The Beast in Him

CHAPTER 32

Smitty handed his truck keys to one of only two valets at Shaw’s hotel that he trusted and took Jessie’s hand. Together, they headed toward the automatic front doors of the Kingston Arms. He had to do some damage control and do it fast. He’d promised Jessie he’d fix this. He didn’t break promises, and he sure as hell wouldn’t let Walt Wilson make him break a promise.

The doors slid open, but Jessie stopped cold, bringing Smitty up short.

“What?” he asked, when he found her staring at the corner. “What’s wrong?”

She raised her hand and pointed. His gaze followed and they watched as Ronnie Lee’s daddy dragged Walt Wilson to a waiting SUV. Ronnie’s two uncles behind them.

“Lord, they’ve brought in the original Reed boys.”

“The original Reed boys?”

“Yeah, the Reed boys before the Reed boys. They invented the junkyard dog.” Smitty shook his head. “This isn’t good.”

As he said the words, Clifton Reed slammed Wilson headfirst into the SUV door frame.

Jessie jerked in surprise. “Oh, my God.”

“Yeah.”

“Smitty, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Come on.” He moved toward the door, pulling Jessie behind him. As they walked into the lobby, Kristan charged up to them, throwing her arms around Jessie first and then Smitty.

“I’m so happy for you guys!”

Johnny walked up behind her, his eyes mid-roll.

Examining the pair, Jessie asked, “Why are you guys dressed up?”

The boy had on the makings of a suit, although he looked downright miserable. And Kristan had on a little cocktail dress.

“We can’t tell,” Kristan said with way too much enthusiasm before grabbing the boy’s hand and dragging him off.

“This can’t be good,” Jessie said.

“I know, darlin’.”

“Something’s going on.”

“I know.”

“I say we make a run for it.”

He nodded. “Yup.”

They headed right back to the front door, but sturdy hands used to raising five sons and one out-of-control daughter grabbed the back of their necks and held tight.

“And where are y’all runnin’ off to?” Janie Mae Lewis demanded while pulling him and Jessie back around. “You gonna leave without saying hello to your own momma?”

Resigned to his fate, Smitty smiled. “No, no, ’course not.”

“Then give your momma a hug.”

He did, enjoying her warmth. No matter how tough she was on the rest of the world, she always took good care of her boys.

Sissy Mae, however, was another matter altogether.

“Look at you,” she said when she finally pulled back. “So handsome.”

“Momma, come on.”

She hugged Jessie Ann before raising an eyebrow at her. “Don’t you look well tended, my little wild dog.”

Jessie’s cheeks reddened a bit and she shrugged.

“Now y’all come on.” She took his hand and Jessie’s and led them to the elevator.

“What’s going on, Momma?”

“Don’t you trust me?”

Smitty shook his head. “Trick question. I’m not answering that.”

“Smart boy.”

A quick elevator ride to the top floor of the hotel and the five-star restaurant it held. When they walked in, the room erupted into applause and whoops. They were all there—his Pack, much of his Daddy’s who’d come with them on their trip, and Jessie Ann’s. And all of them applauded and yelled out congratulations.

“Took you long enough!” one of his Daddy’s cousins yelled from the back of the room.

For the first time since he’d met her again, Jessie looked like she’d give anything to have some bleachers to hide under.

“Momma,” Smitty said, taking Jessie’s hand with his own, “you didn’t have to do all this.”

“Of course I did. Your daddy’s family did it for us. It was downright humiliating. Now it’s y’all’s turn.” She slapped Smitty’s hand and he let Jessie loose. “Now, Jessie Ann, you go on down to that end of the table and sit with me and Bubba.”

Smitty reached for Jessie when he saw the panic in her eyes, but his daddy caught hold of her arm and pulled her away.

“And you’ll sit down here with some of Jessie’s people.” Jessie’s people? Sure enough, his momma led him over to sit beside Phil and Sabina, as well as Sissy Mae and, oddly enough, Mitch Shaw.

As they walked Smitty said under his breath, “What about Wilson?”

“Oh,” his momma waved her hand dismissively, “don’t y’all worry about him no more.”

Smitty didn’t understand. “He’s family.”

She stopped at the end of the table and looked up at her son. She ran her hand down his cheek, her smile warm. “Yes, and your Jessie Ann is the mother of my grandbabies. Who do you think really wins that pissing contest, darlin’?”

He kissed his mother’s hand, knowing exactly what she’d done for them. “And what if we decided not to have any kids?”

