As Charlie was wrapping up her conversation with Murphy, Nevada was having a staring contest with her brother.
It had all started when Koty finally woke up and sleepily trudged down the stairs to find Nevada waiting for him. She sat, arms crossed, on their living room sofa and instantly turned her hostile gaze towards him.
Koty failed to notice her at first. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and yawned before turning towards the kitchen.
"Ahem," He froze when he heard her clear her throat.
"Um, good morning, sis." He turned to face her and nearly ran back up the stairs.
While she didn't seem to be as mad as she had been the other day, she still looked pretty darn upset. She also seemed to be waiting for him to say something.
Unfortunately, Koty wasn't awake enough to read her expressions. So, they just stayed as they were, staring at each other.
After what felt like an eternity and a half, which was really closer to five minutes, Nevada decided to mercifully clue her ignorant brother in.
"Dearest Dakota," He forced down a groan as soon as he heard his first name. "You didn't call me back."
"Ah, that's because work got stupid busy and by the time I got home you were already in bed." Her angry expression didn't yield so he quickly added, "I did send you a text to let you know I'd be in late."
She finally nodded before revealing what she was so upset about.
"I need you to have a chat with Miss Mason."
"Oh." He sighed in relief and thought 'Is that all?' Sadly, he relaxed too soon.
"She has called me every single day! Multiple times a day!" Nevada was at her wits end. She kept two separate phone lines, one for loaning vehicles and one for personal use. She could count on her fingers the few people who were privileged enough to have her personal number.
Charlie was not one of those people and yet she was calling both of her numbers. It was getting to be borderline harassment!
"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Koty didn't know what he could possibly do to make Charlie stop. She held way more power than he did. In a manner of speaking, it was way above his pay grade.
"Get her to back off!" Nevada demanded.
"And just how do you expect me to do that?"
Nevada's face twisted into a sadistic smile as she replied, "I don't know and I don't care. But if she doesn't stop, I'll hand out your number to all your crazy exes."
"You wouldn't." The color drained from Koty's face. He didn't exactly have a good eye for women and always ended up with the craziest of the crazy.
"Try me. Maybe I should hand over our address too. I'll be out of here in a week anyways."
"Okay! Okay! You win! I'll see what I can do." He immediately dug into the pockets of his sweatpants and retrieved his phone.
There was really only one person capable of solving this. Maybe.
...
Chance was in the middle of lunch, in his apartment with Tucker, when his phone rang.
They were discussing ways to free Tucker and to trap the creepy reaper.
He checked the screen and saw it was just Koty so he muted the ringer and put the phone back down. A few seconds later it rang again.
"Excuse me, Tucker. It looks like I have to take this." He stood up from the table and went into the living room.
He swiped the screen to answer the call and asked "What's up?"
"I, uh... I need your help." Koty sounded like he was still wasn't all the way awake yet.
"What's wrong?" Chance asked worriedly. With Koty's stubborn sense of pride, what could make him ask for help so earnestly? And right after he had woken up.
Koty quickly relayed Nevada's problem with Charlie and by the end, Chance couldn't help but burst out laughing. He laughed so hard that he was almost in tears.
"So, let me get this straight," Chance said in between guffaws, "Charlie won't stop calling her because she wants her to start work now."
"Yeah, that just about sums it up."
"Why doesn't Nevada want to go?"
"I dunno, pride I guess."
That only made Chance laugh harder. It must run in their blood. He could only imagine what their family must have been like.
But, given how tight lipped the siblings were about their past, he may never know if it really was an inherent trait or if it was something they had picked up along the way.
"I'll give Nev a call and see if there's anything else bugging her." Chance figured he should double check with Nevada to make sure Dakota didn't leave anything out.