“Activate Vivica. Clothes, underwear, whatever the fuck bitches need. Get her ass there to get it and here for when I get Sandrine back. I don’t know what she took so I don’t know what we got on our hands. It could still get bumpy. You got that?”

I nodded.

“I gotta go,” he told me.

I nodded again.

He leaned in quick to give me an even quicker kiss then he took off.

I sucked in breath as I lifted my phone to call Vivica.

Then I thought that day was turning out not so golden.

Then I thought, Sandrine, she’s gonna be the death of me.

* * *

“Shit, fuck, stupid Sandrine. We get her sorted, I’m gonna kick her skinny, white ass.”

This was Vivica, pacing the landing between the kitchen and the sunken living room, ranting.

“Viv,” I whispered and she stopped and cut her eyes to me.

“Good news is, never been here. Sandrine said this crib was sweet. She didn’t say it was sah-fuckin’-weet. Bad news is, you got a heart of pure gold. You’re gonna be all Momma’s gonna make it better when you should do that ‘til it’s better then you need to back me up with, you do this again, Momma’s gonna kick your skinny, white ass.”

I pressed my lips together.

My phone in my hand rang.

I jumped, looked at it, saw the call was from Knight, took it and put it to my ear.

“Sweetheart,” I whispered.

“Babe, got her. Head’s up, she is fucked up. We’re ten minutes out. When we get there, you’re on duty. You get Vivica?”

“Viv’s here.”

“Good. Shower first. The one in the front hall.”

“Okay but, should we take her to the hospital?”

“Bad high mixed with booze but if she was gonna stop breathing, she would have done it hours ago.”

“What did she take?”

“Better question, what didn’t she take? Smoked meth. Got wired, he freaked, gave her shit to bring her down. She went down, gave her shit to take her back up. Motherfucker’s got money so he’s also got a pharmacy and not all the legal kind. All that on top of her being absolutely hammered.”

I sucked in breath.

Knight kept talking.

“Kurt’s dealing with him.”

Oh boy.

Knight went on, “Towels in the hall bathroom are clean. She’s probably gonna crash soon. That’s gonna happen in the TV room so sort that. And a bowl. Fuck knows, she might still puke though the dude she was with said she’s been doin’ a lotta that but he didn’t need to tell me since I smelled it at his place. That’s likely why she’s still breathing. If she has to do it again, I just fuckin’ hope she waits until she’s outta my ride.”

I did too. Aston Martins and drunk/high vomiting did not go together.

Or any vomiting.

God, Sandrine.

“Okay, honey,” I said softly.

“Be there soon. Later.”

“Later.”

I disconnected and my eyes went to Viv.

“They’re close. We’re up,” I told her.

“Have I said today I love him?” she replied.

I smiled, it was freaked, it was happy, it was hopeful.

“No,” I whispered then sighed, “but yeah.”

Then I put the phone on the counter and hustled to the hall bathroom.

* * *

I left a fuming, eyes to a movie Vivica and the now sleeping Sandrine in the TV room and walked down the hall to find Knight.

As I was going, Kurt crossed the mouth of the hall.

His eyes came to me, his chin went up, he grunted, “Yo,” but he didn’t break stride and thus disappeared.

As I got to the end of the hall I stopped and looked to the left to the front door to see it closing. Then I looked to the right and saw Knight outside smoking.

I walked there.

He was hips against the railing watching me even before I made it to the door.

Once I stepped through and closed it behind me, I said, “She’s sleeping.”

“Good. She wakes up, she’ll feel like fuck but you still do not hesitate to rip that bitch a new fuckin’ asshole.”

I stopped two feet away and pressed my lips together.

“You stopped too soon,” he informed me and I moved the rest of the way.

He instantly wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me so I was resting most of my weight on him. I lifted my hands and placed them light on his chest.

“I’m so sorry, Knight. She ruined our golden Sunday,” I said quietly.

“Yeah, she did and I’m pissed about that. I’m pissed about the state I found her in. I’m pissed I had to deal with that shit. I’m pissed I had to fuck up Kurt’s Sunday off callin’ him in. I’m pissed your posse is here not havin’ a nice dinner and some wine but dealin’ with that shit. And I’m pissed they’re here at all because I have you all day, you wanted me to get inspired and I was lookin’ forward to that.” His arm gave me a squeeze. “But the gig is, Anya, you should be pissed about all this too and a fuckuva lot more than me. This bitch is your bitch and she doesn’t get smart fast, this budding tendency toward creating bad scenes that are gettin’ worse is gonna get outta hand.”

He was so right.

So I agreed quietly, “Yeah.”

“Your other bitch looks fit to be tied and hangin’ on from lettin’ loose by the skin of her teeth. You should be too,” he told me.

“That’s what Viv says.”

“She’s right and so am I.”

I pressed my lips together.

Knight watched, took a drag from his cigarette, blew out the smoke in a thin, pissed off stream then he crushed it out on the ashtray on the railing. Then both his arms curved around me.

