“Mmm, good,” Nik grumbled.
Katarina lay there, desperately trying to keep awake…but then Jessie kissed her forehead, rubbing her sides softly and she felt herself drift. She only realized she’d dropped dead when she awoke to a cold, child’s foot against her back. Snapped back to the world of the living, she sat up sharply in bed, glancing down at Isabella taking up most of the bed with a strangled Barnibus in her hand. She was distinctly wearing a shirt that wasn’t hers and she could feel stiff boxers on her hips. A giddy smile crept up on her lips as she glanced out the bedroom window to the early morning hazy light.
How long was I out?When she glanced at the bedside table, she found her phone plugged in and a water bottle waiting for her.She did her best to swallow the giggles. Snuggling back down into her bed, using a pillow to prop her bed hog daughter off her back, she grabbed another hour of shut eye.I’ll have to thank them later…first? A succubus food coma.
Chapter Thirteen:
~Jessie~
Jessieyawned,stretchingatthe kitchen counter. A whole new day. Sun was shining. Birds were chirping. His knot was soft…today was going to be a good day. Holding up his mug, scratching the top of his head, he stared out the kitchen window at the early morning light. King’s Fall glittered over the top of houses in the neighborhood behind his, and winged creatures zipped through the clouds that floated above. Jessie took a long, exaggerated sip out of his mug. Smiling to himself, he turned away from the window to get ready for the day...when a pair of knuckles pounded against his front door.
Jessie scowled as Nik poked his head out of the living room, having been interrupted from his morning breakfast while watching the news ritual. Jessie couldn’t watch a single second of the news live; he got too emotionally invested in the stories. Something he shared with his mother. Only Pops watched the news. Jessie had Nik give him the run down.It’s important to be politically and socially cognizant...but I know where my limits are.Jessie needed that Nik-sized buffer between journalists and him to allow him to digest it.
However, both of their morning rituals were put on hold as Jessie stalked through the townhouse to the front door. He stopped as he saw Isabella on the steps, midway to pulling a t-shirt onto Barnibus.
“Who is it?” Isabella asked. Katarina was still in the shower and likely couldn’t hear. Jessie nodded at Nik who moved from the living room to sitting in front of the tiny girl.Just in case.Not many people had the nerve to show up to his home unannounced.
Jessie glanced through the peephole and groaned. “Pops!”
He ripped open the front door open to find his father just on the other side. The older minotaur, sporting the same rust-and-cream-colored fluff with sharp horns protruding from his forehead and a scar down the right side of his face—something that’d grown more distinct with age—stared at his son through the door.
“What are you doing here? I thought family dinner was tonight?” Jessie huffed, crossing his arms.
“Did you roll Big Bobby?” Pops, aka Titan Bonesaw, accused him with a finger jabbed in his face.
“Pops,” Jessie warned, glancing at the stairs where a tiny pair of ruby eyes looked over Nik’s head. He could see her cute little nose pushing through the fur like binoculars through a bush. Jessie returned his attention to his father. “Not now.”
“Why? You got somewhere to be? Cause I didn’t find you at the shop. Turns out you hardly open recently, why is that?” Titan planted his hands on his hips.
“Why am I explaining my business practices to you, old man?” Jessie scoffed, throwing his hands out to the side.
“Because I thought I left my business in the hands of my capable son and not some...who is that?”
Jessie froze, turning slowly as his father bullied his way through the front door. The telltale squeak of Isabella being caught filled the house. Jessie also heard the shower cut off.Shit.He twisted, grabbing his dad’s arm.
“We got house guests. Let's take this outside.” His father, thankfully, wasn’t so proud a man as to discuss business in front of house guests. The pair of Bonesaws left out the front door and Jessie slammed the door behind him.Mostly as a message for Nik.He didn’t want his enforcer to follow; he neededhim playing distraction. Jessie motioned toward the driveway, back toward the shop where business was meant to be discussed. One thing Titan urged him to do was separate work from home. It was how his Ma got through most of her healer school and residency without knowing what really paid the bills.
Jessie still had nightmares of the night Ma healed him on the kitchen table. Not that long ago, one of Pop’s old business friends wanted to chat about their deal. Jessie took a knife to the gut over it. He woke up in a cold sweat still, seeing his mother sobbing over him, Elliot and Titan screaming at each other in the corner. He just kept thinking,this is how I die.
“Big Bobby didn’t want to pay,” Jessie huffed to his father as they stepped out onto the sidewalk leading down the hill to the shop.
“What? Bobby always pays,” Titan scoffed.
“You. He always pays you, Pops.” Jessie crossed his arms over his chest, hooves clicking against the concrete.
“Bah,” his father rolled his eyes. “You simply got to ask him nicely. Bobby’s sensitive.”
“I did! I sent Tito first. You know Tito's the sweetest guy to work with, and he told Tito he’d have it the week after. So, I go down to get it myself, thinking there’s something wrong at the shop. Something I could handle for him. He gives me this bullshit about how he wasn’t ready to pay just yet and he’d get me the money. Swears up and down he will.”
Titan let out a hard snort through his nose, “What an idiot. So, you rolled him for money he owed?”
“Yeah, what he tell you?”
“He didn’t,” Titan shook his head, chewing on his cheeks like he were chomping on cud. “I heard through the grape vine he was looking for sympathy. Wanted to see what nonsense power trip you were on. Didn’t realize the idiot got what he deserved. Bobby’s never played me like that.”
“Yeah, well...when you first started, you didn’t take over an operation from your pops. You got a little bit from people who died or didn’t want to do it no more, Pops. I got handed keys tothe kingdom. We both knew it’d come with some growing pains. So, I sent a message, that if anyone wants to play with me, they had best be wearing good shin guards.”
The men shared a chortle as they rounded the fence to the shop. All the bay doors were open, only two were full, the other two were full of tires that were still being dropped off and counted. Jessie stopped to inventory the shop from the top of the parking lot.
