Page 2 of Lance

Laughing to himself, he was happy that he was having this time to think about his actions and those around him. He knew by tomorrow, if not later tonight, that he’d be rethinking everything and that he’d be calling in an attorney who would get him out of trouble. In a few weeks, less if he could wave around enough cash, he’d be working again. Not here, of course, but somewhere in the country. He realized that it didn’t even bother him that his wife was gone. Until he realized that she might well have known where he kept his money. As well as bank account numbers to get into his other accounts.

“I’ll fucking hunt her down and kill her if she’s touched it.” That got him a little worked up. Just thinking about the things that he wanted in his cell got him in a better mood almost immediately. A good attorney would get it for him. Like he’d thought all his life, with enough money, a person can have a mountain moved to suit his own whims. Laughing again, he closed his eyes. Yes, sir, tomorrow heads were going to roll, by god, if they wouldn’t.

~*~

Tate was inspired. He had asked for some time off from the foundation to work on his craft. He’d never called what he did as a painter as a craft before. But this entire week, all he’d been able to think about was the design that was in his head. The little fae that had come to him from the queen had sparked something in his mind that had made for a lot of sleepless nights. It was his wife, Caroline, that had made the arrangements for him to be off and got him out of the house when his fae, Blu, had given him a place to paint.

Not only was the place large and well-lighted, but he had about every sized canvas he’d ever want, as well as paints in colors and quantities that he was sure that not even larger department stores had in stock. Tate thought that he could paint the world and not run out of the shades of just red he had. He was giddy when he thought about working.

This morning, he’d spent walking around. Every time that he made a pass around the large area, he’d find something else that he’d not noticed before. A box of charcoal here. Then, there were the brand-new paint pallets stacked dozens high for him to use to blend and to spread paints. Tools lined up on the pegboard wall with the width of the brush and what the bristles were made of. He’d found aprons that the paint would just rinse off of. Blu had done that for him. So he’d not have to be messy all the time.

He’d not had the heart to tell her that he enjoyed that, too. Being colored in his work like a part of the canvas that he was painting on. As he made his last pass around the room and supplies, he’d found a door. Opening it up, he danced a little jig, making sure that no one could see him first when he’d found a break room. One with a cot and a fridge filled with his favorite water and snacks. There was a fan, too, as well as a nice stereo in the corner as well.

There had been a computer set up for him to use. It had better internet than he’d ever had when he lived in Texas. Also, since it was magical, too, he didn’t have to worry about it being shut off for non-payment. Didn’t have to ever worry about not being able to get more canvas or brushes. Ethan did another dance around.

“Dad?” Smiling at his son, John, he picked him up and swung him around. Both of them were slightly dizzy when he finally stopped. “You’re being weird, Dad. Did you know that?”

“I feel weird. What is it I can do for you today, my wonderful son?” John rolled his eyes, and Tate couldn’t help but tickle him a bit. “All right. Now, you tell me what it is that sent you out here. I’m in a great mood, so it could even be your grandma Cybil, and I’d still be in a good mood.”

“That’s what it is. She’s here. She’s yelling at Mom about her letting Grandma Cybil live with us. I don’t want her to. I don’t mind her visiting a little bit, but I don’t want her to live with us again. She’s…Dad, she smells like old people.” Barely catching the laughter as it spilled from his mouth, he put John down and made his way into the house. Cybil was there, and she looked about as upset as his wife. Kissing Caroline on the mouth, he asked Cybil what she wanted.

“You have this big house now, and I don’t get to see John much anymore. I want you to tell my daughter how much nicer it will be if I move in here with you guys again. It’ll take a load off of your shoulders knowing that I’m here all the time for you, and I won’t have to pay out the ass to have my own place. Not to mention, flying here to see you. You won’t have to pay for a sitter, nor will you have to pay me that much to be here all the time, Tate. Room and board will be a part of my package for being willing to be here, of course, but I’ll need a little walking around money, too. I was thinking that you can pay me two hundred dollars a week. Unless I need more. I’ve never lived in this area of the country before, so I have no idea what I’ll need to keep me in money. That sounds good, doesn’t it? Having a sitter around whenever you need one?”

“No.” She looked at him like she didn’t understand the word. Tate was just in too good of a mood to let her glaring at him now bother him. “Honey, how about you and John get dressed up, and we go to that nice seafood place you’ve been talking about. It wasn’t my idea, mind, but Margo’s. She invited us to go out with her husband. I think they’re going to try to have a baby the next time around. Maybe that’s what she wants to talk to us—”

“What are you going on about?” He asked Cybil what she meant. “I am offering you my babysitting skills for free. I know that the two of you don’t have any money. This will be perfect for us all, you’ll see. I’ll need to have a few days off once in a while, at least a few times a month so that I can go to the beach. I cannot believe that you have this house and it’s so close to the water. How much is your rent here? Not that I’m going to pitch in. I mean, my name isn’t on the rental agreement. But I would like to know.”

“None of your business, Mother. And no, as Tate told you, and I have as well, you’ll not be staying here with us nor babysitting. John is going to the same school that I’m teaching at, so there is no need for a sitter. Not that he needs one anymore, anyway. He’s nearly six, so he’ll be going to school there too.” Tate could have kissed his wife again when she glared at her mother and spoke again. “And your babysitting isn’t free, Mother. It has never been. You have cost us more when we were living back home by living with us than I could have paid for a full-time nanny. Giving you money each week didn’t help us at all when you were so unreliable all the time. Taking days off. Even dropping John off at school with me when you needed a break wasn’t helpful at all. No, Tate is right, just like I’ve told you since you brought it up. You’re not living with us. You’re not going to be getting any money from us. And you won’t be sitting for John. He doesn’t care for you anyway.”

