“Ant, tell her how to get to Tilden,” Mak called.
“What’s in Tilden?” Kindra whispered.
“The best snow you ever snorted,” Mak sang.
“It better be,” Debi huffed.
“Take sixteen down to Vera,” I called over the music.
“We’re CNAs. What do you do?” Kindra quietly asked.
“Hmm?” I drew a deep breath and stared into her green eyes.
“You’re about to lie to me,” Kindra accused, and I couldn’t help the guilty laugh.
I owned a former strip club. Big Vick sold it to me for a dollar on my eighteenth birthday, but I didn’t have the time to dedicate toward all of that right now. It was nothing more than a warehouse that stored the marijuana our club pushed, and a few crates of guns that we called an armory.
I wasn’t about to tell a van full of law-abiding, perfectly employed, good girls all of that; she was right.
“You could say we’re flippers.”
“Oh, like real estate?” Kindra latched on, that hopeful naivety shining bright in her tone.
“Yeah,” I instantly agreed. “Yeah, something like that.”
The radio played a decent song, and it kept the questions at bay, until we arrived in Vera.
“Turn left off the highway, and hook the next right,” I advised.
When the yellow house on the edge of Tilden came into view, I motioned for her to pull off the road. “You’ll want to kill the lights.”
“For what?” Debi scoffed.
I closed my eyes and rubbed my temple.
“Hurry the fuck up,” I called back at Mak, who was swapping spit like he was leaving his lifelong sweetheart for war, rather than running into the dope house for five minutes.
He finally pulled himself off her, and rather than tuck her legs back in front of her, Kindra shot off her seat and planted herself in my lap.
It left Mak awkwardly shuffling around a much larger obstacle than he originally would have, but he didn’t seem to mind. He slapped the back of Debi’s headrest as he passed. “Shut the fucking lights off, or do you want to turn on the emergency flashers and get a little ice cream truck horn? Fuckin’ noob.” He damn near fell out trying to get around my legs. Once he managed to find the ground, he slid the door shut a little harder than necessary.
“Jesus.” I laughed into the valley of my chest and Kindra’s shoulder.
She kissed my cheek and teased her nails through my short hair on the side, “You’re cuter than him, and nicer, too.”
“Hell, that could be true of a junk yard dog.” I laughed, and pretended to stare after Mak, if only to avoid her face.
“You look like the fun kind of trouble,” she murmured, her lips finding their way to my neck.
I could feel Debi’s glare, even if I couldn’t see it.
Kindra was cute, and she smelled nice. I allowed myself to be lured by her tender touch and was soon distracted by a kiss.
The door shot open, and I curled her toward me instinctively.
“Were you saving her or making her your meat shield?” Mak teased, with a knowing grin.
I tried to shift, hoping she’d move along back to her seat, but she just curled her legs tighter to my seat and left Mak to navigate.
