Thank you for beta'ing, thecharmedwerewolf!
Nicky doesn't know why she said she'd get a hitman to kill Ian. It's a lie, and she knows it. She's not all that rich. Lorna's counting on her, though. As she drives them to the library, she tries to come up with something that wouldn't involve her telling Red. She could enlist Flaca's help in finding out his weak spots, or use her sisters as bodyguards since he doesn't know them. She can't tell Lorna anything until she knows for sure what's going to happen. When they get to the library, Lorna makes a beeline for the wedding magazines and romance novels. Nicky rolls her eyes inwardly and smiles.
"Nicky, look!" Lorna shows her a page filled with women in wedding dresses. "This is the style I own!"
"Shush! Keep it down, red lips!" Taystee says.
"Sorry," Lorna apologizes in a quieter voice. "What do you think, Nicky?"
"Maybe you should show me the dress on you when we get back to your apartment. I bet it'll be beautiful on you."
"Yeah, I'm saving it for the next time I'm a blushing bride. Which one would you wanna get?"
"That's a tough question, kid. I never think much of weddings or what to wear...I don't really like dresses, to be honest. I'm more of a jeans and t-shirt kinda girl. If I were to get married, you'd probably see me in a nice pantsuit."
Lorna squints her eyes. "You'd look cute in all black. I can imagine outfits on people. I got the good fashion sense."
Nicky blushes and runs her hand through her messy hair. "Thanks, kid, I'll consider it...you know, for when someone decides to tie the knot with me or whatever."
Lorna giggles. "I'm surprised nobody has yet. I've only spent, like, eighteen hours straight with you, and I think you're pretty cool."
"Yeah, we've already slept together, so...why don't we get hitched?" Nicky half-joked with a wink. She really hoped Lorna would pass her comment off as a teasing remark.
"Is that what you call a proposal?"
"You want me to go down on one knee or something?" Nicky kept her eyes locked on Lorna's. As long as she plays along with the game, she won't suspect Nicky has a mad crush on her.
"No, I was kidding," Lorna said through a chuckle.
"Me, too."
"No hooking up in the library! You got the chapel for that! Man, at least y'all didn't mess up the Harry Potter collection," Taystee chimes in from behind a bookshelf.
"Tays, would you get the fuck outta here? We're just chillin' like villains!"
Lorna laughs behind her palm as Taystee shakes her head at Nicky and walks away. "Big sisters are a pain in the ass, huh?" she whispers.
"Oh, the worst!"
"By the way...how come you call me kid so much? Am I really that little?"
"Nah, it's just a habit that I do for fun...I have nicknames for everyone. You're kid."
"Yeah, but...how old do I appear to be?" Lorna stands up straight and tall in front of Nicky with her hands on her hips. She sticks out her boobs and purses her lips.
Nicky looks her up and down. "I mean, you don't look that young...I'd say about eighteen. You could pass for fifteen or sixteen."
"I knew it," Lorna mumbles, defeated. She slides down the wall into a sitting position.
"No, it's nothing to be ashamed of." Nicky puts her hand on Lorna's shoulder when she takes a spot beside her. "Pennsatucky's older than she looks. People think she's like, fourteen. That happened with Tricia, too."
"I'm twenty-four. What about you?"
"I just hit twenty-five on the fourth."
"Oh wow, I bet you had a big party!"
"I did. Red throws the best birthday parties...which is why we're gonna organize a surprise celebration for her big five-oh."
"I'd love to help!" Lorna says cheerfully while grabbing Nicky's knees. "When is it?"
The physical contact makes her excited inside, but she keeps herself calm. "End of this month...a week and a half from today, in fact."
"Oh, this will be so fun! I'm insanely excited! Where should we have it...at your house or at her restaurant...or did you have someplace else in mind?"
"No, the restaurant sounds great! I'll discuss it with the others."
"I thought you already did, and that's why you said we're planning Red's gathering."
