Jhondie
I walked into my house with something that I had just realized I hadn't had much of since I heard about Bryn. A smile. I was smiling. Of course when you consider how I had spent the afternoon and early evening, it was no wonder. But it was more than that. I really felt better about the whole situation and I had even resolved to call Zack and apologize for attacking him. It wasn't his fault. He did the best he could. There was an element of luck involved, and for the rogue X-5's, at some point luck was going to run out and Lydecker was going to catch up with one or two of us. He had one. Maybe this would be a wake-up call and if there was anyone that seriously skated the line, they would chill. I knew I was thinking that there were some things that I needed to start considering giving up. But that could still wait for a bit.
I shouldn't have been smiling considering what I saw in the driveway when I pulled up. But then Justin had given me the softest, sweetest kiss I could have ever asked for and I was feeling too darn good to think about Kayla's future cellmates. In the driveway was a silver 1976 Corvette had been fully restored, inside and out. It would be an awesome car if it weren't for the license plate that read GR8 LAY. I guess it paid to advertise. Actually the car had been a gift. Katrina's drug dealer boyfriend had given it to her. Since she had taken auto shop classes when she was in juvenile detention, she had done most of the restoration work on it herself and was very proud of the car. All I knew was that when I saw it, trouble was not far behind.
As a matter of fact, Kay and Trouble were in the living room, putting together these wire and bead combinations that were made into some kind of jewelry. They added feathers and some other things, one of which I was sure was human skin, and wore it to raves. It was the fashion thing to be worn at parties. The large hollow beads were also a good place to keep some meth. Mom was coming out of the kitchen and seemed rather surprised to see me. Actually, she seemed more surprised to see me in a good mood.
"Have a nice day?" she asked. Like she had to. I was still grinning.
"Let's see, we both actually had the same afternoon off of school with no reports or tests pressing and could just enjoy being together," I replied airily. "Was absolutely lovely."
"Least someone around here got to enjoy the sunshine," Kayla muttered bitterly from the floor.
Katrina nudged her with a foot. "Don't be mean," she practically purred out. "If I was her boyfriend, then she wouldn't have been outside much either." The little smile she shot me had one meaning. And I had one response. Eww. No. That was wrong. More like EWWWWWW!! I wanted a bath.
The girl was actually extremely attractive. She was tall with long dark hair and gorgeous green eyes and olive skin. It was just that she oozed "trash" from every pore. The dark hair was streaked with bright red streaks and then put into dreads. It made a neat swirled look, but still, not exactly something a person that was "up and coming" would be wearing. Her ample breasts were swelling out of a tight dark blue t-shirt that had potato chips pictured over her breasts and had "Bet you can't eat just one" written in bright yellow letters. Her techno pants hung down on her hips to reveal her pierced belly button and the top of a tattoo of a devil twirling a halo on her upper left hip. She had several other piercings on her eyebrow and ears, but the crowning touch was the metallic red barbell stabbed through her tongue. She was seventeen and hanging around with a fourteen year old. No, that wasn't trouble waiting to happen.
Kay clipped the last piece of wire and Kat put it around her neck. It was gold toned and the red beads matched the ruby in her eyebrow and belly rings. "This is so hot," Kat grinned. "It wouldn't take long for us to make you one and then we would match." Uh, no, that was not going to happen. If you walked in with matched jewelry like that, it meant you were together. She even thought about matching with my little sister and...
"I can't," Kay snapped, cutting off my mental rant. "Still house grounded." She shot Mom a sour look. Kayla had spent the last three weeks either in her room (stereo was removed) or at school or at ballet. Mom had talked to her ballet teacher and Kayla was not allowed to socialize at all while there. She was now up to in-house privileges. Some people might think that was being lenient, letting her have friends over while still grounded. They had no idea how truly evil it was. Your friends are all talking about parties and what they were going to do for the weekend and you got to listen and know that you were going to be at home. It took punishment to a whole new level.
"But that can change back to house and school only privileges at any moment," Mom spoke up sweetly. She gave me a look that clearly said she was on the verge of killing the kid and then headed upstairs with the phone in hand. She had been working on some stuff for the school to set up teacher training or something like that and lately had been on the phone more than Kayla when she wasn't grounded.
