In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,87
headlocks.
“If I have to go out there . . .” Charlie threatened from the kitchen.
Not wanting Charlie to come out to get them, but not wanting to release each other, they made their way into the kitchen still in headlocks.
Charlie had just put something in the oven and turned around, glaring when she saw them.
“What is wrong with you two?” Charlie asked. “I really want to know. Is it a mental issue or just general stupidity?”
When they began to ram each other’s heads into the refrigerator, Charlie sighed out, “Yep. General stupidity.”
* * *
Shen walked into the kitchen to get a soda out of the fridge but ended up catching Stevie before she could be flung into the dining room. She was lucky, though, because Charlie had only tossed her aside. She had Max by the hair and was shoving her into a chair.
Charlie pointed at an empty chair and ordered, “Put her there.”
And Shen did what she ordered him to do because the look on Charlie’s face suggested he shouldn’t disagree with her at the moment.
He carried Stevie into the room and gently placed her in the chair across from Max, careful not to make any sudden moves. When he was done, he straightened up and looked at the sisters. When all they did was stare at him, Shen began to slowly back out of the room. Again, keeping his movements very nonthreatening.
He could get a soda from the store. Or he could just go thirsty. Whatever worked. As long as he got out of here with his life and sanity intact.
* * *
After Shen had left the room . . . and then the house—Stevie could hear the front door slam closed—Charlie asked, “Did you sleep with him last night?”
Stevie grinned. “I did. It was magnificent.”
“A He’s so sweet.”
“And God knows,” Max sneered, “you needed to get laid—ow! What was that for?” she asked, rubbing the back of her head where Charlie had slapped it.
“Because we don’t have time for you two to keep bickering. I talked to Aunt Bernice last night.”
“Yeah, and?”
“They want us to come to the funeral.”
Max frowned. “Who died?”
“Great-Uncle Pete. Remember?”
“Sorta.”
“Why do we have to go?” Stevie wanted to know. She didn’t want to go to a funeral unless she had to. And she didn’t think she had to go to a funeral for a man she didn’t even know.
“That’s where it gets complicated.”
Stevie and Max exchanged glances before looking back at Charlie.
“What’s complicated?” Max asked. “It’s a funeral.”
“It’s complicated because it’s Uncle Will who wants us to attend.”
Stevie shrank down in her chair. “Oh, man, he’s gonna kill us all, isn’t he?”
“Not necessarily.”
Stevie sat up straight again. “What the fuck kind of response is that?”
Charlie rubbed her forehead with her thumb and admitted, “An honest one.”
* * *
Shen checked his pockets again for his cell phone. When he didn’t find it, he figured he’d left it inside. He looked back at the front door but muttered, “Eh. I can get it later.”
He started down the front steps but stopped when a blue SUV pulled into the spot behind his vehicle. He grinned when Livy Kowalski stepped out of the passenger side and her mate—and Shen’s business partner—got out of the driver’s.
“Livy!” Shen exclaimed, walking up to her and giving her a big hug. He pulled back, grinned. “Love the hair.”
It was their old joke but Shen loved it. Livy was a honey badger. Shen a panda. They both had evidence of both colors in their black and white hair. Unlike the MacKilligan sisters, they didn’t bother dying their hair one color.
“You doing okay?” Livy asked.
“I’m fine. What are you guys doing here?”
“Orders from my mother,” Livy complained. “The aunts have not been able to get in touch with Max. And her mother’s been trying to contact her.”
“Her mother? The one—”
“The one in a Belgian prison? Yeah.”
Livy and Max were cousins, their families related on their mothers’ side. The Yangs. A powerful honey badger clan from China known for their art thieving abilities. After Livy’s mother hooked up with a Kowalski, she became one of the matriarchs of the Yangs. But Max’s mother’s connection with Freddy MacKilligan had done nothing for her. It was why she was still in prison. No one had tried to break her out.
“Is everything all right?”
“Doubtful. But no one’s dead, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Shen had always loved Livy’s flat, uninterested tone. She could make, “You’ve won the lottery!” sound like the worst thing that could happen to anyone.