Nicky really has to be careful about this. Certain words slip out of her mouth when she doesn't mean for them to. She's already considering Lorna as her other half. "Sorry...I was just talking about myself. I was wondering if you wanted to do it, too. Clearly, you do, so...it's fine, right?"
"Yeah, sure. Are you gonna call that hitman soon?"
Nicky's stomach drops as the conversation takes an uncomfortable turn."Yeah...listen, about that, kid...I say shit when I panic...it comes out of nowhere, you know? I can't afford a hitman. I'm sorry. I'll figure something out, though. I, uh...gotta use the restroom...like, really bad," Nicky excuses herself. "I'll be back in five...maybe ten."
"Okay, see ya."
Nicky rushes to the women's bathroom and goes into one of the stalls so she can call her crew. She dials Flaca's number first.
"Chica blanca! ¿Como estas?"
"Luckily for both of us, I took enough Spanish in high school to know what you're saying. I got an emergency and I need you to tell me how to stop your ex from hurting one hair on Lorna's head."
"You're talking too fast! That's usually my specialty. Why would I want to talk to him again after what he did to me? ¿Por qué? ¡Es un hijo de puta!" Flaca exclaims.
"You don't need to even look at him. See...I just made friends with Lorna...you know her, right?"
"Yeah, yeah...and?"
"He came to her house while she was on heroin and gave her even more drugs...molly, to be exact. He threatened her, Flaca. She has physical evidence from when he wrapped his hands around her throat. He warned her that if she ever came around your taco and pizza place, he'd kill her."
"¿Seriamente?"
"Oh, yeah." Nicky doesn't know if she should tell Flaca that Lorna and Ian had unprotected sex. Flaca's already screaming in Spanish and her words are coming out of her mouth a mile a minute. "What the fuck do we do?" Nicky finally shouts. She bangs her hand on the wall. "I can't understand all that! English language, please!"
"He's loco!" Flaca cries. "You gotta just do what he says sometimes."
"Fuck that! We're not in prison!"
"Okay, he's all talk and no action. He pretends he's tough...and he can be a little rough when he's strung out on molly...so what you gotta do is come to our place and if you see him...approach him slowly...you wanna check if he's high. That's how you'll know whether he's gonna be dangerous or not. What about calling the police?"
Nicky blows out a deep breath. "Lorna was high, too. He'll sell her out because he's a piece of shit."
"Oh...then I need to let Gloria know about this...not Lorna being on drugs, but just to watch out for Ian. She hates him probably even more than I do. She's had a gun on her ever since her boyfriend tried to burn her in a fire. She'll have no problem shooting his ass and making it look like an accident. She'll blow his brains out. You guys will be safe, I promise."
"Jesus," Nicky says to herself. "Thank you."
"I would bring those sisters of yours just in case, though."
"I'll do that, too. Really, I appreciate your help."
"No problem."
Another bathroom stall door slammed and then Nicky hears a lesbian couple laughing together. "Yeah, I'm gonna eat you out, baby, you like that?" The woman sounds a lot like Poussey. Her girlfriend can barely talk through her moans. Nicky can't resist a peek at who's fucking a few stalls over.
"Ay dios mío, I ain't gonna listen to you getting lucky!"
"It's not me! Uh...bye!"
Flaca has already hung up. The shrieks of pleasure echo through the bathroom and Nicky's amused that they actually think they're alone in here. She stands with her feet on the edge of her toilet seat and glances over the top of the stall. She's shocked to see that Poussey has really poor taste because she's sucking boring old Brook Soso's cunt. "Getting busy, huh?" she says loudly while jumping down from the toilet seat, and then the noise stops. "No, keep going at it like rabbits. Don't let me stop ya!" She walks out and washes her hands. She exits the bathroom before either woman can catch her.
She easily finds Lorna sitting on a chair and reading a fashion magazine while swinging her short legs back and forth. "Hey, so Gloria is apparently badass and she can protect you against Ian. I contacted Flaca. You're welcome."