“Don’t even play, Robert Ray Smith. Lord knows, if I have to wait for this one”—she shoved Sissy Mae’s chair with her knee, knocking his baby sister’s chest into the table—“I’ll be in my grave before I see my grandbabies.”

“One can only hope,” Sissy muttered, getting herself a nice slap to the back of the head.

Fangs bared, his momma snarled, “Watch your mouth, little girl.” When she turned back to Smitty, her warm smile had returned. “Now you sit right on down and enjoy your meal. And I’ll go and get to know my baby’s mate.”

Smitty sat down and Sissy glared at him from between Sabina and Dez. “‘And I’ll get to know my baby’s mate,’” she mimicked with a sneer.

“Now, now, Sissy Mae. Don’t be jealous ’cause you’re barren and lonely.”

Mitch laughed until that basket of hot dinner rolls hit him right in the head.

“I guess my question is, why a pretty little thing like you would want anything to do with my big-headed boy?”

Jess snorted as Miss Janie glared across the table at her mate. “Look who’s throwing stones from that glass house.”

“My head ain’t that big.”

The older woman held her hands up at least two feet apart. “Huge,” she mouthed at her, making Jess laugh harder.

Smitty would probably never forgive her, but she found his parents thoroughly entertaining. At first, she’d admit, she thought she was being set up Mafia style. Lull her into a false sense of security with a wonderful dinner and champagne until someone took a baseball bat to the back of her head. But the more she talked to them, the more she realized Walt Wilson was out of the picture—permanently. She looked around the room filled with her people and Smitty’s. They all enjoyed their meal while talking and laughing. Even the cats were invited and, seemingly, accepted. Only one full-human made the cut, but they all seemed to love Dez.

“You haven’t answered my question,” Bubba reminded her.

“Oh. Um... I guess ’cause I love him.”

“Why?”

Slamming her fork down, Miss Janie snarled, “Bubba Ray Smith!”

“It’s a simple question. Don’t yell at me, woman.”

In order to head off what could be an interesting fight, Jess answered quickly, “Because Bobby Ray made me smile—when I had nothing to smile about.”

Miss Janie put her hand to her more-than-ample chest. “That is the most darlin’ thing I’ve ever heard.” She smiled. Not one of her scary sorta-smiles either, but a real one. Nice and warm and caring. “So... when can I expect some grandbabies?”

Of course, that didn’t mean the woman wouldn’t say something scary.

“What about Uncle Eggie?” Smitty asked his sister while debating whether to gag Phil since he wouldn’t shut the hell up.

“You know he don’t do shit until he checks in with Daddy. And then Daddy don’t make a move until he checks in with Momma. Who checked in with Miss Tala Lee—that’s Ronnie’s momma,” she quickly explained to Dez before turning back to him, “who grudgingly checked in with Annie Jo.”

“And a dosie-do,” Mitch muttered.

Sissy reached for another bread basket, but Dez snatched it up first. “Would you stop throwing food at him. I’m eating this stuff, ya know.”

“Does this mean I don’t get to kill the balding wolf?” Sabina pouted. “I was so planning to kill him.”

“It’s okay, baby,” Phil soothed. “I’m sure someone will piss you off enough one day to garner a reason for you to pull out your knives.”

“You always promise and then they sit around... unused.”

Smitty leaned forward and said to his sister, “I never thought I’d say this to you, but if anything happens to me and Jessie, you get the kids.”

“They were going at it on the floor like animals.”

Jess kept her head down and her hand over her mouth trying to stifle her hysterical laughter as waiters passed around dessert and everyone got up to mingle. Of course, hard to hide the laughter when Sabina wouldn’t stop telling this story.

“There was growling and snarling and barking.”

May pointed her mousse-covered spoon at Sabina. “How long were you watching them exactly?”

“Long enough to know that old wolves still fuck.”

“Stop it. Please.” Jess couldn’t even eat she was laughing so hard.

“I’m just trying to warn you. What they say about Smith wolf males is true. They fuck well into old age. You have quite the years of horniness ahead of you, my friend.”

Jess sank lower in her seat, but she made the mistake of looking up at Danny and Phil—then they all lost it.

“Think Jessie knows?”

Sissy whispered back, “Knows what?”

“That every one of us is insane.”

“Oh, darlin’, yeah... she knows.”

They looked down the table and watched Jessie and her wild-dog friends.

“What do you think they’re laughing at?” Mitch asked.

“Something tells me I don’t wanna know.” Smitty picked up his fork and dug into his piece of cherry pie. “And I’m okay with that.”

