Garret slides a finger under his collar and leads him the rest of the way around us. “Oh no you don’t, slobber monster. You’re going outside before you terrify the bunny. Let the little guy get settled in before you even think about making friends.” He opens the door and the big dog bounces down the steps and beelinesfor our rental van, probably to piss all over the tires. “No, we won’t let him near Shaggbutt, but it was easier to get him out now than arguing with him.”
I can’t even say anything about him talking about the dog like a person, because I do the same thing to Shaggy. His only job done, Garret turns towards the kitchen, as if drawn by a magnet, and heads after his mate.
Sam comes over and gives Teddy a quick hug. “Get them settled in; I’m gonna go make sure nobody’s tryin’ to burn down my damned house.” Then he too ambles away.
Teddy smiles, watching him leave before he turns back to us. “So, I kind of tried to show Sam what Shaggy’s run looks like back in the dorms. Hopefully, what he built will work. If not just let us know and he should be able to make adjustments super fast. He’s amazing with wood.”
Greg lets out a short snorting laugh behind me, and Teddy turns an adorable shade of pink as he leads us towards the hallway, to where I’m assuming the guest room is. It’s fucking amazing because I’ve never seen him this flustered or happy. I’m really glad that pack life agrees with him so much. One of us had to luck out.
Teddy’s house is a fucking hotbed, and I don’t see myself getting much rest while I’m here. That’s ok. I could use some time out of my head, but everybody’s always on the move. We’ve barely had time to eat lunch and get our bags when Garett comesdown the stairs. He’s staring at his phone and yelling, “Hey, I gotta head into the gym real quick. Chris is having some trouble with the computer system setting up a new membership. Kelly, you want to come with me? You normally handle that sort of thing.”
The perky beta comes out of the kitchen, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process, and I can already see why they were planning on moving the pack bedroom downstairs, I wouldn’t trust this girl not to kill herself on a staircase long term. She makes her way to Garret, wrapping her arms around him and standing on her toes to give him a kiss. “Gimme just a minute, if you can. I need to—”
We may never find out what she needs because the front door swings open without anyone knocking, and everyone’s attention immediately diverts that way. A teenager walks in with shaggy blond hair and big brown eyes that remind me a lot of Kelly. He’s yelling before he even gets the door closed. “Hey, did you guys finally break down and get a van? Got tired of trying to bang in the front of the truck? Not that I want to think about that, but I don’t see how any of you can get any privacy…”
His voice trails off as he takes in Greg standing in the hallway from dropping off our luggage. “Oh! Mom’s gonna be super pissed at you, Kelly. You promised Dad that Garret was the last one…I can’t wait to tell ’em!” The look in his eyes is gleeful as he spins back towards the door, reaching for the knob.
“Cripes, Tuck! You don’t even knock now? Greg isn’t…whatever. Why are you here? And who drove, ’cause I know Mom didn’t give you the keys.” The kid spins around, grinning like the cat that got the cream.
“Oh, Sam said I could borrow a couple of games, so Dad brought me over on our way to the library. Not that I need practice kicking y’all’s butts, but Korbyn is coming over this weekend with his sister and I wanted to have the new MarioKart ready. He’s not great, but she kicked my ass last time.” The kid has a shit-eating grin on his face as his eyes wander around the room before landing on me. “Oh, hey, who’s the mini muscle mommy? She’s cute.” He starts to sidle my way, grinning like the little shit I now know him to be.
Kelly’s hands come up and her face drops into them with a loud groan. Her voice is muffled and I can barely make out the “Gods save me from teenage hormones.” She takes a deep breath before turning to me. “Sarah, this is my baby brother, Tucker. Or just Tuck. He’s fifteen and hormonal. Please ignore him and that…description.”
She turns back to Tuck, who I can now see is almost her height since he’s moved closer. “Tuck, for gosh sake, knock next time. You know where the games are downstairs. Don’t take more than three and leave the Donkey Kong stuff alone. Teddy and I have a date night planned for those.”
“Yeah, yeah. You and the oversized gorillas, I get it.” The kid smirks at Teddy like he isn’t about to get his ass handed to him. “I got it, sis, no worries. I only asked Sam about the one, and I don’t have time to mess around if I want to get all the levels unlocked before they get to the house tomorrow.” He saunters across the room, looking like he knows exactly where he’s going, then looks back at me and throws a wink and an air kiss before disappearing down a set of stairs. What the actual hell? These people are nuts.
Tomorrow, I’ll check out this gym that they started. Not that I’m a professional or anything, but I feel restless after being trapped in the plane and van for so long today. I need to stretch out and get my muscles burning again. Plus, if lunch is any indication, I’m going to have to be careful, otherwise I’m going to gain twenty pounds this week from Sam’s cooking.