Lorna's jaw drops. "You're a godsend! I can't thank you enough!"
"Oh, and my sisters will be there as well. We'll hide you until he's gone."
"Aw, you're so sweet!" She hugs Nicky. "I'm a little less scared now."
Nicky wraps her arms around Lorna. "I'm glad I could make that happen for ya, kid."
"You didn't tell her that I asked Ian to fuck me, right?"
"No, that's personal. It would also hurt her and make her blame you for riling him up...so that part can be kept private."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Did you want to borrow anything after all?"
"Yeah, here's my pile. I can barely carry it all! It took me like two or three trips to get it over here." Lorna gestures to a shitload of books and magazines. "See that? Sheesh!"
"Oh, boy! I'll help." They both grab armfuls of the books and magazines and check them out. They take the stuff to the car and Nicky drives them to Lorna's place, but not before sending a mass text to Boo, Taystee, Daya, and Pennsatucky. I need you girls at Flaritza's tonight so you can assist me in blocking Lorna from Ian's view. He's planning on murdering the poor thing if he sees her near that restaurant. She got into this because of drugs, so I need you to solemnly swear not to tell Red. I can get her off of her addiction myself.
They all say that they'll be there.
"Hey, I'm just curious," Lorna starts out as they struggle to move the books and magazines into her apartment. They sit on the couch together. "How did y'all come to be the family you are today?"
"Boo and I are the only ones left who haven't moved out of Red's house. She's not really my sister...she's old enough to be my aunt, but she acts younger than she is. When the other girls and I were much younger, Red had adopted us and it was home. I'm proud of the others, and jealous, too. Daya's a comic book artist and she and her boyfriend, a correctional officer, now care for her younger siblings who used to be placed in foster care. Taystee shares rent with her best friends, Poussey, Cindy Hayes, and Jenae Watson. They all work at Miss Claudette's Burger Joint. Pennsatucky has married off to her high school sweetheart, Nathan, and they work at a laundromat. I was one of her many happy bridesmaids. Red had found an abandoned baby on her porch with a letter that said to call her Tricia. We helped Red with the baby as much as we could, as soon as we were adopted. Unfortunately for Tricia, she overdosed on crack and heroin thanks to Red's ex, George Mendez, who everyone called Pornstache because he was a creep. The funeral was just a few days after Pennsatucky and Nathan's honeymoon. Pornstache is in jail for the rest of his miserable life, and we ladies couldn't have been more than overjoyed."
"Oh, wow. Why were you stuck with Pornstache if Red was done with him?"
"As we got older, we worked with her in her restaurant and made a good amount of money. Pornstache was the main source of our income, though...until Red threw him out for not only causing Tricia's death, but also for raping Daya when she was already pregnant with John Bennett's kid."
Lorna gasps. "It's a good thing that monster's out of your lives! When you were adopted, though, I know that Tricia must have already been there...but who else was?"
"Boo shared rent with Red, but for a while, it was just Tricia and me. When I was fifteen, Taystee moved in with us. By the time I was in college, Pennsatucky and Daya came along. Red basically saved the world, one fucked-up kid at a time."
"That's great!"
Nicky nods and then there's a rapping on the door. "Alright, alright!" she says, annoyed. "Who is it?" Lorna follows her to the door.
"Boo and the crew!"
Nicky unlocks the door to see Boo with her arms folded over her chest. For the first time since the Coates incident, she looks dead serious. The other younger women have the same expressions on their faces.
"Drugs killed your youngest sister. Drugs got your mom beat up within an inch of her life. Drugs got Alex in big trouble, even though she ain't committed." Boo pokes at Nicky's chest and looks over at Lorna. "So what the fuck are you doing with drugs in your house, pipsqueak?"
"Hey, back off!" Nicky says defensively while standing directly in front of Lorna. "I flushed them all down the toilet. She understands, okay? She was willing to get rid of it."