“What a terrible thing to say to me.” Cybil looked at John. “You love your grandma, don’t you, John Wohn, my wittle boy.” John looked at him, and Tate nodded. Her baby singsong voice was getting on his nerves, too. If she did that to his son all the time, no wonder he didn’t want to be around her. “Come on, baby wabby, tell them that you don’t want to go to that nasty old school. You want to hang out with your granny maw.”

“No, I don’t. You keep calling me names like John Wohn and treating me like I’m two. I’m not two, and I don’t like you calling me those stupid names. Also, you stink. Not like you need a bath stink, but you smell just like the old people at the store at the first of the month.” Cybil drew back her hand to no doubt hit his son. Before he could react, John did. “You hit me again, and I will never talk to you ever again. I mean it this time, Cybil. You’re not going to hit me. I’m going to tell my Dad, and he’ll tell Uncle Denver how you’ve been not paying your dues or ours to the pride when you were supposed to. See where that gets you.”

He’d not known anything about that. Not that she’d hit John before, nor that she wasn’t paying their dues. Thinking about all the money that he’d been handing over to her monthly when dues were due when she told him she didn’t have the cash for it, he staggered back. She’d told him it was two hundred dollars a month. A due that he’d never thought of before because he’d given his due money to her to pay at the same time. He asked his son if he knew if his dues had been paid.

“No. She just pockets it. She told me once that I wasn’t to tell on her or you’d beat me. I never believed you would, but I didn’t know if she’d beat me. Cybil has done it before. Locked me in the basement, too.” Cybil told John to shut his mouth. It was Caroline who asked her if it was true. “It is, mom. I swear to you, it’s all true.”

“You’re going to believe this brat over me?” Caroline nodded, and that pissed her off more. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Caroline. What was I supposed to do? You weren’t catering to me the way that your dad did. I missed that. And when I saw an opportunity to get some money, I jumped at it. You would have done the same thing in my shoes.”

“No, I wouldn’t have. That was money that could have paid our bills. Put gas in the car. Even food on our—that’s why you were never hungry. You were using our money to feed yourself, no doubt better food than we had. Christ, Mother, how could you do that to us?” Caroline looked at him before speaking to his wife.

“I had to put up with staying in that shabby house, so I deserved better than you since your father made no provision for me. Come on, Caroline, wouldn’t you want your mother to have the very best? I lost my house and my money. I lost my way of life when he decided to make me have to kill him.” He knew the exact moment that Caroline heard what her mom said. “I didn’t kill him. That was just…it’s a figure of speech. I would never have killed John. He had the sense to let me do what I wanted to do, not like this idiot that you’ve married. ‘Tate is a ‘painter,’ Mom’ you’d tell me. ‘He makes enough for us to pay the bills.’ And ‘he’s happy.’ Well, I wasn’t. Doesn’t that count for something? It should. I’m your mother.”

“Get out of my house.” Cybil laughed at him. “You heard me. Get out of my house before I call the police. And I’m going to. Just as soon as you get your fucking murdering ass out of my home.”

“This isn’t your home but a rental, you cheap fucking little shit.” The knock at his back door where they were in the kitchen had Caroline going to the door. “You’re nothing but a fool if you think that at any point you’re going to be able to own a home like this one. You’re too fucking lazy. And I will be living here too. You won’t have any say in it when I tell the leader, that fool Denver, that you’ve kicked me out because I wouldn’t sleep with you. And he’ll believe me too over you. He hates you. I heard him say it over and over.”

“That’s enough.” He turned to look at Denver when he put his hand on his arm. “I’m here if you need me, Tate. You do what you need to do to get this piece of trash out of your home, and then when you’re finished with her, I’m going to take over. And I want you to know that I’d never say anything like that. Ever. Your lovely wife just let me know what she’s been doing to us all about the dues. It’s a small wonder that all of us weren’t killed when she didn’t pay the dues for your family. Because you know as well as I do that had it come out that she’d not been paying, we would have all died to save you and your family.” Denver looked at Cybil. “This house, along with the other houses that our family lives in, are owned and paid for by them. All of us own the homes that we’re living in now. Frankly, I couldn’t care less if you believe me or not. But, and this one you can bet your ass on, you’re going to be tried by the pride committee, Cybil, and I hope that you get everything that you deserve. Come on, John, your aunt, and I have been invited to dinner too. How about we get into the limo outside and wait for your parents. All right?”

When his brother left with Bailee and John, he waited until he heard the front door close before he spoke. He had plenty to say, and he wasn’t going to waste his breath in saying it twice. But Caroline asked if she could speak first.

“Of course, my love. You say what you need to say to your—you’re not. Are you going to…Wait. Let me get out my phone so I can record this.” It only took him a few seconds to get things ready, and he had to make himself calm down. “All right, Caroline, love. Go for it.”

“Mother, is it with the greatest pleasure that I’ve ever known to say this to you. Cybil Caroline Holster Armstrong, I no longer claim you as my mother. I will no longer call you mother nor any other derivative of that word. You are no longer welcome in my life. I denounce you as my parent from this day onward. You’ll have no contact with my family, the Tucker family. None with John Tucker, the son of my body. My husband, Tate Tucker, will not come to your aid when you need it. You are forevermore nothing to any of us.”

Chapter 1

Sebastian didn’t understand the malarkey that he seemed to be caught up in. Of course, he wasn’t an attorney but a surgeon, so he could see no reason for them to take his licenses away because he’d messed up a little. Being a surgeon had been his lifelong dream, not for the prestige or even the personal favor of a lot of people that came with it. He wanted the money. Christ, did he ever need some of that right now.

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