"You know Jhondie," Katrina said as soon as Mom was out of hearing range, "there are lots of older people that are going to be at the party tonight. Maybe you can come and talk your Mom into letting Kayla come. You can keep an eye on her and I'm sure I can find something to keep on you." I would like to, once again, reiterate EWWW.
"You know, I would," I said sweetly, "but I was planning on gouging my eyes out with a rusty spoon tonight, and well..." I paused as if pretending to weigh the options. "I am just going to have to stay here and do the thing that I would enjoy more."
Kat didn't lose that little smirk that said she could change my mind about the EWWW factor, but Kay spoke up before Kat could continue. "Don't bother," Kayla said coldly. "Trust me, you don't want her kind there."
That stung. Katrina thought she meant older and mature, but the self- satisfied little sneer Kayla was wearing pointed to what she was referring to. My kind. I didn't say anything. I couldn't. If I had tried to then a great deal of screaming and then crashing and breaking would have started to occur and that's just not right in front on guests. My kind. I wanted to remind myself that she was a snotty teen and that's how they acted, but it still just dug down and burned.
I was still thinking of my kind when I grabbed the phone in my room and dialed Zack's number. It was still in service. Well, that was a nice surprise. I was worried that he might cut me off, but I shouldn't have been. Zack's not petty enough to do something that dramatic over a little fight. I waited for the beep, hoping that he would be able to accept what I had to say. "It's me," I said quietly. "I just wanted to apologize for what happened and to let you know that it's all okay. Anyways, if you're here and want a place to stay, then it's fine for you to crash here now if you want. See you around." I hung up and curled up on my bed, my knees to my chest. My kind. If Kayla only knew what it was like to want to have your own kind. Why did I come home tonight? I could be with the one person that made me feel like there wasn't "my kind" out there. Tears weren't coming, but it hurt all the same. No wonder I had never told her. And I was starting to think that I wasn't going to be able to live with her now that I had.
Justin
I hadn't gotten far from Jhondie's when my phone rang. For a second I thought it might be her asking me to pick her up and take her home with me. And if I were really lucky, she wouldn't want to be going back. I felt so much better, and it wasn't because of the sex. Well, that had helped, but being able to clear the air and get her to break out of this depression just made me feel so much more invigorated. A depressed Jhondie tended to make this circle of darkness around her that sucked the life and energy out of a room and everyone in it.
"Hey," I answered, thinking that it was probably Dad. I was supposed to be going over there tomorrow night for dinner and had left a message at the house to see if there was anything I could bring.
"LA." The greeting almost made me swerve into the next lane of traffic. I would recognize that voice anywhere. I had given him my cell number in case there was ever an emergency, but I hadn't expected to ever casually get a phone call from him.
"Yeah, it's me," I said quickly, still a little stunned at getting a call from the boss.
"I know you're busy, but I need to ask you to do something for me." If he was calling then it had to be damn important.
"Not a problem," I replied. As long as it didn't interfere with me and Jhondie's anniversary or my graduation.
"I need you to keep your eyes open about flights coming in from Seattle. Small, private planes that are more than likely going to different landing strips around the city. They'll be leaving the country pretty quickly. If you hear of when they are supposed to be getting to LA, then that will be very important to me as well." His usual calm demeanor when giving instructions seemed a little more pressed this time. It seemed like this was more than just a story to him. This was important.
"If I know when it's coming in, then you can figure out when it's leaving there, huh?" I asked, realizing that he had no clue when these flights were traveling. Up there they might know he was on to them and were keeping things more secret. Here they might be more relaxed.
"Exactly."
I thought for a second about how to get that info. Dink. Best way to get to Dink on short notice. Jhondie. The man knew he had no chance in Hell with my lady, but having her around at least made him put pants on. "I'll check with some sources tonight and see what I can find," I said. "I'll let you know what I find out in the morning."
