Page 85 of To Kill a Badger (The Honey Badgers Chronicles #6)

He didn’t move, but his gaze locked on Kyle the second the poor jackal stepped outside with the tiger’s baby sister.

A low growl began inching its way up from the back of his throat, and claws slid from his fingers.

It all would have been entertaining if she didn’t know that Stevie would not appreciate anything happening to her fellow prodigy.

But before she had to intervene, Rutowski said, “Kyle? Kyle Jean-Louis Parker?”

The jackal stopped and stared down at her. He was very tall for a black-backed jackal, and hot. Nelle wasn’t surprised that Nat let him follow her around.

Rutowski took a card out of her back pocket. This particular move was not surprising, since she owned and operated fine art galleries all over the world and Kyle was an extremely well-known young artist coming into his own.

“I’ve been meaning to introduce myself,” she said, handing him the card.

“Ms. Rutowski, right?”

“Yes.”

He handed the card back to her. “You’ll need to talk to my agent. I list him on my website.”

Nelle smiled at that particular slap down. Nice!

“Oh, no, I’m sorry,” Rutowski said. “The card’s not for you. I wanted you to give it to your mother and tell her to call me. I’m interested in her son. I mean your brother. The one who does the realism work. I saw one of his pieces in Seattle, and it was amazing.”

“I remember that!” álvarez chimed in. “He is so good! You must be proud. Little brother pushing you out of the way, huh?”

She slapped a stunned Kyle on the back and walked inside.

“Just have your mom call me, and we can discuss some options. Maybe a show at my Greenwich Village gallery. Or he could be the star of my new London gallery. Ox just hooked me up with a place and, in a few months, it will be ready to open. The event will be fabulous, and it will be a great start for your brother’s career. ”

She returned the card to his limp hand.

“Thanks, kid. Nice to meet you.”

Nelle covered her mouth, knowing how brutal that was on a sensitive artist who just got bitch-slapped by badgers. She motioned to Nat with a small jerk of her head.

“It’s okay,” Nat said to Kyle. “I’m sure she likes your stuff, too.”

“Don’t coddle me, woman!”

Biting her lip so she didn’t laugh, the young She-badger helped the stunned jackal down the porch stairs and away from the house.

“We’re going for ice cream,” she called back to her brother before he could say anything.

But Keane still hadn’t moved.

He was smiling now, though.

* * *

“Stop gloating.”

Why shouldn’t he? The kid got bitch-slapped by the best. Keane couldn’t be happier.

Especially since the boy had asked Keane and his brothers to pose for him—naked, no less!

—more than once. It was weird! He didn’t want his sister hanging around such a weird, snobby kid, but he knew that the more he tried to push them apart, the more Nat would cling to that canine.

So it was better just to wait for her to get bored. And she would. She always got bored.

Nelle pulled her feet out of his lap, and he was going to complain, but then she replaced those feet with her perfect ass, arms around his neck. She’d even left her phone in her empty spot.

“You’re coming with me to this wedding, right?” she asked.

“Is that why you’re sitting in my lap? To manipulate me?”

“Yes.”

That made him laugh. Her honesty.

“I said I’d go. I’ll go. Are you going to meet your sister tomorrow?”

“Fuck no. But she can argue with Mads about that. Because I’ll be at practice, and we both know that Mads will not let me leave. Then Mads will punch Max in the face for starting this nightmare.” Nelle nodded. “It’ll be a good day.”

Chuckling, Keane wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, nuzzling her neck and shoulder.

“As much as I like staying at Mads’s place now that I’ve decorated it for her—”

“Which still makes her mad.”

“—we have to get a place of our own. I can’t live with your mother. I might as well live with my own mother.”

“Wait.” Keane pulled back to see her face. “We’re going to be living together?”

“Might as well. After the finals, our coach will be taking over the New York team, and she wants the five of us to go with her.”

“So are we moving in together because we’re together, or because it’s convenient for you?”

“Let’s not analyze, okay? Things just work out for me. This is working out for me. Why do you have to ruin it with questions and concerns?”

“I’m not trying to ruin anything. I’m just trying to find out if you—”

Streep started squealing as soon as she saw Nelle in his lap, her voice making Rutowski’s dogs bark from inside Charlie’s house.

“You two are together!” she squealed, before running over. Nelle leaned back against him to avoid her grasping hands. What she wanted to do with those hands, Keane had no idea. “I’m so happy for you two!”

“Okay.” Mads grabbed Streep’s shoulders. “Let’s leave them alone.”

“Just let me mush their heads together! Just let me mush!”

“No mushing! Tock!”

“Got her!” Mads and Tock each took an arm and had to drag her off like a crazed stalker wanting an autograph.

“She’s so strong,” Tock complained.

“Has she had her rabies shot? She may need a rabies shot.”

Max finally came out of the house as the others took a still-squealing Streep across the street.

“Well, well, well,” she said, smiling at them. “Look at you two.”

“Shut up,” Nelle said, even while she rested against him.

“See? I made this happen. I got you two together. This was my fine work.”

“How is this because of you?”

“Because I exist. If not for me, you’d have never met, and you wouldn’t be rubbing your tiny ass on his giant cock at this very moment.”

“Go. Away,” Keane snarled.

“By the way, did Mimi get in touch with you, Nelle, because—”

Max took off running, laughing the whole way, while Keane barely managed to keep a snarling and snapping Nelle on his lap.

“Let Max go. She’s not worth it.”

“I thought you were vengeful.”

“I am. Very.”

“Then you should understand why I need to beat her into oblivion.”

“I understand it, but she’ll be going to the wedding, too, right? What better revenge than Max MacKilligan at your sister’s wedding. . . doing things?”

Nelle’s entire body relaxed, and she smiled. “Excellent point.”

“I know.”

“And it gives me an excellent reason to go shopping.”

“Why do you need to go shopping?”

“My teammates can’t just wear anything , now, can they? I’ll have to buy them the appropriate clothes.”

“You mean buy Mads the appropriate clothes, don’t you?”

“Of course I mean that.”

“Just to piss her off?”

“Yes.”

As if knowing they were talking about her, Mads screeched from the front of her house across the street, “ Nelle! We’ve gotta talk strategy. Get in here!”

Nelle stood. “Want to come?” she asked. “I’m sure your brothers will be there. And there will be food.”

“Yeah, okay.”

She took several steps away from him, but before Keane could get up, she faced him, cupping his jaw in her hands and leaning in close.

“And we’ll be living together,” she told him, “because I love you. And if you ever try to leave me, I’ll hunt down the slut you left me for and make sure she pays for it with your life. Get me?”

Keane grinned. “Perfectly.”

“Good!” She kissed him. It was quick, but powerful. Then she strutted off as only Nelle Zhao could in tiny shorts and a tight white tee. As confident as any woman he’d ever known.

His niece, who’d been coming from the back of the house, ran over to the porch and climbed up onto the banister behind the swing. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she asked, “Is my Uncle Mean in love?”

“Yes. He is.”

“Will my Uncle Mean become Uncle Nice now?”

“Not in this lifetime.”

“Good. I’m not sure I could handle that.” She kissed him on the cheek before climbing over him and skipping her way across the porch.

“Besides,” she added before disappearing into the house with Charlie, “I’m sure Nelle wouldn’t like Uncle Nice, anyway.”

Yeah, he knew that, too.