“Not my mother, no.”
And this was why she adored her baby-girl. Gwen was all about the direct approach.
Roxy lifted her arms, sweeping the room. “You give up everything I have to offer you for this? A cruddy little office and no real work? What did I do? Why do you hate me?”
Gwen dragged her hands through her hair. “I don’t hate—”
“You must if this is what you’ve resigned yourself to. And if it’s not me, what is it? Your cousins? One of your aunts? Did they say something to you?”
“Ma, stop. They didn’t do anything. You didn’t do anything. I love what I do.”
“Did you see what you did with that little girl downstairs? How beautiful you made her look with a set of shears, a blow-dryer, and an iron?”
“Yeah, but—”
“You could be doing that every day and running the business. Making real money. Have a high-end clientele. And you’d have family around you, baby-girl. Family to protect you.”
She brushed her hand against the still-lingering bruises on Gwen’s face. They must be recent, since bruises for their kind didn’t last much longer than a day or two. Was no one watching her baby’s back? Other than that wolfdog who was too sweet for her own good? And Blayne’s face hadn’t looked much better.
“Who did this to you?”
“It doesn’t matter, Ma.”
“Tell me.”
“Why? So you can make it worse?” Gwen smirked. “And we both know you’ll make it worse. Besides, it was just a fight.”
“And no one watching out for you. No one covering your back.”
“Blayne watches my back. Blayne always watches my back.”
“But for how long, baby-girl? She’s a canine who’s making new canine friends. Canine friends with money. Where does that leave you? I know you’re not comfortable with meeting new people, and that’s okay. You always have your family. The ones who love you and will always be there for you.”
Roxy put her arm around Gwen, kissed her forehead. “Let’s get your brother and go grab some dinner. We can talk then.”
“No.”
“Don’t be mad at Mitch. He was only trying to—”
“No. I mean I can’t. I’m…uh…meeting someone.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. A bear I’ve been seeing.”
Roxy smirked at her daughter. “Really?” A bear? And her Gwenie? Well, that was interesting.
“Yeah. In fact—” Gwen glanced at a wrist with no watch on it “—I’m going to be late if I don’t get a move on.”
She kissed Roxy on the cheek and grabbed the straps of her backpack. “I’m really sorry, Ma, but you should have called first before coming all this way.”
Gwen walked to the door and saw her brother standing on the other side of it. She saw him. And yet she flung that door open like she hadn’t. Thankfully, Mitch had always been quick and he managed to keep the door from hitting him in the face.
“Off for a date. See ya.”
Mitch scowled. “With that bear?” he yelled after her.
“Damn right, bitch!” she yelled back, and Roxy had to rub her nose to hide the smile.
Mitch walked into the office, looking around in distaste, but Roxy didn’t know if it was distaste for the room or the bear.
“So you’re going to let her go out with that bear?” he demanded.
Okay. Distaste for the bear it was.
Mitch walked his mother to the overpriced parking lot across the street from the Kuznetsov office building. “I can’t believe you’re letting her get away with this.”
Roxy remotely unlocked her gold Lexus SUV and tossed her bag into the car. “I don’t know what you want me to do.”
“Tell her she has to come home. You’ve done it before with the cousins.”
“Yes, but they were…”
Mitch, not sure how there could be a “but” there, motioned to his mother to continue when she stopped talking. “They were what?”
Roxy gave him that soft smile that fooled a lot of nonrelated male lions but not Mitch. She patted his chest. “You need to come to Philly for a family dinner, baby-boy. Make sure to bring your girl with you.”
Mitch grinned. “And I’ll bring Gwenie.”
“Mitch—”
“Invite the whole family. We’ll be there. Tomorrow night.”
Roxy shook her head and got into her vehicle. “I swear, baby-boy, sometimes…just like your father.”
“I’ll try not to take that as an insult, Ma.”
He closed her door and waved at her until she turned out of the lot and onto the street. Already working on how he would get Gwen home for a family dinner—also known among the O’Neills as a Family Pile-On—Mitch never saw that fist coming until it grabbed a hold of his hair and yanked.
“Not the hair! Not the hair!”
“You rat!” Blayne accused, while using her other hand to slap Mitch in the face and head. “You big rat!”
Desperate as he felt precious hairs pulled from his head, Mitch grabbed hold of Blayne’s arms and twisted them back until she let him go.
“Off!” he ordered, pushing her away. “Did you think I was really going to let this go? Especially after last night?”
She put her hands on her hips, reminding him of Gwen. “Because he batted you around that hotel room like a Tonka toy?”
“No. Because he had my precious baby sister on his lap for your entire derby bout.”
Blayne’s eyes grew wide. “How…how did you find out about that?”
“Don’t think you can hide anything from me, little girl. When it comes to my baby sister, I know all.” He walked up to her and leaned down until their noses touched. “And this isn’t over.” And it wouldn’t be until he got Gwen away from that circus freak bear and got her back to her Pride where she belonged and would be safe.
Smirking, and feeling pretty damn smug, Mitch headed toward the corner and a cab, but he froze when Blayne tossed after him, “You know everything, huh? Did you know that when your hair started falling out in clumps back in your senior year it was because me and Gwen put Nair in your leave-in conditioner?”
When he spun around, roaring in outrage, Blayne yelped and skated off in the opposite direction.
Jay Ross stared at the cash in his hand. “This is it? I usually get twice this.”
Bobby B., who owned the Staten Island bar Jay was in, shrugged and carried another case of beer behind his bar. “What do ya want me to tell ya? You’re not the only dealer out there. And the product you’ve been givin’ us ain’t been that great.”
“I need more money.” Donna’s bitch mother had been on a rampage since she’d found out that her kid once again nearly got her ass kicked by an O’Neill, but who’d counted on that goddamn bear being there again? And the only way to calm the evil bitch down was with cold, hard cash.
“Then bring in better product. The last two died pretty easy and that don’t make for much of a show,” Bobby B. complained, dismissing him.
Jay started to head to the door but stopped, an idea hitting him. “What about females?”
Bobby’s head came up, the older full-human looking at him with definite interest. “Females? A name will get you three times what you used to get. Bring one in yourself…and it’s six times.”
“Six?”
“They’re popular and hard to grab.” Bobby smiled. “Deadlier than the male.”
The man had no idea.
Jay walked out of the bar and headed to his car. No way could he move that product on his own, but if he could get the Pack involved…He shook his head, resting his arms on the roof of his car. Sharyn McNelly happily took his money, but she didn’t want any involvement in what he did. Still, there had to be a way, and Donna pretty much ran the younger Packmates. But her mother ran Donna…