Only the Strong, стр. 35
Sami shot him a smug smile.
“Within reason,” Zoe cautioned. “You can’t set anything on fire or freeze him in place. You also can’t use your magic to make sure he misses.”
Sami’s expression soured. “That’s not any fun.”
“I think you’ve had your fun for the day if your father is already drinking.” Zoe left Sami and Redmond to continue their game. I couldn’t be sure, but the grim look on Redmond’s face told me that he was determined to beat the girl whether she was magical or not.
Sure enough, Braden and Aric were in the parlor. Paris excused herself to go into another room and make a call. She wanted to check in with her husband and invite him and their son Alvis over for dinner, something we’d discussed in the car.
“Hello, sugar,” Braden teased when he saw me, lifting his head so I could give him a kiss. “How did your day butt-kissing the bigwigs go?”
“That was boring,” I acknowledged as I flopped onto the couch next to him. “Things got more interesting after we broke for lunch.”
“Oh?”
I shifted my gaze to Zoe, who was busy peering into Aric’s glass and giving him what I assumed to be her “stern wife” look.
“Day drinking, huh?” She made a tsking sound. “According to Sami’s guidance counselor, that means your prospects in life are low. I wish I would’ve known that before I married you.”
“Ha, ha.” He poked her stomach and leaned in. Rather than kissing her, he briefly rested his forehead against hers. “Is it too late to trade the kid in for a cat?”
“Are you looking for something low maintenance?”
“Yup.”
“You know cats crap in boxes, right?”
“I can live with that.”
“We’ll see what can be worked out when we get home.” Zoe stretched out her legs and took the drink from Aric’s hand, taking a long swig before handing it back. “How was the DIA?”
“According to Sami, art isn’t a real profession because it’s all subjective, and in her opinion all the art there was boring and blasé,” he replied. “She’s more interested in seeing something called the Heidelberg Project.”
Zoe’s face was blank. “I don’t know what that is.”
“It’s an outdoor art exhibit,” Braden volunteered. “It’s in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood on the east side. Basically it’s a bunch of brightly painted houses with weird dolls and other stuff affixed to the front of them.”
Zoe didn’t look impressed. “What’s the point of that?”
Braden shrugged. “Art? It’s creepy if you ask me but some people like it.”
“Is the area safe?”
“Not really.”
“Well, we’ll think about it.” Zoe rubbed her forehead and stared at the ceiling. “She’s probably in no more danger there than she is anywhere else at this point. At least there she can pretend to be an art critic and annoy us with whatever pretentious words she’s added to her vocabulary this week.”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that,” Aric said. “We can’t let her take philosophy and psychology classes when she goes to college. No art appreciation or anything like that either. She’s already insufferable. How bad do you think she’s going to be when she has a Psych 101 class under her belt?”
“Good point. All math and biology for her.”
“No biology.” Aric made a face and shook his head. “I think that could go in a bad direction if we’re not careful.”
“Because of her burning lady bits?”
“Knock that off.” Aric looked deadly serious. “I will find a way to lock her in the house if I have to. I’ve been giving it some thought and I’ve come up with an idea or two.”
“Yeah, you have fun with that.” Zoe patted his knee and then caught my serious gaze. We’d discussed in the car that she was the one who would have to admit what happened since she caused it. She had argued – a lot – but ultimately agreed. It was time to get to the nitty-gritty, whether she liked it or not. “So, we did a thing this afternoon,” she said finally.
“Oh, crap.” Aric rolled to his side and buried his face in one of the decorative pillows on the couch. “I just want to day-drink like a loser for once. Why can’t you let me be?”
Braden was much more serious. “What did you guys do? Wait ... don’t tell me.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, reminding me of Cormack. “It’s something terrible, isn’t it? You’re going to make me cry, aren’t you?”
“That’s not my intention,” I reassured him. “Honestly, we had no idea what we were going to find when we decided on our course of action. It was supposed to be just some simple snooping.”
“We thought he was probably a pervert,” Zoe offered. “He was, by the way. He had some weird stuff in his goodie drawer. That’s beside the point, though. He also had a gate in his basement.”
Aric bolted to a sitting position and Braden went rigid.
“Who had a gate in his basement?” Braden barked out.
Before I could answer, Cormack appeared in the doorway. It was obvious he’d heard at least part of the conversation because there was fire in his eyes.
“Uh-oh,” I muttered under my breath.
As if sensing that someone was about to get in trouble, Sami appeared at Cormack’s side. She had a smug look on her face and it was directed toward her mother. “You did something bad without me, didn’t you?”
“Nothing I ever do is bad,” Zoe replied.
I shot her a dubious look. “Really? You were the one who was going to check out the other gates. If I hadn’t dragged you back, you could’ve ended up in real trouble.”
“Thank you, Señorita Tattletale,” Zoe hissed when Aric made a growling noise. “I bet you were the least popular kid in elementary school because everyone knew you were a narc.”
Rather than immediately insert himself into the conversation, Cormack strode over to the bar cart and started doling ice cubes into a glass. Apparently he