“Okay, things just got really out of hand. All of us need to apologize or maybe we need to take a couple minutes and -”
She shrieked when Liam launched himself off the workbench and dove into Wulf. He led with his right shoulder, like a linebacker, and tackled the other man into the car that sat behind them. They slammed into the fender, Liam briefly lifting Wulf off his feet.
Though he was a couple inches shorter, Wulf was actually the bigger of the two – broader shouldered, and with more muscle mass. He was back on the ground in an instant, driving his elbow into the side of Liam's head.
What have I done? Again, this is all my fault. Everything is always my fault.
“Stop it!” Katya yelled, running up to their side and grabbing someone's, anyone's, arm. “Stop it, that is my parents car you're scratching and denting! Stop being ridiculous!”
She managed to wiggle in between them, though she wasn't sure she was helping matters. She got jostled around as they all stumbled all over the garage. She yelped and shouted, pushing at chests and pulling at clothing. Having absolutely no effect at all, though at least being in the way seemed to make it harder for them to throw anymore punches.
The way my luck has been going, I'm going to get hit in the face.
Luckily, she didn't have to wait for that to happen. She was aware of someone shouting, then Wulf was abruptly yanked away from the mix. Liam had wrapped an arm around her at some point, and he held on tight, keeping her from falling over.
When she looked up, she was shocked to see her father there. Standing behind Wulf, one hand gripping his arm, the other the back of his t-shirt. He looked equal parts shocked and pissed off, his eyes bouncing between all of them.
“I don't even want to know what's going on, but it ends right now. You two are guests in my home,” he growled through clenched teeth. “I won't tolerate this behavior.”
“I'm so sorry, Dad. I -” Katya started, but her father shook his head, silencing her.
“Not right now. Right now, I'm too angry to talk about this. All three of you need to go separate ways,” he informed them. Katya pulled herself free of Liam, skittering away. When no one else moved, her dad took a deep breath. “I said NOW.”
Humiliated at not only being treated like a child, but at having acted like one, Katya felt her face turn bright red. She nodded her head, but it was Liam who moved first. He stormed out of the garage, striding out of sight around the door frame.
Wulf was guided by Mr. Tocci's hand through a side door into the house, and Katya was left alone. Feeling small and embarrassed and ashamed of herself. She waited a couple minutes, then she went through the door to the house, too. Slowly made her way through the living room, hurried down the hallway, then dashed up the stairs. When she got to her room, she slammed her door shut and leaned back against it. She was breathing so hard, she was almost hyperventilating.
“What just happened?” she whispered to herself. “What the hell am I doing? What am I doing!?”
17
Liam strode across Katya's backyard, ignoring all the strange looks he was getting. He didn't like being rude or making people uncomfortable, but if he stopped to smile, or tried to talk, all the rage that was still rushing through his veins would come pouring out his mouth.
He wound up circling around the house till he came to a glass door that led into the kitchen. He wasn't sure where he was going – he was now surrounded by middle aged women drinking wine. He smiled tightly at all of them, then remembered his moment with Katya in the pantry, a couple hours earlier. It was a good sized room off the very back corner of the kitchen, next to a stack of recycling tubs.
He headed into it, slamming the door shut behind him. Then he leaned over the large utility sink, taking several deep breaths. As he looked down, he saw that his knuckles were bleeding. A misplaced punch had landed squarely on Mr. Tocci's Lexus. He hissed and turned on the water, running his hand under the stream.
“That looks bad.”
Liam spun around so quickly, he knocked over a bucket and mop, causing them to slam to the ground. He glanced down at them, then back up at his intruder.
A woman was sitting at an odd angle on a step ladder in the corner, her hands behind her back. She must have been there the whole time – he'd intruded on her, actually. He didn't recognize her, hadn't met her over the course of the barbecue. He assumed she was a friend of Katya's.
“Sorry,” he finally grumbled. “I didn't know anyone was in here.”
“I'm hiding out. Looks like you're doing the same thing,” she said, nodding at his hands.
