Donahue: Foster’s Pride – Lion Shapeshifter Romance (Foster's Pride Book 2)

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about. I will not resign from my position, nor will I allow you to threaten me in such a manner.” Parker told him she never once threatened him. “You did too. While I don’t fully understand what you were saying you were going to do to me, I did understand it to mean you were going to harm me in some way.”

  “I was making you a promise, shithead. I don’t make threats. You either do things the way I want them done, or I scoop you up with my magic and hurt you in places you’d never thought of before. Resign or be hurt. It’s really that simple.”

  Clyde turned his back to her and looked out over the empty football field. He didn’t know what was going on with that, but he had a feeling some of it was due to this woman beside him. Her laughter had him turning toward her again.

  “You have no idea what sort of shit I can rain down on you, do you? Well, that’s all right too. I have lots of information now that I didn’t before. You really think you’re some sort of slick shit, don’t you? I mean, who would have thought you’d have kids paying out for uniforms you had hopes of getting donated? By the way, Brook isn’t going to donate shit while you’re still acting like you run this place. She couldn’t write it down without several hundred curse words, so her husband wrote it for her. I don’t know if there are any fewer curse words in the note you have there, but it’s probably more coherent.” He wasn’t worried about Brook and her husband. They’d fall into place too. Clyde decided not to give the woman anything more to talk to him about. “Don isn’t going to be blackmailed either. You should have asked him to come and help out. He would have done it willingly. Don is a good teacher and well liked around here. In case you’re wondering, that’s why none of the kids are going to be playing this year. So your plans of making a killing off the concession stand as well as the football camp and uniforms aren’t going to fly. People don’t like you.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She just grinned at him. For some reason, he was afraid of her. She looked— Well, she looked evil. “Go back to whatever you were doing and leave me to my work. I don’t know if you actually know Don Foster or not, but he’d better be showing up here, or he’s going to be out of a job. As for Brook, she’ll pay for the uniforms, and more than likely even allow me to have a little extra for the band when I’m finished with her. She isn’t that good with money. Have you seen how much she spends on advertising? Why I ask you? She has more work now than she could possibly get finished. I don’t know how smart she’s supposed to be, but to me, that just shows a lack of any kind of intelligence.”

  “Are you telling me you think Brook is stupid?” Clyde told the woman if the shoe fit, then yes, he was saying that. “That’s really too bad of you. From what I’ve been able to figure out about Brook, she’s really smart. I mean, she did start that company all on her own. Not to mention all the money she has made over the years. I think—and this is just me and about every other person in this town—she’s brilliant.”

  “Yes, well, you’ve not shown a great deal of intelligence either, now have you?” The woman just laughed. “What are you doing here? To tell me that I’ll not have Brook eating out of my hand? I will. And that brother-in-law of hers too. I know how much he wants to coach football. He has often made known to me his need to be a part of it. So what if it’s my plan to make a little cash on the side? It’s not as if I’m paid all that well anyway. I’m not hurting anyone by trying to make myself a better retirement. To have a little extra on my plate when I sit down to dinner. They’ll do what I want because I want them to. And since you’ve no say in any of this, I’d appreciate it if you would just go about your own business and leave me alone.”

  “Let me get this straight in my mind. You’re going to make Brook Foster donate enough money to not only supply the football team with new uniforms but also put something extra in your pocket. And if that wasn’t enough for you, you’re going to skim the profits off the concession stands to— What did you say? Oh yes—put a little extra on your plate. Sorry to tell you this, but you look as if you’ve had too much on your plate already. Perhaps you should have invested in a rowing machine or a treadmill. Anyway. On top of the Brook donations, you plan on blackmailing Donahue Foster into coaching the football team by telling him if he doesn’t do what you want, you’ll simply fire him as a teacher. That’s not particularly nice of you, is it?” He told her he didn’t care what she thought. “No, I can see you don’t. Back to your plans. Since the parents of the teams, as well as the band members, donate most of the food, as well as their time in working the stand, you plan on taking a portion of their profits as well. Quite a little money maker you have going on here, isn’t it?”

  “As I said to you before, I don’t make a great deal of money. And why wouldn’t I want to make this a profitable thing for myself? I am the one making sure things work in my favor.” He smiled at her, just thinking of a great comeback to her. “It’s not as if all the money is going to me. I’m only skimming some of the profit from the stand. The money for the uniforms isn’t going anywhere else but my bank account. Think of it as taking care that I don’t have to be on welfare when I’m finished being the greatest principal of all time. Why I might even write a book about how to do what I’ve done. It would be a best-seller among people like me. Underpaid principals that need just a little extra.”

  “I pity you when all this gets out.” He asked her how she thought it was going to be out in the public. “What if I told you I was recording all of this?”

  Clyde laughed. “First of all, simply recording my voice wouldn’t get you anywhere. It would be my word against yours. And I’m a respected member of society.” She said he had been one. “No, I am. Only you and I have any idea what is being said here. And as I pointed out, no one would believe you anyway.”

