Chapter 6

  “I don’t like Lica, Mom, but I have fallen in love with him.” Debra asked her if she’d told him. “No. But I did ask him if he loved me. He told me no. In fact, it was as if he’d been thinking about it, and he said no really fast. I’ve fallen in love with him, and I don’t even like him. What am I supposed to do with this? Especially with the fact that he does not love me.”

  “Honestly, I don’t know.” She’d been surprised that they’d not had sex yet. The way that Lica looked at Brandy made her embarrassed at how much he seemed to want her. “This is beyond my knowledge of anything having to do with love. I mean, I’ve spoken to other shifters that work for us, but they actually thought that any day you’d be announcing that you’re breeding. What they call being pregnant.”

  “It’s doubtful that we’ll ever have children. I mean, he was all right with us having sex the one time to bond with each other, but the chances of me conceiving from that have to be so low that I just don’t see it happening. I couldn’t care less about the magic. I’ve not used what I have, so I don’t even know how much I’ll get or have when we do.” Debra’s heart hurt with the knowledge that she had gotten from Brandy about not having children. But to her, it was still early days yet. “We only speak when it has to do with business information when we need something. He’s done so well in learning how to run the business with me. I spent the entire day with Ivan when he was out at the ranch the other day. He’s almost ready to take his boards to be a veterinarian. I’m really proud—and I love them too, of the way that they’ve accepted me and have made me feel welcome.”

  “Of course, they would do that. They’re all good men, and I don’t think that there is a bad egg in the lot of them.” She thought about Lica. “Lica is odd, I’ll say that. But I’d never believe it if you didn’t tell me that he is so stubborn about things. When he’s around us, he is never anything but polite. But to hear this about him? I’m not so sure that I even like him all that much now.”

  “You aren’t to hold this against him, Mom. I’m the one that put up such a fuss about sex with him.” Debra asked if she regretted it now. “With all that I am.”

  Debra made her way home after making plans with Brandy later in the week. They’d talk more about Lica and her non-relationship with him, she was sure. But what could she do to help both of them along in this? Nothing. She could talk to Lica about Brandy loving him, but she’d made a promise that she would not. Unless he brought it up with her. Smiling, she thought of something else she could talk to him about. And made her way to the ranch where she knew he was working today.

  He was shirtless coming out of the barn when she got there. He seemed really upset, and she wondered if this was a good idea to do today. As soon as he saw her, he told her he’d be back, and he ran back into the barn. When he came out, he was pulling his shirt back on. Lica was a nice piece of eye candy, she thought, then laughed.

  “What do you know about the banker in town?” After asking for pleasantries, he dove right into what was bothering him. “For some reason, he’s got it in his head that…are you busy? I would love for you to come with me when I go there to find out why he canceled my order for my cattle. I have a feeling that it’s because I’m a ‘damned upstart,’ what he told my brother when he went to take money out of his account.”

  “My goodness. He actually canceled an order that had nothing to…Brandy told me that she gave you access to all the money she has, so I know for a fact that there is plenty of money in the accounts.” Lica asked if she was all right with Brandy doing that. “Why would I care? It’s her money anyway. And you’re her husband, aren’t you? There is no—never mind. Yes, Lica, I’d love to go with you to find out how this man thinks he can mess with my family.”

  While Lica was showering and changing his clothing, Debra called her daughter to let her know what was going on. Also that one of the other brothers wasn’t able to get any money out of his account as well.

  “You said you were going to the bank with Lica?” She said she was. “Good. Don’t mention it to anyone who put the money in the accounts. Nor that, if he doesn’t know already that Lica and I are married. I’m sick of this man and his treating all shifters like they’re not worthy of a bank loan.”

  “My goodness, I didn’t know that this has been going on for a while. Yes, I’ll not say a word. I’ll even let Lica know that you’re going to be taking care of things.” She told her that he’d more than likely be upset about her interfering, but she wants that Slaven out. “You’ll be fine, my dear. Let me know if you need anything from me.”

  After telling Lica what Brandy said she was going to do, he didn’t react either way. As soon as they pulled up in front of the bank, he turned off the engine and looked at her.

  “If I tell you to hide or get out of my way, you’ll do that, won’t you? I’d never forgive myself if anything were to happen to you.” She patted him on the cheek and told him that she’d follow him to the ends of the earth if he’d give her a grandbaby. That was part of her things to talk about to him. “I don’t know about that, Ms. Debra. We’re still working things out between us. I think I messed up yesterday when I spoke to her about something.”

  “You mean when she asked you if you loved her? She loves you, did you know that, didn’t you?” Oops. That did really just slip out and she hoped that Brandy could forgive her. Lica told her that she didn’t like him, so there was no way that she’d love him. “Brandy told me that as well. She said that she didn’t care for you overly much, but she had fallen in love with you. It broke my heart to see her—we should be getting to the bank before they close up.”