“Yeah. Just needed … a moment,” he managed to say, reaching over and grabbing a towel.
“Not a fan of family functions?” she asked. He chuckled while he dried off his hands.
“This isn't my family, and no, I'm not the biggest fan of this function.”
“Tell me about it. Need to relax?” she asked. He glanced at her, raising an eyebrow.
“Uh … what did you have in mind?” he was curious. She smiled and moved her hands to her lap. She had a joint between two fingers, a thin trail of smoke curling up from one end. He'd interrupted her little smoke fest.
“The way you came bursting in here, I thought you were busting me,” she said, then took a long drag from the joint. As she inhaled, she stood up and turned around, picking up a purse from the floor. Since she'd been sitting down, he hadn't realized how small she was – she had to have been a foot shorter than him. But goddamn, she had the most amazing ass he'd ever seen. He was openly staring at it when she turned back around. She was holding her breath and holding the joint out to him.
“You know what? Yeah, fuck today,” he sighed, then he took a hit. She nodded and puffed out the smoke.
“Tell me about it. Some days just can't end soon enough,” she groaned, shoving her hair over her shoulder.
“I was having a good time, till this,” he said in a tight voice as he held the smoke in his lungs. He held up his bloodied hand, then exhaled.
“How'd that happen?” she asked.
“Hit a car.”
“What did the car do to you?”
“Nothing. I was trying to hit an asshole,” he explained, taking one more drag from the roll before handing it back. She smirked at him and delicately ground out the cherry on the joint.
“Looks like you missed,” she told him, dropping the roach into a small canister before shoving it into her purse.
“I'll get my chance again later,” he assured her.
“Let's hope you have better aim by then.”
He frowned. At first glance, she had seemed nice. At second and third glance, she had definitely seemed sexy. But now she was coming across as kind of bitchy, and bitchy was the quickest way to look ugly, in his opinion.
“Look, I didn't mean to intrude, Miss ...” he fished for her name.
“Halsey,” she answered.
“Your name is Halsey?”
“Miss Halsey,” she corrected him. “So who was the asshole?”
“Some guy,” he sighed. “Wulfric Stone.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Oh god. My next question was gonna be did he deserve it, but now I know the answer.”
“Not a fan?”
“He's pretty much the biggest asshole I know. We go back a long time, though we haven't seen each other in years,” she told him, pulling a phone out of her back pocket and glancing at it.
“So if you don't like Wulf, and don't like parties, what are you doing here?” Liam asked. She ignored him, scrolling down her screen. “Are you Katya's friend?” More silence. “Did you go to school with Wulf?” Nada. He sighed. “You know what? I've had a bad fucking day, and I'm all full up on dealing with assholes, so if you'll excuse me, I've got a revenge fight to plan, and a girl to beg forgiveness from, so thanks for the toke.”
“You want to get revenge on Wulfric?” the girl – Halsey? – finally spoke again.
“I want to strangle him slowly,
then rearrange some of his better features, yeah,” he replied, tossing the bloodied towel into the sink. She slid her phone back into her pocket and finally looked at him again. He was struck by how gorgeous she was, with a round face and wide eyes. He couldn't quite place her age – she was wearing a lot of makeup. She had to have been Katya's age, or maybe a little older, twenty-five even. Was probably another neighbor, some long classmate from yester-year. God, Carmel just made hot people, it seemed.
When she cleared her throat, he realized he'd been staring a little too long. He coughed and looked back into her eyes. She was glaring, but she always seemed to be glaring, so he wasn't sure if she was offended or not. She abruptly dropped her purse to the floor and she sat back down on the step ladder, leaning back a little. The pose forced her chest out, making it almost impossible not to stare at her tits, while she stretched her shapely legs out in front of her.
“Want to a take picture? Might be easier to stare at,” she offered in a nasty, sarcastic tone of voice. Liam groaned and rolled back his head till he was staring at the ceiling.
First I get the run around from Katya. Then I get punched in the face by Wulf. Now I'm getting hassled by some stranger. I should've stayed at the fucking beach.
