Page 5 of Fish out of Water
I think so.
I gave him the finger before trying again, this time bracing the grabber and tongs against the side of the tank so they wouldn’t bounce around if the fish staged another attack. I got the key just past the surface of the water when a noise snagged my attention and sent my heart racing.
The door swung open.
I’d been caught. Mr. Frazier was back for his hearing aid, and now he would know my feet and ass had been on his kitchen counter.
And that I stuck two of his utensils in fish water.
But it wasn’t Mr. Frazier staring back at me.
It was someone else entirely.
Chapter Two
Grant
I GLANCED AT the number on the door again, making sure I was in the right apartment.
The gold-plated 426 stared back at me, just like I knew it would.
I knew damn well this was the right place, in spite of the scene before me suggesting otherwise. The key worked in the lock and the chances that anyone besides my Great Uncle Vito kept a lionfish as a pet were slim to none.
Which begged the question—
“Who are you?”
The woman perched on the counter in a pair of flaming yellow banana pants stared at me over the top of the open tank with wide blue eyes. “Who areyou?”
The indignation in her voice was almost comical considering the situation. “I asked you first.”
She straightened away from the tank, pulling what appeared to be a pasta claw from the water. “I’m supposed to feed the fish.”
“With a pasta stirrer?” I came here expecting to find my grandmother’s baby brother either befuddled and confused, or knee deep in a mess of his own making.
Again.
Instead, I’m watching a brunette in banana pants attempt to explain her presence in an apartment that definitely doesn’t belong to her.
“Are you trying to tell me you’d stick your hand in there?” She started wiggling her way across the counter, inching along on her butt.
As more of her came into view the questions started stacking on. “Are those tongs?”
Her blue eyes dipped to the utensils in her hands.
“You weren’t trying to get that fish out of the tank, were you?”
Her nose immediately wrinkled. “No. Why would anyone want to pull that thing out?”
“Because of how much money they’re worth.” My grandmother bitched for weeks after she found out Vito had the thing. Ranted about how much it had to have cost him.
Banana Pants’ eyes went to the tank as she slid off the counter. “That fish is worth money?”
“Deadoralive.” I stepped inside as she started to back deeper into the apartment. “Where’s Vito?”
Her brows went together in the center. “Who’s Vito?”
This situation just kept getting more and more bizarre. “My great uncle? Vito Frazier. He lives here.” I pointed at the floor under my feet. “In this apartment.”
