K.A.T. Antiques (Fall of the Alliance Book 11) by Pam Uphoff

Author:Pam Uphoff [Uphoff, Pam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Iron Ax Press
Published: 2023-01-17T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Drunken Revelry

Monday, June 18, 3738

“Good Lord, Karl!”

Karl grinned and hauled Matthias all the way across the room to the table and dropped him in a chair. “I hadn’t realized you guys haven’t ever been in here.” He waved upward. “I’m still surprised Dad actually let me do this much.”

Gunther wandered around the corner. “And you have your own bathroom? Now that’s luxury!”

Arnold shook his head, staring upwards. “When Urban sees this . . .”

Karl walked back to the door and blocked it open. “Hopefully he’ll be content to insult me downstairs, or better yet, kick me out.”

Matthias grinned. “Volker did say something about you being a successful businessman. But do you have a place to sleep?”

“I’d have to rent, but I can afford to.” He glanced down the hall and shook his head. “Looks like we’re getting the full treatment.”

“Of course you are!” Lizbeth trooped in with a bag.

Followed by Jacquetta balancing a tray and Marybeth with a cold sack and a six pack of bottled beer in one hand and another six pack in the other.

Middle-aged, and usually cheerful, Jacquetta and Marybeth looked upset today.

“Problem?”

“His Lordship yelled at them.” Lizbeth shook her head. “We’ll keep them away from him as much as we possibly can.” She produced silverware and bowls, loaded four salads and poured four soups, then stood back so Jacquetta could place the plates of chicken, spätzle, and asparagus.

The dessert went in his fridge minus four of the beers and Karl grabbed the bottle opener.

It beat the heck out of dinner with the rest of the relatives. They ignored the Cyborg cop taking up station outside the door and talked about their jobs—they both assumed he worked—and took antique buying and selling in stride. Gunther was an engineer and Arnold managed a distribution center an hour outside of the city proper. And Matthias was still writing bizarrely humorous stories.

Arnold had left his family at home. “Thank God! Antonia wants me to drop everything and get out of here. And I think that’s a great idea.”

“Especially if it’ll irritate Urban?” Gunther sighed. “I’m staring at fifteen more years of having to get my Dad’s permission to do anything. But we’ve agreed on a contract for me to marry Natasha in the fall.”

They congratulated him, another round of beer, then ice cream . . .

Tall tales. “The House is haunted, you know! Heck I spotted one of ‘em just today! Right down the hall there!” Gunther pointed.

“I thought ghosts stuck to attics . . . or where they died. Did anyone ever die up here?” Matthias shook his head.

“And anyway, they only come out at night.”

“It was getting dark!” Gunther protested. “You guys need more beer, I can’t even tell the truth and not get a critique.”

“True!” Arnold laughed. “Ha! I remember the first time my mother brought me here . . .”

Now that was a scary one.

Then they invented ways to irritate Urban . . .

“You know what?” Karl started grinning. “If you want to truly infuriate him? Matthias? You ought to adopt these two.

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