Smitty had a bite of pie in his mouth when a slap to the back almost had him choking to death.

His sister slapped his back attempting to dislodge whatever got caught. “Spit it,” she ordered. “Spit it!”

He finally did, cherries flying onto his plate, and glared up at his father. “Must you do that?”

“Ain’t my fault you got a weak back.”

Smitty’s grip tightened around his fork, but Sissy’s hand on his arm kept him from using the damn thing to take out his daddy’s eye.

Bubba looked down at Mitch. “Cat in my chair.”

Mitch chuckled, then realized Bubba was serious. “Oh.” He moved over a seat.

Sitting down, Bubba said, “I’m taking the men out for a drink tonight. You’ll come.”

“I don’t think so, Daddy.”

“Don’t be weak, boy. You’ll come. One drink won’t kill ya. You can even bring your cat friends if you want. If you’ll feel safer,” he taunted.

Smitty took the kind of deep breath he took only around his daddy. “Fine.”

“You’ll regret it,” Sissy sang under her breath.

“One drink, Sissy. That’s all I’m having.”

She heard her full name yelled at the same time that big hand cracked right across her ass, snapping her out of a sound sleep.

“What? What’s wrong?” Jess sat up straight and saw Smitty standing at the end of the bed, sort of swaying. “Smitty? Christ, what time is it?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s three in the morning? Why are you waking me up at three in the morning?”

He muttered something that sounded like “The hypocrisy.” But Jess chose to ignore it.

“Bobby Ray Smith... are you drunk?”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? Maybe you’re drunk?”

“Don’t try and distract me, woman.”

“What happened to ‘I’m only having one drink. I’ll be back in an hour’? Isn’t that what you said to me five hours ago?”

“I’m drunk because my daddy is still in town. We started off in Uncle Bart’s room. Went to Momma’s. And then we left the building. At some point, I believe we left Daddy passed out somewhere in Battery Park—but I’m not really sure.”

“Isn’t your mom going to take care of him?”

“Her exact words were ‘Leave his big drunk ass right there.’”

“Oh.” Her head cocked to the side as she stared at him. “Did you know someone scrawled ‘Omega’ on your forehead?”

He growled. “Damn, Mace.” He rubbed at his forehead, which only managed to smear but not wipe away the wolf-offending words.

“Did I get it?”

“Sure,” she lied.

“So,” he said, still swaying, “my daddy says I ain’t good enough for you.”

Jess blinked in shock, her hackles rising. “He said what?”

“He says you’re a nice little gal with a lot of class. He says someone cultured like you deserves better. He says—”

Fed up, Jess cut in, “Your daddy fucked your momma on the hotel staff kitchen floor.”

Smitty stared at her for a very long time. She stared back.

“I’m sorry?” he finally said.

Jess leaned forward a bit and slowly repeated, “Your daddy fucked your momma on the hotel staff kitchen floor.”

Another long silence, then, “And you know this because... ”

“Sabina saw them. My Sabina is many things, but a liar is not one of them. Besides, I don’t think she could make that up. Do you?”

“Nah.”

“So I wouldn’t really worry about whether your daddy thinks you’re good enough for me. You should only worry whether I think you’re good enough for me. And I don’t. But I’m willing to lower my standards.” She gave him a big, cheesy grin. She’d perfected it over the years.

“That’s real big of ya, Jessie Ann.”

“It is, isn’t it? ’Cause that’s how cultured and classy I am. I’m all about the class. And don’t you forget it.”

He glared down at her, or the tequila was hampering his eyesight. She couldn’t really tell.

“Why ain’t you naked?”

“I could be.”

“Get naked.”

Jess pulled off her T-shirt, the only thing she’d worn to bed. “This work for ya?”

“Yup.”

Smitty proceeded to start stripping off his clothes. When he got his elbows caught in his sweater and started to turn in circles, Jess sighed and crawled to the edge of the bed. She grabbed hold of Smitty’s sweater, trying to get it off him. Whatever the man was doing, however, was not helping. And when she finally yanked the damn thing off, they both fell back on the bed, Smitty on top of her.

“Ain’t you just the prettiest little thing?” he mumbled, gently pushing her hair off her face.

“Thanks. You’re not half bad yourself.”

He kissed her, lips moving slowly over hers. She knew she’d never get tired of kissing this man. When he pulled away, he asked, “Jessie Ann?”

“Yeah?”

She never heard what he had to say, though, as the wolf dropped his head in the crook of her neck and started snoring instead.

