Page 9 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

Thursday

Zoey

“Hey, hot stuff,” Grudge said. “No video call? I’m used to seeing your tits when we talk.”

“I don’t have time for that.” Also, I’d given up camming for my new boyfriends, but this seemed like a bad time to let Grudge know that. “And we both know you can see me anyway.”

He laughed. “True. Speaking of which, I don’t know what kind of security they have in your town, but usually when people rob stuff where I am, they wind up in prison. Not getting railed against the vaults they stole from.”

I stopped pacing in Kebe’s room. “You were watching?”

“Of course,” he said. “You told me which bank you were robbing. I wanted to make sure I could hack something in case actual cops showed up. It’s always my job to save your sexy ass.”

I probably should have felt violated. But it was just Grudge. I couldn’t even count the number of times he’d masturbated to me. Besides, it was actually very sweet of him to make sure I was okay. But… “You didn’t interfere when we got caught though. ”

“It seemed like you had it under control in that outfit. And I was curious about what you’d do with those security guards. It was fucking hot, Zoey.”

“They’re not security guards. They own the bank. Those were three of my boyfriends.”

“ Three of your boyfriends? How many did you say you have?”

“Five.”

He whistled. “I can’t wait to watch that. Any room for a sixth?”

“No! And there will be no you watching that!” We were getting way off topic here. “Grudge, I need your help.”

“Then you should probably stop yelling at me.”

I groaned.

He laughed.

“Kebe disappeared with the Anubis coin we stole from the vault.”

“The what coin?”

“Wait, did I not tell you about the coin? It was the whole reason I broke into the bank...”

“Ah yes, the magical coin that’s supposed to have a cure for your boyfriends and for Emma’s boyfriend? No, you didn’t tell me. But I overheard.”

Right.

“You should send Emma up here by the way so we can have an open and honest discussion. I think better when you’re both in the same room. Maybe you could make out a little and…”

“Grudge,” I said firmly. “Emma’s downstairs distracting my boyfriends and you know it.”

“Oh, I know it. ”

I frowned. “What does that mean? What is she doing?” I walked toward the door.

He sighed. “Just talking to them, unfortunately. She’s not using the catsuit as well as you did earlier.”

I stopped before walking out into the hall. “Because she has a boyfriend, Grudge.”

“But he’s not here right now. And now apparently I have an affinity for watching foursomes…”

“Grudge, focus. Kebe took the coin that we need.”

“Yeah, about that. I tried looking it up and I couldn’t find anything about it online. Like…nothing, Zoey.”

Kebe said she’d read an article about the coin going missing from a museum or something. It’s how she’d convinced us to go through with the plan. She also said she knew how to use it. “Researching it isn’t my top priority right now. I just need it back.”

“It should be a top priority,” Grudge said.

“I mean, what the hell would an old coin with an Anubis head on it have to do with curing werecats or vampires? And why would the cure be the same for both things? I feel like a cross or something would be for a vampire. And werecats…well, there’s not much info about them.

But you mentioned them searching for Egyptian relics to reverse their curse.

Anubis is Egyptian, but he’s the god of the dead.

It doesn’t make sense. Sekhmet is the goddess of lions.

And Baset is the goddess of cats. So wouldn’t the cure have to do with Sekhmet or Baset?

One of them is probably the goddesses they pissed off. ”

Those were all really good points. But I could think about all of that after I got the coin back in my possession. “I was just going off what King told me. ”

“Yeah the weirdo in an Anubis mask. He seems real trustworthy, Zoey.”

“He’s rich.”

“So am I and I’m not wearing a mask and hiding my identity and convincing you to pull bank jobs.”

I didn’t doubt that Grudge was rich. He paid me a small fortune every year. And I knew he made a ton of money streaming. But this was seriously not the time for this conversation. “Look, I need that coin back. We can talk about all this later. Did you see where Kebe went or not?”

“I did.” He didn’t offer any more information.

“So…where the hell did she go?”

“Here’s the thing,” he said. “I need something in return for this favor.”

For fuck’s sake. “Seriously? I can’t strip for you right now. Time is of the essence.”

“Not you. I want a session with Kebe.”

I had five boyfriends. Five. And for some reason I still felt a little jealous. Grudge had probably been the closest thing I had to a boyfriend in years. “What is your weird obsession with her? She’s a liar and a thief.”

“You’re a liar and a thief. I guess I have a type.”

“Fine, whatever. I’ll convince her to do a session.” If I didn’t wring her neck first.

