Chapter Twenty-Two
“He’ll type the text for you,” Cliff said.
Chantelle rolled her eyes.
“Fine. Write ‘Jeez mom cool your jets everything’s fine.’ “
Truman typed quickly.
The phone rang.
Truman glanced at Cliff, who nodded. He handed the phone to Chantelle.
“Mom, for heaven’s sake, what’s your deal?” Chantelle said impatiently as she answered. At the same time, she extended her middle finger at Rusty and crossed her eyes. He looked away with a silent snarl of disgust.
Chantelle began pacing as she talked. “Yes, I know I’ve been texting rather than answering the phone… For heaven’s sake, I’m trying to help Taylor pull together a huge wedding in a couple of weeks. Weeks, mother. No, we haven’t booked a place yet. Yes, that should have been one of the first things I did. Okay, okay, Barrington Farms on the fifteenth, if you think you can get a reservation. How many? Uh, two hundred. I’ll have Cliff’s business manager contact you about paying for it. Meet with you tonight? No way, we have a bunch of girls coming over for the cake tasting. And tomorrow evening is…uh…the dress fitting. And the day after that we’re going to be doing the invitations. And the day after— All right. Calm down. Fine. Fine. We’ll be there!”
“Excuse you?” Cliff scowled at her in annoyance. “We’ll be where?”
“Three nights from now, we have to be at Finnegan’s Steakhouse at six p.m. for dinner. There’s absolutely no way out of it. Also, my mother will be calling me at noon and six every day until then, and if I don’t answer, shiznit’s going down.”
“That’s the night before the full moon!” Cliff said angrily.
Chantelle shot him a dirty look. “I put them off as long as I could.”
Cliff groaned. “Fine. Fine. We’ll take Truman and Rusty; I’ll say they’re friends. I’ll meet the parents and charm the daylights out of them. I can be pleasant when I have to. I don’t want to have to be a dick about this, but I will say yet again that it is of the utmost importance that you don’t breathe a word about us, for our safety and yours.”
The expression on Chantelle’s face would have made a lesser man cry. It was the look she’d give something she was trying to scrape off her shoe. “Wow, that’s the first time anyone’s mentioned to me that if I tell your secret, Taylor will also be exposed, and I won’t get any more pills so I’ll die. Now if you’ll excuse me, you people are giving me a splitting headache, and I’m going to go lie down.” She glanced at Truman and Rusty. “And I suppose you two bozos are going to come stand outside my door.”
“You’re slightly smarter than you look,” Rusty said coldly.
Chantelle turned her back on him. “You’re slightly less gross than dogshit, but only slightly, dick-face.”
“I’ll be outside guarding her window – you take the door,” Truman said in annoyance. “I don’t want to breathe the same air as you for any longer than necessary.”
“Fuck yourself in the ass, pretty boy,” Rusty growled.
“Aw, you think I’m pretty?” Truman sneered as they headed for the door.
“Only when you wear makeup, princess. When I’m done guarding the human Bratz doll here, why don’t we meet outside and I’ll introduce you to my friend, Mr-Fist-Down-Your -Throat?”
“Thanks, I’m flattered, but I’m not really interested in having you fist me.” Truman stalked out the door, following Chantelle.
“Jeez, that’s a lot of testosterone,” Taylor groaned as they left the room. “And I’m including Chantelle in that. In fact I think she has bigger balls than they do.”
And Chantelle was continuing to wear a full face of makeup from morning to night. She’d never shown any interest in any of the werewolves as far as Taylor could see, but something was up. Something was definitely up.
“Excuse me,” Cliff said to Taylor. “Now that the crisis has been temporarily averted, can we go back to our previous conversation? As I recall, there were no words, but a lot of tongue was involved.”
* * * * *
“Thank God for pants suits,” Taylor said to Cliff as they walked into Finnegans. She’d shaved her legs three times that day, before finally giving up. On the way to the restaurant, she’d eaten several pounds of raw hamburger.
