“What do you want?” He said grimly.
“It’s going to take me at least a couple of hours to scrub that oven down. In case you didn’t know, that’s cheese on the bottom. The fridge is even worse, it smells like Armageddon, and the pantry has an ant infestation,” she said, taking another sip of coffee.
“What’s your price?” He repeated through clenched teeth.
Winter faced him squarely, looking him straight in the eyes and she told him exactly what she wanted.
“I want your vote. Look at it this way, it’s going to take several hours of work to clean this mess up. If we had sex, it would take ten minutes. You’re getting a better deal, besides we both know that you’re not going to vote me in with sex anyway.”
Shade stared at her, before shrugging. “It’s all yours.”
Winter frowned that he had given in too easily, but she wasn’t going to question her luck. She started to go into the pantry to begin as Shade reached into the cabinet.
“I’ll have to tell Viper that he must be getting old if you think sex lasts ten minutes.”
Her poor choice of words was going to piss off Viper and the bastard knew it from his smug grin.
He poured himself a cup of coffee as he started to sit at the table. Winter went to the refrigerator and opened the door. He was out the door before she had finished the movement. Reaching inside, she took out the leftover sauerkraut, placing it in the trash bag before carrying it outside the backdoor to the trashcan. When she came in she lit a candle and opened a box of baking soda. She was busy cleaning the fridge when the members started coming in for breakfast.
She was almost finished when Viper came in for breakfast. He watched closely as she closed the door to the refrigerator. “Why are you doing Shade’s punishment?”
“I decided to give him a helping hand.” Viper fixed himself a bowl of cereal. Winter noticed him glancing at her in speculation a couple of times, but she ignored it and kept cleaning. That night in bed she was almost asleep when Viper brought up Shade.
“He told me he gave you his vote.”
“Yes.” She curled closer to his side.
“I didn’t know we had an ant infestation.”
“We don’t,” Winter confessed.
“You’re a dangerous woman Winter Simmons.”
***
Winter knocked on Ton’s door. It opened several minutes later to a bleary eyed Ton with a sour expression on his face.
“I brought your groceries.” Winter gave him a bright smile.
“Beth never comes until after ten,” Ton grouched.
“I’m an early riser.”
“I bet Viper loves that,” Ton said snidely. Winter blushed at his remark. Viper was not an early riser. He worked hard, but he did like sleeping in the mornings. Unless he had a meeting, he never got out of bed before nine.
“The groceries are in the car,” Winter told Ton. Beth had warned her he would take it as an insult if she packed the groceries inside.
Winter hastily moved out of the way of the screen door. Ton stomped to her car lifting out the box of groceries. She followed him inside uncertainly. Ton put the groceries on his table while she was wondering why Viper hadn’t just brought them himself.
“Do you need anything else while I’m here?” Winter offered.
“No, since I’m up, do you want a cup of coffee?”
“I would love one.” While the coffee was brewing, Ton moved around the kitchen putting up his groceries. When the coffee was finished, Ton poured each of them a cup.
They carried their cups to the living room and sat on the couch. Winter loved his cabin, it was rustic and homey.
“Beth told you she was going out of town today?”
“She mentioned it, told her she didn’t need to worry about the groceries,” Ton answered her question.
“Why didn’t Viper just bring them by?” Ton looked at her with surprise.
“I haven’t seen Viper since the day at the diner. He’s pissed at me, and when Viper get’s mad it takes him a while to get over it.”
“I didn’t know,” Winter said, regretting her question.
“He’s right. I let my anger get the better of me and I put their women in danger because I couldn’t control my temper,” Ton admitted.
Winter felt sorry for the man. It couldn’t be easy for a man who had lived an active life in the military to suddenly find himself with nothing but time on his hands. Losing a son and declining in health would only exacerbate the problem. The man needed something to keep him occupied but Winter didn’t know what to suggest. She would have to give it some thought.
“Perhaps I could talk to him?” She suggested.