  He seemed like he was slightly shell-shocked to hear about Brandy loving him. But when she got out of his truck, one that she knew he’d picked out and bought the other day, she could tell that he had more questions. She was glad, too. Perhaps he’d think about how much her daughter had done for them and think a little more kindly of her. The truck that they all shared when they had to have something to get around in was about on its last legs. They were going to need everything more dependable from now on.

  Opening the door, she could see Guy, one of Lica’s brothers, at the cashier window at the end of the long line of about ten windows. Apparently, so did Lica, and he headed in that direction. Hanging back but not too far, where she wasn’t able to hear what was going on, she saw Howard Slaven taking his short fat ass over to the window, where it was getting louder by the second. Pulling out her phone, she started recording the corner where things were going on.

  “Why did you cancel my order? The one coming from Texas?” Slaven didn’t look as if he had it in his head as to what Lica was talking about when he spoke. “You also might want to tell me why you’re not allowing my brothers access to their accounts. It is their money, you know that, right?”

  “I canceled the order because there isn’t any way that you’re going to be able to take care of those cows. Not to mention, how the hell were you going to afford them. Did you know that that order was for half a million dollars? You idiot, that’s nothing that you could afford, or did you expect this bank to pick up the tab on what you did. That’s not going to happen, young man. Not on my watch. In addition to that, what is the town going to do when you get tired of taking care of them, and they start to die off? You’re lazy. All of your family is.” Lica told the man that it was none of his business. “Of course, it is you moron. I’m the manager here, and I will guard this bank from people like you for the rest of my employment. And I’ll allow them to get into their accounts when they tell me what they think they’re doing if I allow them to take out that much money in one day. None of them have a job. Not even you. If you want to get more cows, then save up your money and buy them one at a time. That way, I can gauge how well you’re going to do with them.”

  Debra didn’t know what was going on when her husband and Brandy came into the bank and went up to two of the open windows where cashiers were standing. The cashier must have asked Brandy to hang on a moment, and then she left to talk to Slaven. Since she could hear better at the end where the banker was, she was able to hear that Brandy, Mrs. Fraizer, the girl called her, wanted to close her account.

  Keeping an eye on her family, Debra stayed where she was recording the events unfolding. If shit were going to hit the fan, she wanted proof of what was being said and done. Having no idea what was going on, she had an inkling that Brandy and her dad were working on destroying the bank here.

  While recording the people, she noticed that the other four brothers were doing the same. Going up to the open business windows and talking to the cashiers. She had an idea that this was planned by someone in the Frazier family and wondered if—then their grannie showed up and waited in line with her grandsons to do some banking. Debra just loved how Brogan would hug her grandsons while in public.

  The little girl, well, she was an adult who had left Brandy at her window and waited on Slaven to answer her question. He didn’t seem impressed when she repeated that Mrs. Fraizer wanted to withdraw all her money from her account and close it out. That was when Slaven laughed.

  “I don’t care if all the Fraziers want to empty their accounts. If they do, then more power to them. It’ll be one less thing that I have to worry about daily. Yes, empty them if they want. It’s not like it’s going to hurt us if they do.” He turned back to Lica and his brother. “Why don’t you join your family, Lica, and empty out all your accounts. The clientele around here will certainly improve.”

  “Good idea.” Brandy and her father were finished up and on their way to the bank vaults when Slaven made his way to his office. The cashiers, all five of them, were laughing as they emptied one account for them after another. As soon as they had gotten the accounts closed out, the Fraizers would hug their brothers and head out of the building. When Lica, the last of the Frazier brothers, was at one of the windows, he turned to look in her direction. Since she’d been around all the Fraziers, her hearing had improved a great deal. But it mattered little. He spoke to her using their link, and she smiled when she didn’t jump a foot off the ground.

  “We’re having dinner after I’m finished here, Ms. Debra. Your husband says that, at times, it startles the two of you when spoken to like this. Is this better?” He was so calm that she had to smile at him. She told him that she’d really like that. “We’re emptying our accounts as did your husband and Brandy. When he figures out what he’s done, I don’t think he’s going to be employed much longer. Thank you for recording this. I have a feeling that the cameras aren’t running here in the bank on the off chance that we, shifters, all of us, came in to sully his bank.”

  Debra was still laughing as she walked out of the bank with Lica. He was in a much better mood than he’d been before, and she was excited to see which one of them, Brandy or Lica, had come up with this plan. It was epic.

  As soon as they were all out on the sidewalk after hugs were given to everyone, including from Lica to Brandy, they headed to the pizza place across the street. This way, they’d have front-row seats for whatever else Brandy had planned. As she’d said, this was her plan but it wasn’t over just yet.

  Just as they were finished giving their order for the table to share ten pizzas—she didn’t know that it was going to be enough—police cruisers pulled up, as well as two vans with nothing on them to indicate who they were. Brandy told her that they were feds. They came to find out why several million dollars had been removed in one day at their bank.

