Page 33 of Out to Find Freedom

“We’re nearing. I’ll get Travis to come through on foot. He’s heard you and said if you try and make a move on me, he’ll rip your balls off.”

I snorted. He could try, but I had about ten pounds on the guy. I’d put up a big fight. Not that I wanted to make a move on Vi. Christ, she was like a sister.

“I’ll be sure to keep it clean. This is a just in case. Not even sure they’ll be watchin’.”

“Be there shortly,” she said, then hung up.

Sighing, I tapped my phone to my forehead before pocketing it and making my way to the front of the house. True to her word, Vi was there shortly. Her car came to a screeching stop out the front of my place. She got out and glared up at my house. I went to the door and opened it.

“What you doin’ here, woman?” I called loudly.

“Call me woman again and I’ll leave,” Vi answered.

We both kept our eyes on each other even when we heard the door bang open next door. It was soon closed with a slam.

“Since I left voice messages not that long ago without an answer back, I thought you weren’t talkin’ to me, dumplin’.”

Vi’s eyes narrowed even more. They told me I’d pay for the dumplin’. “You sounded like a sorry arse on the phone. Guess I needed to see it in person.”

“Come inside, Emily,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“You ready to grovel, Jackson?”

We heard a sound, like someone grunted after being hit. “Hey, man,” Lenny called, and from the way he was rubbing his rib standing on their front porch next to his woman, I knew he’d taken an elbow to the side. She wanted him to get our attention.

Well, it happened, and I wanted to see what they’d say.

“Hey,” I called back.

“This is my woman, Gloria.”

“Hi.” She smiled, but it didn’t reach her hard eyes.

I gave her a chin lift, and when Violet got to my side, I curled an arm around her shoulders. “This is Emily.”

Violet waved. “Hi. Nice to meet someone around here.”

“Haven’t really seen you here before,” Gloria commented.

“That’s because I have a better place than Jackson’s.”

When I caught Lenny’s look of “is she serious,” I nodded.

“If she wasn’t good at givin’ head, she’d be long gone.” For that, I got a fist to the gut. I coughed and started laughing. I grabbed her wrist before she tried it again. “Come on, dingleberry, you know I’m messin’.”

Lenny let out a snort. “Dingleberry?”

I squished Vi to my side. “My woman loves the pet names. The more unique, the better.” Leaning towards them, I added on a pretend whisper, “But I only use Emmie when I know I’m in the doghouse.”

Christ, it was making me sick acting this shit out.

I knew Vi would be feeling it too. What also gave it away was when her hand landed on my waist and she pinched me fucking hard. “How about we go in before you tell them all our damn secrets. Nice to meet you both.”

“Yeah, same,” Gloria said.

“Enjoy, brother,” Lenny said. Damn, the guy was stupid. I wasn’t completely sure we’d sold Gloria on our story, but I hoped Lenny’s stupidity would rub off on her.

I sent him a salute with a smirk that hopefully fucking said I was about to get me some.

---