A Honeybun and Coffee [Honeybun Hunks Series: Book 1]

by Sam Cheever

Edric slouched in a chair at the long, farmer's table in the center of the kitchen. He rubbed the last of the crumbs off his plate with a moistened index finger and nodded. “I can do that,” sticking the finger into his mouth and sucking gently. His voice was deep like his mother's and smoky. It was the kind of voice that made women tighten their thighs in self defense. His longish, blond hair was the same color as his mother's, curly like hers, and clearly in need of a trim. His face was a little on the long side, like his father's and he had brooding blue eyes and a pouty mouth. He wore a tattered t-shirt and scruffy jeans, clearly not worried about how he looked. Angie thought he was probably one of the younger Honeybuns, and he was apparently a writer. She made a mental note to see if she could pull up anything written by Edric Honeybun on the Internet.

  Clovis spoke up. “I can do evenings, from five to seven during the week.” Mrs. Honeybun nodded and Bob Honeybun called out, “Got it."

  Godric raised his hand and they all laughed. Grinning widely he said, “My schedule is too volatile to commit to any work hours, but I can coerce every doctor and nurse at the hospital into buying their morning coffee at the Dunk and Run."

  Angie grinned back. “A worthy contribution, Godric."

  Mrs. Honeybun rolled her blue eyes. “There's always one.” She murmured. Then, looking at Godric she added, “You will attend training tomorrow, Godric, just in case."

  Godric saluted, making everyone except his mother laugh. She just shook her head and fixed him with a look.

  They worked their way through the hours of Angie's work week in similar fashion until they had every day covered. By the time they finished she was nearly in tears. Alastair looked at her, concern etching his features. “What's wrong, Ang? Are you okay?"

  She smiled up at him through the tears and nodded. Then, realizing everyone was staring at her again she laughed softly, swiping at her cheeks. “I just can't believe you'd all help me like this. It's so nice. I'm...” emotion swamped her and she was unable to go on.

  Mrs. Honeybun frowned in gentle censure. “We take care of our own, Angie. It's the Honeybun way."

  Angie's eyes widened and she looked at Alastair. He simply smiled and shrugged.

  Then he announced, “Meeting's over!” and chaos ensued. The kitchen erupted into the deep rumble of male voices and slowly quieted as they dispersed into the yard and throughout the house. She was left with just Alastair and his parents and ... she suddenly realized ... one brother who had been hunched over some kind of communication gadget for much of the meeting, punching buttons and speaking softly into it. Angie didn't remember him volunteering to help at the Shoppe.

  The Honeybun parents were studying the spreadsheet Bob Honeybun had created, discussing its contents.

  Angie jerked her head toward the gadget obsessed brother. “Who's that?"

  Alastair leaned close, speaking softly. “That's Alfric. He's not going to help at the Dunk and Run. He has a more important job."

  Angie frowned, “What's that?"

  Alastair grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. “Keeping us alive."

  As if he'd heard them talking about him, Alfric looked up. He said something into his gadget and stood up, walking across the kitchen toward them. Holding out his hand toward Angie, he smiled, “I'm Alfric. I wanted to thank you for saving Alastair's life. He's not much but he's one of only seven brothers I have."

  Alfric grinned as Alastair swung at him and ducked the punch easily. Angie was embarrassed by the family's notion that she'd done something heroic when she'd helped Alistair. She shrugged, “It was nothing anyone else wouldn't do."

  Alfric shook his head. “You couldn't be more wrong, Angie. Most people would have just called the police and walked away."

  Angie frowned, “That probably would have been the smartest thing to do."

  Alfric lowered intense, dark blue eyes on her. “But the police would have thought you were a crackpot wouldn't they? Which is why you didn't do it. And they would never have been in time to save him. From what I understand, you were barely in time to save him and you knew the urgency."

  Angie shrugged. She couldn't argue with any of that. It was all true.

  She felt an arm slide around her shoulder and was suddenly enveloped in the mama Honeybun scent of lemon and roses. “You saved my son's life, Angie. Don't think I take that lightly. Anything any of us can do to help you ... ever ... you will have it. All you need to do is ask."

