Sugar

Chapter 9

Sugar woke up feeling sore but satisfied. She turned to Victor, who was staring at her from the bathroom doorway. He stood there naked, smiling at her.

"Morning, beautiful," Victor said

"Good morning, handsome." Sugar smiled, voice rough. He laughed

"Your voice sounds like gravel in the mornings," Victor said

"Thank you? I think." Sugar said more in a questioning tone.

"You're welcome. Come on, we need coffee for me and hot chocolate for you. Then we must shower and head out in about an hour and a half." Victor said

"Didn't you just shower? Isn't that why you're wet?" Sugar asked

"Yeah, but I haven't showered with you yet." Victor flashed his fangs at her.

"Okay, let's shower first, then drink our coffee and hot chocolate." Sugar smiled, going in for a kiss.

"Get your ass down here, Victor. Let the poor girl shower and explain what the hell it is that you're doing today," Kevin said

"Well, my mood is ruined," Sugar said, pulling back. "Go before they come up."

"Fine. I'm giving them fifteen minutes, and then I'm coming up and getting in with you." Victor said

"Promises. Promises." Sugar walked to her dresser, took some clothes out of the drawer, and then made her way into her bathroom. "PS I don't take more than fifteen minutes in the shower. She heard Victor groan as she closed the door.

***

Kevin waited impatiently for Victor to come downstairs, along with his brothers Jacob, Dante, and Joey, who were equally impatient. They wanted to know what was going on and why Sugar hadn't told them about her case.

Victor finally made his way past them into the kitchen, where he got himself a cup of coffee.

"Victor," Kevin said

Growling, Victor placed the cup down.

"What?" Victor answered back, turning around to face him.

"We want to know what our sister is involved in," Dante said

"What are you talking about?" Victor asked

"The text she got yesterday. When she ran the number, I got an alert. The text read Update on the case someone wants to talk to you. We want to know what that's about. And why she plans on meeting with them alone." Dante said

"She's not going alone. I'll be with her. And we don't know who it is or if they're even telling the truth, but she was insistent on finding out, so we'll find out." Victor said, lifting his cup of coffee back to his lips and taking a big swig.

"Well, we're going too. We'll stay in the back, and we'll observe. Helping if needed." Kevin said

"Sugar won't like that. She'll think you're taking over her case." Joey said

"Who's taking over my case?" Sugar asked, walking down the stairs in black jeans and a pink satin shirt, her hair flowing over her shoulders.

Everyone just stared at her.

Fed up with the silent staring, she growled. "What?"

"You look..." Dante stopped thinking of a word that wouldn't make her mad. He didn't know she owned anything not black blue or grey.

"You look beautiful, Sugar," Victor said

"Thank you, Victor." Sugar smiled. "You're coming with us, aren't you?" Her smile faded very quickly.

"I told you she wouldn't like it," Victor said

Kevin Dante and Jacob growled while Joey just laughed.

"Well, then, we should get going." Sugar said

"Should we take separate–"

"Yes." Sugar said, cutting Joey off.

"Oh, okay." That was all that was said before they all left.

***

Kevin, Joey, Jacob, and Dante rode in the same car they took to get to Sugar House. They drove in silence until Dante groaned.

"What if she's walking into something dangerous," Dante said

"That's why we're going along. So we can supervise just in case someone does something, and things go bad." Kevin said

"And we'll be able to prevent bad things before they happen," Jacob said

"She is capable because she is our sister, and we taught her well," Joey said

"And what she didn't learn from us. She taught herself." Kevin said

"Doesn't mean we can't worry; it just means we worry a little less," Kevin said

"Great, we're here. Everyone put a nice smile on or not and get your asses out of my car," Jacob said

Kevin pushed his hand into his brother's face until his head hit the window and climbed out.

"Ow." Jacob waited until after his brother left to say that.

***

"Okay, so we have to be alert for anyone in this place, but I'm pretty sure this person knows what we look like, so they'll walk straight up to us," Victor said

"We can only hope that will happen with those four here. They'll probably leave before setting us. They look like cops no matter what they do. Maybe if I do this," Sugar said, walking up to a table of women, sniffing slightly and smirking. "Hi, ladies, you look stunning. No wonder those three men are so wrapped up with what's happening at this table." She said, pointing at the table with her brothers.

"Ooh, they are cute, but only three of them?" The woman wearing a red sweater with bees on it asked

"Yeah, one is gay, unfortunately, but hey, there's only three of you anyway." Sugar smiled. "I'd ask for their numbers if my boyfriend wasn't here. I love my man but couldn't let them go to waste. Enjoy."

Sugar returned to Victor, knowing the women would walk up to the table holding her brothers.

"So you sent them to distract your brothers?" Victor asked

"Not entirely. They won't be too distracted, but with women surrounding them, they look less like cops and more like businessmen because of the suits." She smiled up at him.

"Very true," Victor said

***

"I can do this. All I have to do is walk in and tell them no one will know." Paris said

She looked out her car window and into the donut shop and saw four guys surrounded by women. She instantly knew that those were Sugar's brothers, and she knew she couldn't walk in there.

Just then, her phone rang. Paris looked at the caller ID and froze. It was Bobby. Taking a deep breath, she picked up her phone.

"Where the hell are you?!" Bobby yelled

"I'm heading home now. Why, what's wrong?" Paris asked

"Boss has word that there are cops too close to the situation, and they're coming to clear them out. So get your ass back here now." Bobby said

"But Bobby, I need to go home first–"

Bobby cut her off with a loud curse.

"Listen to me, you worthless b***h you'll do as I'm telling you and get your ass over here NOW!" Bobby yelled

She took in a shaky breath, holding in her shudder of fear.

"Yes, Bobby," Paris said

Paris looked into the shop again and decided not to go in, so she drove off.

***

Joey gave his sister a look as the three women Sugar was talking to just walked over to Joey and his three older brothers.

"Well, hello there, handsome." A woman with bees on her sweater said. Jacob sniffed, sighing, then looked at his brother, and they didn't even have to say the words—human and cat.

"I'm Nicole." Another woman said, pressing her covered cleavage in Dante's face.

Kevin got up and walked away, saying, "No."

"I'm sorry, ladies. We're busy right now," Joey said with a small smile.

"Well, I just thought we could–"

Before the woman could finish, Jacob and Dante got up and walked to Sugar, bringing two chairs while Joey smiled wider.

"Sorry ladies, but we're working," Joey said, getting up and walking to his family. "Have a good day."

The women huffed, cursing, and stomped out of the coffee shop.

***

Sugar sat there laughing while she and Victor watched the women try to hit on her brothers.

"You don't think that was a little too cruel?" Victor asked

"Nah, it's funny they have cats, so when they figure that out, they will either say something bad or walk away, making the women mad." Sugar said and laughed when they did just as she described.

"That was cruel. You could have talked to them." Sugar said

"Not everyone likes to be hit on by cat women," Jacob said

"Why are you not okay with that? You guys are cats. Shouldn't you guys be cat people?" Victor asked

Joey Dante, Kevin Jacob, and Sugar looked at Victor with disgust.