Page 50 of Bad Enough

“She’s not safe at home alone.”

“No,” Waters agreed. “She’s not. So, we’ve got two choices. Option one, we set up some security at her house since she has none. You can stay inside, and we’ll set up a rotation outside for extra coverage.”

“You think it’s a good idea to put the two of us in a confined space?”

“Who would you recommend instead? Nemo?”

“Like hell, you’ll put him with her.”

“Option two, she stays with you in your apartment here at Tribe. That is unless you’d like Nemo to house her.”

“What did I just say about him and her?”

Waters just smirked.

TB drummed his fingers on the desktop. “Who’s going to give her the good news about me watching her?”

Waters got up from his seat and moved to the door. When he got there, he opened it and turned back to TB with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Why you are, big guy.” He rapped on the door frame twice, and then he sauntered down the hall toward his own office, whistling.

It was at that moment that TB realized karma had chosen today to hit him all at once because taking Waters' place in the doorway was the worst possible person: Nemo. He, too, was smiling, and he was chewing his ever-present bubble gum with great vigor, like a cow chewing cud, followed by blowing a big bubble he then sucked back into his mouth.

“What do you want, Nuisance?” TB growled.

“Nothing, Jolly Green Giant. Well, except to say that, you know, if you’re too old and tired to wield the flogger, I’m up for it.”

“You so much as try to get within spanking distance, I will break your hand.”

Like Waters, his grin got even bigger. “Very nice. We just set up the bets in Midas’ office over how long it takes you to admit that you’ve fallen ass over tea kettle for her. God is pissed that you’re following Waters’ lead. Didn’t keep him from placing a bet, though.”

Oh, fuck. She cannot learn about those bets.

“Get that down from the board. You idiots need to grow up.”

“Oh, gimme a break. We bet on everything in this place. Even you bet on Waters and his relationship. You’re just pissed because it’s you on the board.”

TB shoved back from the desk. “I don’t want you within a hundred feet of her.” He then barrelled past Nemo, heading toward the break room.

Nemo called to his retreating back, “No can do, Andre the Giant. We need to go sweep her house. That’s what I was stopping by to tell you. So get your ass in gear, go grab your sub, and we'll meet you there.”

Without warning, Nemo pulled an air horn from his cargo pocket.

There was a loud blast. TB stopped dead, shrugging his shoulders up to his ears and holding them there as he tensed up from the surprise. Slowly, he relaxed his body and, without turning to look at Nemo, continued on his way, Nemo’s cackling echoing in his ears.

I hate my life some days.

17

JUNE 15TH

Sylvan

When TB returned to the lounge, she was sitting hunched over, forearms leaning on her knees, a tissue being crushed and worried in her hands. Kubrick was sitting next to her, an arm around her shoulders, whispering in her ear, assuring her everything was going to be okay, but to be honest, Sylvan wasn’t really listening.

Were things really going to be okay? She had a stalker and writer’s block, and now the man who’d given her the greatest experience of her life, then unceremoniously dumped her, was suddenly back in her life.

Kai got up from the couch with a squeeze to her hands, then crossed the room to TB. She fisted his tee, twisted it tight, then pulled him out into the hall, and Sylvan realized that TB was about to get the lecture of a lifetime. She was glad she wasn’t him. Those one-sided discussions never ended well. You spent the next day or two feeling like you’d disappointed a parent and that you’d been sent to stand in the corner with a red-hot spanked bottom until you apologized and promised never to do whatever stupid-head thing you’d done to make her lose her ever-loving mind.

A nervous giggle boiled up from inside as she imagined Kai spanking TB and then standing him in the corner.

---