  “The bank can only hold two hundred fifty thousand for each person that has money in the bank. That’s because two hundred fifty thousand is the limit for standard deposit insurance coverage per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, and per ownership category will cover in the event of a robbery. With the five of you emptying your accounts, myself emptying four accounts, Dad and Mom emptying not just their business account but their personal one, leaving just Lica’s in the back. When he closed out his own account and his new business account, that is a total of sixteen accounts that have the required maximum in them. Four million dollars removed from a single bank in a single day is going to make someone pay attention. And once those people start making calls—” Debra laughed when her cell phone, as well as Brandy’s and her husband’s, rang. No name showed up, but it did say Private Number. Then the one in front of Lica rang. “Don’t answer them. I told Collett, the woman who helped me pull the wool over Slaven’s eyes, to let them know we were having lunch across the street.” Lica asked what she’d had Collett do. “She made sure to only say that Mrs. Fraizer was emptying her account. No first name. I don’t know what she would have done had he asked, but he didn’t. I was counting on him being excited about having the Fraziers out of his hair. What a dumb ass.”

  ~*~

  Lica would admit that he was having so much fun that he didn’t want to miss a second of it. But he still had to laugh when the Feds, as well as Slaven, joined them in the restaurant. Slaven was going on about how he wished Brandy had come to him personally about emptying out her accounts. He also told her several times that he’d take the money back, put it back into the accounts, and not worry about it. Brandy told him that she wasn’t worried about a thing.

  “Well, you’ve gotten me into a bit of a pickle with my boss, you see. You didn’t allow me a little bit of a warning when—why don’t we go back to my office, and we can talk about this. Your mother and father have done the same. I’d hate to have to call someone on you to get that money back—”

  “Are you about to threaten my wife?” He wouldn’t have said a word as Brandy seemed to have it under control, but Alan kicked him a little hard under the table and pointed to his wedding ring. Then he said make sure that everyone understood that Brandy was now Brandy Frazier. “It sounded to me like you were going to say something threatening. Because I was standing right there next to you when you said to let the Fraziers empty their accounts. I can tell you word for word what you said to Collett Mays when she asked you if Mrs. Fraizer wanted to close her account. You said, ‘I don’t care if all the Fraziers want to empty their accounts. If they do, then more power to them. It’ll be one less thing that I have to worry about daily. Yes, empty them if they want. It’s not like it’s going to hurt us if they do.’ Then you did this little gig thing and told me to go and empty my account. Remember? You said, and I quote, ‘Why don’t you join your family, Lica, and empty out all your accounts. The clientele around here will certainly improve.’”

  “I did not say that. And if you could prove it, which is doubtful, too, how would I have known that Ms. Conner would lower herself to marry any one of you Fraizer men? Good Christ, you should go to the prison and move in with your mother.”

  Lica didn’t know what possessed him, but he let just enough of his wolf go to scare, he supposed, the banker. Just as he was standing up to knock the ever-loving shit out of the man, he just disappeared. Like someone had come, picked him up and took off with him. Then he looked at Brandy. She was shaking her hand like a prize fighter would that had just KO ’ed someone in a ring.

  “I could have been all right with him talking about me having to lower myself to marry you. I mean, so long as that piece of shit is lower than we are. But when he suggested that we move in with your mother?” Brandy shivered like it was too much to think about them living with their mom. “Well, it was just too ugly to think about. So I hit him. I think, however, I might have broken my finger. It hurts badly.”

  She put her hand out so that her dad could see it. But Lica pulled it to his mouth and kissed the red place on her hand, which was just beginning to turn purple. Looking up at her when he heard her sharp intake of breath, the lust in her eyes made him have to adjust not just his cock but his entire body before she pulled away and sat down again.

  Lica missed a great deal while his mind and body were trying to think. About anything. Since all the blood in his body had gone to more private areas, he had nothing left to think with.

  His family was all still talking—about what he didn’t know. The police called an ambulance. He only knew that because when he’d been asked to move—Slaven had landed under the table when Brandy slugged him, his brother told him that the police had made the call. He finally thought that he should have taken better care to look nice when the police started talking to him about the bank. And telling him how this was going to hit every newspaper in the country in the morning. But again, he didn’t know what they were talking about. Not until he felt the sting of something hitting his cheek, then he looked at Brandy.

  “What is wrong with you?” He told her that he didn’t know. “Well, figure it out before I have to knock you around more. The police and the Feds have been trying to talk to you for the last twenty minutes. All you’ve done is—”

  He stood up, jerking her into his arms, and kissed Brandy. He wanted to allow her to enjoy his kiss, but he was also afraid that if he let her go, even an inch, she’d pull away and hit him again. When she wrapped her arms around his shoulder and then his neck, he had to admit that he was still slightly afraid of her. But when she opened for him, giving him the taste of her that he wanted all along, he pulled her tighter to his body and deepened the kiss.

  “Lica.” He growled at the brother, who was pulling on his shoulder. “Come on, Lica. You’re embarrassing everyone. Lica, you have to stop before you go too far.” He lifted his head and looked into the lust-glazed eyes of Brandy before speaking.

  “I’m in love with you, Brandy. I think I have for a long time.” His brother, Ayden, told him that everyone knew that, but the Feds were asking him questions. “I don’t care. All of you, go away.”