ELEVEN
"The business of murder took time, patience, skill, and a tolerance for the monotonous."
—J.D. Robb
LISA
Neither of us spoke. Neither of us really knew what to say, nor where to even begin. A lot had happened in the last forty-eight hours. Too much in fact, and I was still trying to sort through it all in my mind. I tried focusing on her breathing, the beating of her heart as it beeped on the machines around us. I tried to calm myself down and just clear my mind, but then it hit me. It hit me like the car that hit her. I almost lost her…them. Everything would have been over.
"Ahh…" Jen groaned, forcing me to sit up quickly.
"What's wrong?" I scanned her body, but other than the obvious, I couldn't find anything wrong.
"Nothing," she lied, making herself comfortable once again on the hospital bed.
Ignoring her, I went to look at her chart, Bambam had already been moved to another room.
"You're not a doctor, put my chart down," she snapped, throwing her pillow at me.
Catching it, I handed it back to her as I read.
"You declined all painkillers?" She was white-knuckling the pain. What the hell was wrong with her? "When did you decline meds? I've been with you since I got here."
"You were in the bathroom. Plus the doctor said it was fine."
"After you probably threatened him. Have you lost your mind? You have two shots in your shoulder and one in your thigh. Not to mention the countless bruises I can see up and down your legs and arm. Take the damn drugs, Jennie." I tried not to snap at her, but I was only working on two hours of sleep. This was not the fight I wanted to have with her.
She glared and I glared back.
"No drugs," she hissed.
"You're in pain. You're getting drugs if I have to shoot you up myself." When I reached over to call for the nurse, she grabbed my wrist.
"No drugs, Lisa," she whispered. "They increase the chances of miscarriage and stillbirth. I can't lose this one. If I do, I'm done, I can't…"
I stared at her for a moment, not saying anything. I hadn't even thought about the baby; I hadn't had time to process it all.
"Okay. Okay, no drugs."
Once again, we fell into silence. I wasn't sure what was going through her mind. I still couldn't believe she was pregnant. I mean, yes, it was more than possible. We jumped each other whenever we were alone. I was addicted her.
She glared at me and I wanted her, she sneezed and I wanted her. She was everything, and it had been more than a year since we lost…but the science behind how made sense. It was just a lot.
"What do you want to do, Jen?" I asked.
She didn't answer right away.
"Do we have to tell them?"
"No, we can wait." Until we were more comfortable with the idea…until I knew what to do. I had so much to plan and think over.
"Jen," I whispered, walking over and taking her hand. "I love you. I love who you are and what we do, but it has to be different. I can't…you cannot fight this battle. You can't go up against Scarlet. Not now. Not like this. I can't lose our child again. You have to step back…"
"Lisa."
"Jen, I'm not debating this with you. I swear by all that is holy, I will make Scarlet pay. I will make them all pay. But…"
"Let me speak," she snapped as she sat up, only adding to her discomfort. Trying my best to help her, only gave her the chance to push me away with her one good arm.
"Jen…"
"Will you stop interrupting me? It pisses me off and you know it. What the fuck is the point of me telling you shit that ticks me off when you don't fucking listen anyway?" she hissed through her teeth. Her brown eyes narrowed into slits and I tried my best not to smirk. She was sexy when she was pissed at me.
Even with her bruised lips, tangled hair and bandages, my wife still looked hot as fuck.
"Hormones already? Should I just buy the smoothie store?" The look on her face would have scared any man, I on the other hand found it funny by now.
She reached over and grabbed the first thing she could, and threw it at my head. Sadly, it was her own phone. I dodged it as quickly as possible and it broke apart upon impact with the wall.
"You are an ass, Lisa Manoban. First, this isn't 'hormones,' it's me. Me with three bullet holes in my body, an asshole of a wife…. And meeting Scarlet." She said the last part softly. "The woman who gave birth to me, and also happens to be insane. I've had a rough few days, my reaction is completely normal," she said,
But her reactions weren't normal to me. If this was anyone else, my Jennie would have stitched herself back up yelled at me for being late and then demanded that we hunt down who ever the son of a bitch was right then. Her reaction…well, she was hurt. What was worse was the fact that she didn't even realize how much.
"What do you need?" I asked her gently, causing her fist to clench up.
"I need to be looking down at my mother the way she looked down at me," she said as she turned away from me, but I made her face me.
