Page 28 of About the Green

Nina: So which is it? Pink or Black?

This little—

I don’t get to finish my thought before another text comes in.

Nina: I’m glad we could agree on 45 minutes.

I check the time and curse. She distracted me with sex to get what she wanted anyway.

God, I’m dumb.

Fuck, I fell for it. How often does she do this? I have too many follow up questions but the one I settled on is…

Vert: When did you take these videos?

Nina: What videos? I played with my toys? Like you told me to.

Is she really going to pretend that she didn’t take those videos that she sent me? How in the hell did she even do that?

They’re gone.

And I’m half hard standing in my bathroom with no real proof that I was set up just so she could get fifteen extra minutes to get ready.

Vert: I’m on my way.

Nina: Great [[smiling emoji]] I’m ready now.

This fucking brat.

When we get to the location specified, I didn’t expect it to be another bar. At this rate, I will have had a drink every time Nina has gotten under my skin. That’s a habit I don’t need to form since she’s made it her business to do that any time she can.

I don’t know how Redd knew that this guy would be meeting friends here, but I won’t question it either. It’s not my job to question. It’s my job to keep us safe on these streets.

The man in the blue hat still has no name, but I can recognize the hat now. Nina and I try to look casual in the high top table that gives us a good view of the six men all talking in the far corner of the bar. No one else looks like someone I know but isn’t to my benefit right now.

An olive falls from the chip Nina grabs before she pops it into her mouth. “Aren’t you going to have some of these nachos? They’re actually pretty good.”

“I’m not here to eat nachos, doll” I grumble, making a choice to look away from the noisy table so I don’t appear obvious.

She licks cheese from her finger before grabbing another. The movement makes me think of how she licked something else and I don’t know if I can handle any more of her teasing.

I’m not going to have the conversation I know she’d love to about those videos she sent me. Hell, she’s probably still waiting on me to address her phone call too.

But I’m not taking the bait.

She’s too young.

Too volatile.

I don’t need those kinds of problems.

“Look! Blue hat’s going out the back.” Nina says, pulling my gaze from her mouth.

I curse under my breath, dropping some money onto the table. Nina grabs her things and I guide her by the waist out the front door. If we’re quick we can catch him before he goes wherever he’s headed next. It could be his house, or it could be another location that leads to where these dissenters are meeting.

The rain has already begun, sudden and dense. Large droplets falling onto us as we sprint to find some cover. I’m certain the time she spent getting ready is going to hell under these heavy southern rains.

“Fuck,” she says, hurriedly taking off her jewelry. I give her a look but she volunteers a response before I have to say anything. “They’ll slip off in this rain with my body lotion and I’ll have to go looking for them.” She drops them into her purse taking her rings off and putting them in her purse as well. “Ask me how I know. Who knows how long we'll be out here.”