  “Did I mention that I am magical? I’m sure I did. It’s one of the things I shared with my husband to be, Donahue Foster. People think we’re married, but we’re mated, so it’s all the same. But I digress. Being magical, I was able to get you to just sit here and confess everything you’ve been up to without much in the way of encouragement.” He asked her what that had to do with anything. “A great deal, as a matter of fact. If you look out over the bleachers here, you’ll begin to see why the kids disappeared. They’re not adults, and although I didn’t have your permission, it matters little since I didn’t ask you for any kind of information on your crimes. Is what I hid from you beginning to show yet, Clyde?”

  He didn’t see anything on the field, nor in the bleachers. Just as he was turning to her, to ask this person what she was talking about, he saw the local news station there with a video camera pointed directly at them. As he continued to look, he saw that not only was there the local news, but it looked like there were people from several different news organizations as well, and a lot of other people. People looking terribly upset with the things he’d said.

  Thinking fast had never been his strong suit. He had to make notes and cross out things that he couldn’t make work. Turning to Parker again, he smiled as best he could and told her he was kidding about all of it.

  “Kidding? I don’t know, Clyde. You seemed to have everything worked out pretty well for someone that was just kidding. Besides, in addition to coming here and speaking to you about this—by the way, thanks for being so forthcoming—the police and the FBI have been going through your home and your bank accounts. Again, thank you for having all your passwords written down for us. That surely did save us a great deal of footwork.” He stared at the crowd of people there in front of them. “They want to talk to you, it seems. But if I were you, I’d just go to the police over there and turn myself in. I think you might be safer in the police’s custody than with the people you were trying to scam.”

  He thought she might be right. Clyde was caught. There wasn’t a thing he could do or say to make it better. He was of a mind, just for a moment, to r
un. But where would he go? he thought. With his picture and his words plastered all over the place, all he could do was go to jail.

  “You’ve ruined everything. You know that, don’t you?” Parker asked him how he’d come to that conclusion. “There will be no uniforms for the team. The money for the new stadium I was going to have Garrett Construction donate is now defunct. You’ve ruined everything that would have made this school great.”

  “I see. Well, now that you’re going to prison—I hope you understand that—but since you’re not going to be here to take what didn’t belong to you, Brook is donating the money for the new uniforms. Don is going to be the assistant coach for the team. The concession stand has a standing order for not just all the water they want, but there will be hot dogs and any other kind of food they wish to sell there, courtesy of Don and I. Mrs. Foster, Don’s mom, is also going to have the party barn ready so the school can use it to host events to try and raise money—free of charge so long as they clean up afterward. If you ask me, I think things are much better than the way you were going to run things. Not to mention, it’s all done legally.” Clyde asked her what she was getting out of this. “Me? A happy family. My husband doing something he loves, and you gone. I should have started with that one. You being gone from this school means so much to all of us.”

  As Clyde was being taken away, people started throwing things at him. A tomato hit him in the head. Unpopped popcorn kernels hit him in the face and arms, cutting into his skin. Even the players were bombarding him with footballs, helmets, as well as obviously well-used jockstraps.

  The police did nothing, not even when he told them to help him. As he was put into the back seat of the cruiser, he looked to see a man sitting there as if waiting for him. It took him a moment to realize who it was. Ronan Foster, a big man anyway, looked ginormous sitting there in the seat watching him.

  “I know you understand now why you don’t fuck with my family.” Clyde told him he’d done nothing wrong. “Yet here you sit, handcuffed, in the back of a police cruiser. Don’t lie to me again. Do you understand me?”

  “What are you going to do about it? Kill me? I don’t think so. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but there are people out there that think I’m doing a wonderful job as principal.” The pop to his face knocked his head back into the window behind him. Blood ran down his face from his nose. “What was that for? I’ll sue you for that. See if you don’t end up right in the cell next to mine.”

  “You go on thinking that and we’ll see who believes anything that comes out of your mouth. Don’t lie to me again.” Clyde said nothing. “We’ve emptied all of your bank accounts. Taken care that the things you purchased with the school funding are on the auction block. Also, and I find this as funny as fuck, all your pretty little porn pictures are now with the FBI. My goodness, Clyde, you’ve been a very naughty boy, haven’t you? Having your pictures and video sent to the school means a big-time prison sentencing. They don’t even care that it was sex you were having sent to you. You just shouldn’t have used the school’s address or, and this one is a biggy, the school’s computer to download it.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  This time when the punch to his face slammed him backward, he heard the window crack. Or it might have been his head. As dizzy as he was, he didn’t care which it was. Clyde just wanted it to stop.

