Lottie was upstairs, horsing around with her sugared-upnephews.
The entirety of the “Hot Bunch” and “Rock Chicks,” includingBlanca, Eddie and Hector’s mother, and two gay dudes named Tod and Stevie, hadarrived, and they were having what could only be described as a party.
It wasn’t a rip-roarin’ one, loudand obnoxious.
But Lottie had given them the cue that they needed to bebusiness as usual, so Mo was guessing this was that.
He was also guessing, since the more of them who came over,the more business as usual they acted, the more herself she seemed, this wasexactly what she needed.
What was loud and obnoxious was the TV he could hear fromthe neighbors’ place.
If Lottie was out there, trying to have a moment of quiet tofind some peace, it couldn’t happen because her neighbors seemed to want tohear their TV not only from any corner of their yard, but any corner of any oftheir neighbors’ yards.
“Yo.”
He turned his head and saw Eddie step out on the porch withhim.
“Yo,” he replied.
Eddie came to stand next to him and it took a millisecondfor his brows to draw together and his head to turn toward the neighbors’ yard.
“So this isgonnabe you, notTex?”Mo asked.
Eddie’s attention came to Mo.
“Learn now, that man is a woman’s man,” Eddie shared.“Aftershe lost it earlier, Tex isstrugglin’ withbein’ five feet from her.Any other time, he’d be out here.This time, no fuckin’ way.”
Mo nodded.
He’d gotten that impression from Tex.
Though anyone who’d heard anything about Tex MacMillan knewthat was the way already.
“She’s deep for you,” Eddie pointed out.
“Good to know, since I’m there too,” he muttered.
“Noticed that,” Eddie replied in a mutter.
Mo didn’t mind he did since he wasn’t hiding it.
Eddie continued.
“I probably don’t need to tell you we’ll put the hurt onyou, you do that to her.”
That message had already been made clear.
“Nope,” Mo stated, hearing the channel change next door, nowit was some baseball game, then he could swear he heard a door close.
“And—”
“Hang on,” Mo said, turned, walked across the porch, intothe house, through the people in the house, out the front door, across thelawn, to the neighbors’ front door.
He knocked just as he felt Eddie come up behind him.
“Mo—” Eddie started.
The door opened and the woman who opened it took one look athim, her head tipped back, then she stepped back, and her face got white.