  Angie was crying again and it was just damned embarrassing. She didn't even try to respond, she simply nodded, smiling at the Honeybuns clustered around her.

  Bob Honeybun joined them and addressed Alfric, finally breaking the spell around Angie. “Is everything under control?"

  "It is, for the moment, but I think it would be best if we got them back to the safe house. Just in case."

  Angie blanched. The motorcycles! She turned to Alastair, a pleading glint in her eye. He laughed. “No, you don't have to go on the motorcycle again. Alfric has arranged alternate transportation for us."

  Mrs. Honeybun pressed a large paper bag into Angie's hand. “You didn't eat your cake, and there's dinner in there too.” She patted Angie gently on the cheek. “We can't have you starving to death while you're on the lam."

  "Thanks Mrs. Honeybun."

  Alastair's mother shook her blond head. “Call me Wanda please ... like the witch.” She winked at Angie and they shared a laugh.

  From what she'd seen so far of the Honeybuns and their Matriarch, Angie could almost believe the woman was a witch. It would take nothing short of witchery to keep nine Honeybun men under complete control.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter Ten

  "I'm going to make the call."

  "Debra this is nuts. You're gonna get us killed."

  She looked at him for several beats, her thoughts flitting across her pretty but habitually angry face, and then shook her head. “He owes me. I'm going to teach him a lesson. This is the last time he'll use me as a pawn in his stupid shit."

  Brian shook his head and got up to grab the room service menu from the top of the desk. “I need a drink or twelve. You want one?"

  Debra nodded and started punching buttons on Louie's cell. She waited while it rang and smiled when his voice came on the line. “It's me. I'm using Louie's phone. I want you to tell your boss that he's got to pay me the ransom he was demanding. No. Your other boss. Tell him he'll either give the money to me or I'll go to the police."

  Bones's voice blasted through the phone at her, scouring her ear with the foulest words the man could think of. She held the small phone away from her head and rolled her eyes at Brian. He shook his head again and flopped onto the other bed in the room.

  When Bones finally wound down, Debra tentatively pressed the phone back to her ear. “Are you finished?” Silence met her question and she smiled. She knew she had him. Everything his boss had worked for would be ruined if she went to the police. “Good. Now here's what I want him to do..."

  * * * *

  * * * *

  "Now this is what I'm talkin’ about.” Angie exclaimed from the huge back seat of Alfric's shiny, black Hummer H2.

  Alastair grinned at her. They'd been ushered into the car by another man, who apparently worked for Alfric and whose eyes were just as intense. The man's dark suit coat bulged suspiciously across his chest. Angie was pretty sure she'd seen the handle of some type of gun strapped to his chest when he'd bent over to open the door for her.

  Alfric stood outside the Hummer talking to him for a few minutes after they'd been tucked safely into the back seat. She figured he was giving the man instructions of some kind. She watched them carefully, trying to figure out what they were talking about. The man with Alfric stopped talking suddenly and reached into his pocket, pulling out a cell phone. He spoke into the phone and then looked at Alfric, his face darkening with anger. After he hung up he apparently gave Alfric an update and it didn't seem to sit any better with Alastair's brother t
han it had with his associate.

  She leaned toward Alastair, “Who are these guys?"

  He grinned, “I can't tell you because I don't know ... exactly. All I know is that Alfric does something top secret with the government and that you don't want to cross him."

  Angie's eyes grew wider. “Holy shit!"

  Alastair nodded. “Yeah. Now you know why Percy dared to pull us out of the safe house."

  "Have they been with us since we left the ... um ... safe house?” Angie felt silly saying safe house, the words felt so made-for-TV-ish to her.

  He chuckled. “You probably didn't notice the big black car behind us or the big, black helicopter above us because you were so busy screeching at the top of your lungs."

  She punched her arm. “You guys drove like bubble heads on purpose ... just to scare me."

  He nodded, “Of course."

  She punched him again and he rubbed the arm, “Ow, don't forget I'm still feeble."

  "Only in the head."

  They grinned at each other.

