Page 40 of Giving It to the Man-Whore

She didn’t believe him. “Thank you, Ricky. Really, thank you. I’ll just put them in water.”

Vanilla was nowhere to be found as she placed the roses in a vase and put them on her small table. It was time to leave, and she hoped this guy didn’t suspect a thing.

****

Pea held onto his woman tightly as he glanced down at his cell phone. They were watching another romantic movie, and he was getting a few tips. Complimenting his woman, giving her gifts, and shit like that.

“Who’s texting you?” she asked, glancing up at him.

“Oh, it’s just one of the guys to let me know stuff is going smoothly.”

Mel stared at him, and he forced a smile.

“This is the night, isn’t it?” Mel asked.

He’d told her all about Prue’s agreement to have dinner with Ricky, along with what she wanted for the library. “Yeah.”

“Why aren’t you with the rest of the guys?” she asked.

“They don’t need a lot of people, and I’m staying at home with you.”

“What about Penny and the others?”

“They’re being protected.” The idea from Saint was to make it all look like nothing had gone wrong. Pea was at home, as was Rage. Saint was the one that was going hunting inside Big Ricky’s place, while Willy was at the pool going to talk to Autumn. Vanilla was following Prue on her date.

A couple of the brothers were in town giving the illusion that nothing was going on.

“I don’t like this,” she said.

He placed a hand over her stomach. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than right here with you, Mel. Please, don’t worry about this.”

“Prue’s my friend.”

“Which is why we’ve got someone with her. Please, don’t stress out about this. I promise we won’t let anything happen to her.” She nodded, and once again tears were in her eyes. Pea couldn’t help but chuckle. “You know when you were manipulating Penny, I bet you wished for those damn tears to come super fast.” He wiped them away with his thumb.

“I hate that I cried to get what I wanted. I have so many regrets when it comes to my sister. I wasn’t very nice.”

Pea sighed, kissing the top of her head. “I never agreed with your tears, but they always worked with Penny. You can’t change the past, Mel. You can only plan for a future, and if you ask me, you’ve got nothing to worry about at all.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He was giving a lot of them out, but he would keep them. That was what he did, he kept his promises.

****

“I hope you like Italian,” Ricky said.

Prue was staring out of the window, nervous as hell. “I love it.”

“Good, good.” They had already left Sinners’ Corner, and she was now alone with a monster.

She’d read a lot about this man, and she couldn’t believe she had agreed to go on a date with him. Her hands were shaking with how nervous she was. This didn’t bode well for any kind of future she wanted to have. The only guy to ask her out on a date was a man that killed others for a living. From what she’d heard, he’d tortured them to death.

“So, how long will you be in town?” she asked, biting her lip.

“I don’t know. I’m thinking of making the stay permanent.”

“Really? I didn’t imagine for a second you being ‘the stay in a small town’ type.”

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