*
“What the hell is going on!?”
Wulf took a deep breath, then yanked himself away from Mr. Tocci's grip. He didn't want to offend Katya's father, but he also was about two seconds away from completely losing his shit and tearing the whole goddamn house down.
First I will smooth things over with the Toccis, then I will take about eighty deep breaths, and then I will fucking shove Eden's head up his goddamn asshole.
“It was an intense moment, I reacted poorly,” Wulf said by way of an answer.
“No kidding,” Mr. Tocci sighed, leaning against his desk. “I know we haven't spoken in a long time, Wulf, but I know you know better than this. For god's sake, you're a grown man! What are you doing brawling in my garage?”
“It wasn't something I planned on.”
“So what happened. Make me understand this before I have to deal with my wife. She won't be happy when she sees that dent on our car.”
“I'll pay for the damages, of course,” Wulf said.
“I don't care about the car, Wulfric. What is going on?” Mr. Tocci asked in a carefully modulated voice.
Wulf stared at the other man for a moment. He'd never once thought of Mr. Tocci as his father. No, Wulf had a father, even if the man was a cold hearted bastard. Mr. Tocci was something else – he was one of the first people Wulf had ever truly respected, and to Wulf, respect meant much more than any sort of fatherly affection. He hated to admit it, but he didn't like the idea that he might have disappointed the man.
“Words were said,” Wulf finally answered. “And I didn't like what I heard.”
“Not good enough,” Mr. Tocci shook his head.
“I'm sorry, but the rest isn't really any of your business. I'm sorry I lost my temper at your party, and I'm sorry for any damages caused. Of course, I'll pay for -” Wulf began to say.
“What happened to you, Wulf?”
There was silence for a moment, the two men staring at each other. Then Wulf took a deep breath.
“Well, I went to school, got several degrees while opening a business that's been thriving ever since, all while taking care of my family and putting my sisters through school,” he snapped.
“I know all that, but when did you turn into an absolute dickhead?” Mr. Tocci asked.
Wulf was stunned for a moment, then he barked out a laugh. Before that moment, he'd never once heard Katya's father use a curse word. Mr. Tocci chuckled as well, then both of them were laughing away.
“I'm not sure,” Wulf laughed. “Probably around eighteen.”
“Ah, graduation year. Crazy time for you.”
“Don't remind me.”
“I have your mug shot in my scrap book.”
“Seriously?”
Two minutes later, Mr. Tocci produced a large photo album and found a page towards the back. Sure enough, there was a mug shot of him in black and white. He hadn't looked at pictures of himself in a long time, and it was kinda surreal looking at the eighteen year old Wulfric Stone. The young man in the photo was glaring, his hair wild on his head, sticking straight up. He was bleeding from a cut on his lip, and his left eye was already starting to swell shut.
“You still owe me bail money,” Mr. Tocci chuckled. Wulf rubbed a hand across his mouth.
“I can't believe you kept this. Wow, what a night. Drunken and disorderly, breaking and entering, assaulting a police officer,” Wulf recalled his graduation party. Things had gotten a little wild. Youthful exuberance and whatnot.
“I know. When I got that call at three in the morning, I nearly had a heart attack. Katya was at a friend's house that night, and I was so sure it was her, that something had happened to her. Imagine my shock when they said it was the county jail calling.”
Wulf frowned. His mother had been doing a double shift at a restaurant, she'd never even known about the arrest.
“No, Katya never would've done something that would land her in jail,” Wulf assured him.
“I would hope not. She was twelve at the time.”
They both laughed.
“At any age.”
“Maybe. But I don't know, sometimes I don't think I know my daughter as well as I thought I did,” Mr. Tocci said in a careful voice. Wulf glanced at him.
“I'm sure you do, you two were always close while I was growing up,” he said. The other man nodded.
“I know. But I'm not around now. I have to admit, when Elena told me you and Katya were seeing each other, I was happy. Happy knowing someone I respected and trusted was looking after my baby girl.”