  Alfric climbed into the car and immediately pulled away from the curb. “Put your seat belts on."He glanced in the rear view mirror and his intense blue gaze scanned the area as they pulled away from the Honeybun home. In response to his tense mood, they rode in edgy silence for several minutes.

  Alfric slid a Bluetooth™ earpiece over one ear and spoke quietly into it. Angie strained to hear his end of the conversation but wasn't able to discern anything except the words “Plan B".

  The silence was shattered several minutes later as they entered a quiet intersection and a big, white car shot from a side street and T-boned the H2 on the passenger side.

  Angie screamed as the airbag on her side of the car exploded inward and she flew across the seat to land in Alastair's lap. Alfric struggled with the wheel of the H2, trying to keep it from careening across the road and running up into someone's yard. As he drove he screamed instructions into his Bluetooth™.

  He managed to keep the H2 on the road and accelerated into a very tight turn that would have thrown Angie back onto her side of the wide back seat if Alastair hadn't grabbed her around the waist and held onto her. Keeping one eye on the rear view mirror at all times, Alfric threw them into another turn and accelerated down a parallel street at a frightening speed.

  Finally he turned his head toward the back seat. “Is she okay?"

  Alastair focused a questioning gaze on Angie and she nodded. She felt him relax and his arms, which had been like tight bands around her waist, loosened just the tiniest little bit. “Yeah, she's all right. Just a little shaken up I think."

  Alfric's dark blue eyes found her in the mirror. “You should have had your seat belt on, Angie."

  She made a face at Alastair where Alfric couldn't see and then dutifully climbed off his lap. They shoved at the air bag that had exploded into her seat until Alfric passed a deadly looking switchblade knife over the seat. “Here, use this."

  Alastair covered Angie's head with his arm and ducked as he stabbed the knife into the bag. It exploded in a cloud of white dust and shriveled away. Coughing under the thick haze of dust, Angie slid back into her seat and buckled her seat belt.

  Just in time.

  Alfric cursed suddenly and started firing instructions into his Bluetooth™ again. “White Escalade. One hundred feet behind us. South on 465. License, six, four, niner, Alpha, Beta, Gamma."

  The H2 lurched with a loud crunch and Angie and Alastair were thrown forward against their seat belts as the Escalade hit them from behind.

  Alfric had seen the car coming and was ready for it. The H2 only swerved once before gliding back under his control. Alfric shouted into his Bluetooth™, “Notify the State police. We're going into outpace and evade mode. Tell them to stand down if they see us and divert and apprehend the invading vehicle. And call Brita Muldane!"

  "Hold on!” he shouted to his wide-eyed passengers.

  Alastair grabbed Angie's hand. “You might want to close your eyes, Angie."

  All the color leeched from her already pale face. “Oh shit!"

  Alfric punched a button and the H2 surged forward. Angie squeezed her eyes shut and tightened her grip on Alastair's hand.

  As the Hummer picked up speed, jerking from side to side in basic avoidance maneuvers, Angie hunched more deeply into her seat and tried to ignore the frantic honking and the jarring motion when the big vehicle went off-road as the result of one particularly hair-raising evasion tactic.

  Her only clue for how they were faring was the constant drone of male swearing and the occasional hysterical shriek of horns on either side of them as Alfric threaded the traffic needle in his heroic efforts to outmaneuver the clumsy but apparently speedy Escalade.

  Finally, with a last grazing impact that made the H2 shudder slightly but didn't affect its forward motion at all, a series of piercing horn blasts and the heart stopping sound of tires skidding across the pavement heralded the Escalade's removal from their trail. Angie opened her eyes at Alastair's heartfelt, “Sweet!” and saw that the big SUV was sitting between the two lanes of the highway, facing in the opposite direction.

  As she watched, the Escalade's tires started to spin, but the grass was too soft for them to grab hold. As the H2 quickly widened the distance between them and the thugs in the Escalade, Angie heard the sound of sirens in the distance.

  Turning to look back down the road Alastair whistled. “There have to be ten cop cars back there."

  Alfric nodded. “They must have gotten hold of Brita."

