Random TikTok posted by prettymangled87 early in the school year:
What looks like a basic white girl except for pink and white animal ears and a matching tail and what was possibly a vampire with pink and black hair and matching dresses flop and flail to Harry Style's Watermelon Sugar in a generic school hallway.
Understandably, the little video collected a view count of under a hundred with less than twenty five likes.
What comments there were, were about the clothes, designer, the song, whatever, except for one: I am here to simp for a shadow.
Still in his Domino's uniform, Mike parked his Goldwing by the Stein's garage just before midnight, stepping over Jeremy the dog on his way into the Stein's guest house.
Jeremy farted, rolled over, and snored harder, all four disturbingly human looking paws paddling in his sleep.
Frowning, Mike paused, big hand engulfing the doorknob, the party at the de Nile house barely registering.
Then he shrugged. Except for themselves, two motorcycles he'd swapped for and repaired, a truck on its way out, and his pawn shop bass, it wasn't like the family owned much worth stealing, so Jeremy being a shit watch dog wasn't an issue. The fug of stale pizza grease followed him into the house; there was just enough time to fool around with Raina under the sunlamp in the living room before he the two of them went out to one of Wolf and Son's construction sites for some off the books cleanup work.
The big man stopped, one foot in the tiny, ornamental kitchen: How could he forget? He got paid tonight!
With an about face, Mike stepped over where Jeremy diligently practiced his doormat impression. He pulled out his wallet, lifted the loose paver beside the trash can, pulled out a sealed waterproof pouch, and slipped a mixture of bills and random delivery tips inside, adding to Raina's, Maggie's, and Puck's hard work, and replaced the paver.
Mentally counting, Mike ducked under the door frame, locking the door behind him, leaving Jeremy the dog in his usual semi-coma on the stoop. If they kept expenses low plus another six months of nose to the grindstone, he could buy the girls their freedom.
After chasing Puck out of the bathroom where she'd been perming her ears or whatever it was teenage girls did in bathrooms, Mike stepped into the only shower the little house had, soaping up in the cramped space that barely accommodated his seven-foot frame, mentally counting and recounting the money they had, the money they didn't have, and the money they needed.
Wolf had two more roofing jobs before the weather went bad… a hoarder house that needed emptying before flipping… there would be cleaning and repairs after that… the manager at Domino's offered to up his pay if he'd take over the rougher delivery addresses… Wolf wanted him to quit the cop business and work full time even if he wasn't a werewolf… ("Law enforcement's a dead end, not when you can charge triple for swapping out eco-toilets for the rich!")… Merston's head football coach was offering him an after-hours assistant coaching position… Kujo, his smoking buddy who knew a lot about marine biology, as much as gave him the job of morning boxing coach at his little gym on his rare Saturdays off… there was that bar band that needed a bass player…
Hell, all of these odd jobs weren't much, but if combined with his cop's salary, Mike could also buy Raina's freedom, and Jeremy's.
It was the least he could do to make up for the last few decades when he couldn't do anything.
Messy hair dripping, Puck came out of the back door and stood thoughtfully kicking barefoot at the paver by the trash can, Jeremy the dog snoring contentedly in the background. When Maggie and kiss-up Josie tee-hee'd their way on in to twerk their asses on the football team, Cleo de Bitch personally met her at the de Nile's front door tonight to tell her to fuck off.
In front of everybody.
Including Mista, the hot Senior with the big truck.
More money than she'd ever seen in one place more than made up for the humiliation.