"Thank you." That was a rarity. Usually knowing that we were saving the world was all the thanks that we got. This must be important to him. And then, very faint in the background, I thought I heard a door slam, and a woman's voice. I know I heard something, because immediately he added, "Peace. Out." The connection was severed.
I almost laughed. Someone came home at the wrong moment. This was some heavy evidence that I had been right though. His testiness of late had something to do with a woman. I pitied the guy. I knew how much having a girlfriend that was being foul could mess a man up. I was lucky that mine was getting out of her funk. I could only wish him luck.
I turned the car around and headed back to Jhondie's. I tried calling in advance, but all I got was a busy signal. Oh well. I was going to get to surprise her with this. It wasn't bad though. I'd get her to go with me to talk to Dink. And then maybe it would be really late, so she'd just spend the night rather than go home. Not a bad idea all the way around if I said so myself.
Kayla's friend was still there when I pulled back into the driveway. Jhondie couldn't stand the girl. I, myself, thought Kayla and her friend's relationship was rather odd considering their age differences. When you're thirty, it's perfectly normal to have a twenty-seven year old friend. At seventeen, to have a fourteen-year-old friend that you didn't grow up with is very, very strange. I know Mrs. Harris liked Katrina more than most of the recent parade of rejects that had come through the house. Katrina was always polite to Mrs. Harris and as far as we knew was one of the few that wasn't always encouraging Kay to skip out on her groundings. Jhondie still didn't like her, but when the mom says it's okay for her to be around, there's not much you can do.
Kayla answered the door when I rang the bell. She rolled her eyes, her special way of saying hello. "Don't you have a home or something?" she asked immediately.
"Nope," I replied jauntily. "Lost the whole thing. Your mom said I could move in here." Her disgust was obvious, but she dutifully moved to the side so that I could come in and then went to the stairs and screamed her sister's name so loud that even I winced. I could just imagine the volumes that were reached the night she tried to sneak her boyfriend in. Jhondie yelled back that she would be down in a minute. I was by the bottom of the stairs to wait and Kayla ran into the kitchen.
"Hey there," a voice greeted from the couch. I glanced over. I had never seen Katrina before and I had to admit she was a very pretty girl under the layers of dye and trashy clothes and metal. A little too pierced for my tastes though. And slightly sleazy. There was something that vaguely reminded me of Denise, although this girl seemed somewhat more mentally balanced. "I'm Kat," she added.
"Hello," I replied with a casual smile. "Justin Carter." Yeah, I was getting Denise vibes off of her. What is it about me that the unusual tend to gravitate towards me?
"You're Jhondie's boyfriend," she said, her smile becoming more of a leer. "No wonder she was in such a good mood when she came home."
"Yeah," I said, deciding to ignore her last comment. I turned my attention back upstairs but she was staring at me intently, giving me "the look". I knew "the look" and what it meant and I had a feeling I better get out of there very quickly before anything was said in front of Jhondie.
"Something wrong?" I finally asked sharply, letting my tone tell her that she didn't have a chance, so back off. She stood up and damn near struck a pose. Her pants hung down around her hips and her shirt was riding up and I realized that I was seeing more of the tattoo on her hip then I should have.
"Like it?" she asked, her fingers running over the little devil with the halo. "I have another one. Want to see it?"
"That's okay..." I managed to get out, but she had already lifted the right side of her shirt up. First, she wasn't wearing a bra. Second, the tattoo she had was roughly a Lara Croft type sitting on a stool. Except she was only wearing a shirt that was unbuttoned and hiking boots, and from what she appeared to be doing, let's just say it was obvious she was enjoying being alone.
My jaw landed somewhere on the floor and she laughed. And that was when I heard, "What the hell is going on?" from up the stairs. Christ.
Kat let out another silvery little laugh. "You have to do something with the appetizer while you're waiting for the main course to come back down," she replied with a smile that should have been a sexy little grin. It was more a little grin that was about to get pulverized when she added, "So, now that we're all back, when do we get down to exchanging bodily fluids?"
My arm shot out just in time to catch Jhondie in the midsection and haul her back towards me. She hadn't moved at top speed, but it was enough to make Kat step back and put her shirt back down. "Can't kill her, got work to do tonight," I whispered urgently in her ear. She didn't try to jerk away from me, thank God.
