“And if there’s enough left over, take some to help Jinx pay for tuition to become a kindergarten teacher,” Joey added.
“Did you not see the house her man was in?” Gemma asked. “He can help her with tuition.”
Jessie wandered out from behind the bar to take a seat on the dais by Titus’s leg. “I’m not sure Jinx would be up for that. She’s pretty independent.”
“What’s this?” Titus interjected.
Harlow bopped excitedly on the couch. “Oh, Titus! You haven’t heard? We delivered Jinx to her accountant last night.”
“It was so dreamy,” Gemma cooed.
“Totally. We pretty-womaned the shit outta that,” Jessie bragged.
“He finally made his play,” Luna filled in.
On the “made his play” comment, Titus looked to Shanti.
Shanti brushed some nonexistent dust from her jeans.
Luna’s eyes narrowed on Shanti’s movement.
I took a sip of my drink rather than clearing my throat.
Jessie took up the story. “He asked for them to level up their relationship by asking her to move in. Jinx threw it in his face. He started missing his regular meetups. She got twisted up about it, because they’re obviously in love, she just didn’t think she could hope for anything good to happen to her because her life, seriously, has been some bad shit. We had some huddles and talked her into giving it a go. Last night, we took her to apologize and to tell him she was ready to explore a relationship. She got not a word out before he picked her up and carried her in his big mansion with its pool and view of the mountains.”
“It took some doing,” I put in. “She was nervous as all hell. There was a kerfuffle.”
“Kerfuffle?” Titus asked, and I wasn’t sure how he did it, but him saying that word in his deep, smooth Miles Caton voice was both sexy and adorable.
“Yeah,” Harlow confirmed. “She tried to close the door on us, so we essentially had to break into her house and force her to sit down for a peptalk.”
“She was practically catatonic when we did,” Raye said.
“But we got through to her in the end,” Luna completed our Pretty Woman tale.
Once this was out, Titus was silent for a long time.
And then he said quietly, “You bitches are the shit.”
Wow.
Totally feeling warm and fuzzy about that.
“Now,” he homed in on Raye, “the rest of your plan.”
“Right,” Raye said. “So we smooth things over with the big man, he gets the money and gets to keep the payload. Then we go back to Dex and tell him he’s fucked. The money is gone. No drugs for his crew to push. And if he doesn’t leave Duane alone, he’s going to be even more fucked.”
This was a good plan, simple, but it made a statement, and Dex and Amy were screwed in the process.
I wasn’t sure Dex was smart enough to understand the Angels were a threat.
But no one was dumb enough to miss Titus was one.
“To set up this deal with this guy,” Titus said, “that money is gonna be big money. And there’s a good chance he’s already planning to have it and the dope anyway. If there ever was any dope he considered giving this guy. So I think you might want to deliver the full payment.”
Duane’s house really needed painting, but I saw the wisdom of this.
“As much as it would be nice for Duane to get something out of this, agreed,” Raye said.
