Jess cringed. That damn article! They’d been pretty successful keeping their names and info out of the paper until about six months ago when Wired did an article on the company. Far in the background of one of the candid shots, if you looked really close, you could see Phil and Jess sword fighting with the Roman short swords they’d just ordered. Watching and laughing were Danny, May, and Sabina. When they saw the photo they all figured no one would notice them in the back like that.
Then the woman in Human Resources said they were getting in a ton of résumés because of that one article. Why? Because everyone saw the “owners” sword fighting in the background. In other words, “What a cool place to work!”
Great for their employee pool, but bad now that they had losers like Walt Wilson coming into their lives.
“Yes, ma’am. That’s me.”
“But he circled her.” She pointed at the black marker circle around May. “Why?”
If they needed her help, they’d have to be honest with her. Annie Jo needed to know why she should rat out family.
“That’s Maylin. She’s part of my Pack. She got pregnant sixteen years ago by Wilson. But he doesn’t care. He wants money and he’s using her daughter as leverage.”
Annie Jo sat down again. “Yeah, I was afraid you were gonna say that. The Wilson males are notorious. They’ll knock a girl up and walk away in a heartbeat. Then they won’t have anything to do with her. See I was real careful because I had a scare once, when I was fifteen, and I swore never again. All I needed was for that bitchy sister of mine to find out I was pregnant and all hell would break loose. Besides, I never wanted children. So I always made sure I was on birth control and that any man I ever had sex with wore condoms. One thing you’ve gotta remember about wolf males, Smith or otherwise, is they can impregnate sand. As a female, you’ve gotta protect yourself. Isn’t that right, Bobby Ray?”
“She’s right. Which reminds me.” He patted Jess’s arm. “I need to have a condom conversation with Johnny.”
Jess’s back snapped straight. “I’m sorry. What?”
“Who’s Johnny?”
“Her foster son. A wolf. She’s gonna adopt him. But he just turned seventeen.”
“Oh, Lord!” Annie Jo exclaimed with a laugh. “Yeah, darlin’. He has to have that conversation with him. And soon. The Smith mantra—condoms, condoms, condoms.”
“Thank you, but I can have that conversation with my son.”
Annie Jo rolled her eyes. “Darlin’, you cannot talk to that boy about fucking. You just can’t. It will freak him out. Let Bobby Ray do it. Y’all are together, aren’t ya?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Now Annie Jo’s expressive eyes crossed in exasperation. “Whatever.”
“I don’t see why we need to discuss this now.”
“We don’t. But I need to talk to him soon.” Smitty smirked at Annie Jo. “Maylin’s daughter is sixteen and a cutie.”
“Oh, Lord!” Annie Jo exclaimed again. “Darlin’, you better let him talk to that boy or y’all are gonna have yourself a nine-pound, eight-ounce problem.”
“Phil and Danny can do it.”
“They’re wild dogs, too, right? They can’t tell that boy what he needs to know. You need Bobby Ray to do it.”
“Why?”
“Wolves are different. From, oh, let’s say, fifteen to seventeen, their aggression kicks in.”
“Johnny’s not aggressive.”
“He growled at me in the elevator,” Smitty told her out of nowhere.
“He did what?”
“If little Kristan hadn’t been there, he’d have gone for my throat.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What was there to tell?”
Jess opened her mouth to start yelling when Annie Jo put a calming hand on her forearm.
“Before you tear his head off, you need to understand that the wolves and the wild dogs are different. They grow up different. You, of course, don’t count because you were the only dog in a town of wolves. But it goes like this, from fifteen to seventeen, male pups are aggressive to adult male wolves. They’ll take ’em on in a heartbeat and get their ass kicked every time. They actually need that sort of discipline and they don’t really mind. Of course, Bubba was... oh, never mind. But when they hit eighteen, their aggression turns to a level of horniness the likes of which you’ve never seen. They’ll fuck damn near anything.”
Jess snorted. “That’s not entirely true.”
Smitty growled. “I walked away for a reason.”
“Don’t bark at me.”
“He probably walked away for two reasons.” Annie Jo cut in. “One, because he didn’t have condoms. Bubba Smith beat into every one of his sons the condom, condom, condom rule. He made sure they had condoms in their trucks, in their school bags, stuck in books. Any place he could think of, and Lord love ya, but you better use ’em. Bubba didn’t want a bunch of grandkids running around since he knew his sons would breed a ton once they were mated. Unfortunately, the Wilsons just didn’t have that same philosophy. “
“And what, pray tell, is the second reason?”
Annie Jo smiled. “The second reason is, you were special, Jessie Ann. Everybody in town knew that. Why you think the She-pups kept coming after you? But none of that is here or there. Y’all can work that out yourselves because one of my students will be here in about five more minutes.”
Smitty nodded. “Where is he, Annie Jo?”
“The Bronx.” She stood and opened one of the kitchen drawers, extracting a pad. She tore off the top sheet. “Here. Take it. I don’t want that boy back here. But let me tell you something, Jessie Ann. The best thing Walt Junior probably ever did was throw that little Maylin away. Wilson’s mate, she can’t be more than late twenties, early thirties. But damn if she don’t look closer to mid-forties. They ride their females hard and put ’em up wet, with very little payoff.”
“She’s married now,” Jess said with true pride. “And her husband loves her and their daughter.”
“There you go. That’s all that matters.”
The doorbell rang and Annie Jo stood. “All right, y’all. Time to go.”
She couldn’t hustle them to the door fast enough. But when Jess saw Annie Jo’s “student” she could see why.
Jess didn’t know a lot of virile-looking twenty-five-year-old males who went for piano lessons in the middle of a suburb.
“Curtis, why don’t you go on in the living room and wait for me there. I’ll be right in.”
Devouring the woman with his eyes, he nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Annie Jo walked them out to Smitty’s truck. “Now, if y’all need anything else from me, you just let me know. And of course, y’all can stop by anytime.”
She kissed and hugged Smitty, then kissed and hugged Jess. But before they could get in the truck and drive away, she added, “And you be careful, Bobby Ray. That boy is a lot like his daddy, and you can say what you want about Bubba Smith, he fights fair. I can’t say that for the Wilsons. But don’t you forget they’re family.” She pointed at Jess. “And she ain’t.”
“Thanks, Annie Jo.”
“You’re very welcome. Y’all get on now. Good luck.”
CHAPTER 27
After parking a couple blocks away from the rundown hotel Wilson and his Pack stayed in, Smitty asked, “Should I bother telling you to stay out here until I’m done?”
Jessie shrugged, dug into her backpack, and pulled out a book, settling back into her seat. “Sure. I’ll wait.”
He grinned. “Now most females of my Pack would be itching to go up there with me.”
“Because they look for a fight. I don’t. I’m more than happy to keep my wild-dog butt right down here until you’re done. Unless we’re talking about a sword fight. Or a fight to the death in the Roman Coliseum.”