Night Play(86)

"It's okay, Mom," Bride said. "I'd rather eat your pie anyway."

Her mother looked a bit surprised, but didn't say anything. As she stepped back, two cats came running through the kitchen, chasing each other.

"Professor! Marianne!" her mother called, handing her dishtowel to Bride. "Oh, good grief, I better get them before they run into Bart and he eats them." Her mother ran off outside.

"Bart?" Fury asked Bride.

"The gator who lives in the backyard. Dad fixed him up last year after a poacher almost killed him in a trap, and he keeps getting out of his pen."

Fury scratched his cheek. "Man, I wish I'd known your dad when I got caught in a trap, I'm still…" Fury's voice trailed off as he realized Deirdre had turned toward him with an arch look. "Never mind."

"Hey, Bride!"

Vane stiffened as an extremely large, muscular man came barreling through the back door to pick Bride up and squeeze her hard.

Bride laughed. "Put me down, Patrick!"

He growled at her as he did so. "Don't get feisty on me, woman. I'll hold you down and frog your arm."

Bride scoffed at that as Vane saw red.

"You better not touch her."

Bride looked up at the growling sincerity she heard in Vane's tone. By the expression on his face, she actually feared for her brother's safety. "It's okay, Vane," she hastened to assure him. "He's just teasing. He hasn't really hurt me since we were kids and even then it was an accident."

"That's the story I'm sticking to anyway," Patrick said as he offered his hand to Vane. "I'm glad to see my sister's in good hands. Patrick McTierney."

"Vane Kattalakis."

"Nice to meet you, Vane. Don't worry. I'd cut my arm off before I ever hurt one of my sisters."

Vane noticeably relaxed.

"You must be the brother," Patrick said. "Fury?"

"Hi," Fury said, shaking hands. "I know, the names suck."

Patrick laughed. "You guys want a beer?"

Fury looked to Vane for the answer.

"That'd be great," Vane said.

Patrick ducked into the fridge and pulled out two longnecks, then handed them off.

While they opened them, Patrick stuck his finger into the potato salad.

"Get out of that!" Deirdre snapped, popping his hand with a spoon.

"Ow!" he said, jerking his hand back and then sucking his fingers.

"Get out of here, Pat, or I swear I'll feed your portion to the dogs."

"Fine, you cranky PMS avenger." He motioned to Fury and Vane. "Be wise and join me outside where it's safe."

Vane hesitated.

"Call me if you need me to rescue you from Patrick and my father," Bride said before she lifted herself up on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

Vane caught an angry look from Deirdre before he followed Fury and Patrick out into the yard, where Bride's mother was wrestling the cats back toward the house.

Vane handed his beer to Fury before he scooped the female cat up. She tensed for an instant, then relaxed. "You want her in the house?"

Joyce nodded gratefully as she cuddled the male.

Vane opened the door and set the cat back inside. "Don't do that again, Marianne," he said.

She nuzzled his hand, then darted off.

"Thanks for the help," Joyce said as she walked past him.

Vane went back to rejoin Fury and Patrick.

"So, Vane, what do you do for a living?" Patrick asked.

Fury gave him an amused look as he passed his beer back to him.

"I live off the interest from my investments."

"Really?" Patrick asked. "Investments pay enough that you can afford a hundred-thousand-dollar Jag?"

Vane could smell the hostility from Patrick. "No," he said sarcastically, "my drug dealing does that. And I make a tidy profit from my pimps down on Bourbon Street."

The look on Bride's brother's face was priceless. "Look, I'm going to be honest with you. You mess with my—"

"Patrick?"

Vane looked past Bride's brother to see a man who appeared to be in his mid-fifties. Fit and trim, he had neatly styled gray hair and a mustache.

"You're not giving Vane the 'Mess with my baby sister and I'll break your neck' speech, are you?"

"I was trying to."

The man laughed. "Don't mind him. I'm Dr. McTierney," he said, extending his hand to Vane. "You can call me Paul."

"Nice meeting you, Paul."

Paul turned to Fury. "You must be the brother."

"I hope so, I'm wearing his pants."

Paul laughed.

"So, you're the evil neuter king," Fury said. "I wondered what you looked like."

"Fury," Vane said in warning.

Again Paul laughed. "You know anything about dogs, Vane?"