She's All Mine(23)

“I think what we both need is some food. Let’s get pasta over at Spinneli’s and then go home and fuck like bunnies.”

I start to slam the door shut when she yells, “Wait.”

I swing it back open. “What?”

“Are we getting extra-cheesy garlic bread and the deep-fried ravioli?”

“We are now.”

That puts a smile on her face. The smile remains because we get all her favorite foods, plus a custard for dessert. She eats everything. When we get home, I feed Tuesday and then lock her out so that I can have my dessert.

After she falls asleep, I call a gym body to come and watch over Erika. I meet him outside.

“Sorry that I’m not letting you in.” I hand him a Benjamin. He slides it into his pocket.

“No problem, man. I’ll just sit here on the floor. It’s cleaner than the mat at the gym.”

“Don’t let Morry hear you say that,” I warn. She takes good care of the place.

He holds his hands over his head. “I was joking. Anyway, like I said, this is fine.”

I leave Brix and walk downstairs to meet the Audley twins. Apparently, the perpetrators belong to some frat house. I hate frat boys and am irrationally pleased we are going to beat up a few tonight.

I slam one fist into my palm and grin at the Audleys.

“We’re not fighting,” one of them tells me.

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because I have other plans. I’ll explain when we get there.”

Hopefully that means we’re torching the place, but when we arrive, one of them tells me that we’re doing everything “by the book,” whatever the fuck that means.

“We’ve promised Olivia that we can’t go to prison because only one of us gets conjugal rights,” one of them explains.

“Can’t you just switch it up? You guys look alike.”

“We could, but Olivia is convinced we’d get caught. To her, we’re as different as night and day.”

I look from one face to the other and back again. The only way to tell these boys apart is to break one of their noses. I don’t do that because I don’t think Erika would be happy. A moving van shows up minutes later, which pisses me off.

“What’s that? We don’t need outside reinforcements…or witnesses.”

“Trust me, Tank. Like I said, we promised Olivia we wouldn’t get in trouble.”

Not getting in trouble apparently means that Zeke Audley buys the damned fraternity house. The main frat dude is looking so distressed, I’m finding it hard to keep a straight face. While Zeke informs the frat boys that the van is there to get them to move out, I do a little investigation, gathering up all the alcohol, weed, pills, and coke they have stashed around the first floor.

The main guy grabs some paperwork from Audley. “There’s a thirty-day termination clause.”

“Not if the landlord has the reasonable belief that there are illegal activities going on. I believe you had a party the other day wherein underage students were allowed to drink. I have statements from various students admitting to this. There is also the matter of the drugs.”

I clear my throat and gesture with both hands at my collection.

The unhappy frat dude flips to the last page of the document he’s reading and curses.

“Fuck you!” he screams, spittle flying out of his mouth. “This is illegal. Wait until my father hears about this.”

I roll my eyes. Oh no, not the father threat. Audley is unimpressed with this as well. After some squabbling, the frat boy tells his sad crew to start packing and the Audleys leave. I wait because I spot one of the dudes from the video just over the left shoulder of the lead frat boy.

“You.” I motion toward the blond dude. All of his housemates turn to look at him.

“Me?” he mouths and points to his chest.

“Yeah, you. I’ve got something to show you.”

“I’m not interested.”

I hold out a closed fist. “You might be into this. It’s something new on the market. Real potent. Will knock a person out for hours with one hit.”

He cocks his head, ponders my words, and then decides my offer sounds good. He pushes his way down the stairs. As soon as he’s within reaching distance, I clock him in the jaw. He goes down like fresh cut timber.

I grin at the other boys, who are frozen on the stairs. “Nice chatting with you dudes. Any time you want more of this, you can find me at Morry’s gym.” I doff an imaginary cap and jog out of the house, whistling under my breath. Today wasn’t such a bad day, after all.

My good mood dissipates the minute I arrive at the condo. My guy is gone. Pissed, I dig out my phone to call him when a text pops up. It’s Erika, telling me she left to go to her dorm.

“Fuck.” I turn around and head for the exit. Did she hear about the frat house thing? Is she mad that I broke that dude’s nose and dislodged a couple of teeth? That was mild compared to what I wanted to do to him.

The hall monitor squawks a protest when I push through the dorm hall entrance.

“No guys in here after ten,” she yells at my back.

I wave a hand of acknowledgment. Girl is just doing her job. I can’t be mad about that, but I’m not stopping either. It takes only a minute to climb the three flights of stairs. My heart stops racing when I see my guy loitering in front of Erika’s dorm room.