  There were more questions and two more pops to his face. Laying his head back, Clyde wondered why no one was coming to help him. Then he realized, and it hurt him to think this, no one cared about him. Crying all the way to the jail, he wondered what his mom was going to say about all this. She’d be really testy with him for sure.

  ~~~

  Peter might well have been overwhelmed by the size of the Foster men, but they were so willing to be kind to him; he didn’t feel that way for long. Even Mrs. Foster—Jane, he was asked to call her—was so nice he wanted to spend more time with her.

  “They’re all the family I have left, these kids and their mom. My son, the father of the men here, was a piece of shit, and I’m glad every day that someone took him out of the human race.” Peter couldn’t help it. A burst of laughter came out. “Yes, I knew you’d find that funny. But he was. Rollin. Why on earth we gave him that ridiculous name is beyond me. He really was an abusive prick, and my lovely granddaughter-in-law killed him. It was us or him, and I’m very thankful she did it for me.”

  “Was he anything like Park Carter? There is a man I’d like to figure out how to kill again.” Jane said they were working that part out. “Yes, I heard. Parker has been going over my books from my family. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could do like a search on spells? I mean, like put them all in a file and be able to access just what you want at a moment’s notice?”

  Jane stared at him. Telling her he was sorry if he’d said something wrong, he was shocked when she kissed him on the cheek before yelling for Parker. He didn’t know what he’d done, but he’d been paid well for it. He might even try something again, just on the off chance she would do the same thing.

  He’d been a widow for a while—eight long years without companionship or anyone he could just sit around the house with and not feel so alone. It was the main reason he’d accepted the dinner invitation so readily. Peter was a lonely old man.

  Peter hated to feel sorry for himself. He didn’t like it in others and hated it, even more, when he did it. Looking at Parker, who was talking to Jane, he wondered what it would be like to have been around her when Parker had been a child.

  You wouldn’t have liked me. He stared at his granddaughter for several seconds, wondering how she’d spoken to him. I’m a witch, remember. Before you warn me about reading people’s minds, I will tell you to never play poker. Your face shows just what you’re thinking. And you’re not lonely but allowing yourself to be alone. There is a difference. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get up off your ass and talk to people. I can’t do everything for you.

  It’s been much too long. I haven’t any idea how to talk to people face to face. I wouldn’t even know how to bring up a conversation that I have any knowledge about. She asked him if he liked animals. Well, of course, I do—what a silly thing to ask me.

  Not silly at all. The man to your right is Loman Foster. You might not know who that is, but you have several of his photos in your den. He’s the photographer that uses a paw print on his pictures. Peter loved the man’s work. Also, there is an attorney in the room with you. Cassidy Foster. People sometimes refer to him as Hop Along, simply because he doesn’t waste any time in the courtroom when he is there. I think he holds the record for the quickest divorce case of a celebrity ever.

  As she told him what each of the men in the room did for a living, he realized he was in a room full of greatness. However, Parker warned him that they didn’t think of themselves as anything but men doing a good job, just like their mother had told them to do when they were younger and had a task to do.

  You’ll embarrass them, and while it might be funny to me, not so much to them. My mate, too, is a great man. I knew it before I realized he was my mate, I think. He’s one of the only football players in high school to receive the All American award twice in a row, beating out other kids that had played ball long before he decided it would be a cheap way to get into college. He asked what grade he taught. High school math and science. Don has also helped develop many medical formulas that have helped in the health field.

  And their mother? What has she done? Parker asked him what he meant. I meant nothing by it. But she has to be one extraordinary person to have raised these men all alone.

  She raised them to be compassionate men that care more for their fellow man than they do themselves. Each of them would willingly do anything for any of their family. Which would include you should you need them. Family is the most important thing to them. Parker laughed a little. They will die for their
mother and grandma. For their mates too. Each and every one of them are men you can be proud to know and call a friend. So again, Grandda, get up off your ass and go figure out what you might have in common with them. Even if you find you have nothing, they’ll still be as polite to you as I am rude to you.

  That’s a lot of politeness. I mean, even if you’d said half of your rudeness, it would have been a great deal.

  They both laughed, and he looked at what was being handed to him. “What’s this?”

  “You must pay attention to me like Camilla does.” He grinned at Jane when she spoke. “Parker did this. It’s all on the computer now, just as you said. And the best part of it is, it’s easy to access from your phone should you be out and need some spell, or whatever they’re called.”

  He didn’t have any idea what she was talking about. It must have been obvious to everyone because they all started explaining the file that Parker had made on a computer. He was just having things come together when he put in a search for the dead living in the living. They’d let him be the first to use it.

  “It says it’s not an easy spell to cast on one of the dying. It’s easier to use the spell on yourself before you’re dead. I would think that was a given.” They all laughed as he continued to read the instructions for the spell. “It seems simple enough. There isn’t much to it to make the person leave the living. However, if there’s nothing else I’ve learned over the years, it’s that nothing is as uncomplicated at it seems.” Peter handed the laptop to Parker for her to have a look at.

  “It says there mustn’t be any blood relations between the witch and the dead. If there is, even if it’s a long line of generations between them, the dead can pull the living to them and use their body.” Parker looked at him. “I’ll need your help with this, even if it’s only for support. The two of us together can make it work better than me just going there and yanking him free. I can do that. But it does say it’s tricky to do, and the dead can cause all sorts of damage to its host.”