  Alastair turned back around in his seat and narrowed his eyes at his older brother. “Why do I get the feeling you've been in touch with Brita since we first cooked this up."

  Alfric grinned at them in the rear view mirror. “You don't think I'd take you out of Brita's safe house without clearing it with her first do you? That would be suicide."

  Alastair shared a look with Angie. Percy was dead meat. “You should have told Percy that."

  Alfric laughed. “Percy has a lot to learn about women. Brita was testing him by not telling him she knew what was going on and he failed ... big time."

  Angie shook her head, “She's never gonna forgive him."

  Alfric laughed. “Oh, she'll forgive him ... eventually. He's impossible to resist when he lays on the charm. But he's gonna have to jump through some serious hoops."

  Alastair chuckled, “You remember that girl in high school?"

  Alfric laughed again, glancing at his brother in the rear view mirror. “The cheerleader."

  "Yup."

  Alastair turned to Angie. “Percy wanted to take out this girl in high school..."

  "But she was the most popular girl in school and she wouldn't look twice at him...” Alfric added.

  "Not to mention she was dating the captain of the football team."

  "So clichéd.” Alfric shook his head in disgust.

  Alistair nodded, “So Percy joined the cheerleading squad and paid one of the other guys to let him be the one who held this girl up in the pyramid."

  "We thought he was brilliant of course."

  "Although the rest of the school thought he was experimenting with alternate sexual lifestyles ... if you know what I mean.” Alistair added with a wry smile.

  Both men laughed. Angie smiled at the story but was starting to get whiplash in her neck from the double delivery.

  Alfric went on, “So he joins the squad, practices with them every day for a week, and then at the first game..."

  "He's on the first level of the pyramid, with this girl's leg in his hands..."

  "And he looks up and says to her, “How about you and me go out together sometime. I think you're really hot."

  Both Alfric and Alistair collapsed into helpless laughter. Angie just looked from one to the other of them, not sure what the joke was. Finally Alastair took a deep breath and wiped the tears from his eyes. “She looks down at him, and her face turns this odd kind of purple..."

  "We could s
ee the color change from the stands. It was awesome."

  "Percy's looking up at her with her thigh in his hands..."

  "And she thinks he's propositioning her because she's wearing this little skirt..."

  "And she'd forgotten the little uniform panties that were supposed to go under the skirt."

  "And she's wearing this tiny, little th ... thong!” Alfric choked out on a laugh.

  "And she's been stressing about this all day but she doesn't have time to go home after school..."

  "So here's Percy, completely oblivious..."

  "He's been practicing the, let's go out, speech all week..."

  "And she thinks...” Alfric dissolved into helpless laughter.

  Alistair's not far behind him, “She thinks he's...” and he's gone too. Completely consumed by laughter.

  Angie decided to finish it for them. “She thinks he's looking up her skirt?"

  They shrieked in renewed hilarity, nodding their heads emphatically.

  Angie laughed with them, trying to visualize poor Percy as his well-meant proposal is met with angry rejection.

  Finally Alistair caught his breath enough to add, “She let go of the hand of the cheerleader above her to smack him on the head and the whole damn pyramid hit the ground."

  They dissolved again, this time Angie joined them, their hilarity completely contagious. When she could talk again she asked, “Then what happened?"

  Alfric pulled a hanky out and blew his noise, wiping his cheeks and grinning. “He was a legend at the school after that. He couldn't walk down the halls without getting slapped on the back by all the guys and he constantly had to dodge slaps of a totally different kind by the girls."

  Alastair shook his head. “But he eventually convinced the cheerleader that he hadn't meant any harm."

  "And she did go out with him. In fact, as I remember, they dated for a couple of years.” Alfric's voice was filled with awe and pride of his brother.

  Angie smiled. It was really nice that the Honeybuns had such a strong support structure. She envied them that. Her own parents were too busy with their careers to spend much time with her and her sister. And ... looking back ... Angie realized she'd been guilty of the same thing. She'd been focusing all of her time and attention on getting the Dunk and Run up and running. That left all too little time spent with her family. She resolved, if she managed to survive the current mess, to remedy that.