Page 90 of The Deals We Make

Ti’s laughter is rich and deep. “This is me shutting up.”

He presses his lips to mine again, and I sigh with the warmth and comfort I feel.

“You ready to go out there?” he asks, tipping his head to the monitors.

I look carefully at the screen. No one looks familiar from before. I mean, I see the men who helped me clear out my mother’s house, but no one who came into my house the day this all started.

I climb off his lap. “Yes.”

He stands, shakes the denim over his knees that wrinkled up while sitting, then slips my coat off my shoulders. “Want to take another look at that ass in that dress,” he says.

I slide my hair over my shoulder, then look back at him. “This ass?”

He bites his lip and wrinkles his nose as he looks down my back to my ass. “Finest one I’ve seen in a long time.” He cups both my butt cheeks with his big hands and squeezes them gently. “Want to come all over them.”

“Maybe we should have stayed home and done just that.”

“Don’t tempt me. Now, walk. Want to see your legs in those heeled boots as you strut in front of me.”

“No. We enter the room side by side so I can cling to your arm like a limpet while pretending I am totally okay.”

Like a hero in a bygone era, Ti offers me his arm. I slip my arm through his. “You’re safe,” he reminds me.

And while I desperately want to believe him, I don’t feel safe anywhere right now.

27

VEX

Isit at a round table with Switch, King, and Niro, but my eyes are on Calista.

She’s trying her best, and maybe the others don’t realize because she’s doing a good job of masking it, but she definitely isn’t enjoying today. Vi and Iris are animatedly talking about something, and they’re trying to include Calista, but I know my girl. And the small talk she’s making and the smile she’s faking aren’t her.

“Does Vex have a little girlfriend?” Niro teases, looking in the same direction as me.

“Fuck you,” I reply.

“From where I’m sitting, it appears you’d rather be fucking her,” King says.

I flip the bird at my president.

All three of them chuckle.

“So, you grew up with her?” King asks.

I nod. “I moved in next door to Calista. Her mom was the only one on the street who welcomed us to the neighborhood. Then, she became a teacher at the school we went to. Cal hated it. But Mrs. Moray would look out for me.”

“You guys hook up back then?” Niro asks.

“No.” For some reason, sharing too much about mine and Calista’s past feels wrong. Plus, I don’t want to say one word more than I have to that might lead to a comment with an old timer. Because I really want to know who went to her house that day so I can question them and smash their fucking faces in.

“So why you looking at her like you got some beef with her?” Niro asks.

“Brother,” Switch says to Niro. “Do we get all up in your business about Cat?”

Niro shrugs. “I mean, you did when I came in with that black eye.”

King huffs. “Yeah, and we learned more than I ever want to know about your sex life because of it.”