Go Fetch ! (15 page)

Okay, when the hell did that start happening?

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Hyena,” he muttered.

“Jackal,” Miki shot back. He looked at her and frowned. She shrugged. “I thought this was word association.”

Conridge
snorted a laugh and
Conall
looked at her. He sniffed the air again. “You smell familiar.”

“I’m married to a Van Holtz.”
Boy, the woman says that with a lot of pride
.

“Oh. Yeah, I remember. I met you once. It’s nice to see you again. I’m
Conall
.” He reached down and picked Miki’s backpack up, throwing it over his shoulder.

“Why did you say hyena?”

“That’s the smell I couldn’t place. The scent that was on you after you were attacked. I’ve only dealt with them once or twice when I was a kid. A bunch of them beat the hell out of me in sixth grade.”

He looked at
Conridge
. “I was a lot smaller then.”

“I see.”

Conall
looked at Miki and the papers in her hand. “Need some help there, Slim?”

“Just a little.”
Conall
grabbed a handful. “Do either of you know Professor
Leucrotta
?”

Miki frowned. “You just missed him. Why are you asking?”

“That’s where the scent was strongest. At his office door.”

She sighed. “He was asking about me.”

“What?”

“He wanted to be Ms. Kendrick’s advisor for her dissertation. I politely told him to go to the devil. And he seemed to take that rather personally. I don’t like him. But I didn’t bring him into the university. The dean did. But there have been lots of activity from the hyena clans lately.”

“We hadn’t noticed.”

“Not surprising considering your hands were full with the
Withell
Pride. Anyway, you may want to keep an eye out for them. They can be quite barbaric.”

“I remember that. I mean, for little kids they were really vicious.”

Conridge
nodded. “Hyenas aren’t as big as lions, but they make their lives a living hell. But the females and the children are especially brutal. So watch your backs.

She turned to Miki. “You’ve got tonight and tomorrow to relax. I suggest you do just that. Don’t panic over this, Ms. Kendrick. You’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“I don’t say so. I’m ordering it. Now go away.”
Conridge
went back in her office and closed the door.

“You brilliant types can be awfully abrupt.”

“What a ground-breaking observation.” Miki headed back to the stairs,
Conall
right beside her. She wasn’t shaking him any time soon.

Once outside,
Conall
took the rest of the papers from Miki. “
Gimme
.” Since molesting her in the stairwell, he was in a much better mood.

“What’s with you? Why are you so accommodating?”

“Cause I won.”

“You won what?”

“You. Me. The seduction. In the stairwell.”

“I didn’t fuck you in the stairwell.”

“I didn’t say you had to. I just said I had to get between your legs by Friday.” He grinned. “And I did.”

Miki stopped and stared at him. “You’re high! That was not the agreement.”

“Yes it was.”

Miki was ready to deck him again when Craig walked up. “Hey,
Mik
. Can I talk to you for a sec?”

Miki wasn’t done with
Conall
. “Can it wait?”

“Go ahead. I’m satisfied.” He winked at her and walked off, her backpack and dissertation in his big hands.

“Asshole,” she muttered after him.

“Dude, it’s worse than that.”

Miki looked at Craig. “What are you talking about?”

“I found him
sniffing
Leucrotta’s
door. Really sniffing it.”

Miki sighed.
Damn
shapeshifters
. They were just not discreet. “Don’t worry about it, Craig. Besides, I’ve got bigger problems than his fetishes.”

“Like what?”

“Everything.”

Craig smiled. “That’s a lot.”

“I know.”

“Look your dissertation isn’t until Friday. So why don’t you come to my house party tonight. Everybody’s going to be there. You can even bring the ‘
Beastmaster
’ if you want.”

Well, at least he didn’t call him teddy bear. “I love your house parties.” And she hadn’t been to one in ages.

“Then come.”

That would give her a little reprieve from being alone with
Conall
. “Okay. I’ll be there.”

“Cool. It starts at 9:00. Bring any video games.”

She chuckled. Techno geek parties were the best. Craig headed off and she walked to where
Conall
was standing. She took a deep breath and forged ahead. “Look. Craig invited me to a house party he’s throwing tonight…
wanna
come?”

***

Conall
had wondered if she’d say anything about Craig’s party. He could hear the dweeb invite her even though he was a good hundred feet from them. When she’d asked him if he wanted to go he felt his heart swell a little. “Sure. Sounds great. I’m assuming I’ll be your date.”

“Well, you’re assuming wrong. We’re just going as friends.”

“Why?”

“Because you didn’t win,” she bit out between clenched teeth.

He watched her walk off, and waited ten seconds before he yelled after her. “Yes I did!” He laughed as Miki raised her middle finger high in the air like a salute. He was really starting to love that woman.

Chap
ter Nine

Miki looked up as
Conall
held out her cell phone. “It’s Angie.”

Miki took the phone and watched
Conall
go back into the room, closing the glass door behind him. They’d changed rooms, with the bed no longer attached to the wall. And
Conall
had been polite enough not to mention how much he had to pay the hotel for that little “accident.” But she loved the new room they had. She had a great view of Seattle and a little balcony that she’d been sitting on for three hours with her feet up on the rail and her laptop right in front of her.

“Hello?”

“So how’s the big, blond pooch? Has he started humping your leg yet?”