"Junkies lie. I was both a crackhead and a meth head. Red could barely trust me. I couldn't go anyplace alone until I was completely clean and never used again." Pennsatucky mutters. "How do you know she gave you the whole stash?"
"She looked in all my hiding places," Lorna says in a strong, unwavering voice. She never breaks eye contact with Nicky's sisters and Boo. "I just needed a distraction from Christopher and the wedding that we were gonna have. I'm telling you the truth."
"I'm the birth daughter of an addict. I can smell bullshit a mile away. You sure you ain't fibbing?" Daya asks.
Lorna holds her ground. "I'm positive."
"My foster mom before Red was always on something-"
"That's not me," Lorna interrupts Taystee. "I swear, I'm gonna get better. I got amazing self-control." Nicky keeps her hand on Lorna's back.
"Of course, in front of Nicky, you won't do shit. She's not gonna always be here, though. I'll tell you what...when she's away at one of her jobs and you're all alone...you will want to use."
"I won't, Boo! Nicky erased Vee's and Ian's numbers off my phone anyway! Quit interrogating me, damn it!" Lorna stomps up the stairs in frustration. "Why can't y'all believe in me?"
"Did she say Vee?" Daya asks.
"Yeah," Nicky mumbles. "Get out and don't embarrass me again! She's doing her best!"
"Oh, shit!" Taystee groans.
"How did you even find her house?" Nicky asks, annoyed at her sisters.
"We followed you. Sorry, we panicked," Pennsatucky admits.
"You should be!"
After they leave, Nicky goes upstairs to find Lorna. Part of her is afraid that they may actually be right. She'd been around Tricia and Pennsatucky long enough to know that drug addicts don't just up and quit. It's a long process. She bursts into Lorna's room and is relieved to see that she's not shooting up. All she's doing is spinning around in a wedding dress. She pauses when she sees Nicky. "How do you like it?"
Lorna's so beautiful and Nicky has to dig her nails into her palms to keep from gaping at her for too long. "You look amazing. Christopher doesn't know what he's missing."
"Thanks," Lorna says with a smile.
"I apologize about them...they're just worried. They don't know you like I do."
"I wanted to do it...I really did...but I'm showing you this instead!"
"Well, you can't reach your drug dealer anymore, so unless you have anything that I haven't seen yet, it's impossible to get high."
"I meant that I wanted to have a smoke...and then burn myself with the cigarette butt," Lorna says sheepishly.
Nicky's heart skips a beat. "What?"
"Yeah...it's another way of escaping from the world for a while. I've also tried to drown myself before."
Nicky rolls her sleeves up and shows Lorna red lines on her arms. "I used to cut myself." She lets Lorna see them for a split second and then she covers them up. Lorna puts her hand over Nicky's and Nicky enjoys the feeling. She's warm inside because of Lorna's gentle touch. She sees a thousand scars marking up Lorna's forearms and she suddenly wants to kiss every single of them.
The moment gets interrupted when Lorna's phone rings downstairs. She runs downstairs to answer it while Nicky stares at herself in the mirror. She lifts up her shirt and even though they're long gone, she can still see the black and blue handprint-shaped bruises all over her chest, sides, ribs, and stomach.
After dinner, Paolo puts the leash on Paul's collar and gets a dog bag from his backpack. He holds out his hand. "Pet, hold hands with me?"
"Um...okay..." Nicky puts her hand in Paolo's and he squeezes it tightly, but she doesn't like his touch. It's too creepy since he's her mom's age. She doesn't say anything until they walk out the door and he starts talking to her.
"How old are you?"
"Twelve..."
"That's such a good age! You should have seen me at twelve. I got in all kinds of trouble...I was a badass when I turned thirteen...riding motorcycles and all that jazz. Do you want to take a ride on my motorcycle?"
"Thrill rides like that scare me, to be quite honest."
"I'll hold you, don't worry, pet."
