Page 29 of Ferocious Nightmare

"Girl..." I frowned, tugging them into the store perched at the corner, a hardware store, weirdly out of place for this street but oh so perfect for my plans. I didn't mention that I'd made plans for this street for this exact purpose. “Your breasts are gorgeous. Any man would be lucky to have you."

"Unless he prefers other men," she said sadly, looking down.

“Oh, stop,” Tatiana brushed her off, winking. “I see men checking you out all the time. You just have to be discreet. Your husband won’t care, and if he does, then he shouldn’t.”

“No,” I agreed. I hated that Marie was in a relationship where he could never truly love her back, not in the way that she loved him. “He won’t either. And if he does, tell him to fuck off.” I pointed down the aisle we were walking. "Just what I was looking for."

"Spray paint?" Marie’s eyebrows furrowed as I grabbed the brightest pink I could find, giving her a mischievous grin.

"Exactly. Pick your favorite colors."

"Why?" she grabbed the black one, and I took it from her, putting it back.

"You'll see," I picked a neon green color and shoved it into her arms, "get something that'll really stand out."

She grabbed it back from the shelf, frowning. "Black is beautiful, you know."

“Sure,” I shrugged, watching as Tatiana picked up bright red, then another blue. We each took a few colors, and I pointedly ignored Dante's scowling, looming presence at the end of the aisle.

His scowl turned into a scathing look as we made our way up the checkered tile to the front counter, dumping the cans on it, and I smiled perkily at the cashier. “How are you?"

The man had short, grey hair, wrinkles lining his face, and was missing a front tooth. He didn’t answer me, but rang up our purchases, grumbling out the total.

I paid him in cash, then added a hundred dollar tip on it. I wasn't sure if that was an appropriate amount, American money still mystified me a little bit, and grabbed a bag.

“Thank you, sir,” Tatiana purred, and the man finally looked at us, his eyes glazing over with lust as he stared at her.

"You know they don't expect you to tip them. Especially not a hundred.” Marie followed me to the door, carrying her own bag. "Plus, he was a jerk. He acted like you didn’t even have a face.” She glanced at Tatiana. “He noticed your boobs though.”

“Every guy notices my boobs. That’s the only language they speak.” Tatiana held the door open for us.

I raised a shoulder. "That just means he needed the tip more." I glanced at the man before I walked out. He was holding the bill up to the light, like he was checking to see if it was real. "Maybe he's had a rough life."

Marie sighed. "You're too sweet.”

"How much you wanna bet he's nice to me next time I come in there?"

"Is buying spray paint going to be a regular thing for you?"

"Sure. Maybe.” I grinned. “Depends on how often you guys’ll join me."

"That depends on what we're doing.”

"Come on," I started skipping down the street, headed towards Nero’s club. “You’ll like it.”

This part of the street was empty; it was too early for anyone to be interested in the line of bars and casinos. I also knew that Coulter and his dad would be busy elsewhere for several hours. I stopped in front of Lux and waved my hand at it. “Here we are.”

"What's this?" Marie was scowling now.

“We tag it.” Tatiana was already popping the top off her red paint.

“What she said,” I pointed to her.

"Aster." For the first time today, Dante spoke up, his voice a combination of exasperation and warning.

I ignored him, because Marie was looking a little bit pale. She swallowed hard. "You know who owns this, right?"

“Of course I do. That's why I picked it."

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