"Jen. I'm never judging you. I don't need you to be strong every moment of forever. I need you to let me in now more than ever."
"She shot me, Lisa." Her voice cracked. "With no remorse or hesitation, she shot me with ease. She said that I was nothing more than an unwanted side effect of her job. But I should have known right? Everything we had found out about her said that she was a cold-hearted bitch, but I really didn't think she would shoot. I don't know why. I heard her voice and it sounded like the same woman who used to read to me at night."
I wasn't sure what to say in reply. What could I say? Part of me didn't believe Scarlet could pull the trigger either. For God's sake, it was her daughter, her own flesh and blood. Jennie and I did not draw lines in the sand, but that was something that I could never dream of doing.
Placing my hand over her stomach, Jen sighed and leaned back into the bed before covering my hand with hers.
"Jen…"
"Fine."
"What?" I whispered.
She looked me in the eyes. "For our child and for your sanity, I will not chase Scarlet. But I want you to. From now on, she's your mistress."
"Excuse me?" I tried not to cringe. Maybe she was on drugs.
She laughed, pulling me to her until I was once again lying on the small cot they dared to call a bed. It felt like a prison mattress.
"Scarlet is your mistress in that I shouldn't know anything about her. Everything involving her will be kept secret from me. Even with the men. If they tell me anything about 'mistress,' you threaten to cut their balls off and make them wear them as earrings," she explained softly.
Only my wife could talk about castration and sound like an angel.
I watched her skeptically. "You're just going to back down and stay out of danger?"
"Depends on your definition of danger," she stated.
"Jennie…"
"Don't 'Jennie' me. You're not my father. I'm letting you take over the hunt for Scarlet; I will help if you need me. But don't need me. I know myself well enough to know that if I get involved, I will want to take over. I will want to hunt her down myself. But I'm not becoming a housewife either. If we've learned anything, it's that Scarlet cannot be underestimated. You can't focus on the business and her at the same time—"
"So, you want control of the drugs?" I cut her off. If this were anyone else, I would have snapped their neck.
"Lisa…"
"Don't 'Lisa' me," I said. "You want me to hunt down your mother while you're off making drug deals with the rest of the country?" She was definitely on drugs.
"It's safer and you know it," she whispered.
I could only shake my head at her. Only in our world would selling drugs be safer than dealing with family.
"What would be safer is you spending the day at malls and charity events while I handle this…" She squeezed my hand so tightly I felt my knuckles crack. "Ouch. Damn, baby."
"This is the deal, Lisa. Take it or leave it," she demanded.
Always the demanding bitch. She was lucky I fucking loved her. I don't know why, but like a fool, I did.
Grabbing her good arm, I glared down at her.
"You're not in any position to make deals, love. You're pregnant and you're not putting yourself in danger. You are not your mother, and you wouldn't harm our child by letting the same thing happen twice. How would it look, having my pregnant wife dealing smack to junkies and dealers that would put a bullet in their mother's head just to get a line?"
Why couldn't she just spend nine months watching re-runs and painting her nails in bed?
She frowned and winced. "Lisa, you're hurting me."
"Shit, love. I'm sor—" The moment I let go of her arm, she smacked me over the head.
"I've been pregnant for seven weeks. It didn't affect my ability to handle junkies. I get it, you're nervous, so am I. But we have so much work to do. You cannot do it all alone, nor should you have to," Jennie said. "Handle Scarlet for me. Focus on that. I can handle everything else. You know I can, and if you tell me not to, I will only ignore you. So why are you fighting me on this? It's a good plan. It's the only plan we have right now. Lisa, I'm not asking permission. I own half of our family. I'm doing this, or we deal with both situations."
I hated this.
I didn't want this. I wanted her out of the business. Not forever. Just until…just until I knew they were both safe. Luckily, before I could reply, my phone beeped.
"I have to go," I told her, kissing her quickly before grabbing my jacket from the chair.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"To find out more about my mistress." The look in her eyes as she sat up told me this would only last about a minute before she was prying the details out of me.
"I'm only taking Hanbin, the rest of the men are here to protect you…" I paused looking over once more. I didn't want to leave her. "To protect the both of you."
"And who's going to protect them?" She glared, lying back down.
Shaking my head, I walked toward the door.
"Love you," I said.
She sighed. "I love you too, okay? Happy? I love you. Now leave before you mess with any more of my emotions."