Chapter 27
Teddy waves me over as I walk into the gym today for work. I’m determined that it’s gonna be a good Saturday despite how strange stuff is at home.Home,,,that sounds so freaky. We’re still settling into the new place. It’s been a couple of months, but it’s finally starting to feel like ours. Paul spent the last week setting up some fancy mail-order bookcases. I told him Sam could probably do them for us, but he just grumbled a bit and said this would be fine. He watched some online tutorial thingy and now he thinks he’s a professional.
I mean, he’s good with his hands; he’s always carving these cute little animals and stuff. He made Al a new chess set for Christmas…ok, well Sam made the board, but he carved all the little fiddly bits. Not that I play chess, but I can appreciate the aesthetics.
And, ok, yeah, I may be living out of boxes while we try to figure out the bedroom arrangements—and until I get some clothes hangers. Tiffany never mentioned those, but it makes sense since I don’t have a dresser. Everybody already has their own rooms, but it makes my brain itch to stretch my stuff out after being on the couch for so long. But that’s ok. We’re in a place that’s our own, for better or worse. And we’ll get settled eventually. We’ve got nothing but time. It’s fine.
Kelly waves at me before covering her eyes with her hand. She’s on the phone in the office, and the sweet beta looks like she’s ready to reach through the receiver and strangle someone. Teddy draws my attention back with a quick knock on the counter. “Hey, Spence. Um…we’ve got some old school friends visiting from out of town. If you happen to see a couple of strangers out on the floor, don’t get too stressed. I don’t expect them to cause any problems, but just come get me if she tries to agro anybody, yeah? Greg seems totally chill and should keep her in check, but just in case.” He lets out a shaky laugh like hedoesexpect their friends to cause a ruckus, but everybody here’s laid-back…well, almost everybody.
Heading into the employee lounge, I can’t stifle my groan when I look at the staff schedule posted up on the fridge. Fucking shit, Hope booked an extra session with me this afternoon. I know it’s more money, but that woman isn’t interested in working out. Where the hell does she get all this money from, anyway? I shouldn’t complain, fuck knows we’re gonna need all the extra funds we can get after having to pay all the utility deposits and stuff, but I still don’t wanna be around her. Maybe Al’s right, and I should talk to Teddy and Kelly about it. I know they wouldn’t want me to be uncomfortable. But the gym is still starting up and getting a following, and I don’t want to cause them any problems.
Fuck it, I’ll deal. As long as she doesn’t try to touch me today, it’ll be fine. If she does, I’ll go to the bosses and make a report. I don’t want them to think I’m trying to cause trouble, but I just can’t keep doing this. Quickly changing into my gym logo shirt and shorts, I hang up my jeans and jacket in my work locker and head out onto the floor. It’s still another thirty minutes before I’m officially on the clock, so maybe I can get some laps around the track to de-stress before dealing with the hydra woman…no wait, hydras have extra heads.
Octopus-woman?
They have lots of hands…tentacles.
Shit, what was I thinking about?
My eyes scan the room on my way to the stairs for the upper level that has the track. Yeah, there’s an elevator, but why would I use that when I’m at the gym? Well, ok, if my knees were bad, yeah, but they’re fine, so stairs it is.
My brain is doing its usual hopscotch routine of thinking of running laps…not like pool laps…I know Teddy said they wanted to have a pool built for the gym, but the logistics and insurance weren’t worth it for just starting up. I need to check on house insurance. That’s something I should have done before we got moved in. I mean, we have insurance, the mortgage company needed us to, but is it the best deal? I should shop around for that…shopping. I need to go to the store and get stuff for dinner before I head home. Did I pack lunch? Did Paul pack my lunch? I don’t remember either one happening, but that’s not necessarily indicative. I may take my bicycle and go grab lunch and groceries all at once during lunch hour, then Paul can come by and take them home…unless I get something frozen like ice cream…Great, now I want a drumstick. Shit.
My various trains of thought are derailed by the overly pungent scent of Chadwick’s pack standing near a small section of free weights. They’re clustered in a semicircle, and while Ican’t see the bench they’re surrounding, their aggression and desire permeating the air is setting my teeth on edge something fierce.
Even though I’m not on the clock yet, I can’t let the assholes mess up Kelly’s business, so I pivot at the foot of the stairs and head that way. Their voices are growly and unintelligible until I get closer and hear Chadwick crooning, “Now, don’t be like that, shortcake. We just hadn’t seen you at the gym before. If you’re new in town, we’d like to take you out, show you around.”
The sleaze coming off him makes it feel like a slug just slimed across my eardrums, and I have to suppress a shiver. I’m about to interrupt and check on whoever this “shortcake” person is, when a loud feminine snarl rises over the group. “Listen up, Chad!”
