“They murdered Kenny, oh my poor, sweet Kenny!” She patted the green metal as if it were a newborn child and not a cooking appliance.
“Isn’t that a South Park reference?” Matteo asked Theo quietly, who shrugged and shook his head.
I crouched down in front of the fiery-haired omega and noticed that there were vinyl letters plastered on the side of the mixer and proclaimed it as ‘KENNY’.
“Tibby, are you more upset about the mixer than the creepy psychotic photos of you plastered everywhere?” My tone was incredulous, and I could hardly believe my eyes when she nodded.
“Mixers are expensive,” That was the only reason she gave me as she ran a hand down its mangled side. “I had to beg acquisitions forsix monthsbefore they finally caved and got this for me.”
I had no idea how expensive mixers were. The most that I could do in the kitchen was to make coffee andmaybescramble eggs. Of course, I’d also burned eggs before so that was a really big maybe. One glance around the kitchen told me that Tibby liked to cook. There were pots and pans hanging neatly from hooks above the tiny island counter and a large vase full of various cooking utensils.
Cobb was too busy barking into his cell phone to listen to our conversation, “You need to get security up here. Don’t ask me why, just do it.”
He swatted at Matteo who had reached down to pick up one of the pots on the ground, “Don’t touch anything. We’re going to need to check everything for prints. Jesus, what a mess.”
As Cobb continued to give orders into his cell, Theo leaned down and whispered into my ear, “We should probably get her out of here.”
Tibby, apparently having heard Theo’s whisper with what I assumed were the ears of a hawk, looked up from her mangled mixer with wide eyes, “What about packing my things?”
“Little Bit, your apartment is a crime scene at the moment. You can’t take anything out of it right now.” I could tell that Theo was trying to be gentle with the omega, but his words ended up having the opposite effect on her. Tibby’s multicolored eyes filled with tears as she sputtered and held the mangled mixer to her chest.
“But...this ismystuff,how am I supposed to go anywhere without it?” She looked around the chaotic mess of her apartment and sniffled.
“We can get you new things....” Theo began but Tibby was already starting to hyperventilate again.
“But they aren’tmythings. What about Kenny?” She held the mixer out to me and the wire guts fell out onto the floor. Tibby’s chin wobbled and her strawberries and cream scent sharpened as she became more visibly distressed. Matteo groaned behind me and I fought to push down my own displeasure at her negative emotions. A distressed omega and three alphas trying to protect her in a tiny apartment that was about to be filled with FBI agents was a recipe for disaster. I needed to get the situation under control and fast.
“Why don’t we go straight from here and we can buy you another mixer...a Kenny Jr. maybe?” I couldn’t help but reach out and cup her soft cheek in my hand, pleased as punch when she leaned into my touch.
She finally put the mixer on the ground, “Okay, but they’re really expensive. Stupid expensive.”
At her words, my grin was almost smug as I replied: “I think you will find that we can afford it.”
CHAPTER 8
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