"You want to trade some body fluids?" Jhondie snarled. "I see you again, and I'm starting with your blood. All of it. And then I'll spit on what's left of you."
I know her techno pants were loose, but there was no way they could hide the set of balls big enough to let her think she could get away with replying, "Well, that's not exactly what I was thinking, but hey, a little kink never hurt anyone." They weren't brass. Those puppies were platinum.
"Neither of us are interested in anything that needs to be disinfected first," I said disgustedly. I knew Jhondie well enough to know that she almost laughed at that line and the way that Kat's face fell at the coldness.
"Why don't you go and disease someone else's home?" Jhondie said snidely right as Kayla walked back in the room. The fury on her face said she had heard Jhondie's parting comment. I was willing to bet that she didn't hear the rest of the conversation.
"Leave her alone!" Kayla commanded. "I am so sick of you trashing my friends. Even Mom likes Katrina and there's nothing you can do about it, so deal!" Kat blinked, immediately becoming the wounded victim.
"It's okay, Kay baby," she said sadly. "No more tension around here than necessary, right? I'll jet. See you later." With an air of the victimized, she headed out the door. A second later we heard the car start. I wanted to give her an award of some sort. That kind of acting needs to be rewarded.
Kayla glared at Jhondie. "I hate you," she said venomously. She wasn't screaming, or even raising her voice. She was just coldly hateful. "You have no idea how disgusting you are to me."
Jhondie grimaced at her. "Ditto." Kayla rolled her eyes and shoved past Jhondie to run upstairs. She was upstairs and Jhondie wasn't relaxing at all.
"Work to do, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Maybe dangerous with guys with guns and explosions?"
"Maybe."
"Got to be less tense than here."
I gave her a hug. "Maybe we'll find someone with a big storage of duct tape along the way."
She smiled at that. "Just don't tell Katrina."
I shuddered. "With a little luck, I won't be seeing her again for a long time."
Why did I say things like that? I already knew that luck and me were never best friends.
I walked into my house with something that I had just realized I hadn't had much of since I heard about Bryn. A smile. I was smiling. Of course when you consider how I had spent the afternoon and early evening, it was no wonder. But it was more than that. I really felt better about the whole situation and I had even resolved to call Zack and apologize for attacking him. It wasn't his fault. He did the best he could. There was an element of luck involved, and for the rogue X-5's, at some point luck was going to run out and Lydecker was going to catch up with one or two of us. He had one. Maybe this would be a wake-up call and if there was anyone that seriously skated the line, they would chill. I knew I was thinking that there were some things that I needed to start considering giving up. But that could still wait for a bit.
I shouldn't have been smiling considering what I saw in the driveway when I pulled up. But then Justin had given me the softest, sweetest kiss I could have ever asked for and I was feeling too darn good to think about Kayla's future cellmates. In the driveway was a silver 1976 Corvette had been fully restored, inside and out. It would be an awesome car if it weren't for the license plate that read GR8 LAY. I guess it paid to advertise. Actually the car had been a gift. Katrina's drug dealer boyfriend had given it to her. Since she had taken auto shop classes when she was in juvenile detention, she had done most of the restoration work on it herself and was very proud of the car. All I knew was that when I saw it, trouble was not far behind.
As a matter of fact, Kay and Trouble were in the living room, putting together these wire and bead combinations that were made into some kind of jewelry. They added feathers and some other things, one of which I was sure was human skin, and wore it to raves. It was the fashion thing to be worn at parties. The large hollow beads were also a good place to keep some meth. Mom was coming out of the kitchen and seemed rather surprised to see me. Actually, she seemed more surprised to see me in a good mood.
"Have a nice day?" she asked. Like she had to. I was still grinning.
"Let's see, we both actually had the same afternoon off of school with no reports or tests pressing and could just enjoy being together," I replied airily. "Was absolutely lovely."
"Least someone around here got to enjoy the sunshine," Kayla muttered bitterly from the floor.
