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“Oh, here we go,” he muttered quietly, but it was still loud enough for me to hear. Just finishing a match, he clicked to load another one while turning toward me. “I walked to the gas station for some exercise because you asked me to move a little more, and you should be happy because I didn’t have to pay a delivery fee.”
Happy. That word hadn’t been in my vocabulary lately. Knowing he’d roll his eyes if I mentioned our finances, I decided to try a different route. “I’m trying to buy my book for book club this month, but I can’t afford it if you keep eating out.”
My account bordered near empty already, and I wouldn’t get paid for another week. Tim pulled out his phone and scrolled to something. “You texted me when you went to the bookstore tonight.”
Ah, so he did see when I checked in. He just never responded. “I did, but there’s a new reader who seemed interested, so I let them have my copy.”
“Sounds like a personal problem then. I shouldn’t have to lose my conveniences because you decided to waste our money for someone else to read. They could’ve gotten their own book.”
“It was a prisoner that I had a sit-down with tonight,” I corrected for him to understand they couldn’t just go to the store.
He snorted and picked up his controller for his next game. “You got some thug to read a romance book? I’d pay money to see that!”
“There’s a whole plot line outside of the romance, Tim.” I turned back to the soup to add some dried herbs and seasoning. Fresh herbs were always better, but I couldn’t afford them. Tim never appreciated how much I scrounged to give us a good meal, and he never thought about how poor we were as I slaved away in the kitchen.
“Babe, you read all the lady porn you want. It’s no different than what I like to watch.” His words sank into my belly like a heavy stone.
Porn verses romance novels had been a hot topic for ages when men tried to compare them, but they were different. Books built connections for me to see inside my head. Porn liked to be lazily scripted with actors who sometimes weren’t willing to be filmed. Plus, they made it look like a woman could cum from a cock alone in under two minutes like a man. Clearly, I’d keep my thoughts to myself because Tim had an addiction, one he didn’t want to hear me speak on again. While sex videos could be enhancing, he did them behind my back and never touched me.
Wiping a stray tear, I couldn’t let it get to me. Sniffling, I sucked the snot back into my nose like his words hadn’t cut me deeply and inhaled the herbal scent of the soup. At least I could turn basic ingredients into something that made me salivate. If only he noticed my humble moments of turning water into wine.
***
Tony
“She gave me a book.” Draven skipped greeting us to tell us more about the girl.
“How insightful,” Costas replied, fixing his ballcap to not be seen. “Now you can pass your time in here with ease as we struggle to figure out a way to get you out.”
Shaking his head, he nearly laughed. “No. Let me explain. Millie came to see me last night and told me of a book her club reads. When I mentioned interest in it, she handed it over to me. The guards trust her so much that they never check her shit. She can even bring in a bag!”
“So she’s somehow going to be our ticket to getting you out of here?” I pieced together. It had been our hope that the girl would lead us to something, but my thoughts hadn’t been her purse.
“If we can figure out a way to put something in her bag or in another book she might bring me, I can do my end while you do yours.” Draven looked like he solved world hunger.
“Brilliant,” I sighed. “So we still have to figure out everything.”
“Not everything,” Costas hummed. “I paid off a few guards to leave this job. They’ll be looking for new hires, and my resume will be too good to pass over. It’ll be another week, but my position in here will make things easier to get you out.”
Sitting back, Costas hadn’t told me of all the details he had arranged already. He just said he knew what to do and got to work while I ran a few errands. “You never cease to amaze me.”
“Good. Then I’m doing my job right, sir.” Tipping his chin, he turned back to Draven. “I will keep following the girl with Tony, but I have yet to gain access to their home. Some man resides there, and he only leaves the living room for five minutes to relieve himself.”
“Ah, her lazy boyfriend.” Draven rolled his eyes. “He’s a total loser with no true capacity to be a good man.”
“Does she love him?” I questioned, hating I had to ask. While I knew Draven’s intentions with her were similar to my own, he might try to force her to leave someone she could never let go of.
“Not in a true sense. Just last night, she told me sex couldn’t be like what she read about because it isn’t realistic. She sees him more of a weight, but she feels guilt whenever she thinks about getting rid of him.”
“So she’s never had good sex?” The idea made my crotch pull a little tighter in my slacks.
“Apparently not,” he growled, hungering for us to destroy her saccharine body together. “The guy wants a mother, not a partner, so he feeds off her sweetness to use her.”
“I can kill him easily enough.” Costas shrugged.
“That might be too drastic for her, my friend. She’s not used to our world of bullets and blood. We’ll have to think of a different solution.”
“If he’s what you say he is, he’ll be too scared to fight us for her.” I had an evil glint in my eye that they saw. “We’ll get the girl because he’s a little bitch.”