“Sweet. Okay, let’s see where that sexy little cat went.”

Of course he was obsessed with her tight leather catsuit. I was great at picking out the perfect outfit. I took a deep breath as I heard Grudge’s computer keys clicking.

“Um…” his voice trailed off.

“What? ”

He didn’t reply.

“Where did she go, Grudge?”

“I…I don’t know. She was there and then she…wasn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I’m watching the feed outside a restaurant on Main Street and she’s on the sidewalk one second and then she’s not the next second.”

“Are you saying she disappears?”

He laughed. “No. It must be a glitch or something. People don’t just disappear. Let me pull up another camera.” His keyboard keys clicked some more. “Huh.”

“What, did you find her?”

“No, she must have ducked in somewhere when the cameras glitched.”

“Ducked in where? And when?”

“Just a few minutes ago. And she probably went into that restaurant. Some Italian place…”

“Thanks, I know the restaurant. Call me if she comes up on the cameras again.” I hung up the phone and hurried back down the stairs. “Who’s in the mood for Italian?” I asked as I walked into the family room.

Otto was sitting on the couch. He tilted his head back to look at me from upside down. I was pretty sure he was raising his eyebrow at me, but it was hard to tell from this angle.

I ran my fingers though his wavy hair.

“It’s after midnight, baby,” Bennett said.

I really loved it when he called me that. “True. But don’t they throw out their rolls or something at the end of the night? We can grab some of those.”

“You mean from the trash?” Huxley frowned.

I shrugged .

“Why do you want to go dumpster diving?” Emma asked.

I glared at her. She of all people should know what I was up to.

“I thought you were getting some of your things together,” Bennett said. He stared at my empty hands. “Clothes? A toothbrush?”

“I’ll borrow yours,” I said and ran my hand through the air. “Let’s go eat.”

“You’ll borrow my toothbrush?” Bennett smiled. He seemed tickled by that idea.

“She would look good in one of my dress shirts,” Huxley said.

Damn right I would.

“So let’s go eat.”

“You know I can’t really eat garlic bread,” Emma said. “I’ll just stay here.”

Emma, Jesus! “You’re right,” I said. “And I don’t want Callum to be repulsed by me. But I do need some fresh air. You do too, Emma.”

She just stared at me.

“So, guys, maybe you could grab a few things for me? While Emma and I go for a walk?” I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door.

“Zoey, I don’t think…” Huxley started.

“Oh my God, guys! I need to have a private girl chat with Emma. Trust me, you don’t want to hear this.”

Otto made a face.

They probably thought I was about to talk about my flow or something.

And I really didn’t care. Emma and I had a lot to talk about.

“I’ll meet you back at your place when we’re done talking,” I said.

They were worried about me being alone with Kebe before, but Kebe was nowhere to be found.

“Later,” I said and opened the door before they could reply.

I pulled Emma outside, blew my boyfriends a kiss, and slammed the door behind us.

“What the hell was that about?” Emma asked.

“Grudge saw Kebe head into the Italian restaurant on Main Street. Come on.” I started running and Emma caught up to me as we turned onto Main Street. I reached the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. “Shit.”

“I really thought you wanted trash bread,” Emma said and bent over to catch her breath.

I laughed. “Definitely not. Although after all this running around I am kind of hungry.”

Emma shook her head and stood back up. “When did Grudge say Kebe was here?”

“A few minutes ago.”

“It closed half an hour ago,” Emma said and pointed to the sign.

What the hell?

“You’re sure she came here?”

“No, she just disappeared.”

Emma laughed.

“I’m kind of serious.”

“Sorry, what?” Emma said. “She disappeared?”

“Grudge said it was a camera glitch or something.”

“Does he know for a fact that it was a camera glitch?”

I shook my head.

Emma ran her hand down her face. “Something really weird is going on with Kebe. First her obsession with Callum. And then she was saying all this weird stuff about Huxley… ”

“What was she saying?”

Emma winced. “That she thought werecats were violent, dangerous, unpredictable, dirty, and crass?”

“Excuse you?”

“That’s not what I think! She said it. And I stood up for them and you, for the record.”

Dirty and crass? Get the fuck out, Kebe.

“She agreed that she was wrong though,” Emma said.

“That they weren’t how she thought they’d be.

” She shook her head. “And she got so weird about the coin. You remember how down she was with the plan. That she said she’d researched the coin and found out it was stolen.

But I looked it up and I couldn’t find squat. ”

“That’s the same thing Grudge said. No records of it anywhere.”