JENNIE
When she left I stared up at the ceiling rubbing my flat stomach. My flat stomach with a kid inside of it. A kid with really bad timing. Our kid; my and Lisa's own kid.
I was going to be a mother…if it made it. If I didn't get it killed again, I was going to be a mother; a mother who wouldn't shoot her child at point blank range.
"I never wanted you. I had orders. I followed them, and you were a side effect. No hard feelings."
I could hear her voice—the voice I so desperately craved as a child—and now I wished she was dead. I felt the pressure building up in the back of my throat, and I tried to push it back down. But I couldn't, and the sob rippled through me before the tears came.
I was not a crier. This was not me. But it hurt. Everything hurt. It hurt so badly and I just wanted to forget everything.
Hearing a knock at the door, I wiped my eyes and nose quickly before taking a deep breath.
"Enter," I called out, and in walked Adriana.
"Ms. Manoban said you would like some herbal green mint tea for the pain," she said, holding the mug tightly as she walked over to me.
She looked me over and I knew my eyes had given me away, but I just nodded and took the tea.
"Lisa said to give me herbal green mint tea?" I asked, staring at the cup.
"No." She said. "She said, 'my wife's in pain. Find some natural shit to make her feel better before I get back.'"
"Dartmouth's finest," I whispered, rolling my eyes as I sipped, only to spit the liquid out. "This tastes like shit and mud."
Adriana grabbed a few napkins, cleaning me off.
"I'm fine. But I'm not drinking this." Handing her the cup, I lay back down.
"Is there anything I can get for you, ma'am? I've been trying to get information from the nurses and doctors, but they're a little too afraid to talk." She frowned, eyeing the chart at the end of my bed.
Since when did everyone become a doctor?
"I was shot twice in my shoulder, but it missed the bone, so I'll need a sling but no cast. I have to stay off my leg for a few weeks, plus physical therapy." Thanks, Mom.
"Would you like me to make any calls? I can get the best th—"
"No outsiders. If I need help, I'll come to you."
She stared at me oddly. "Ma'am, I don't have any training in…"
I just stared at her. Today was not the day.
"I'll see what I can do," she whispered.
"You do that," I replied, grabbing the tea again. If it was going to help with the pain, I would bear it. "But before you go, I need information."
"On what, ma'am?"
"Profile Scarlet DeRosa."
She froze and stared at me.
"Ma'am, I don't know en—"
"Adriana, I will not ask you again. Profile Scarlet DeRosa," I ordered.
She sighed. "From what I can tell, Scarlet DeRosa is an extremely narcissistic sociopath. She cares for no one but herself, and has never felt anything for anyone, ever. She appears to be charming, yet she's covertly hostile and domineering, and sees her victims as instruments to be used. She likes to dominate and humiliate her victims. She will never stay in one place for too long. She will most likely spend the rest of her life hopping from one place to another. I would be shocked if she even had a home. I'd also blame it on her childhood, but there have been cases where some people are just born without feelings."
"Then why did she have me?" I sneered. She could have had an abortion and been done with it.
"There could be many reasons. She could have just wanted another person to praise her. Another person to control. She could have—"
"Goodbye Adriana," I cut her off, drinking the rest of the tea.
She nodded before walking out of the room. I just stared at the door. Her words replayed over and over in my mind.
Scarlet was a sick, twisted bitch, and I wanted to cut her head off and let it burn. I wanted to hunt her down like a motherfucking dog. But I couldn't do that.
Rubbing my stomach, I remembered how it felt to have steel inside of me—inside of us. It was cold and warm at the same time. Saige, in a mere second, had stolen someone from me. From us. Lisa never blamed me, but it was my fault. I had put my pride above my family. In that moment, I had become somewhat like my mother, and I could never do that again. I was alive—my child and I were alive—because Scarlet didn't know. If she had, I would have another bullet wound. Part of me hoped Lisa found her and another part of me hoped she hid like a snake in a hole until I knew our child was safe.
For the sake of Lisa, for the sake of our child and our family, I would back down from her. I hated it. It wasn't in my nature, but I had to. I had to step down until it was safe…safer.
Hopefully the drugs would be a healthy distraction. We had heroin sitting in the south that we need to move. Not to mention the weed Lisa had bought right before the accident. I still didn't know anything about that. I never had a chance to look at the information.