Truman and Rusty were there, on their best behavior after a very long car ride of muttered threats and insults.
It was a best-behavior kind of restaurant. The décor was carefully country-casual, but the glassware and china was obviously expensive, and one look at the wine list was enough to make Taylor blanch. The smell of juicy, medium-rare steak on the air was maddeningly good, even though Taylor had eaten half a cow on the way there. Her stomach growled.
Carol and Chester were sitting at a table by the front door, watching anxiously as they all trooped in, ten minutes early.
Chester stood up as Cliff walked over to him.
“Hello, Mr. Zywicki, I’m Cliff Bronson. Thank you for all the excellent work you do for my company.” His voice was friendly and non-threatening, and he thrust his hand out to shake.
Chester, who was at least eight inches shorter and a hundred pounds lighter than Cliff, looked him right in the eye with an expression that was much more neutral than friendly. “So you’re the man who’s taking our Taylor away from us.” He grasped Cliff’s hand and squeezed hard.
Cliff actually winced slightly. And there was no way that Chester had hurt him, so Taylor knew he was doing it on purpose. Acting. Reassuring Chester.
“Yes, sir, that’s me. But I promise you that I will dedicate my life to making her very, very happy.”
Chester nodded. He held on to Cliff’s hand, still squeezing. “I hope you do. Let’s get this out of the way so we can enjoy a pleasant dinner. Taylor is very, very precious to us. As precious as flesh and blood. And Chantelle, our daughter, the light of our life, is staying on your property. And I want to believe that everything’s on the up and up, but this whole wedding-out-of-the-blue thing, and Chantelle’s behavior since she’s been on your property…it feels hinky to me. If you’re hurting or coercing them in any way, I swear to God, I will dedicate my life to destroying yours.”
Then he let go of Cliff’s hand and sat down.
Carol gazed at him in adoration. Skinny, short, Chester had just threatened Cliff even though Cliff could squash him like a bug both financially and physically.
“You’re my hero,” she said to him. “Have I mentioned lately that I love you?”
Chester would do anything for the people he loved. He’d die for them if necessary. Carol was a lucky woman.
As Cliff pulled her chair out for her, Taylor realized that so was she. Cliff was her Chester. He was her knight in shining armor. He loved her passionately and unconditionally, at her worst and at her best. He would do anything to keep her safe.
She wanted to tell him she loved him, but in private. It was just for the two of them. She’d do it the moment they were alone back on pack lands.
“I want to talk to my daughter alone,” Carol said abruptly. “And Taylor. Come, girls, we’re going to the restroom.”
Before Cliff could object, she’d whisked them away.
They spent several minutes in there, reassuring her again and again that they hadn’t been kidnapped or brainwashed, that Taylor and Cliff were madly in love and Taylor was probably expecting so that was why they needed to rush the wedding, and everything was totally fine.
As they walked out, Taylor was annoyed to see Brandii with two iis heading into the bathroom.
“What are you doing here, freak?” she snapped at Taylor.
Chantelle shook her head wearily. “Call us when you’ve got some new material,” she said.
That had been unusually subdued of her.
They made it through the rest of the meal without threats of violence. Both Chantelle and Taylor ordered steak tartare. At least Chantelle’s appetite was good.
Chester and Carol seemed mollified as they headed out. Cliff stayed behind to pick up the check as Rusty and Truman walked the girls out to the car.
Rusty stopped in his tracks as they got close to it.
“Both the rear tires are flat,” he said. His tone turned urgent. “Girls. Run back to the restaurant now.”
Chantelle and Taylor turned to run, and as they did, Perry and Joel stepped out of a dark pool of shadow by the side of the restaurant. They were aiming rifles at them.
Taylor felt something sting her. She looked down and saw a blowdart sticking out of her abdomen, and she heard angry shouting from very, very far away.
She fell to the ground, and the world faded into nothing.