Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(21)

She snorted right back at me. “I was protecting all of you the best way I knew how.”

“Well, maybe I’m doing the same.” I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter. “What am I going to do, Yaya? I have the paperwork for the bakery, so I’ll have a few weeks at the most. They won’t be able to get duplicates very fast.”

“I know this bakery means the world to you, but you won’t be the first person who has had to start their life over again after a divorce.”

I stared at her. She never talked about Pappou other than to say he was gone and she was glad of him being gone. My mom was their only child, and from what I understood, he’d left shortly after Yaya had announced her pregnancy. Another family secret. I grimaced, knowing that it wasn’t important to what we were dealing with at the moment. Even if I wanted to know.

I pinched my lips together. “It isn’t the starting over I’m worried about, it’s that . . . damn it, it’s not fair Roger should get everything. I’d be fine with giving him half. I’d even buy him out so I would have the house and the bakery.”

She pulled a pan of monkey bread out, put it on the counter, and drizzled the caramel sauce over it. “Here, try a piece.”

I pulled a chunk of squishy dough out, chocolate oozing from the middle, and popped the whole thing into my mouth. “Hot,” I said around it. The flavors burst in my mouth, and I groaned as I chewed. Yaya bit into a chunk and nodded.

“Yes, that’s better.” She nodded to herself. “The first two batches didn’t taste quite right.”

I licked my fingers and once more went over what the judge had said. “How am I going to find a lawyer who will work without pay, for a Super Duper, no less?”

Yaya squinted one eye and looked at a spot somewhere past my left shoulder. “You need someone who is a good liar, for sure.”

“I said lawyer.”

“Same thing.” She waved her hands at me. “Someone who can spin a good yarn and make you believe him no matter how outrageous. Maybe someone with a little bit of magic on his side.”

I leaned forward. “You have someone in mind?”

She nodded. “Someone who could talk his way in and out of a deal with the devil himself.”

I reeled back; she couldn’t be serious. There was no way she was suggesting who I thought.

“Oh no. I’m not asking him.” I shook my head and hunched my shoulders. “He lied to me about everything, Yaya. And he’s working for Hera, I’m sure of it. That alone strikes him off the list of possible help.” Merlin. Of all people for her to suggest, I was shocked he was even on the list, never mind at the top of it.

“Be that as it may, use his talents, Lena Bean. Merlin is good at what he does; even you can’t deny that. And I think you have made him sit up and take notice. You haven’t fallen as you were supposed to. I think you should give him a chance to make things right.”

I popped another hunk of monkey bread into my mouth and chewed it so I didn’t have to say yes or no. Because the truth was, Yaya was correct. There was no one as slick as the warlock who’d turned me from a quiet little church mouse who had never said a bad word in her life and never broken a rule without confessing instantly into a siren that could take on the toughest of heroes and win.

I swallowed my piece of the sweet chocolaty bread. “Fine, I’ll go talk to Merlin. But I doubt he’ll help.”

Yaya laughed and said, “I think he may just surprise you. And one more thing.”

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. “What now?”

“Your parents’ thirtieth anniversary is coming up, and you don’t want to miss that. I’m going to talk to your mother about having you make the cake.”

I snorted. Right, because between dealing with a legal case from hell, Theseus, and being put on a rival vampire’s gang poopy list, I was going to want to attend my parents’ anniversary. Also known as the father who loved me and the mother who was trying to pretend I didn’t exist now that I was a supernatural.

Perhaps I could call in sick on that one.





CHAPTER 5


The protestors waved to Yaya and me as we drove through the main gate of the Wall. “You think the Supe Squad will get back into action soon?” I looked at my grandmother, knowing she had more knowledge about such things than she let on. A lot more, depending on her cache of secrets tucked away like someone’s hidden candy stash.

“Perhaps. Their captain is gone, and until the second-in-command truly steps up, we won’t know.”

It was after one in the morning when she dropped me off. I waved as she pulled away, and she honked several times. As if I wouldn’t otherwise know she’d seen me as she left with her clunking baby-blue Granada. Though it wasn’t pretty, it did the job. “At least she has a car,” I muttered.

Once more back at house number thirteen, I headed up the steps, fatigue nipping at my heels.

I pushed the door open and heard the soft lull of voices speaking in whispers. A smile crept across my lips. Tad and Dahlia were so darn cute together. Almost sickeningly so, actually.

“Coming in, please keep the nudity to a minimum,” I called out so I wouldn’t catch them in a compromising situation. The last thing I wanted to see was my brother getting down and dirty with my best friend. Even if I was happy for them.