Reaching for the call button, I waited for someone to come. Sadly, it was the bitchy blonde who had eyed Lisa when she thought I was sleeping.
"How can I make you feel better today, Mrs. Manoban?" she asked with a fake megawatt smile.
"Tell Nickhun Manoban I would like to see him." She knew who that was. Everyone knew who the Manoban brothers were.
Her eyes narrowed at me. "Mrs. Manoban, this is a hospital. The nurses aren't here to run personal favors for you."
Not today.
"The nurses are here because we gave a big fat check that spared the board from firing half of its staff. If I wanted to, I could own this damn hospital and have your ass fired and blacklisted so quickly, you'd end up on food stamps until you're ninety. I'm guessing it's really hard to provide for a family, on what is it? Four dollars a day? So if I were you, I would shut my mouth, turn around and run a personal favor for me…wouldn't you?" I snapped, causing her eyes to widen and mouth to drop open.
"You're not moving."
She swallowed and nodded before turning around, all but pulling Nickhun back into the room.
Nickhun looked between the retreating girl and myself. "Even in a hospital bed you can still scare the shit out of people."
"It's a gift. What happened with the buy?" If everything went well, we should have been twenty million dollars worth of weed richer.
Nickhun frowned, moving toward the end of my bed. When he looked at my chart, I felt my eye twitch.
"Touch it and I will make dealing with Victoria look like a cake walk." I was so sick of people looking at me like a victim. I'd gotten shot, it happened. It was time to get back to work, the stupid pricks.
"Jen, you should…"
"Remember the last time you thought I should rest?" Right after I lost our last child.
He sighed. "The deal didn't go as planned. We settled on twenty mil. They wanted thirty mil. Lisa was about to, well, be Lisa and start cutting them down, he was talking to you, and then the accident. He settled on thirty and we left."
I could feel the headache coming on. My teeth clenched and my fists tightened.
"Lisa paid those motherfuckers thirty million dollars? Was this weed laced with cocaine as well?"
The idiot!
"Jen, she wasn't thinking straight. She didn't want—"
"Shut up and get me a phone!"
"You know we will make double that. We were underpaying them anyway. It—"
Pulling the IV from my arm, I slid off the bed, causing him to rush towards me with his eyes wide. Balancing on one foot, I hopped over to him.
"Nickhun, call them and tell them I want my money back." I glared into his eyes.
"This isn't Bergdorfs, Jen you can't—"
Grabbing his jacket, I pulled him to my face. "Call them back, or you're going to pay me that extra ten."
"How the fuck am I supposed to do that?" He was panicking.
"Not my problem. Get it done or you will never be a father." I smiled, slapping his cheek softly before letting go and hopping back over to the bed.
LISA
I sat in Hanbin's room, eating his Jell-O as he lay in bed. Checking my watch again, I looked at his cut-up face. Glass was a bitch.
"He's late," I told him as I took another bite.
"He's in a wheelchair and my mother is gone. It will take him a moment to get here," Hanbin whispered, flipping on the television.
Yes, Gino was in a wheelchair only because my father put him there.
"You do know that I will kill you in front of him if he doesn't tell me what I want to hear?" I told him honestly, watching the game.
From the corner of my eye, I saw no fear in his eyes, and I wasn't sure if that was because he didn't believe me or because he'd already accepted his fate.
"If I'm going to die, can I please have my last meal back?" he asked, glancing at the food I was stealing.
"It's shit," I told him, handing back everything but the Jell-O.
"The Jell-O too," he said.
"Seriously?" I snickered, looking at the cup of half eaten Jell-O.
He nodded.
"You'd better hope it's not your last meal." I handed him the cup as the door opened.
"Gino!" I stood. The blonde nurse wheeled him in. Walking over to her, I grabbed the handles of his chair and pushed him to Hanbin's bedside.
"Do you need—" the nurse said.
"No, you may leave," I told her. After she did, the room was silent.
Gino eyed Hanbin with anger and worry, but in return, Hanbin ignored him, eating his Jell-O as if he didn't even notice he was here.
Gino didn't look old, he looked ancient. Like he had gone to hell and back, and now he was just waiting to go back again. His face was melting, his once long hair was gone and only a few stands of grey hair covered his head. I could see the scars that were marked all over his arms. He was proud of them; they were his battle scars.
"Gino…"
"Cut the shit, Manoban," he spat out in disgust. "What do you want from me?"
