Jules shrugged. “Fuck him.”
“You’re absolutely no help.”
Stormy thought the elements of danger would garner a more thoughtful reaction.
“What are you doing?” she asked as Jules pulled out her phone and began tapping the screen.
“Did the guy from the bar break into your place and threaten you?”
“No, he broke into the boutique and threatened me.”
Thatmade Jules pause. “Should I call the police?”
“Well…”
“Of course I shouldn’t. If you wanted the police called, they would have been here hours ago.” Jules continued tapping, then held the phone to her ear. Stormy could hear the phone ringing on the other side.
“Who are you calling?”
Jules grinned. “The one person who said something would happen and that I should call her when it did because you would be too chickenshit to do it.” She hit the speaker button and placed the phone on the counter.
“What up?” Lou answered after the second ring.
“Mangy bitches,” Stormy mumbled, irritated that they’d conspired behind her back.
“She grabbed his dick!” Jules said, using the counter as leverage as she jumped up and down. “She said it was averyspectacular dick.”
“Did they have sex?”
“No, we didn’t have sex, I don’t know that man!”
“Still punki—”
“I swear to God I will snap this phone as if it’s your neck,” Stormy finally yelled.
“Hey…hey there, sister,” Jules soothed, grabbing her phone and holding it close to her breasts. Jules continued to eye Stormy warily as she returned the phone to a few inches from her mouth. “She says he broke into the boutique, threatened her, and wiggled his dick in her face.”
“I did not say that,” Stormy said, weary of the conversation.
“For real though, is he dangerous?” Lou asked.
“She didn’t call the police…or her daddy, or her brother.”
“So dangerous in ways that she likes. How’d he get in?”
Jules looked at her.
“The security system was down when I got here but the alarm hadn’t gone off. Nothing was broken or jimmied open. He said the system was crap, then I made him fix it before he left.”
“Ed warned you guys that you should have gotten a better system.”
Ed was Lou’s husband. He was a physical therapist, and like all men, he liked to believe he knew everything about everything when it came to repairs and electrical systems. Didn’t matter that Lou was a licensed master electrician and plumber. Stormy would take her advice before Ed’s, even if he happened to be right about the security system.
“Getting back to the question on the table…” Jules said. “What do you think she should do if he comes back, Lou? I said ‘fuck him’ because she obviously wants to, but she didn’t like that response. And I’ll say this, then let it go.” She looked intently at Stormy. “This is a new phase of your evolution, remember? Stormy, you know so much about intimacy and the value of touch, but you’ve stopped experiencing both in your own life. The antebellum Okie is the first man you’ve reacted so strongly to in all the years we’ve known each other. When the Asian boy comes today, find out if the big guy is someone sane enough to share orgasms with, then move on when you’re ready, simple as that.”
“And let me hit you with a piece of truth that I’ve been holding onto because until this weekend, I didn’t think you were ready to hear it,” Lou added. The silence that filled the line made Stormy’s stomach knot up. “You need to set yourself free, Stormy, all the way free, simple as that. For years you’ve smothered the wild child I miss and love to within an inch of your life. Because of the incident in college where Reign was assaulted, you enjoying yourself at a frat party doesn’t equate to you being responsible for what happened; you didn’t do anything wrong.” Stormy tried to blink back the tears gathering in her eyes. “You need to let that big country boy fuck you until you are filled up. You need to let go of whatever it is that has you staying connected to Chaduwo’s shady ass, and you need to live out loud so that we can be mangy bitches running wild together again.”
Stormy laughed as she wiped the tears gathering at the corner of her eye. Their words were said in love, yet they were ripping her apart, and it hurt, her past decisions still hurt, but she was no longer willing to continue playing the sacrificial lamb to appease her guilt.
