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After Easy rolled out of the gravel lot while Tex, Hawk, and Chris climbed into Tex’s Hummer and headed to Maria’s down the road. It was slow and Slick was off today, but she’d said she was going shopping this afternoon and therefore the boys were going to have to fend for themselves for lunch.
Chris’ phone buzzed as he bit into a chicken wing. He carefully dug it out of his pocket with two fingers and a napkin. Easy calling… He tapped the screen with his knuckle. “What’s up?” he asked, returning to his wing.
“Your woman,” Easy growled. “That’s what’s up!”
Chris glanced at the other men and frowned down at the phone. “What-”
Into the phone, Easy yelled, “She’s launched a full scale invasion of my house, Shooter! Of. My. House!” At Hayley he shouted, “Boundaries, woman! Do you have them?”
“Don’t take that tone with me, Jimmy!” Slick’s voice rang out on the speaker.
Chris put down his wing. “Why are-”
“You stop right there, woman!” Easy shouted. “Don’t you come any closer with that! I am not playing! Put it down, right now!”
Before Chris could intervene, the phone disconnected. He stared at it.
“You think she got a hold of your gun?” Hawk asked.
Chris blinked at the man. “Negative. We talked about it. She absolutely knows she’s not allowed to shoot anyone. Not even Easy.” His scowl deepened. “Although…”
“What?” Tex asked.
“I did say she could use the Louisville Slugger under the couch.”
Hawk and Tex laughed. “You think she’s whooping his ass right now?” asked Tex. Chris groaned and wiped his hands. Tex flagged down their waitress. “Do you think think you could get us some to-go boxes, darlin’? Appreciate it.”
“What’s she doing in his house, anyway?” Hawk asked, shrugging on his jacket.
“Slick’s mind is a dark, twisted labyrinth of female logic, Hawk,” Chris answered. “I have no fucking idea.”
They pulled into Easy’s driveway a few minutes later. “Hey,” Hawk declared. “Isn’t that Milo’s truck?” Everyone looked at Milo’s truck parked across from the house.
“Sure is,” Tex noted.
“Hmm,” Hawk mused. “Easy said it was a full scale invasion. Apparently she brought reinforcements.”
“I don’t think Slick and Milo combined could take down Easy, even with the bad leg,” said Tex. Then they heard a shriek from inside the house and they all ran up the steps with Chris leading the charge. He threw open the front door, but unfortunately collided with the couch, which had been angled in front of the entrance. The living room was in disarray with canvas stretched along the floor. On the canvas, Jimmy and Hayley were rolling around on the floor, wrestling fiercely.
“Stop it!” Jimmy ordered.
“You stop it!” Hayley snarled.
“I said stop it first!” Jimmy argued. “And it’s my house!”
“It was my house first!” Hayley shot back.
“You’ve got another one!” Jimmy bellowed.
“So?” Hayley shouted just as loudly.
“Jesus,” said Tex, peering over Chris’s shoulder.
“I need a beer!” Milo announced, and for the first time Chris noticed the man standing in the kitchen wearing overalls and a baseball cap.
Chris rounded the couch, bent, and lifted Easy off Hayley. Both of them were panting like they’d just run a marathon. He set Easy on his feet and stared at the both of them. Hayley lay on the floor, paintbrush in hand, and by the looks of it, had gotten in several jabs with it because Easy’s face, hair, and clothing had jaunty splashes of green all over them. Hayley had fared slightly better, a green dollop was smeared on one cheek but not much was in her hair or on her clothes.
“Well, at least she didn’t use the bat,” Hawk declared cheerfully.
“It was like watching two rabid squirrels in a burlap sack,” Tex told Jimmy.
Jimmy glared at him. “Do you have any idea how hard hand to hand combat is with a woman? Well, it is! It’s damn hard, seeing as how you can’t actually hurt ‘em.” He glared at Hayley. “No matter how bad you might want to!”
Chris bit back a smile and looked around the open living area. “So.”
Hayley blew a stray hair out of her eyes. “Well, it’s too much beige. No one can live with that much beige.”
“So what color is this?” Tex asked, looking around.
“Windswept Pine,” she replied. “I read about it in a magazine at the grocery store checkout. Green promotes healing,” she declared.
“Oh, Jesus,” Easy snarled. “I don’t need some Feng Shui bullshit, Slick. I-”
“Well, it’s your favorite goddamn color, too!” she shouted at him.
He hesitated. “How do you know that?”
“Because all your shirts are green. And it matches your eyes.” Easy didn’t say anything so she continued. “God, Jimmy! It’s not Sea Foam or Mystic Meadow! It’s a very masculine green. It’s pine!” she assured him. “I bought you some blue pillows to go on the couch, too. For an accent color. And it will all look really good with the beige carpet and the white trim. We can finish the living room and the kitchen and maybe even the hallway by the time you’re done working tonight. But probably not the bathroom or the bedroom. And anyway I was gonna ask you about that. You wouldn’t let me paint the bedroom purple would you?”