Miki didn’t answer. She couldn’t answer.

“Okay, Kendrick. Spit it.”

“It’s complicated.”

“You fucked him?”

“No. Not exactly”

“What are you two up to?”

“Too much. It’s getting out of control.”

“Okay. Hold on.” Miki waited while it became quiet on the other end. She assumed Angelina was at work and had a customer. “Okay. I’m back. And I’ve got Sara on the line.”

“Oh, shit.”

“All right,
Mik
. What’s going on?”
Fuckin
’ Angelina with her three-way calling
.

“This is too weird.”

“We want details.”

“Details about what?”

“She and
Conall
have been up to shenanigans.”

“You fucked him?”

“No. She hasn’t.”

“
Oooh
. This is getting better and better.”

“I hate both of you.”

“You might as well tell us.”

“Or I can ask
Conall
. He
has
to tell me. I’m like totally in charge and everything.”

Miki rolled her eyes. Sara’s reign of terror.
Bonehead
. “Okay. Okay. We’ve gotten pretty… involved with each other. But we haven’t actually done the deed.”

“That was vague.”

“I’ll put it in Sara-speak for
ya
, hon. He’s either used his hand or his tongue to get her off, but no dicks have made an appearance.”

How could she still be friends with these two idiots?

“Yum,” Sara growled. “So what’s the problem? It’s time for you to cowboy up and break in that mustang.”

“I can’t believe you found a way to work ‘cowboy up’ into this conversation.” Angelina sighed. “See you need to go into this knowing what it is,
Mik
.”

“Which is?”

“A booty call. The extended DVD version, but a booty call nonetheless.”

“But what if…”

“No, Miki. No analyzing. No second-guessing. No obsessing.”

“For once in your life just enjoy yourself.”

Miki sighed. “To be honest, I don’t think I know how to do that.”

Sara chuckled. “Bartender-Miki knows how.”

“Bartender-Miki? Is this like your Golden Retriever Sara vs. Drunk-Sara theory?”

“No. You, smartass.”

“Bartender-Miki is the one that always asks inappropriate questions and says whatever she thinks without caring about the repercussions.”

“Bartender-Miki who used to set things on fire in
Chem
Lab because she was bored.”

“Who taught herself
Elvish
and
Klingon
.”

“Who faced off against my grandmother on more than one occasion.”

“Who could kick guys ten times her size out of the bar when they got rowdy.”

“Bartender-Miki who the FBI still refer to as ‘that bitch.’ ”

“That’s the Miki we both know and love.”

Miki blushed. Now she remembered why she was still friends with these two idiots. Because they both actually got her. And loved her in spite of it. “But I was changing everything. I was supposed to be having a nice normal
respectable
life?”

“Normal? Who wants to be normal?”

“Fuck normal.”

“I say fuck
Conall
. But in a good way.”

“Would you two idiots focus.”

“All right, Miki. Listen up.” This from Angie. “Is
Conall
around somewhere?”

“Yeah. He’s in the other room.”

“Can you see him from where you are?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Okay. Do me a favor. Look at
Conall
. But don’t look at him like Miki who wants to have a respectable life…”

“We’ll call her boring Miki.” Sara chimed in. “Instead look at him like Bartender-Miki.”

“Okay.” Miki thought about her night’s bartending. She was always in control and she never took any shit. She ruled
Skelly’s
bar with a mighty fist and was respected. She knew what she wanted and what she didn’t and she acted accordingly. She felt like she had knocked that Miki out for the last six months but she was awake now. Awake and looking at
Conall
like a prize-winning bull at an Austin auction.

Stretched out on the bed, on his stomach, watching TV. The Viking’s big arms wrapped around a pillow. Her eyes dragged across every inch of that long hard body; taking in the muscles of his arms, the line of his body, how
friggin
’ huge his feet were. And that outstanding ass of his. And he was wearing that goddamn black bracelet again.

He seemed to feel her watching him. He looked at her and smiled. A smile that, deep down, she knew was for her and her alone. Instead of turning away, like she always did, she smiled back. And his smile actually got bigger. Then he winked and went back to the TV.

Miki sighed, “Holy shit…”

“We’ve been trying to tell
ya
.”

“What do I do?”

“Be yourself.”

“Are you two high? That scares off most men.”

“He’s hardly most men,
darlin
’.”

“How about you do me a favor,” Angelina asked.

Uh-oh
. “What?”

“You’ve got, what? A couple of days until you have to do that thing, right?”

Miki crossed her eyes. “You mean my dissertation? Yeah. Just a couple of days until ‘that thing’.”

“Then why don’t you just enjoy yourself?”

“Don’t worry about work.”

“Or school.”

“Or bills.”

“We’ve got your back. We’ll take care of everything. Just relax and see what happens.”

It had been years since she could do that. Just relax. In fact, she was pretty sure that the last time she did it, she was about 14. Just before her mother died. Since then she’d never taken any handouts. She’d always worked for everything she had. And she realized that it would be nice to have a couple of days where she didn’t have to worry about anything.

“I guess I can.”

“Good.”

“What’s the worse that could happen?”

“But I’m not promising you two bitches anything. There’s no guarantee anything will happen between me and him. I’ve never actually done the booty call thing, and that’s all a guy like him would want.”