Taking a deep breath, I tried to control myself, but I was done with control. Grabbing him by the neck, I all but lifted the old man out of his seat.
"I was trying to be civil. We were enemies once upon a time, but because of my wife, you became part of the package. It's for that reason that I'm not going to break your arm. You will tell me what you know about Scarlet DeRosa. If your loyalty lies with the Kim family, then it lies with me, and this is an order."
When his face turned blue, I dropped him in his chair, and took a step back, trying to regain my composure.
Gino coughed and sucked in a breath of air while holding onto his throat like he was trying to expand his airway with his own hands.
"Scarlet DeRosa is dead," he said, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.
I was going to kill this man.
"You're lying to me, Gino," I whispered taking out my brass knuckles. "Gino, I don't have the time nor the patience for wasted words. Scarlet DeRosa is alive. I know this because she shot my wife three times. Your son, who I am about to kill right in front of you, is in this room because of her. So tell the truth or else your son will die, and you will spend your life as vegetable."
"I…I can't." He shook his head as he stared at Hanbin.
Hanbin begged him with his eyes. "Pop, we're on the same team. Jennie is Dong-suk's daughter. She's a Kim, and we're loyal to Kims."
Gino leaned forward, his body now ridged. "That's why I can't. I swore to Dong-suk I would—"
"I killed Dong-suk. He's dead, so swear to me and then deal with his shit in heaven or hell, Gino. I doubt he wanted this, so be smart for the first time in your life."
I really wanted this and he was my only lead. Everything else, Scarlet was slowly destroying.
"Pop. If not for me, if not for Lisa, then for Dong-suk's baby girl," Hanbin said, and I had to hold back an eye roll. Jen was not a baby girl. He knew that. But hey, whatever got the job done.
"Dong-suk always had a thing for the feisty ones." He sighed, staring at his hands. "We were in southern Italy, and there she was, Scarlet Costa, she called herself. She had everyone eating out of the palm of her hands, and Dong-suk wanted her. She looked like she wanted him too. The whole night, they were in the back of the club, just dancing and talking. The talking became more, and the next thing I know, I'm driving her to and from Dong-suk's home when we got back. He was so smitten that he just couldn't leave her. I didn't trust her; her eyes held no real emotions. I ran a background check, but everything came out fine. She was Scarlet Costa, but I still had this feeling…
"I asked around and no one knew much about her. But her family was dead. So I had the boys double-check for paper trails. They found out almost all of our files—both digital and physical —had been tampered with."
"You told Dong-suk?" I asked, walking in front of him.
Gino just snickered. "Iron hands was more like an iron head—and not his cock either. The fool was in too deep. He had no idea she was playing him. We were bleeding money, losing connections, and we were about to lose everything else, and she had only been in our lives for three months. He thought it was us. That we were stealing from him. I think he was losing it. Part of him knew, and the other part of him was in love. He set a trap. To this day, I still don't know how he figured out it was her. But I saw him the moment after. He held her neck, ready to snap it and the bitch just said, 'Go ahead, kill your kid too and save me the trouble.'"
Part of me wished he had killed the bitch, but she was still Jen's mother.
"What did he do?" Jen was here, so he didn't kill her.
"What any madman would do. He chained her to the bed and hired a nurse. His room became her prison. Scarlet fought and cursed, she even tried her charm, but Dong-suk wouldn't let her go. She slit her wrist. He brought a doctor and had the whole room stripped so she couldn't hurt herself. She tried starving herself, so we gave her soft drugs and fed her through tubes. It was like that for months until finally she caved. Suddenly she began to behave like a wife, and Dong-suk loved it. But it was only after she gave birth that he unchained her."
"Fuck." I sighed.
Why were our lives so fucking complicated? All I wanted to do was sell drugs, make love to my wife, and rule in peace.
"She ran, didn't she?" I asked.
Gino shook his head. "No, she stayed. I thought it was the kidnap, bound, Stockholm thing you hear about. Or maybe she loved her daughter. But I soon discovered that wasn't the case. Dong-suk had found Scarlet's lover, Leonardo Severino. If there was anyone she cared about, it was him. No one else, just him. Out of spite Dong-suk had him locked up in the basement, and every time she did something he didn't like, he cut off a limb and gave it to her as a gift.