It took a lot to make Wulf feel bad. About anything. But Mr. Tocci seemed to have a magic key straight to Wulf's nerve center. He winced as he listened to the words coming from Katya's father. Felt guilty that he'd ruined everything, and for more people than just him and Katya. Funny, when he'd first decided to have his fun with little Katya Tocci, it hadn't even occurred to him that it would affect their lives back home.
Sometimes, being self-centered isn't such a good thing.
“I'm sorry things didn't work out,” Wulf finally managed to say. “I made some mistakes.”
“People do. But if you're trying to win her back, punching out the competition isn't the way,” Mr. Tocci insisted.
“That wasn't what I was doing,” Wulf chuckled. “Though I mean, it had occurred to me before.”
“Then what the hell was the fight about?”
“Let's just say 'the competition' had some unflattering things to say about your 'baby girl' – and I didn't think that was okay,” Wulf explained. Mr. Tocci's eyes got wide, then he slowly nodded.
“Well then. I hope you got in more than one hit.”
Wulf laughed again.
“I got in a couple.”
They both chuckled for a while, then fell silent.
“Okay, okay, I'm not your father, I can't keep you here,” Mr. Tocci sighed and stood upright, leading Wulf towards the door to the living room. “Just know that I'm rooting for you, son. I hope you and Katya can work stuff out.”
Wulf felt warm at hearing that, and he nodded as he followed the older man out of the study.
“Thanks. That means a lot,” he said in all honesty.
“But,” Mr. Tocci continued. “If you make my daughter cry again, I swear to god, I will beat you unconscious with one of my textbooks, and then I'll back over you with my car.”
“Jesus, okay.”
“You think I'm being facetious, but you forget that I have friends who teach forensic pathology at Quantico. I know how to make it so your corpse isn't distinguishable from a rotting pig's.”
Wulf didn't laugh that time. He stared at the other man, then nodded.
“Understandable. If I knew someone was making her cry, I would feel the s
ame way.”
“Would you?”
There was a tense moment while they stared at each other.
“I would.”
“Good, glad to know I can count on you to take care of her. Now get out of here before Elena finds out about the fight and starts looking for you. Hell hath no fury like my wife when someone misbehaves,” Mr. Tocci faked a shudder.
“Thank you. And … thanks, for bailing me out that night,” Wulf added at the last minute. Mr. Tocci smiled, adjusting his glasses at the top of his nose.
“Any time, son.”
18
Katya didn't see Wulf or Liam again. When she finally got herself together and went back down to the party, both men were gone. Her mother seemed none the wiser that anything had happened and her father was keeping silent. He gave her a stern look, but didn't say anything while they had guests.
It wasn't till she was helping her mom clean up that Vieve came over to help. She also explained that the boys had left. They'd already headed back for San Francisco. She seemed surprised that Katya didn't know anything about it, and informed her that Wulf had arranged for Vieve and Brie to bring her back.
Katya was a little stunned that no one had said anything to her. Sure, things had taken a super weird turn, but she'd driven down there with them. Had basically planned the whole trip. What if Vieve hadn't been there? And to not say anything – Wulf was a quiet man, but this was taking it a bit far. And what about Liam?
It wasn't till she went back upstairs that she realized she'd left her phone up there all day. She had dozens of missed messages and voicemails from Liam, all explaining that he was embarrassed over his actions and didn't want to make her family more uncomfortable than he already had; he'd felt it was best to leave, and apparently, Wulf had agreed. Had even been willing to call a truce on their little fight so they could drive home. She learned all that just from Liam – there was only one message from Wulf.
Remind your father that I'll be sending a check for his car.
The drive to San Francisco felt like it took an eternity. Vieve owned a huge black Cadillac Escalade, it was kind of ridiculous for a single woman. Brie, who Katya hadn't seen once over the weekend, had made her grand entrance when they were leaving. Wearing sunglasses that covered half her face and a tank top paired with yoga pants, she'd climbed into the back seat, stretched out, put her earphones in, and never said a thing.
The Neighborhood (Twin Estates #2) Page 15
