Page 39 of To Kill a Badger (The Honey Badgers Chronicles #6)

“Yeahhh.” She grinned at her stunned sisters.

“My son with a girl so rich he’ll never have to work a day again in his life, and all my grandchildren will be running the world by the time they’re in their early twenties.

” Lisa stepped back and asked, “And how are my wonderful nieces and nephews? Happy? Satisfied with life and in their marriages? Gosh, I hope so. They’re all so deserving and, of course, you two will have less to worry about as you gently age. ”

Smiling, Lisa returned to the RV, a morning news show, and a cup of hot coffee that she’d made without that little bitch-badger’s help waiting just for her.

* * *

“Do I attract strays?” Charlie asked.

Stevie looked up from her second muffin—it was so good—and frowned.

Usually, when Stevie had a meltdown, all Charlie did was focus totally and exclusively on her.

The fact that her big sister had something else on her mind for once, something personal, and was willing to change the topic of conversation made Stevie feel downright normal! It was awesome !

“Of course you collect strays,” Stevie told her, glancing down at the mixed-breed canine standing by Stevie’s chair, hoping to get some of her muffin. It was a good guess on the dog’s part. She could be a messy eater. “Look at this thing,” she added, gesturing at the dog.

“No, no. I mean . . . do I attract people-strays?”

“You have a house filled with people-strays.”

Her sister winced. “But isn’t that weird?”

“Charlie, everything about us is weird. But, honestly, no. I don’t think it’s weird at all.

You make people feel safe and comfortable, so they want to be around you.

That’s a rare gift.” Stevie thought a moment and realized, “I just make people feel anxious, and Max never lets anyone feel comfortable for too long. We’re disasters,” she sighed out.

“But you. . . ? You’re just like your mom. ”

“I am?”

“Oh, my God! Yes! Before my mother dropped me off at your apartment, I never felt comfortable anywhere. Especially with my mother and her parents. But as soon as I met your mom . . .” She shrugged.

“I knew I’d finally found a home. And when it was just the three of us, nothing changed.

I still felt I was home. And that was because of you.

It was definitely not because of Max. Why are you asking, anyway? ”

“Just worried. I don’t think Berg is used to being around this many people.”

“Are you kidding?” Stevie shook her head.

“The man lived in his mother’s womb for nearly nine months with two other people.

Then, when he came of age, instead of moving to some woods in the middle of Minnesota somewhere, he got them a house they could all share, on a bear-friendly street.

People aren’t his problem. Your dogs, however. . .”

“But the dogs actually need me.”

“That’s why I have cats. I can’t be responsible for the multiple and varied needs of dogs. I honestly don’t know how you do it without snapping from the constant pressure. Speaking of which . . .” She looked around the room. “Where is that kitten I took in?”

“In the walls.”

“Is she starving to death?”

“No. She comes out at night, and Nat feeds her.”

Stevie lifted her hands and dropped them. “See how wonderfully easy cats are to deal with? Start rescuing cats instead of dogs. I’m sure Berg would be fine with that.”

“Yeah . . . I’m not sure that’s accurate either.”

* * *

They walked into the kitchen of Charlie’s house and stopped right in the doorway.

“Morning,” Nelle happily greeted. Keane merely gave a noncommittal nod.

The two sisters sat at a table with coffee and muffins between them. One of Charlie’s stray dogs was trying to beg food off of Stevie.

Eyeing Nelle and Keane, Charlie relaxed into her chair, slinging one arm over the back before asking, “Why are you two holding hands?”

Keane had been trying to shake Nelle’s hand off since he knew they were no longer seen by his mother. She’d simply refused to let go. She was sure he was wondering why that was.

And as always, her answer to that question would be, why not?

Besides, he reminded her of a toddler cousin she’d once been forced to babysit for a day back in high school.

He’d tended to go off and steal things from stores, but he wasn’t subtle about it, and the whole thing quickly became embarrassing.

So she’d held on to the little brat’s hand, because she’d be the one to get in trouble if the child got caught stealing again.

And, like Keane, he also tried to shake her off.

“He’s madly in love with me,” Nelle happily lied.

“She won’t let me go! Why are all of you badgers so strong?”

“Hush now. You’re fine.” She looked at Charlie. “Everything okay?”

“Stevie’s just frustrated.”

