“I’m here to supervise,” Ruin says and smirks.
“Did you call him?” I ask Armor.
My vice president stops giving Yazmin a grumpy side-glance and shakes his head. “This is all him. But let’s get shit moving.”
I notice Selene avoiding my gaze. She’s skittish, apparently. A real looker, though, with dark hair, golden-brown eyes, and a face made for those old Hollywood movies. Her sister seems more exotic with slightly darker skin and greenish-brown eyes. Yazmin doesn’t avoid my gaze, instead looking right through me.
I decide to stop all this chitchat and get to work. Using Landry’s keys since I don’t want to get caught with Neal’s, I open the door to the overly warm house.
We step inside the family room, filling it up quickly. I feel the others judging Landry.
“Do either of them handle animals well?” I ask Ruin and gesture at the women.
The sisters passively glance at each other and then back at me. Yazmin sort of nods. My club brother—Tommy “Hobo” Clark—gave me some details about Ruin’s woman and her sister. I understand they’re fucked up from bad men. Not so different than Landry, but these two broads grew up rich. I bet Landry never had shit as a kid.
“There’s a cat named Succotash. We need to stick her in the carrier to bring her to my house.”
“A cat will tear up your furniture,” Ruin tells me.
“So?”
Ruin smirks at my aggressive tone. My president is probably around six four. I’ve never measured him or anything, but he’s a large guy compared to normal men. Despite me easily shadowing him with my size, he never backs down. Not when we were kids or as young thugs or now nearing middle age. Ruin figures he can still beat me in a fight like he did back in the day. He might be right, but I bet he isn’t.
“Well, you’ll have five kids soon,” he replies, fighting a grin. “That’s bound to eat up much of your income. Buying new furniture might not be in the budget.”
Armor smirks at Ruin’s bullshit. Running McMurdo Valley for twenty years made us rich fucks. For much of that time, we lived at the Pigsty. Ruin and I only built houses once we found women.
In both our cases, our first attempts at domestication turned to piles of shit. Yet, he just found his second chance with the lovely, skittish broad staring at a pile of toys. I’m hoping the woman who organized that pile will offer me what Kati couldn’t.
“I’ll look for the cat,” Yazmin says when Ruin and I eyeball each other for too long.
As I try handing Landry’s list to Selene, Ruin grabs the paper and looks it over as if suspicious. Finally, he hands the list to his woman. Armor grunts like we’re getting on his nerves.
“Where’s the cat carrier?” my VP asks.
“In the garage on a shelf.”
Leaving Ruin and me to poke at each other, Armor stalks off. I look at Selene who studies the list.
“She needs paperwork and other crap,” I explain to the overly silent woman. “We can’t leave anything here without assuming it’ll be gone by tomorrow. The asshole’s family is local. They’ll notice him missing and come around. They also have keys to the house. So, we’re not leaving until the shit on that list is found.”
Selene doesn’t react to my words, mostly because she’s intimidated by my tone. Ruin smirks at me before turning to his woman and honest-to-fucking-goodness repeating everything I said in a softer tone.
I roll my eyes and walk outside to where the Jordans, Dice, and Smokey stand.
“We’re not taking furniture,” I explain to the men. “Did any of you bring boxes?”
One of the Jordan fuckers nods and gestures at their truck.
“Fill them with toys, clothes, anything kid or chick related. Even if you’re not sure, just take it. Stuff like pots and pans stay, but if you think a kid used it, pack it up. I’d rather have too much crap than forget something. Get it?”
Once the Jordans get started, I tell Smokey and Dice to focus on any eyeballs watching us.
“The neighbors might call the asshole’s family. If they show up, don’t assume they aren’t packing.”
For the next hour, the process runs smoothly. Yazmin puts canned food on the back porch and makes that noise cats like. Succotash creeps around the yard, unsure about the new people. I glance outside several times before the tortoiseshell cat gets her ass on the porch.
Yazmin strokes Succotash as she chows down. Once the cat starts finishing up, the passive woman attempts to gently corral the animal into the carrier. That fails miserably, leading to the cat scratching Yazmin. Taking charge, Armor grabs Succotash by her scuff and drops her ass-first into the carrier. Before the cat can jump free, he locks her down.