Joy to the Wolves (Red Wolf #1) - Terry Spear Page 0,82
with Josh to the house. He carried the sleigh bells and postcard, and Adam set the security alarm on the shop and locked the door. Lucas and Adam followed behind them as they walked through Brooke’s courtyard to her house.
“My parents don’t know I’ve come to see you,” Lucas warned.
Brooke and the others glanced at him, and she was sure they were all thinking the same thing. “Hopefully, that won’t get you into more hot water with them.” She unlocked the door to the house and turned off the security alarm. “Does spaghetti sound good to everyone?” She turned on her Christmas tree lights, and they sparkled, illuminating the predominantly blue and gold balls and the vintage-style ornaments she had collected over the years.
A resounding yes came from all the guys.
“Not surprising that you didn’t tell them about coming here. They’ve lawyered up,” Josh said. “They’re not going to want you to see us until this is over with.”
“Yeah, because my parents made me do it. You smelled me and you smelled the reindeer in the truck, didn’t you?” Lucas took a seat in the living room with Adam while Brooke went into the kitchen, pulled out hamburger from the fridge, and placed it in a frying pan.
Josh joined her to help out and filled a saucepan with water to boil the noodles. “Yes, Lucas. We bagged the reindeer hair for proof you stole the reindeer for the benefit of those who need something more substantial than just our ability to smell scents.”
“I only borrowed the reindeer.”
“‘Borrowed’ means you planned to return it. You didn’t. He could have been lost to us forever,” Josh said.
“We thought the police were following us. Sandy wanted us to drop the reindeer off in the shop’s courtyard and we’d come back for it. But my dad found out I was out driving around, and he wanted me to drop off my friends at their homes and then return home. We figured the reindeer was okay for the night. I was going to return to the shop and get it before anyone woke up that morning.”
“But you didn’t,” Josh said.
“My dad was angry with me because I was out so late and took the keys to the truck. He said I couldn’t use the truck the next day. Then I saw on the news that the woman who owned the shop was taking care of the reindeer and the owner had come to get him.”
“Why in the world did you steal the calf in the first place?” Josh asked. “That’s what I don’t get.”
“Ty’s uncle owns the company that rented your reindeer for their Christmas party. He’s a powerful man, and he didn’t like that he had to pay more for the rental because people took longer to take more pictures with the reindeer. Ty told us we’d borrow a reindeer to make up for the extra rental cost, not telling his uncle. But really, Ty just wanted to show him off to Sandy. He planned for us to take pictures with the reindeer.”
“I thought Sandy was your girlfriend,” Josh said.
“She was. But she and Ty have something going on.” Lucas shrugged. “She wasn’t really the right person for me. Not when I’m a wolf and she’s not.”
Everyone looked a little incredulous at him. Brooke couldn’t believe he wouldn’t be more upset about it than that. Not when Ty was his best friend.
“I know. I was mad when I first figured it out. Then I was like, why? She wouldn’t be the right one for me. She never would have been. Anyway, we didn’t get the pictures of us with the reindeer. We hadn’t thought anyone would see the photos if we took them, since we were going to share them privately with friends.”
“You know what happens when that’s done?” Josh asked.
“Uh, yeah, but we really hadn’t thought that much about it. As soon as Sandy saw we had the calf, she was angry with both of us and worried he could be hurt. She wasn’t involved in any of it. After we showed it to her, she went with us in the truck because she didn’t trust us to take the reindeer home.”
“She was right,” Josh said.
“She’s the one who got scared when we thought a police car was following us. She told us to stop and put him in the courtyard and we’d come back for him later.”
Josh shook his head. “What about the hacking of our security video?”