Katrina nudged her with a foot. "Don't be mean," she practically purred out. "If I was her boyfriend, then she wouldn't have been outside much either." The little smile she shot me had one meaning. And I had one response. Eww. No. That was wrong. More like EWWWWWW!! I wanted a bath.
The girl was actually extremely attractive. She was tall with long dark hair and gorgeous green eyes and olive skin. It was just that she oozed "trash" from every pore. The dark hair was streaked with bright red streaks and then put into dreads. It made a neat swirled look, but still, not exactly something a person that was "up and coming" would be wearing. Her ample breasts were swelling out of a tight dark blue t-shirt that had potato chips pictured over her breasts and had "Bet you can't eat just one" written in bright yellow letters. Her techno pants hung down on her hips to reveal her pierced belly button and the top of a tattoo of a devil twirling a halo on her upper left hip. She had several other piercings on her eyebrow and ears, but the crowning touch was the metallic red barbell stabbed through her tongue. She was seventeen and hanging around with a fourteen year old. No, that wasn't trouble waiting to happen.
Kay clipped the last piece of wire and Kat put it around her neck. It was gold toned and the red beads matched the ruby in her eyebrow and belly rings. "This is so hot," Kat grinned. "It wouldn't take long for us to make you one and then we would match." Uh, no, that was not going to happen. If you walked in with matched jewelry like that, it meant you were together. She even thought about matching with my little sister and...
"I can't," Kay snapped, cutting off my mental rant. "Still house grounded." She shot Mom a sour look. Kayla had spent the last three weeks either in her room (stereo was removed) or at school or at ballet. Mom had talked to her ballet teacher and Kayla was not allowed to socialize at all while there. She was now up to in-house privileges. Some people might think that was being lenient, letting her have friends over while still grounded. They had no idea how truly evil it was. Your friends are all talking about parties and what they were going to do for the weekend and you got to listen and know that you were going to be at home. It took punishment to a whole new level.
"But that can change back to house and school only privileges at any moment," Mom spoke up sweetly. She gave me a look that clearly said she was on the verge of killing the kid and then headed upstairs with the phone in hand. She had been working on some stuff for the school to set up teacher training or something like that and lately had been on the phone more than Kayla when she wasn't grounded.
"You know Jhondie," Katrina said as soon as Mom was out of hearing range, "there are lots of older people that are going to be at the party tonight. Maybe you can come and talk your Mom into letting Kayla come. You can keep an eye on her and I'm sure I can find something to keep on you." I would like to, once again, reiterate EWWW.
"You know, I would," I said sweetly, "but I was planning on gouging my eyes out with a rusty spoon tonight, and well..." I paused as if pretending to weigh the options. "I am just going to have to stay here and do the thing that I would enjoy more."
Kat didn't lose that little smirk that said she could change my mind about the EWWW factor, but Kay spoke up before Kat could continue. "Don't bother," Kayla said coldly. "Trust me, you don't want her kind there."
That stung. Katrina thought she meant older and mature, but the self- satisfied little sneer Kayla was wearing pointed to what she was referring to. My kind. I didn't say anything. I couldn't. If I had tried to then a great deal of screaming and then crashing and breaking would have started to occur and that's just not right in front on guests. My kind. I wanted to remind myself that she was a snotty teen and that's how they acted, but it still just dug down and burned.
I was still thinking of my kind when I grabbed the phone in my room and dialed Zack's number. It was still in service. Well, that was a nice surprise. I was worried that he might cut me off, but I shouldn't have been. Zack's not petty enough to do something that dramatic over a little fight. I waited for the beep, hoping that he would be able to accept what I had to say. "It's me," I said quietly. "I just wanted to apologize for what happened and to let you know that it's all okay. Anyways, if you're here and want a place to stay, then it's fine for you to crash here now if you want. See you around." I hung up and curled up on my bed, my knees to my chest. My kind. If Kayla only knew what it was like to want to have your own kind. Why did I come home tonight? I could be with the one person that made me feel like there wasn't "my kind" out there. Tears weren't coming, but it hurt all the same. No wonder I had never told her. And I was starting to think that I wasn't going to be able to live with her now that I had.