Smitty woke up with a dog on his chest. Not a wild dog, but a mutt he did not recognize. For some unknown reason the damn thing seemed real comfortable lying on Smitty, staring at him like he held the keys to the universe.

Hell, he didn’t even hold the keys to getting rid of this hangover.

“You mind gettin’ off me, hoss?”

The dog “moofed” at him but didn’t move.

Smitty patted Jessie’s bare thigh. She was naked. Good. He liked that. “Could you call off this animal?”

Jessie’s eyes slowly opened. “Which one?”

“Do I throw him across the room or do you?”

“Okay. Okay. Calm down.” Jessie reached over and picked up the dog. He clearly liked Jessie too. Couldn’t blame him, though, with the way she seemed to enjoy cuddling the little bastard.

“Where did he come from?”

“Found him behind the hotel last night digging for food in the trash. I couldn’t leave him.”

“You and strays.”

“Yeah. Look at you.”

Smitty bared a fang and sat up, dropping his legs over the side. Immediately everything in the room spun and he carefully stood, heading toward the bathroom. He managed to use the toilet, brush his teeth, and not throw up, but that was about it.

When he returned to the bed, he sat down on the edge and placed his head in his hands, moaning in defeat.

“Oh, my poor baby.”

He thought Jess had been talking to the dog. She-wolves had no sympathy for drunks. But then Jessie’s arms went around his shoulders and she kissed his neck. “I’m so sorry you feel miserable.”

Smitty tensed, waiting for it. He didn’t know what, but “it.” She-wolves came to you with sugar, but then made sure you ate a mouthful of salt. But Jessie simply rested her head against his and her soft hands stroked his chest. Then he looked down and saw the mutt had placed his head on Smitty’s thigh, staring up at him with big eyes, not expecting anything but giving himself completely. Just like Jessie.

Putting one hand on her arm and the other hand on the dog’s head, Smitty said, “Marry me, Jessie Ann.”

The stroking hands stopped and Jessie pulled back enough to look him in the eye. “Pardon?”

“Marry me.”

She scrunched up her face in that way she had when totally confused. “I thought you were dead set against it. Something about ‘not as long as I breathe’ was muttered.”

“I did not say that.” Smitty brought Jessie’s hand to his mouth and kissed her palm.

“Then why?”

“Two reasons. One, because you deserve everything you want.”

She shrugged. “All I ever wanted was you.”

He rested his forehead against hers. “And you’ve got me, darlin’. You’ve always had me.”

Smitty kissed her. She groaned and pressed her delicious sheet-covered body against him.

“And the second reason?” she asked, breathless.

“Because you’re crazy about me and I’m afraid it’ll crush your delicate little heart if I don’t marry you.”

“You are such an arrogant ass—”

He kissed her again, both of them laughing.

“Marry me,” he repeated, against her lips. “Marry me, Jessie Ann.”

“Okay. I’ll marry you.”

“Good.”

Smitty slid his hands around her waist, pulling her toward him, when the sound of bodies colliding with the door cut into his next move.

“Auntie Jess! Are you up yet? Mom said to come for breakfast.”

“O—”

Smitty covered her mouth with his hand.

“Tell your momma we’ll be down later.”

Jess pulled his hand away. “What are you doing?”

“Gettin’ my morning Smith greeting.” He tugged on the sheet covering her body and Jess slapped at his hands.

“Stop that! They’re right outside!” she squeaked.

“Y’all get away from that door!” he yelled.

“They must be tusslin’,” a pup complained.

“Well, hurry up,” another barked.

“We’ll be down in a minute,” he promised, giving her a healthy leer as he went to his hands and knees and rose over her. “As soon as we’re done tusslin’.”

Jess slapped at his hands again. “Tussling? Have you been teaching them that?”

“Oh, you want me to be more specific?” he asked, finally snatching the sheet from her body and sighing happily as he stared down at her. “Lord, you look good in the mornings.”

“I thought you had a hangover.”

“It’s gone,” he said, pushing her onto her back. He brushed his fingers against her mark, unable to stop touching it. She arched into his touch, her arms reaching out for him.

“We can’t do this now, Smitty,” she protested, even as she opened to him. Even as she took him into her body. “They’re waiting for us for breakfast.”

“They can wait,” he groaned against her neck.

Poor thing, she had no idea he’d be waking her up most mornings like this.

Jess wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He rocked into her slowly, taking his time, his lips resting against her temple.

“Mornin’, Jessie Ann,” he murmured against her soft skin.

He felt her smile, her breath catching in her throat. “Mornin’, Bobby Ray.”