Luke dropped onto the bed behind him, so I shifted around to lay my head on the pillows the same way they were. "Does this mean you think I'm honestly going to be ok, Cy?"
Luke murmured at that. "You haven't seen the mark on the side of your face yet, Vi."
"And I'm still supposed to be the one protecting you," Cy told me. "You get us out of shit, I take the hits, and Ash incites it all. That's how this works."
"And me?" Luke asked. "How do I fit into your plan, Cy?"
"Well," Cy said, "Violet protects you, you protect Ash, Ash protects me, and I protect her. That's why we work, Luke."
"It's why we will always work," I agreed. "And Ash is going to be so pissed that he missed out."
Luke chuckled. "I have a feeling he'll be ok with it. He'll say he's pissed, but he won't be. That's how he takes care of us."
"Which leads right back to why we work," I agreed, snuggling up against Cy even as I reached around his hip to find Luke's hand.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Luke sent me a text letting me know that Violet was doing fine but needed a little "physical therapy." The sad part was that it took me a moment to figure out what he was talking about. The next message made it make sense when he asked if I would please make sure that Faith went to bed at a decent hour. Naturally, when I told the girl that, it didn't take her as long to figure out what was going on as it had me.
"Oh my God, are they having sex?" She groaned, making everyone helping me clean up struggle not to laugh.
"Is this the part where I'm supposed to tell you no and pretend like you have no clue at all what adults do?" I asked her.
That earned me a smile. "Probably, but we both know better, right?" she asked.
"That we do," I agreed. "So how about we try not to embarrass your dad, since this is probably a pretty big step for him."
Darnell choked back a laugh. "That what we're calling it now? A step?"
I snapped and pointed at him. "Do not help me. Faith and I are reaching an understanding right now, so just…" I made a zipping motion across my lips.
But Faith wrinkled up her nose in the cutest grimace ever. "Is he with Cy or Violet? I mean, like, which room?"
I shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. I'm going to guess it's Violet's room, though."
Billy looked over at her. "Need me to run upstairs and make sure the coast is clear before you pass by there?"
Faith just nodded her head emphatically, so that was what happened. When all of the mannequins were back where they belonged, and all of the food, drinks, and trash was cleared away, Faith sought out Billy to make sure that the "coast was clear." Together, the pair headed up the stairs, claiming they were going to bed.
I debated tearing down the mannequins tonight or waiting for the morning, since it looked like I was going to be sleeping alone, but decided morning was okay. In truth, part of me liked that those three had just gone for it. Having a kid in the house meant that we tended to fall into the habit of couples. Two of us fell asleep in Violet's room and the other two fell asleep in Cy's. That all three of them had not only felt comfortable enough to just go with it, but had acted on it before Faith was in bed?
It felt nice. It felt permanent. Most of all, it made this insane relationship we were doing feel so very real.
But the next morning, my bedroom door was the one that Faith banged on when she said it was time to get up. I hauled my ass out of bed and downstairs to make her breakfast. No one else joined us, and when Faith finally came down, she said she thought they deserved to sleep in. After all, Violet was the one who'd been pushed around by the cops and Cy had almost been shot. Since I agreed with her, I took the chance to spoil her a little bit.
There were eggs and waffles with a side of hot cocoa. I tossed her a package of Pop Tarts to take on the bus, just in case Zeke hadn't eaten. And then, while she let her puppy out to potty, I fixed her cocoa to go and put it in my magenta travel mug. When she saw it, Faith flashed me the sweetest smile just before heading out the door.
On impulse, I made myself a hot cocoa instead of a coffee, then headed out to the back porch to let the morning warm up before my brain decided to kick in. The lingerie party had been a complete and total disaster. We hadn't even made it to the part where we started giving away all the inventory, and most of the women had left with empty hands. I told them to take what they wanted, but they said I needed to worry about Violet, not them.
That was the whole community thing that Gran had always talked about. When she'd claimed that this was a good town, filled with good people, this was what she meant. So, while I sipped my sweet morning indulgence, I gave myself the time to just stop and actually think about all of this. The people, the hatred, the corrupt cops, and how much I really wanted Southwind to stay here, because that was the weird thing. Somewhere over the summer, Cats Peak, Texas, had become my home.
Eventually, Darnell came out to join me. He didn't say a thing, just kicked his feet up and sipped his coffee. Ten minutes later, it was Cessily. Half an hour after that, Berto came out with not only his own travel mug, but also a carafe of coffee to fill the rest of us up. Darnell made a comment about how he should probably put the cover on the pool. Berto offered to help. And for a little bit there, we all just worried about the small talk and stupid shit that most people would call normal.
When Billy finally joined us, the conversation shifted again. This time, it turned to the cops. Darnell took the now-empty carafe of coffee back inside to fill it up while Cessily and Berto discussed the legal side of things. Not surprisingly, Billy thought the answer was taking someone out. Granted, I had also heard about his girlfriend, so it could have been simply his way of convincing her to come visit.
When Darnell returned, he came with a very sleepy-looking Luke, a well-rested Cy, and Violet. She was moving a little stiffly, and the mark on her face that had been red last night was slightly purple today. It wasn't too bad, and her makeup should cover it, but to me it was a reminder of what those assholes did to my girlfriend.
"Please tell me you're pressing charges for that?" I begged.
