“Don’t forget to put on your little boob dress while you’re making us dinner,” Austin said, reaching for the drill he set on the dining room table earlier.
“Apron!” Roscoe snapped, pulling out the folded fabric from one of the bags on the counter. With a flick of the wrist, he shook it out. “Look at this. Ain’t it great?”
The apron had a plump pair of bare breasts on the front with the phrase, ‘My breasts are always moist and delicious’ underneath in bold letters.
“Well, there goes my boner, permanently,” I said, putting the cold stuff in the fridge. “Where the hell did you get that? I’m sure they weren’t selling them at the grocery store.”
Roscoe slipped into the neck loop and tied the strap around his waist. “They got all kinds o’ neat little novelty shops around town, and I’ve been looking for a new apron.”
“Andthat’sthe one you settled on?”
“It was the breast one there was.” The werewolf cracked up at his own pun, while Austin and I rolled our eyes.
“You didn’t happen to see any places to buy kuus, did you?”
Roscoe opened a cabinet and lined the shelves with dry pasta. “Nah. We didn’t walk through the whole town. Why do you wanna know that?”
“I found something that I’d like to have appraised by someone who knows a thing or two about magic rocks,” I said, digging the opal out of my pocket. “Look at this.”
“That’s pretty. Where’d you find it?”
“In the woods.”
I deliberately chose to be careful with my words, not because I worried everyone would think I was nuts, but because I wanted a secret of my own. Maybe I’d let them in on it later.
“I bet you could sell it for a lot,” Austin said, giving the gem a closer look. “We could use the money.”
I closed my hand and put the opal back in my pocket. “I think we’ve got plenty of money.”
“Hardly,” Austin grunted. “Those government checks aren’t enough to tide us over.”
“I’m sure there’s extra money just lying around here somewhere,” I said, shoving cheap cuts of meat into the freezer. “This house is pretty old, so who knows what’s under it? Could be buried treasure.”
That caught Austin’s attention but he remained quiet.
“Wouldn’t that be sweet,” Roscoe said as he pulled a pan out from under the cabinet.
“Heh, yeah.” Austin’s eyes shifted before he made his way outside. A few minutes later, I heard him drilling screws into the porch from where I’d found the money earlier.
“He sure likes fixing things. Listen to him out there. Happy as a clam.”
“He sure does,” I said through my teeth, leaning against the counter. “You never told me what you guys talked about.”
Roscoe filled a large pot with water before setting it on the old gas stove. “I know he’s a little rough but think of him like a wet lump of clay that was dropped on the ground and stepped on a few times. It’s got dirt and grass and all kinds of shit in it, but it can still be cleaned and made into something nice.”
“So, Austin’s a piece of shit. That’s not news.”
“Cody,” Roscoe scolded as he threw a handful of salt into the water. “He ain’t that much older than you. He’s still a kid.”
I raised a brow.
“Yeah, I know. Yer an old man trapped in a twink’s body.”
I balled my fist. “I told you not to call me that!”
“You know what I mean,” he finished, flinching. “Anyway, I see through him. He’s not as tough as he pretends to be, but he’s in a place where you gotta be delicate or you lose him.” Roscoe leaned against the counter on the other side of the kitchen, intentionally puffing out his chest to show off that ridiculous apron. “He’s testing you. He’s testing all of us to see where he fits in, and right now, I think he’s confused.”
“You make it sound like they’re going to be here for a while. Adam’s been acting weird lately, so he’s probably about to turn. Once that happens, they’re both going to be climbing over themselves to leave this place.”
