“You want to know?”
“Yes.”
“It’s where Sophia threatened to claim I raped her if I didn’t marry her and give her a bunch of money.”
She opened her mouth and then closed it.
“I didn’t rape her. We were all with her. We shared her, Missy Ann, and then she betrayed us, me by accusing me of rape.”
“What did you do to prove her wrong?”
“Hired friends to investigate her and lawyers. Kenneth was the one that found out about her boyfriend and about the baby not being mine.”
“Baby?” she asked and Salvatore saw the tears in her eyes.
“It wasn’t mine. It wasn’t any of ours but she tried to say it was once the rape charges fell through. Kenneth found her shacked up with some loser. They planned on blackmailing us for money, but it backfired. Her boyfriend ratted her out. The baby was his and she had no case.”
She just stared at him and then looked at them.
“Did you guys love her?”
“No,” they all said immediately.
“But you trusted her to an extent. You slept with her, shared her but then she lied and tried to use you,” she stated.
“We know that you’re not her. We know you would never do anything she did to us and hurt us that way,” Salvatore said to her.
“I’m glad you know that,” she said and then looked at Antonio.
“But why won’t you come into this room and enjoy it? Because this is where she threatened you and turned on you?”
“Yes,” Antonio said.
“Well, this is your house, isn’t it? You worked hard to get all these things and place them in your home and to have a place to relax and enjoy some football or whatever. She’s gone. She doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“Sure it is.”
“How?” he asked her, looking at her like she was crazy. Salvatore wasn’t certain what Missy Ann was thinking but then she reached for the hem of her shirt and began to take it off.
“You need to make better memories in here. Ones that make you smile and give you happy thoughts.”
She pulled off her top and tossed it onto the couch.
“Missy Ann,” Antonio said firmly.
“Let me be your happy thought, Antonio. Take me. Make love to me right here, wherever it’s the toughest to be because of her. Wipe it clean. Do it, Antonio. I’m here now, not her. She’s gone and over. She’s nothing, but I’m—”
“Fucking everything,” he said and stomped toward her.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply.
Salvatore smiled and so did Finn and Billy.
* * * *
Antonio was in shock. He couldn’t believe what Missy Ann just did. He immediately took her up on her suggestion and stripped her naked quickly. He bent her over the edge of the couch, putting everything out of his mind but Missy Ann and loving her. He stepped out of his pants and pulled off his shirt.