“Max again? Or the squirrel?”

“Neither.” Stevie took a bite of her muffin, and muttered words around the food in her mouth.

Nelle looked at Charlie again. “What?”

“She can’t figure out the formula for that poison that took down Tock for a while. She wants to get some more but—”

“More? More than what we picked up when we took down that ship a couple of days ago?”

Stevie’s head snapped up, and she said something, but she’d already taken another bite of her muffin, so all she managed to do was spray crumbs at Nelle and Keane.

Now just disgusted, Nelle again focused on Charlie.

“What ship?” Charlie asked for Stevie.

“The one we hit with the crones—”

“Please stop calling them that.”

“They said they found more of that stuff, and they were going to give it to Stevie. They didn’t?”

Growling, Stevie jumped up from her chair and ran out the back door.

The screen door slammed behind the She-badger, and Nelle could hear angry bickering that quickly turned into one of Stevie’s weird, window-shaking, hiss-roars.

A moment after that, she heard the small feet of what she was guessing was Max MacKilligan running across the floor above, a window being thrown open, and a screamed, “I’ve got her!

” before Max landed hard outside the kitchen window in the side yard.

Once again, she’d managed to miss her sister completely and hit the unforgiving ground instead.

Shaking her head, Nelle refocused on Charlie. “So we’re going out to get some information. Might help us track down where the de Medicis are hiding. What I’ve learned so far is that they’re definitely now in the States.”

“Makes sense.”

“If we can track them down, though, and deal with the oldest sons . . .” She shrugged. “Maybe we can end this before it even starts.”

“It’s already started because of you,” Keane complained.

“Hush.”

“Stop saying that.”

“Let’s hope that ends it.” Charlie didn’t seem that convinced, but that was okay. Nelle dealt with this kind of shit so Charlie didn’t have to. “Do you two need any extra backup?”

“No. Keane is good enough for this.”

“Gee. Thanks,” he muttered, finally giving up on shaking loose of her hand.

“But it would be great if you could let the football coaches know he’s doing something important and won’t be in for practice. I don’t want him to get in trouble because of me.”

“Yeah, I’ll tell them.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Keane quickly said to Charlie.

“Yes, she does,” Nelle informed him.

“My brothers can do it.”

“Not well,” she insisted. “Charlie can handle this for us. Yes?”

“Of course,” Charlie replied. “It won’t be a problem.”

Charlie had a way of imparting information that had others not wanting to fight with her.

When she handled school business for Max and Stevie, there were teachers and even a principal that hated when she came through their door.

From what Nelle could tell, Charlie was never rude or even raised her voice.

But she had a way of looking at a person that could be, in a word, concerning.

They often wanted to get rid of her so badly, they would agree to damn-near anything.

Nelle smiled up at the cat, which seemed to annoy him even more, and said, “See? Handled.”

“I didn’t ask you to handle.”

“But I did anyway.”

“While you’re out, watch your backs and stay very alert,” Charlie warned. “We don’t know who works for the de Medicis.”

“Yes. Of course.”

“Anything else you need me to handle?”

“No. I don’t need you to do anything else. At all. I’ve got this in hand.”

Nelle heard the screen door open again, and Stevie happily bounced up the small set of stairs, her arms wrapped around the metal briefcase the older badgers had been carrying when they’d left that ship.

With a huge grin on her pretty face, Stevie did a full spin in the middle of the kitchen, her bright pink summer dress billowing out and showing the white shorts she wore under it—unlike álvarez, who wore nothing under her clothes—then headed back downstairs.

A minute later, Max came into the room. Blood poured from her nose, and a lump was already developing on the right side of her forehead.

Charlie poured out a cup of coffee from the pot on the table and pushed it toward Max.

“You really need to stop flinging yourself out windows every time you hear Stevie hiss-roar.”

“I am trying to save the world .” Max paused to glare at Nelle after she’d snort-laughed. “Because if she snaps . . .”

“Once she has the baby,” Charlie explained, “I’m sure she’ll be—”

“How can you be okay with her having a baby right now?” Max exploded, making the big cat standing next to Nelle jump a little. “How? It’s insane!”

From what Nelle had heard privately, Stevie wasn’t planning on having kids of her own any time soon, but she’d been torturing her sister with the idea for days.