“Then I said, “Matt’s got a big mouth.”“They all got big mouths, girl, learn that quick. These boys talk more than a pack of women. I lost fifty bucks on you.”I was stunned speechless again, this time it didn’t last as long.“What?”“See, Lee nailed Indy the first night they were together. Not nailed her nailed her but she was in his bed. Eddie, with Jet, it took a few days. Hank and Roxie, like, a day. Vance, like three, but Jules was a virgin and he had to interrupt the festivities once to go out and shoot someone.”I was blinking rapidly and feeling kind of faint at the amount and sensitivity of information Shirleen was imparting, not to mention what it might mean to me.“So we had a pool. Everyone threw down money on when they thought Luke would nail you. Mace won five hundred dollars.”Ho-ly crap.“So,” she went on. “Did he nail you nail you or did you two just sleep?”For some reason, I answered her unbelievably nosy question. “We just slept.”“New pool!” she shouted.”

“I had to soften him up because, for whatever reason, all the Rock Chicks had an alternate Hot Bunch guy, Indy's was Eddie. Roxie's was Vance. Jules was Luke. Ava's was Lee. Mine was Mace.”

“Later,” I said to the room at large as I didn’t want to appear rude.For some reason this was met by Shirleen saying, "I’ll put money down that she’s living with him in four days.” My confused gaze swung to Shirleen but she was looking at the movie star glamour girl who was looking at me. “Three days,” Glamour girl said, smiling at me and I thought, in other circumstances, I would have liked to meet her. “A week, she’s got spirit,” The other black lady said. She was smiling at me too, not like I was the butt of some joke, but in a kind way. I opened the outer door. Before it closed behind me, I heard Luke say strangely, “Tonight.” Then everyone laughed.”

“Just a little pointer, Indy, girl to girl, if you want that week with Lee to last into two. He likes itwhen you go down on him in the morning. He’s a fucking animal in bed but give him a morning BJ,he’ll return the favor and rock your world.”Every muscle in my body froze solid.“What did she just say?” Stevie asked.“She did not just say that in front of me,” Kitty Sue said.“Holy crap,” Dolores said.“Oh… my… gawd,” Tod said.“You fucking bitch,” Ally said.“This is more like it,” Tex said.”

“Last night, I thought we were going to begin.”“Begin what?”She let out a soft sigh and said, “You know, begin”His voice held a smile when he replied, “We did, Abby. Couldn’t you tell?”She pulled his pillow to her chest and whispered, “Not really.”“Then you weren’t paying much attention” he muttered.”

“So Shy lowered his voice and reminded him, "She's not your little girl anymore, not like that. She may always be your , little girl in some ways, brother, but not like that. You gave me the chance, I would have told you, this is solid. We started out and it was friends. That wasn't what I wanted, it was what she needed, so I gave it to her. We built on that. The foundation is laid and it's the kind that holds fast. This is it, brother. We're livin' together. Soon's we can do it, we're movin' to a better fuckin' place so I can provide her a decent home. I'm puttin' my ring on her finger, I'm givin' her babies, and when she's laid to rest, that ring I give her will still be on her finger. I see you're accepting this now, so you need it all and there it is. I was a part of an us and I was happy. Some motherfucker killed my parents and took that from me, so life forced me to become nothin' but me. Now I'm as us again, and that's what I'll be with my woman and the family we make until the fucking day I die.""Christ, Shy," Tack whispered."I think now you totally fuckin' feel me.”

“She's wearin' heels, boy, but she's five foot seven, you got five inches and at least a hundred pounds on her," Max replied and I figured he was being a might bit generous with the weight but I wasn't going to correct him, mostly because he wasn't done talking. "And, lastly, she's a woman. You don't ever strike a woman in anger.”