"Those white gloves she wore, were gifts from her lover, she swore she wouldn't take them off until they were stained with both Jennie's and Dong-suk's blood. She said she wouldn't be satisfied until all the white had turned red. Dong-suk wanted Jen to have a mother, one who loved her, so he put up with it. Little Jennie grew up with her mother cursing her every step. It was only when Jen was six that she started to notice her mother's "love" for her wasn't really love. So Dong-suk agreed to let her and Leonardo go, as long as they never came near his daughter again."
Things were making sense, but in way, I was still confused. "If this is true, how did Jen get on that plane? Dong-suk would have never let her go."
Gino frowned. "That's why Scarlet stole her. We drove them to the airport, even waited for them to get on the damn plane. We needed to make sure they were gone. We thought we were sure. However, she somehow managed to steal Jennie from right under our noses. It went from bad to fucking worse. Dong-suk didn't realize she had Jennie. None of us did. He was the one that brought that plane down. He had the whole thing wired to blow. He hated her that much. There was no way he was going to just let her go. By the time we realized where Jennie was, Dong-suk…Dong-suk was beside himself with grief. He thought he had killed his own daughter. That's when we found out that Scarlet was a DeRosa. We got word from one of our snitches in the Vance household that Vance's men had gone and saved her. The explosives didn't work as planned. It took out the wings but the pilot managed to land on the water. The video was pretty much destroyed but—"
"There was video? On a plane… in the '90s?" Hanbin asked him, speaking up for the first time.
Gino stated. "Dong-suk had it installed, he wanted to see her burn. Because Vance's men didn't know about Jennie, and Scarlet wasn't awake to kill her, Jennie lived. She was left alive because Vance's men just wanted to scare her and left her to freeze. Dong-suk never thanked God more than he did that night after he had her back. All Jennie's childhood memories are basically a lie and he wanted to keep it that way. He made us swear never to tell her and burn anything that would reveal the truth."
Sighing, I sat on the edge of Hanbin's bed. "I am a Manoban. I head one of the strongest, if not the strongest, organizations in the world. We deal and we sell. Killing is just a side effect of that. I do not have the time nor the patience to deal with your fucked up lives. I do not want to waste my time, money or men in your family shit!"
"Then you married the wrong woman." Gino frowned. "We knew Scarlet was a DeRosa because she wasn't a Manoban, and she sure as hell wasn't a Valero. How many other families have enough power to step to us. Back then it was the Manobans led by Marco, the Valeros led by Vance, the Kims led by Dong-suk, and lastly the DeRosas led by Ivan. All the information Scarlet had stolen from us ended up in Ivan DeRosa's hands. I haven't even seen the man—no one has—but that bastard was always been one step ahead of us. The Kims and the DeRosas have been at odds since Jennie's grandfather murdered Ivan's family. You think Scarlet is fucked up? Her father wants every Kim erased from existence. This is all just one big battle for revenge."
"Jennie is a Manoban. She is my wife." I was getting a headache; I could feel it growing. "There has to be more. What did the DeRosas have on the Manobans? And how the hell did they get Shamus to do what they wanted?"
"Shamus?" Gino questioned, pissing me off. "The old ass who's too busy sucking himself off to give a shit about anyone else?"
"That's my grandfather." I reminded him, not that it mattered.
"Shame," he spat out in disgust. "I don't know anything about Shamus or the Manobans. I told you all I know. Scarlet wanted Jennie dead before she was even born. After this attack, she's most likely out of the state if not the country. Scarlet strikes then leaves. She can't stay in one place for long. Dong-suk's prison almost drove her crazy… crazier."
"There's more to it than this." I grabbed the Jell-O. "He talked," I said to Hanbin. "It isn't your last meal, deal with it."
I walked out. I was so done with this web of lies and clues. Who the hell did I look like, Nancy motherfucking Drew?
The walk to Jen's room was short, and I noticed Nickhun giving me death stare as he spoke on the phone. I didn't know what his problem was, but if he didn't stop staring at me like I was a low level criminal, I would bust his teeth in. I didn't have the time, nor the energy, and I hated hospitals. There were too many ass-crack junkies and dead people in one place.
I need a fucking vacation.
I handed the empty Jell-O cup to Chanyeol, who stared at me oddly. Walking into Jen's room, I leaned against the door.
"I want a new mistress," I told her.
"I want a new wife!" she snapped. "You bought the shit for thirty? What the fuck is wrong with you?"
I really need a fucking vacation, and brandy. A lot of brandy.