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“I’m going to take care of that too.” His smile made her smile, too, but she knew something that they didn’t. Brogan was strong-willed, and she knew that they’d take what she had for them, or they’d piss her off. “You’ll see. I’m nothing like my son and his wife, but I get what I want. Even if I have to go behind their backs to get what I want.”
“Good luck with that.” Lica came into the house by the back door, and she stayed in the front room. He had a tendency to come into the house after cleaning up in the nude. It had taken her one time to know that, and she wasn’t going to let that happen again. “Lica is mad. I can feel it coming off him like water over a mountain. He’s not in the best of humor most of the time. Polite, like I said, but right now, his mood is black.”
“Do you know why?” He said that he’d met his mate. “That’s wonderful. Right? I mean, no, it can’t be bad to meet her, is it?”
“She’s human.” Those two words had her laughing. She hadn’t a clue why she thought it was so funny, but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing. “I’d not let him know you think that it’s funny, Brogan. He’s about as pissed off as I’ve ever seen him.”
“Oh, I don’t care right now. He’s met her, and that’s the world’s greatest…well, they’ll come together soon enough. I’m excited to be able to be here when they do. Oh my, I’m about as happy as I’ve ever been in my life. I want to know everything, but I’ll let him tell me. Oh, his mate. Yes, this is the best news I’ve heard in a very long time. Thank you for telling me.”
Chapter 3
Brandy knocked on the door and looked around the yard. She didn’t know these people, but apparently, everyone in town knew the Frazier’s. When a man opened the door, she asked if she had the correct house and said that she was looking for the Frazier home.
“You’ve got the right house, but if you’re selling something, you’re not going to have any luck. Nor will you if you’re selling something for your school.” He cocked his head at her. “Nah, you’re not in school anymore. Maybe college, but no high school. Which Frazier are you looking for?”
“Lica. I don’t know if I’m saying that right or not, but he was in my store this morning and made one of my employees cry. I don’t usually go to people’s houses to complain, but I’m…is he here? Mr. Lica Frazier?” She didn’t know why she was talking so much, but the way the man was looking at her made her nervous. Not uncomfortable but nervous all the same. “If not, can you point—”
He didn’t move anything but his mouth to yell—loudly for Lica. When someone in the back of the house said he was upstairs, she was invited in to have dinner with them. Before she could tell them no, she already had plans, so the man pulled her into the house and neatly closed the door behind her. Brandy didn’t know what to say when four of the biggest men she’d ever seen in her life came into the hallway where she was. Then she got a look at the one that had invited her in.
“I’m not here to cause trouble. I just need to talk to Lica for a minute. And I don’t want to have dinner. I’m going to be eating with my parents tonight.” There she was again, jabbering. Closing her mouth, she bit her lip so she’d not speak again. It didn’t work as well as she hoped. “Why don’t I go outside and wait on him?”
“You too good to eat with us?” She saw the man as soon as he cleared the stairs. “When someone invites you to dinner, you’re supposed to be polite, not rude.”
“Lica, behave yourself. She’s wanting to talk to you about you making her employee cry.” He told the older woman who had admonished him that he’d done no such thing. “Well, she’s here to talk to you about it, so someone isn’t telling the truth.”
“Are you talking about the Rodeo Burger Joint? That was hours ago.” She asked the man who had brought her into this madness how he knew it. “You running that place? I used to work there. For a week. That’s the nastiest place I’ve ever been to.”
“Ayden, let her tell us why she’s here.” There were more people in the room than she could handle. There were now seven men and two older women. The older of the two women was smiling at her, but Brandy suddenly couldn’t breathe. Backing away from them, she asked for a moment. “You take as long as you want. Guy, set another plate at the table. Ivan, get her a glass of tea. The sweet stuff. Lica? Why are you just standing there? Take her to the dining room before she passes out. My goodness, you act like you’ve never seen a pretty woman before. Get going, the lot of you.”
She found herself with her head between her knees and being told to breathe. She was trying to tell them that she was all right, but every time she lifted her head, she was shoved back down. It wasn’t until someone said something about tea that she was allowed to sit up enough to see. Before she was pushed back down, like she knew that Lica was going to do to her, she punched him in the belly.
“I’m not a flipping yo-yo. Will you stop trying to push me into the floor?” She took the tea and smiled at the person who had brought it to her. “Ivan, right? I don’t care for sweet tea. Could you please just get me some ice water?”
“Yes, ma’am, miss?” She said her name was Brandy Conner. They all turned to the man holding his belly and the back of her neck.
“Listen to me, not him. I’m telling you that I want water. He’s not my keeper.” That got them moving again, and a plate was set in front of her. Lica sat down in the chair next to her. “I came here to talk to you about my employee. You made her cry, which I’ve found out she does every time something doesn’t go her way. I want to know what you said that has her threatening to cut your nuts off. I can understand a little of that, having only spent the last few minutes around you, but what happened?”
“Do you have a weak stomach?” She told him she didn’t and asked why. “Ayden worked there about a week a couple of years ago.”
“Is this history lesson necessary?” He asked her if she was always so rude when she wanted information from someone. “You’re right. My apologies. Go one. So which one is Ayden again?” The man raised his hand as he passed the biggest bowl of mashed potatoes she’d ever seen to her. “Thank you. Go on.”
After putting a small scoop on her plate, Lica took the bowl next. After putting about three heaping scoops on his own plate, he put another one on hers. Before she could tell him that she had enough, the bowl was on its way to the next person.
“Ayden worked there a couple of years ago, and he quit when he noticed some…Well, the place isn’t sanitary. The man working the line, he still works there by the way, Ayden. He was picking his nose and eating his buggers while putting lettuce on my sand—”
“Good Christ.” He nodded at her when she spoke. “I’m assuming Joey is his name. You said something to him about it.”
“No, I said something to that dumbass—not very smart woman working the cash register. She told me that’s the special sauce that makes your buggers, then she acted like she slipped up and called them burgers so good. I told her that I wanted to see the manager and she told me that it’s your—pardon me, your juices as the female manager that makes the fries so crispy.”
She didn’t get it at first, but the older woman, Brogan, she said her name was, stood up and sat down twice before she asked Lica if he was joking. He said that he’d never joke about something so sexual with a stranger. Then she got it.
Brandy backed from the table so quickly that she nearly fell backward. If not for Lica and his brother on either side of her catching her, she would have hurt herself badly. As it was, she was put in the position of having her head between her knees again and thought she’d be better off staying there this time.
“We’re losing business. Well, I guess I know why now.” She sat up and looked at Lica. “What on earth made her think that she could talk to you like that?” His face turned pink, and she thought it suited him, but she didn’t make a comment. “So you’ve dated her before this.”
“Good Christ, no. She’s…what is she about fifteen? No. Christ, no.” She laughed, and he growled. “I used to babysit her when she was a baby. I guess…she makes comments like that to all of us when she sees us. I don’t usually engage with her, but I was giving Rodeo another chance after so long and was starving. Not that hungry to eat there, but that’s what happened.”
“There’s more if you want to know about it. If Joey is still working there, I’m betting that none of the other stuff has been taken care of either.” She told Ayden she didn’t want to know right then. “Good. That’s good. It’s all worse, by the way. What I would do if I were you is close the place down, fire everyone, and blow the restaurant out of the town. No one will ever eat there again if it gets out that someone said those things and upset Lica.” She looked at Lica and asked him why him.
