Tied Up in Knots by Mary Calmes Read Free Book Online Page B

night.”
    “This is still Chicago, though. You’re not worried some guy’ll get in here through the monster dog door?” Kohn sounded concerned.
    I arched an eyebrow. “And run the risk of being face-to-face with Chick?”
    “No, I mean during the day when he’s not here.”
    I snorted. “Ian made the door. When it’s closed, it’s like Fort Knox; no one’s coming in through that.”
    “Speaking of, when’s he getting in?” Kowalski chimed in.
    “Not until tomorrow around seven.”
    “I’ll call the guys, then, we’ll have poker night over here tonight.”
    “What? Why?” I just wanted to sleep. Didn’t I look tired?
    “Maybe he wants to sleep?” Kohn threw out.
    Kowalski scoffed. “Fuck that, he owes us all money from last time.”
    I did, it was true.
    “Ain’t no rest for the wicked, everybody knows that.”
    I flipped him off, and then Kohn as well because he started laughing.

Chapter 4
     
     
    MY FRIENDS —and I used the word loosely since they had no problem taking my money and not giving me the opportunity to win it back—stayed until the early morning hours. They’d all come, except Sharpe, who had a hot date with an Eastern European ballerina he’d met on a DEA bust. He showed up at nine the following morning, pounding on my front door because I was close to where he was when he woke up and got the hell out of her apartment. Since he’d become single again, the term manwhore could officially be applied.
    I took him to breakfast at Firecakes, my favorite donut place over on Clark, because the idea of eggs and bacon made him a bit green around the gills. But warm sugary goodness worked and he looked a bit more human when we left. I loaned him my sunglasses so he wouldn’t go blind, and then he walked back home with Chickie and me.
    “This is nice.” He sighed as he kept pace with me and my werewolf in the chilled morning air while we navigated the tree-lined streets. “I think I need a place out of the city.”
    I didn’t want to correct him and say that Lincoln Park wasn’t really a sleepy little ’burb because his head and stomach were still a bit dicey.
    “But then I’d be far from all the clubs.”
    There was that to consider.
    “If I try and pet the dog, will he eat my hand off?”
    I snorted out a laugh and moved around Chickie so he was walking between us. It was nice that Sharpe didn’t even have to bend to reach Chickie’s head. There is something so soothing about petting a dog.
    I watched the last of the night drain out of Sharpe. “You know, if going out and getting laid makes you so miserable that you drink and feel like crap and are totally stressed, maybe you might wanna rethink it, huh?”
    “Are you kidding? I love getting laid.”
    I was not going to inspire him into some cathartic moment. “Why don’t you come sit on my couch and watch football while I clean the house.”
    “Yeah, all right. You got clothes for me?”
    I did. I gave him sweats and a T-shirt and heavy socks, which worked out fine after he took a shower so he didn’t smell like cigarette smoke and alcohol anymore. He passed out on the couch watching not football, but Netflix. I cleaned around him and Chickie, the dog only opening one eye when I bumped him with the vacuum.
    I woke Sharpe up around four and made him an omelet and toast, and between that and the ice tea, he looked better when he left. I got a hug that we normally didn’t engage in, on his way to the curb to get into the cab I’d called for him.
    I hadn’t eaten because I wanted to wait for Ian, and with how excited I was, there was no way food was happening.
    A bit later I got a call from Min, who was upset after making her weekly pilgrimage to see her mother.
    “You guys get it,” she vented. “Why doesn’t she?”
    I sighed. “She’s worried if you don’t get married and have kids that you won’t ever truly be happy in life.”
    Her exhale was full of exasperation and sadness in equal measure. “But you guys