Page 20 of Tank

She stands and heads down the hall. It’s the first time I’ve noticed that she didn’t have her baby with her. Neither does Lovely.

“Ah, where are the babies?”

“We left them in one of the spare rooms with matches and alcohol unsupervised to see how long they could survive,” Lovely answers with a straight face.

A laugh booms out from behind me, causing me to jump and a little pee come out.

“Oh, she’s got jokes now, huh?” Marx teases.

A slight blush comes over Lovely’s cheeks and she beams at the gruff man. “Thanks. I’ve been working on my repertoire.”

My eyes dart between the two. I wonder if anyone else can see what I’m seeing? Catching Mama Debs’ lips twitching, I see I’m not the only one.

Marx clears his throat, turning to me, “We have a nursery down the hall, had to put one in because we have rug rats coming out of the woodwork.” He gives a big sigh, as if it’s a terriblehardship, but I can see by the look on his face that he enjoys being an uncle. “Mira, can I have a word?”

“Oohhhhhh what did you dooooo?” Blanche teases, her and Mama Debs making gasping noises while Lovely grins.

“I swear it wasn’t me! Please don’t send me to the chokey!” I exclaim. Instead of laughter all I hear is…. Crickets.

I turn to look at my new lady friends and they all look puzzled.

“You know, the chokey? The place where Trunchbull sends the naughty kids? Matilda? Both a book and a film? Oh come on people!” I throw my hands up in the air when I realize they have no clue what I’m talking about.

“Lady, we grew up in a cult and she’s from New Zealand. Who even knows what they get there? Just know that pop references are beyond us.” Blanche shrugs.

“That’s it, I’m making a list. You lot and me have a date later, I’ll teach you all you need to know. I got you,kotiro.” I look to Mama Debs who grins and nods. Yes, I nailed it. “OK, Marx, march me toward the gallows.”

He rolls his eyes and leads the way.

Marx

I can hear her quick footsteps behind me as I stomp my way into my office. I could slow down to let her catch up, but what canI say? I’m an asshole sometimes and I have a lot of shit on my mind.

I indicate she take a seat in the chair across from me, and I lower myself into my own ergonomic chair. It was a total pain in the ass to assemble, but it’s worth every fucking penny.

I watch as she looks around as if she hasn’t ever been in here before. Weird given that she was in that exact same spot last night.

“There’s like, so much to look at in here. Like who are those guys? Why are the walls nicotine yellow? Do you smoke?” She stares at me, waiting for the answers.

“The guys who started the MC, the ex pres smoked, and no.”

“Ha! Good to know. Anyway, you wanted to talk to me? About important, secret stuff I’m guessing seeing as I’m in here and not out there,” Mira indicates with her head.

I let out a sigh. “I think you need to go through the plot of ‘To Trap a Kiss’ and see if you remember anything else. Has the sender of the livers reached out in any other ways? Phone calls and then hanging up like they did in the book?” She shakes her head. “Maybe think through anything weird that may have happened to you recently and see if any of that matches any of your books. Whoever is doing this must be a fan.” I say, drumming my fingers on the top of my desk.

It was fucking close out there, blurting out To Trap a Kiss once I put together the similarities between Mira’s book and the shit happening in her life. I’m not ashamed that I read and love Mira’s books. I just don’t need the headache of my men finding out and giving me shit about it. They’re like kids. The lot of ‘em.

“That’s a solid plan, Mr. President. I never thought of that. AND if I put all the threads together then you can stop pretending that you don’t read my stuff,” she gives me an exaggerated wink and I roll my eyes.

“Exactly. I don’t need fuckers on my case. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this but they can be pains in the ass.”

“Nope, they’ve all been nice to me,” she replies with an empathic nod.

“Give it time,” I mutter.

“OK. I’m going to head home and love on my poor cat who’s been eating people.” She stands and heads toward the door before turning around. “Oh, and I’ll try to not have any more body parts sent to you.” She grimaces at the last part. Having that shit sent to you, as a single woman, must be scary as hell.

“You’re not on your own, Mira. We’re all in this together. Got me?” Her shoulders slump and I can see where she was putting on a brave face. The woman may be loud and not shy at all, but that doesn’t mean that this shit isn’t messing with her head.

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