Page 27 of Tony

And then I want to go home a free man. Forget all about Belinda Baker just like I forgot all about Rosalie Thompson ten years ago.

My obsession with Rosalinda will be over. Tonight. I’m going to make sure of it. And Soshee has agreed to help me.

So when we see Belinda come out of Sick Boyz and head towards Anna Ameci’s we make a plan. I will confront Belinda as she waits to pick up her food. And then Soshee will slip across the street and confront Vann.

What we didn’t expect was for Vann to follow Belinda over here.

And that kiss he gave her, in full view of both me and Soshee? We didn’t see that one coming either.

My body is hot with rage and anger when he kisses Belinda. They share some kind of moment. Here, in front of everyone. Vann leaves. Belinda watches him… and the look on her face?

What the fuck is that look? What does it mean?

She glances at me and I get to my feet. But she’s out the door before I can move.

“We’re on,” Soshee says. Then she points to the window and we both watch Belinda cross the street towards Sick Boyz. But Vann is standing out front of the tattoo shop with a group of college girls, so Belinda darts into the alley to avoid him.

“You take the back,” Soshee says. “I’ll take the front.”

And like a dream team in the game of let’s-use-each-other-to-get-what-we-want, Soshee and I exit Anna Ameci’s and cross the street. Vann is inside now, and she follows him through the front doors, glancing over her shoulder at me just long enough to wink.

I slip in the alley, wondering if Sick Boyz locks the back door. Wondering if Belinda will be in the break room or already back at her station in the waiting area.

But I don’t need to wonder long, because she’s not inside when I round the corner to the back of the building.

She’s leaning against the brick wall like… like she needs a moment to catch her breath.

Is she swooning?

I just stare at her, my body numb with feelings I’m currently unable to describe, but for some reason the word unraveling comes to mind.

I ravel back up and say, “What the fuck was that?”

Belinda shoots me a face of pure contempt. “What are you doing here? Won’t your new girlfriend wonder where you’re at?”

“Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?” I laugh.

She scoffs back at me. “You wish. I don’t give one flying fuck about who you have dinner with, Tony.”

“It wasn’t dinner. It was lunch.”

And even though she tries to play it off, she doesn’t quite manage it.

“That’s right,” I say, walking forward into the little alcove. I get close to her. Way too close. So close I get the urge to lean in to her neck and smell the sweet scent of her botanical shampoo. But I’m not unraveling. I’m in control now. So I say, “We spent the entire day together. Laughing and talking like normal people.” I lower my voice to a throaty growl. “Flirting.” I’m so close now I can reach up and rest my hand against the side of her face. “She won’t turn me away when I try to fuck her later.”

“Good for you,” Belinda says, pushing me back. And she starts to clap. Slowly. In a mocking way. “She’s in love with Vann, by the way. So whatever you get from her is just sloppy seconds.”

“Hmm.” My lips press together as I force a smile. “I’d believe that. If I thought he was fucking her. Which he isn’t. So no, sorry. She appears to be all mine.”

“You can have her. No one cares, Tony.”

“Except you.”

“No,” she huffs. “I do not care who you fuck.”

“No?” I ask, getting even closer to her. My fingertips reach for the edge of her t-shirt and I pull her towards me until her breasts bump up against my chest.

“No,” she whispers back.