Interesting. I suddenly desperately wanted to know what the discretionary paths were about and what the one thing was that they'd gotten so wrong. They still hadn't heard or seen me, so I smiled and waved. "Hello, boys."
All three of them wheeled around to stare at me. Craven, in his expensive suit, and two men who must be his employees or thugs, both dressed in jeans, flannel, and leather jackets, stood next to a black SUV.
Craven visibly flinched, and a brief look of panic crossed his face before he schooled his expression back to its usual fake cheer.
The shorter, slender thug put a hand up like he was hiding his face and turned away.
The taller, broad, bald pile of muscle nearest to me twined his fingers together and cracked his knuckles, aiming what he must have believed was a terrifying smile my way.
I burst out laughing.
"Listen," I said, shoving my hands in my pockets and ambling toward them. "Thanks. It has been a long day, and I needed a chuckle. So, Chuckles, how about you say something like 'this town isn't big enough for both of us' to cap it all off?"
Chuckles, aka the mountain of meanness who must serve as Craven's muscle, snarled, clenched his fists, and took a step toward me. Delvaney reached out and grabbed him by the arm, muttering something so quietly through his clenched teeth that even I couldn't hear it. For a few seconds, I thought Chuckles would pull away and come after me, anyway. He finally relaxed, but not before I caught the look of utter disgust he aimed at Craven, who didn't seem to take it as seriously as I would have if I'd been him.
Men like Chuckles didn't put up with being leashed for long. I'd have to watch out for him.
The footsteps I'd been listening to came around the corner behind me, and Tess, breathing hard, jogged up to join me. Chuckles caught sight of her, and his demeanor changed instantly—from snarling to smiling in a split second.
Oh, boy.
"Maybe a bit more warning next time you decide to do your Flash impersonation," Tess muttered. "Also, I really need to work out more."
"What's a Flash impersonation?"
Tess sighed. "Later."
"Well, hello there," Chuckles said, in what I'm sure he considered a seductive voice. "Aren't you a pretty little thing?"
Tess blinked. "Not athing, but hello."
The thug's smile turned to a sneer, but before he could say anything I'd have to punch him in the throat for, Craven spoke up.
"Delightful to see you two, as always. Am I to presume from your hasty approach that you've decided to sell UltraShopMart your property?" He beamed that huge, fake smile at us, and suddenly I wanted to punch him instead of his goon.
I tried to remind myself that I wasn't a rebel soldier anymore and couldn't go around punching people just because they annoyed me.
Shouldn'tgo around punching people.
"Nope," Tess said brightly. "But thanks for asking. We just came by to ask—" she turned to me with a big smile and nudged me with her elbow. "Well, Jack will tell you why we came back here."
"Just wondered what the hullabaloo was about," I said, purposely putting a little Southern drawl in my voice. Northerners often assumed anybody with a drawl wasn't very bright. I was happy to take advantage of that.
"No hullabaloo," Craven said smoothly. He jerked his head toward the alley, and the smaller guy, still ducking his head so we couldn't see his face, took off at a trot.
Chuckles stayed where he was, teeth bared in what I'm sure he thought of as a challenge. Craven really should have told him about me.
"Sorry," I said, making sure the insincerity rang in my voice. "Thought I heard shouting."
I could almost see the realization slide behind Craven's eyes. He might have been a slimy creep, but he did his research. He'd undoubtedly read about tigers and their superior hearing, and now he was obviously trying hard to remember exactly what I might have heard.
The entire process only took seconds, though—he was quick. I'd give him that.
"Just a friendly conversation among coworkers that maybe got a little heated," he said, trying on a jovial chuckle.
Craven clearly wasn't a guy who could pull off jovial in a situation like this. The noise he made sounded less like humor and more like Tess's cat trying to cough up a hairball.
"Oh, I know all about that. Sometimes Eleanor makes mistakes in inventory, and I have to have a serious talk with her. Just part of being the boss," Tess said cheerfully, lying her cute little butt off.