Paul squats to take a shit and Nicky turns her face away. "Ugh..."
"What? Oh, he's just doing his business..."
"Sorry, Master...it's gross."
"Eh, whatever. It's nature."
"I guess so."
"Now my little pet, I have you alone with me...not that it would make a difference if your mommy was here, but have you ever been kissed?"
"No, I'm just going into eighth grade..."
"Would you like to know how a kiss feels?"
Nicky grows queasy. "Not...right now..."
"That's really too bad for you since I'm your master and you are my pet. You must do as I say. If I want you to know how a kiss feels, you will know how a kiss feels. If I want to put my hands up your tiny skirt and rip down your panties along with your leggings, I will. Understand?"
Her eyes widen and she gulps. "Yes, M...Master."
"Good girl." He bent down to touch his lips with hers. She knows she can't run away since he has such a firm grip on her hand. She wants so terribly to spit in his face, but she's afraid of what would happen to her if she does.
She feels his tongue in her mouth and she wishes she could just be brave enough to bite it, make him scream in pain, make him let go of her hand, anything. Instead, she just stands still and lets him make out with her. She feels his beard brush against her smooth, soft chin. His stinky breath makes her want to throw up. It's over after a few seconds, but she feels like it lasted for a few hours. She can feel the tears coming, but she doesn't want to cry right now. She can cry about her sad, pathetic life when she's alone in her cage.
"Do you know why I kissed you?"
"No."
"You are really good looking for a twelve-year-old. Your mother also told me you were getting boobies soon. Do you know what those are?"
She hates how he, along with everyone else, talks to her like she's a child. "Yes, I do."
"Well, I bet they'll be big...and I can't wait to see them."
"My body is private, Master."
"Ah, well, it's okay if a family member sees you naked. I'm basically your daddy, so that makes it okay." He reaches up to touch her chest, but she pushes his hand away.
"No means no!"
"Hey! If I want to feel those things, I can!" He holds her hands together and squeezes her chest with his other massive hand. She groans inwardly and the dog pants. She cries out as his squeeze becomes painful along with uncomfortable. When she squeaks, he laughs and releases whatever was there. "Oh, you are just a kid! Oh well, at least you have a cunt."
"What's a cunt?"
"One of the sexiest part of a girl's body, besides her ass."
"Oh yeah, I've seen you go into my mom's ass and her vagina."
"Exactly! Well, I'll do you when she's not up for fucking. We're going to do it tonight, but tomorrow night is a different story."
Nicky isn't sure what that means, but she shudders. "Okay."
"We're going to go back now. Paul is getting cold, aren't you, boy?" Paolo collects the dog's droppings and pets Nicky's hair. They return to the house and she's thankful it's finally time to go to bed. She makes her lunch for school the next day. It's not much, but it's something.
"Leave the scraps for Nick. She'll eat 'em," Paolo sneers.
Mrs. Nichols tosses Nicky a moldy piece of bread. "Here's your breakfast, in case you're hungry tomorrow."
"Thank you, ma'am." She'll have to skip breakfast, then.
"Now, go to bed, we'll be there later in the night."
Nicky nods. "Yes, ma'am." She trudges up the stairs and crawls into her cage. She tucks the rags up to her chin. She wishes she had a doll so she can talk to it, but all she can do is daydream and talk to herself. She's her own best friend.
Nicky gasps when Lorna comes back in. "Hey...are you okay?"
"I...I'm fine," Nicky says while pulling her shirt down and adjusting her leather jacket. "What about you? You're as pale as a ghost."
"Oh, no...it's nothing." Lorna's voice cracks. "You're kinda shaking there."
"I didn't notice." Nicky wrings her hands. "Who was on the phone?"
"It was a wrong number. Let me give you a hug...I kinda need one, too." She moves forward into Nicky's arms.
When Nicky embraces Lorna, she feels the girl she loves trembling like she's doing right now.
Thank you for reading and reviewing, Guest and SuperFinnis!
