but she told him to shut up so that she could remember what she was supposed to say.

“Lica William Frazier, Alpha to the pack Frazier, I hereby commit my…What’s the next line?” He told her. “Right. I commit myself to you as my alpha, to your…shit, Brandy was supposed to be here too. Can I start over?”

“I’m here. What the hell are you doing on the ground? Get up, damn it.” She told her to shut up and not to interrupt her again. “You’re supposed to be nice to me, or I’ll rip your throat out if you’re not.”

“Fuck you. All right, here I go again. Lica William Frazier and Brandy Conner Fraizer, I commit myself to you as my alphas.” She had to think and was glad when Lica told her the next part. “I was getting there. I will serve you to the best of my ability. I will give my life for you as a part of your pack?” She looked up at them both. “I’m supposed to say that I will worship you for all time but I’m not saying that. I know that I’m supposed to but since I don’t like that part, then you’re going to have to punish me or something.”

“That’s fine. Like I said, you didn’t have to do it because you’re—what’s wrong?” Mac put up her hand, and they both closed their mouth. She told Lica in a soft voice that she knew he shouldn’t have been able to hear when he asked her again what was going on.

“There are two people that are looking for the two of you. They don’t know what you look like but they’re asking everyone in town where it is you live. Mostly they want…they want the rich bitch. I’m only assuming that would be you, Brandy.” She said that it more than likely was. “They have guns that have silver in them. Someone will need to explain that part to me. I thought it was only used on vamps.”

“It will kill a vampire, but it will eventually kill us if it’s not taken out soon. Do you know these people?” She put out her hand, and her vine went to his hand. “Christ, I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to that shit.” He closed his eyes, and she somehow knew that he was seeing their faces. “I don’t know either of them.”

It was then that she realized that neither she nor Edmond had given this shit to Brandy. But it was a moot point now because as soon as she touched her, for whatever reason, she got a bit of it as well. She asked Brandy if she’d ever seen the two men before.

“Yes. The blond used to work for me when I was starting out. And don’t even ask me how I remembered that. I’ve had thousands of employees that worked for me, and I couldn’t—” Mac said her name. “Right. I’m getting off track. The woman I don’t know.”

“She is his girlfriend. For whatever reason, he told her about you, and she’s convinced him that they needed to kidnap you and hold you for ransom. I couldn’t see that until you remembered him. Someone needs to figure out what this crap is before I just have it removed.” Brandy asked if she could do that, and Mac just glared at her. “They’re right now at the realtor’s office. I guess that’s what I’d do, too, if I was stupid about letting people know that I was hunting for someone. Morons.”

Mac reached out to Edmond and asked him where he was. After telling her that he was sitting outside of the same realtor’s office waiting on the morons, she decided that she’d had enough of this waiting around shit. She was in love with Edmond.

“They’re pretending like they’re old friends. I don’t know anyone in their right mind that would believe that. They’re dressed like…over the top, is all I can think about. They’re dressed up like they think people with money dress like. Necklaces and shiny stuff hanging on their fingers. Rings, but I can tell that they’re not real. The man is carrying, but I can’t tell if it’s loaded or not. For some reason, I can’t get past the fact that they’re idiots.”

“It’s loaded, so be careful. I’ve decided that I want to jump you in the worst sort of way. As soon as possible, if we can manage it.” He laughed. “If you tease me about giving in so soon, you’ll never see me coming at you when I strangle you. Is that how you want to spend the rest of your life? In traction?”