Just Good Friends (Cheap Thrills 5)

Because they were talking amongst themselves, I didn’t hear what Carter said as he stepped forward, but eventually, Naomi nodded, looking pissed off, and the three of them walked to the door.

“It was nice to meet you,” she called over her shoulder as Shanti waved at us over Carter’s.

Realizing we were sisters in bullshit, I shouted, “Get my number from DB tomorrow, honey, and call me. We’ll get together and talk it out.”

“Can I pay wiv your horse?” Shanti asked, pointing at Clyde.

“Absolutely. We’ll get you a cowgirl hat so you can be the best cowgirl in Texas.”

She’d looked slightly wary when I’d first called out to her, but after I’d said that to her niece, Naomi smiled brightly at me. “I’ll definitely do that. See you soon.”

Once they left, there was silence for a moment, but then it hit me that I still had my own shit to wade through.

“So, what am I meant to do?”

I shouldn’t have asked. I really should have just stayed quiet because the list of rules they gave me left me feeling like a Gremlin. Really, all that was missing was feeding me after midnight.

I wasn’t allowed to go out alone—not that I ever did, anyway.

I wasn’t allowed not to check the feed on the security camera pointed at the door before opening it—something I should be doing anyway.

I was to be vigilant at all times—I was… now.

If I got a text saying, ironically, Gremlin, I had to go to the station as quickly as I could to go to the safe room—that I could do.

I wasn’t allowed to stop on the way to the safe room—who would?

I wasn’t allowed to pass Go—okay, that was a bit of a dramatic embellishment, but it was fitting.

I was to follow what Garrett and the men told me to do—I’d been doing that since I moved here. Okay, ish.

By the end of it, the only things I could do without permission were to eat at home and go to the bathroom, which I did on my own anyway because no woman wanted her man to know she did bathroom stuff. I wasn’t being stupid on that, it was a legit fear of mine. What if I pooped and he went into the bathroom after me? How embarrassing would that be? I couldn’t kick Clyde in the room and blame it on him, I didn’t have any powers that would allow me to freeze time.

A hand grabbing my wrist snapped me out of my irrational panicking, and I looked up to see Canon squatting in front of me, his thumb on my pulse as he frowned at whatever he was thinking. “You good, Zuri? What’s got you panicking, girl?”

Like I was going to tell him the truth.

“The fact that tampons and pads kill dolphins and whales,” I blurted, then immediately regretted it. Unfortunately, at that point, there was no return. “I’m thinking of heading out to Antarctica to join a campaign to stop whaling next year, and when I looked into it, I read up on how they were finding dolphin and whale bodies with tampons and pads inside them. I’m too squeamish to use one of those cup things, so I’m kind of screwed. Does that make me a dolphin and whale murderer? Do you think they’ll ban me from signing up to help them fight the war against whaling?”

When you start a job, give it everything you’ve got. How deep did this humiliation hole go?

All of the men stood staring at me, not saying a word.

Eventually, Bond said slowly, “Anyway, uh, there’s not really a lot of reason to panic about…” he waved his arm around, “stuff. At least not the stuff going on with the crazy dude. What you want to do with your holla-hole is up to you, and I’m sure the dolphins and whales will thank you for caring.”

Then, throwing his hands up in the air, he stomped over to a free chair and sat down heavily. “I can’t do this. I don’t even know why I tried to be the one to end the silence, but that shit was awkward.” Pulling at the neck of his t-shirt, he stretched his neck from side to side. “I feel like it’s hot in here. Is anyone else feeling hot?”

With red cheeks, DB rubbed the back of his neck. “I think the main point is that you’re safe, Zuri. The guys here tonight are just the tip of the iceberg, ‘cos Mace, Ellis, and the others are working with us, we just didn’t want to take all of our eyes out of town to come to the meeting. Garrett’s programmed all the numbers you need into your phone, and we’ve all got your number in ours, so we’ve got you covered.”

Weirdly, I did feel better knowing that. Fighting the war on my own had been terrifying, but battling it with a lot of the town behind me felt a helluva lot more doable.