Page 14 of Nerdy or Nice
Huh?I looked from Harper to Drake.What on Earth was she talking about?
Chapter 9
Drake
The redhead looked spitting mad. She was standing near the fireplace cradling two gray kittens as if they were in some sort of danger.
I looked from her to Gwen. "Is there a problem?"
It was the redhead who answered. "Of course there's a problem." She glared daggers in my direction. "Yourcat molestedourcat."
Was this a joke?
I gave her a look. "Oh, yeah? Well it's the firstI'veheard of it."
Her chin lifted. "Sure, it is."
What, she couldn't tell a cat from a dog?"Just for the record," I said. "I don'thavea cat."
Her eyes narrowed. "Nice try, Jerkwad."
Gwen gave a little gasp. "Harper!"
The redhead whirled to face her. "What?"
NowGwenwas glaring. "He has arealname. And it'snotJerkwad."
"Well,obviously," the redhead said. "But I was making a point."
Gwen looked stunned. "And what point isthat?"
The redhead, aka Harper, shifted both kittens so they were cradled in her left arm and extended her right arm to point in my direction. "Tango. I heard him say it through the door."
Gwen said, "Yeah, so?"
"Sothat'sthe name of the cat who got Miss Lucy pregnant."
Gwen blinked through her clunky eyeglasses. "Seriously?"
"No joke," Harper replied. "Aunt Celia told us all about it on the morning she left. You weren't around yet, but if you give her a call, she'll tell you the whole story." Harper turned to give me a long, disgusted look. "Shealsosaid the owner of the cat was an absolute jackass."
What the hell?
Okay, I could be a good sport about a lot of things, but no one called my grandfather a jackass. I gave the redhead a look right back. "That's my grandpa you're talking about."
She smirked. "Oh, so you're denying the cat's yours?"
"It doesn't matterwhoit belongs to," I said. "You can't be calling him names."
She gave another toss of her chin. "Or what?"
Gwen moved forward as if to protect me from Harper – or maybe the other way around. She looked to Harper and said in a pleading voice, "Youdorealize, you're being awfully rude."
"Me?" Harper sputtered. "Do you know what the guy told Aunt Celia when she complained? Hetoldher to pound sand."
Yup, that sounded like Gramps, alright.
Gwen gave Harper an exasperated look. "So what if he did? That isn'tDrake'sfault."