Justin
I hadn't gotten far from Jhondie's when my phone rang. For a second I thought it might be her asking me to pick her up and take her home with me. And if I were really lucky, she wouldn't want to be going back. I felt so much better, and it wasn't because of the sex. Well, that had helped, but being able to clear the air and get her to break out of this depression just made me feel so much more invigorated. A depressed Jhondie tended to make this circle of darkness around her that sucked the life and energy out of a room and everyone in it.
"Hey," I answered, thinking that it was probably Dad. I was supposed to be going over there tomorrow night for dinner and had left a message at the house to see if there was anything I could bring.
"LA." The greeting almost made me swerve into the next lane of traffic. I would recognize that voice anywhere. I had given him my cell number in case there was ever an emergency, but I hadn't expected to ever casually get a phone call from him.
"Yeah, it's me," I said quickly, still a little stunned at getting a call from the boss.
"I know you're busy, but I need to ask you to do something for me." If he was calling then it had to be damn important.
"Not a problem," I replied. As long as it didn't interfere with me and Jhondie's anniversary or my graduation.
"I need you to keep your eyes open about flights coming in from Seattle. Small, private planes that are more than likely going to different landing strips around the city. They'll be leaving the country pretty quickly. If you hear of when they are supposed to be getting to LA, then that will be very important to me as well." His usual calm demeanor when giving instructions seemed a little more pressed this time. It seemed like this was more than just a story to him. This was important.
"If I know when it's coming in, then you can figure out when it's leaving there, huh?" I asked, realizing that he had no clue when these flights were traveling. Up there they might know he was on to them and were keeping things more secret. Here they might be more relaxed.
"Exactly."
I thought for a second about how to get that info. Dink. Best way to get to Dink on short notice. Jhondie. The man knew he had no chance in Hell with my lady, but having her around at least made him put pants on. "I'll check with some sources tonight and see what I can find," I said. "I'll let you know what I find out in the morning."
"Thank you." That was a rarity. Usually knowing that we were saving the world was all the thanks that we got. This must be important to him. And then, very faint in the background, I thought I heard a door slam, and a woman's voice. I know I heard something, because immediately he added, "Peace. Out." The connection was severed.
I almost laughed. Someone came home at the wrong moment. This was some heavy evidence that I had been right though. His testiness of late had something to do with a woman. I pitied the guy. I knew how much having a girlfriend that was being foul could mess a man up. I was lucky that mine was getting out of her funk. I could only wish him luck.
I turned the car around and headed back to Jhondie's. I tried calling in advance, but all I got was a busy signal. Oh well. I was going to get to surprise her with this. It wasn't bad though. I'd get her to go with me to talk to Dink. And then maybe it would be really late, so she'd just spend the night rather than go home. Not a bad idea all the way around if I said so myself.
Kayla's friend was still there when I pulled back into the driveway. Jhondie couldn't stand the girl. I, myself, thought Kayla and her friend's relationship was rather odd considering their age differences. When you're thirty, it's perfectly normal to have a twenty-seven year old friend. At seventeen, to have a fourteen-year-old friend that you didn't grow up with is very, very strange. I know Mrs. Harris liked Katrina more than most of the recent parade of rejects that had come through the house. Katrina was always polite to Mrs. Harris and as far as we knew was one of the few that wasn't always encouraging Kay to skip out on her groundings. Jhondie still didn't like her, but when the mom says it's okay for her to be around, there's not much you can do.
Kayla answered the door when I rang the bell. She rolled her eyes, her special way of saying hello. "Don't you have a home or something?" she asked immediately.
"Nope," I replied jauntily. "Lost the whole thing. Your mom said I could move in here." Her disgust was obvious, but she dutifully moved to the side so that I could come in and then went to the stairs and screamed her sister's name so loud that even I winced. I could just imagine the volumes that were reached the night she tried to sneak her boyfriend in. Jhondie yelled back that she would be down in a minute. I was by the bottom of the stairs to wait and Kayla ran into the kitchen.
