“I almost never get your point.”
“My point is that Green Field is my pack, the people there are my packmates, and Rupert Jackson is a weak leader and a weak Alpha so I’m going to get rid of him.”
“You already said that, and I already said that I’d take care of it for you.”
Keith stretched out across the sofa and closed his eyes. “We’ve repeated this back and forth so many times that at this point you can play both of our roles. Wake me up when you’re done.”
“Keith.”
“Uh-huh?”
“I’m serious. I want to take care you. Ineedto take care of you.”
“I know, and like I said, I think you're super sweet and I love how much you care, but also, I’m going to kill Rupert Jackson and his son too, unless he exhibits good judgment for the first time in his life and walks away, which, let’s be real here, he won’t. I mean, like, he could, but—” He shook his head.
“No. You’re not killing anyone because you’re not going to Green Field. You’re staying here and I’m handling it. Why won’t you let me handle it?”
“Dear lord, we’re doing it again,” he mumbled.
“Keith, I mean it,” Brian said.
“You mean it. I mean it. We both mean it.” Keith sat up. “Oh, I have a great idea.”
“What?”
“We crumble potato chips on ice cream. Does that sound yummy?”
“I’m so confused.” Brian sounded defeated. “Why am I always so confused lately?”
“You seem pretty stressed out, and sometimes when we’re stressed, we don’t think clearly. On the plus side, you’re smoking hot.” A ringing phone interrupted their conversation. “Is that you or me?” Keith asked. “Actually, I don’t have a phone, so it has to be you.” He sat up, looked around, and saw the phone on the end table. “I’ll grab it for you.” He picked it up and looked at the screen. “It’s Morgan Peters.”
“Why is he calling? He was here two days ago. I don’t want to talk to him again so soon.”
“Hi, Morgan,” Keith said after he answered the call on speaker. “How was the drive back? Is Ricky okay? Did he have the baby?”
“The drive was fine, Ricky is wonderful, and not yet.”
“Glad he’s doing well. Hey, listen, I’m glad you called because I have a question for you. Do you think I can have a cat’s soul even though I’m a wolf shifter?”
“Great question. I heard from Rupert Jackson’s guy again. He was trying to be sly but it’s clear that he called to figure out if I went to Purple Sky to eliminate you, and when he realized I hadn’t and I wouldn’t, he ended the call. Keith, they are going to try something else. You need to take this seriously and handle them sooner rather than later, because if you don’t, trouble will come to your door.”
He arched his eyebrows, stared at his mate, and mouthed, “See?”
“Peters, now isn’t a good time,” Brian said. He shuffled over and gently removed the phone from Keith’s hand. “We need to go.” He ended the call and set the phone on the coffee table.
“You forgot to say bye. That’s no way to talk to your BFF. You’ll hurt his feelings.”
“What? Never mind.” Brian dragged his fingers through his hair. He really did look distraught. Thankfully, Keith knew exactly how to cheer him up.
“Your face is red. Are you hot? Because if you are, you should take off your clothes.”
“My clothes?”
“Uh-huh. That way I can enjoy the view of my hot naked mate.”
Brian blinked at him.
“Hot mate. Get it? Because you’re hot from a temperature perspective but also because of how you look so it works both ways. Hot mate.” He looked at Brian expectantly.