“Right,” he started. “Kurt got the full story and the fuck of this is, this guy last night, he’s loaded. Serious as shit. And somethin’ else, he’s had his eye on Sandrine a while. And not to fuck her up and play with her in ways she doesn’t want. The stupid fuck actually liked her. He thought it was him needin’ to prove somethin’ to her. Partier. Player. Big man. High roller. Show her he’s got connections. He’s cool. Hip to the fuckin’ scene. Do not know how this dude makes his money but he has fuck all confidence. He’s never even smoked meth. Why the motherfucker had it is beyond me. Those two smokin’ meth when neither of them knew what the fuck they were doin’ is so fuckin’ ridiculous I can’t even begin to describe it. To have meth at all is jacked. That is not my problem. My problem is, I got a woman who’s got a girl who’s got her head jammed so far up her ass, she cannot fuckin’ see. This guy was her ticket. And instead of just bein’ classy and beautiful and sweet, she put herself out there when this guy only wanted the classy, beautiful and sweet and to lay the world at her feet so she’d take his cock and, probably, take it long enough to get his ring on her finger, make babies and spoil her until she died. Now, he’s got puke all over his house, he’s had a visit from Kurt and me that was extreme and if she was even together enough to give him her number, he’s probably erasing it from his phonebook right now if he hasn’t already. So that’s my problem, Anya, because you and Vivica don’t pull her head outta her ass, this is gonna stay your problem, and through you mine, for a long time. And I’ll give you this one head’s up, a man fucks with her which means through her you experience a crash and burn, and I’m talkin’ he date rapes her or we’re takin’ a trip to the hospital for any fuckin’ reason, by association, she gets my services. And that means, the guy who did it is breathin’ through a tube and that’s only if I’m in a good enough mood to leave him breathing.”

I held my breath and held his eyes.

Knight kept talking.

“I am not kidding. I’m also not exaggerating. So save me that hassle and pull her head outta her ass.”

“Okay, Knight.”

He stared at me.

Then, softer but still firm, he told me, “I had a man who saw and heard the entire fuckin’ thing that went down with Nick. She put your ass out there, Anya, and I know it. I wasn’t at the club that night, my man wasn’t close, I do not like to think where Nick woulda taken that with you. You say Vivica is protective, you are too and what you did to pull Sandrine outta that shit proves it. You made the wrong decision then, baby. Don’t make the wrong decision today. In this situation, your protection needs to run the way Vivica’s does. Don’t buckle and be sweet. Don’t swing your ass out there. Don’t swing mine out there. Don’t swing Vivica’s out there. You get me?”

I nodded.

He pulled in a sharp breath through his nose then his eyes drifted over my shoulder.

I watched him get lost in thought then I slid my hands down his chest so I could wrap my arms around him. His chin dipped down and his eyes caught mine.

“Told you about my Dad,” he stated apropos of nothing. “Didn’t tell you he isn’t my Dad. He’s my stepdad. I have no fuckin’ clue who my Dad is because my mother was a prostitute before she met him.”

I blinked and my body went solid.

Oh my God.

“Oh, Knight. Honey,” I whispered.

His hand slid up and curled around the back of my neck but his eyes never left mine.

“She was fucked up. All I ever knew until Carl came into our lives and sorted her shit out. Nick’s his. He never made me feel I wasn’t. He adopted me legally, gave me his name. I was a little kid but I remember all that shit before Carl. Makes no sense, don’t know how she did it but even fucked up, she was a good Mom. She loved me, took care of me the best she could. They obviously never talk about it and I sure as fuck never asked but my guess, he was a john, he was a regular and he fell in love with a street walker. Got her off the street. Got her clean. Gave her a good life. It’s jacked but it worked.”

“I’m pleased you’re sharing with me, sweetheart,” I told him softly and cautiously. “I wanna know about you. But I’m wondering why you’re sharing this now.”

“Why is because she had a good life, good parents, good schooling. She went off the rails doin’ stupid shit for men. It got messier and messier until her whole life was mess. I don’t know my grandparents, neither does Nick. They got shot of her and she made them do it in a way where they never looked back. Even for grandchildren. I am not clairvoyant. But I learned really fuckin’ early a lotta bad shit can happen to women. A lot of it. And, you might think I’m wrong but I’m not, a lot of that happens because they do stupid shit and they’re weak. Your girl is weak and not because her Dad thinks she’s beautiful and precious and told her so. Because she just is. It’s time she sorts herself out before, one way or another, she’s beyond anyone saving and protecting.”

“Viv and I’ll talk to her,” I promised.

“Do it until you’re blue in the face and break through. You don’t, I’m gonna keep an eye on this and the time comes you need to scrape her off to protect yourself, I’ll be leanin’ on you to do that. She’s your girl and that’ll be your decision. But I won’t let up. Get me?”

“Get you,” I whispered.

His arms gave me a squeeze.

“Right,” he muttered. “Now, I’m gonna make you and Vivica lunch. Is there anything she doesn’t eat?”

God, God, God, this was a good, kind man even if he calmly talked about making people breathe through a tube.

“Anything green and healthy on the weekends. She keeps to a strict, twelve hundred calorie, heavy on the veggies diet Mondays through Fridays so she can do whatever she wants on the weekend. So, don’t make salad. Viv won’t eat it.”

I watched his lips twitch then he murmured, “I think I like this bitch.”

“She’s a submissive.”

Oh God! Did I blurt that out?

I watched Knight do a slow blink.

Yep, I blurted that out.

I pressed deep and gave him a squeeze of my arms. “Don’t tell her I told you,” I begged on a whisper. “I don’t even know why I told you.”

“She out that before or after you told her I own you?” he asked, totally clued in.

Oh boy.

“After.”

He grinned. “Built-in advisor. Lucky for you, babe.”

I rolled my eyes.

I felt his body shake with his chuckle as his arms gave me a squeeze.

When I rolled them back he asked, “She owned?”

I shook my head and whispered like Viv, who was space and walls away, could hear if I didn’t, “Looking.”

“Won’t look long,” he muttered.

“She made it sound like it wasn’t easy to find the right one.”

His eyes held mine and he replied, “It fucking isn’t.”

Oh.