"Hey there," a voice greeted from the couch. I glanced over. I had never seen Katrina before and I had to admit she was a very pretty girl under the layers of dye and trashy clothes and metal. A little too pierced for my tastes though. And slightly sleazy. There was something that vaguely reminded me of Denise, although this girl seemed somewhat more mentally balanced. "I'm Kat," she added.
"Hello," I replied with a casual smile. "Justin Carter." Yeah, I was getting Denise vibes off of her. What is it about me that the unusual tend to gravitate towards me?
"You're Jhondie's boyfriend," she said, her smile becoming more of a leer. "No wonder she was in such a good mood when she came home."
"Yeah," I said, deciding to ignore her last comment. I turned my attention back upstairs but she was staring at me intently, giving me "the look". I knew "the look" and what it meant and I had a feeling I better get out of there very quickly before anything was said in front of Jhondie.
"Something wrong?" I finally asked sharply, letting my tone tell her that she didn't have a chance, so back off. She stood up and damn near struck a pose. Her pants hung down around her hips and her shirt was riding up and I realized that I was seeing more of the tattoo on her hip then I should have.
"Like it?" she asked, her fingers running over the little devil with the halo. "I have another one. Want to see it?"
"That's okay..." I managed to get out, but she had already lifted the right side of her shirt up. First, she wasn't wearing a bra. Second, the tattoo she had was roughly a Lara Croft type sitting on a stool. Except she was only wearing a shirt that was unbuttoned and hiking boots, and from what she appeared to be doing, let's just say it was obvious she was enjoying being alone.
My jaw landed somewhere on the floor and she laughed. And that was when I heard, "What the hell is going on?" from up the stairs. Christ.
Kat let out another silvery little laugh. "You have to do something with the appetizer while you're waiting for the main course to come back down," she replied with a smile that should have been a sexy little grin. It was more a little grin that was about to get pulverized when she added, "So, now that we're all back, when do we get down to exchanging bodily fluids?"
My arm shot out just in time to catch Jhondie in the midsection and haul her back towards me. She hadn't moved at top speed, but it was enough to make Kat step back and put her shirt back down. "Can't kill her, got work to do tonight," I whispered urgently in her ear. She didn't try to jerk away from me, thank God.
"You want to trade some body fluids?" Jhondie snarled. "I see you again, and I'm starting with your blood. All of it. And then I'll spit on what's left of you."
I know her techno pants were loose, but there was no way they could hide the set of balls big enough to let her think she could get away with replying, "Well, that's not exactly what I was thinking, but hey, a little kink never hurt anyone." They weren't brass. Those puppies were platinum.
"Neither of us are interested in anything that needs to be disinfected first," I said disgustedly. I knew Jhondie well enough to know that she almost laughed at that line and the way that Kat's face fell at the coldness.
"Why don't you go and disease someone else's home?" Jhondie said snidely right as Kayla walked back in the room. The fury on her face said she had heard Jhondie's parting comment. I was willing to bet that she didn't hear the rest of the conversation.
"Leave her alone!" Kayla commanded. "I am so sick of you trashing my friends. Even Mom likes Katrina and there's nothing you can do about it, so deal!" Kat blinked, immediately becoming the wounded victim.
"It's okay, Kay baby," she said sadly. "No more tension around here than necessary, right? I'll jet. See you later." With an air of the victimized, she headed out the door. A second later we heard the car start. I wanted to give her an award of some sort. That kind of acting needs to be rewarded.
Kayla glared at Jhondie. "I hate you," she said venomously. She wasn't screaming, or even raising her voice. She was just coldly hateful. "You have no idea how disgusting you are to me."
Jhondie grimaced at her. "Ditto." Kayla rolled her eyes and shoved past Jhondie to run upstairs. She was upstairs and Jhondie wasn't relaxing at all.
"Work to do, huh?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"Maybe dangerous with guys with guns and explosions?"
"Maybe."
"Got to be less tense than here."
I gave her a hug. "Maybe we'll find someone with a big storage of duct tape along the way."
She smiled at that. "Just don't tell Katrina."
I shuddered. "With a little luck, I won't be seeing her again for a long time."
Why did I say things like that? I already knew that luck and me were never best friends.
