“There’s plenty of food here,” Beth said lightly as she stirred sugar into her drink. “Make toast, or a sandwich or something.”
“I can’t. There’s no bread,” Donny said, scowling at Matias. “All that meat and cheese and not a lick of bread in this place.”
“Tina forgot to get it when she picked up the groceries for me,” her cousin said with a shrug, and then pursed his lips and added thoughtfully, “Although she may not have forgotten. She is on that no-carb diet. Avoiding the bread might have been deliberate.”
“Tina?” Beth asked with a smile. “I thought you were mad about Justine.”
“Sí, but Justine does not like to shop, and Tina does. She is very sweet.”
“Uh-huh,” Beth said and then asked idly, “Who does your laundry?”
“Nicole. She is very handy with the iron.”
“Housecleaning?”
“Michele.” He grinned widely. “She wears a French maid outfit when she does it. Afterward, I reward her well.”
“I’ll bet,” Beth said dryly and shook her head. “Good to know you haven’t changed and still keep a harem of willing women around.”
“I must. I am God’s gift to women,” Matias reminded her, even managing to keep a straight face as he did.
Chuckling, Beth scooped up her cup and took a sip before asking, “Does Mortimer know you have mortal women running around the Enforcer house and doing your chores for you?”
“No. He has never asked so I have never told,” he said with a shrug and then eyed her warily. “You think he would not like it?”
“I think he would definitely not like it,” she assured him. “There’s too much risk one of them could see or hear something they shouldn’t.”
“I never let the girls come when there are Enforcers here,” Matias assured her. “They just help me take care of things when I am the only one present.”
“Hmm,” Beth said dubiously.
Matias eyed her with dissatisfaction and then asked, “Are you going to tell him?”
Beth considered the matter briefly and then shrugged. “If he doesn’t ask, I won’t tell.” Matias was just relaxing when she added, “But if he does ask, I will.”
Matias grimaced, but before he could protest or respond, Donny complained, “Beth, I’m starved.”
Turning her attention to the younger immortal, she raised her eyebrows. “Well, you didn’t have to wait for me. Why didn’t you go grab yourself some breakfast while I was sleeping?”
“I couldn’t leave the house,” he protested as if shocked she’d suggest it. “You were attacked last night. Someone is out to get you.”
“Oh yeah,” Beth muttered into her cup. She supposed she should have expected that Scotty would insist all three men stay to guard her, but she’d been so distracted by everything else, she’d kind of forgotten about that incident in the alley. Besides, she didn’t know why the man would bother. He didn’t want her, so why worry about her well-being?
Not wanting to get caught up in that painful inner conversation again, Beth sighed and pushed the question away. Lifting her head, she raised an eyebrow in Matias’s direction. “You don’t happen to have travel mugs?”
“Sí.” Grinning, he stood and moved to a cupboard at the opposite end of the room. There were half a dozen or so cups in the cupboard. He picked a red one that reminded her of her poor destroyed shoes and carried it to her, murmuring, “It seems we will have company for that breakfast I offered to take you out for.”
Beth shrugged as she turned to pour her coffee into the travel mug. “Such is life, cousin.”
“Sí,” he murmured.
Beth quickly rinsed the cup she’d used, snapped the lid on the travel mug and turned back to start across the kitchen. “Come on, boys. It seems breakfast and shopping are on the agenda before anything else today.”
“Mortimer called while you were getting ready,” Scotty announced, and Beth froze and closed her eyes on a curse.
“I forgot to call him and report on what happened with Kira before we went out last night,” she realized out loud.
“Aye,” Scotty agreed. “But I would no’ feel bad. I forgot about it too. I fear Donny’s reaction to caffeine made us all forget. I explained as much to Mortimer and filled him in.”
Sighing, Beth forced herself to turn and nod at him. “Thank you.”
“Me pleasure,” he said, offering her a smile.
Beth bit her lip, and then asked, “How did he take the news that Kira was returning to Toronto with us?”
“He was no’ pleased at first, but in the end said it was better than her committing suicide by Council order and starting an international immortal war,” Scotty said dryly and then added, “O’ course, once I mentioned that she was trained in weapons and martial arts, he warmed to the idea. He’s hoping she will no’ need much training at all ere he puts her in the field.”
Beth snorted. “He already has trainees and volunteers on the job. He won’t make her train. He’ll just place her with a seasoned hunter and let them train her on the job.”
“Maybe not,” Scotty said. “After all, she is the daughter of Athanasios Sarka. He’ll take care that she is no’ hurt on the job.”
“Hmm, you’re probably right,” she said thoughtfully.
“Can we go now?” Donny whined. “Honestly, you could have told her all that in the car, Scotty. I have been up with nothing to eat for hours.”
“There was still pizza in the refrigerator,” Beth said with irritation. “You could have warmed some up and had that.”
“Pizza for breakfast?” Donny asked with disgust.
“What? I thought all young people liked leftover pizza for breakfast,” she said. When his expression just became more disgusted, Beth sighed and spun away to walk out of the kitchen, saying, “Fine, we’ll go. But grab a bag of blood to bring with you. That should tide you over until we get to the restaurant,” she pointed out, and added under her breath, “At least you won’t be able to whine with it in your mouth.”
“Ewww, blood before breakfast? That’s gross.”
Beth stopped walking and turned on him with amazement. “Seriously?”
He nodded with a grimace. “I can’t stomach blood until after I have some food in my stomach. And I need to eat if you expect me to suffer through shopping.”
“I am not making you suffer through anything,” she snapped. “You’re the one insisting we must go shopping.”
Ignoring her argument, Donny just said, “We should go to one of those breakfast crepe places. I like the ones with berries and lots of whipped cream, or—oh!—apple cinnamon crepes with caramel sauce. Those are yummy. Or the chocolate crepes with cherries.”
Beth turned to frown at Scotty. “Did you let him have coffee today?”
“No,” he assured her firmly, his lips twitching with amusement. “This, apparently, is just Donny before breaking his fast.”
“This is Donny starved,” the younger immortal put in grimly. “Now let’s go.”
He marched past them then, headed for the front door with his nose in the air.
“He reminds me of Phil,” Beth murmured with disbelief as she watched him in his huff.