“I like your cock too,” I whispered back and I felt him smile against my neck.

“Know that, Vi. Every time I fuck you, you act like it’s been years since I’ve been inside you.”

I twisted my neck to look at him and his head came up.

“You don’t have to be conceited about it.”

He pressed in deeper, heard my soft gasp and chuckled. “Baby, you don’t want me to be conceited, maybe you should stop doin’ shit like that.”

I sighed, too mellow to have a tiff, even a light-hearted one.

Joe kissed my neck and then he pulled out. We settled in our usual position, the one with my head in his chest, and his fingertips roamed my ass and hip while I listened to his heartbeat and fell asleep.

* * *

I didn’t have the nightmare that night either.

* * *

Thursday I got home from work and barely got inside the door before Joe and the girls hustled me right back out.

Back to school shopping.

I didn’t ask why Joe came with us, I was just glad he did.

We had dinner at a restaurant outside the mall then we went inside the mall and the girls bought some new outfits for school; they bought Joe his new shirt (which he didn’t try on but luckily it fit him); and I bought gifts for Bea and Gary, some new frames to replace the ones I broke and a few little nothings to send up to Mel in an effort to brighten her day.

Joe didn’t pay for the shirt or the gifts for Bea, Gary and Mel but he paid for some of the girls’ clothes and the frames even though I tried to pay. We had words right in front of the clerks in four different stores. Each time my fearless Keira waded in, twice taking my credit card and handing it to the clerk, twice taking Joe’s. Neither Joe nor I could protest because this was Keira, what could we say?

While we were walking to the car, Joe used his arm around my shoulders to pull me close as he said in my ear. “Keirry’s a natural diplomat.”

He sounded proud, so proud I couldn’t stop myself from turning my head and kissing his neck. He gave me a squeeze in return.

When we got home, inexplicably, Joe slowed as we drove in front of the house then he stopped on the street.

I looked at him and his head was turned toward the house.

“Joe, what –”

I stopped when I looked at the house too, saw my yard and gasped in outrage. In now dead grass, the word “bitch” could clearly be seen. I hadn’t driven in front of the house that day or the day before for that matter and obviously Joe nor the girls had seen it.

Then Joe exploded, “That fuckin’ cunt!”

Both girls gasped, I jumped and Joe accelerated the Mustang off the street and into our drive so fast I knew he was beyond pissed and it probably wasn’t the time to inform him that the c-word in front of the girls was an absolute forbidden.

Joe stopped the car, killed the ignition, opened his door and surged out of the car, stalking straight to Tina’s.

I realized at this juncture that I should probably have taken her some cupcakes.

I turned to the girls and ordered, “Go into the house.”

“Mom –” Keira started.

“House!” I demanded and then opened my door, got out and ran to Tina’s, hoping my girls would obey (Kate would, Keira, it was a crapshoot).

As I jumped the fence, Joe stopped pounding on the door, turned to look at Tina’s sporty, red Corvette in the drive then he turned away and stalked down her steps.

As he got close to me, I assured him, “I’ll talk to her.”

Joe didn’t look at me, he kept walking and I watched as he put a hand to the fence, threw his legs over it, landed on the other side, walked straight to his house, around it and then he disappeared, going to his garage.

I didn’t know what Joe had in his garage, except his Bullitt car, the hood of which I knew intimately. But I didn’t figure Joe going there was a good sign.

I also saw my girls didn’t obey, not even Kate. They were standing in the yard. Kate was staring at the grass, looking pissed. Keira was staring after Joe, looking worried.

I jogged to Tina’s door and knocked, shouting, “Tina, really, you need to open up, we need to talk before Joe gets back.”

She didn’t open the door. I knocked and called again. She still didn’t open the door. I was knocking again when Joe was suddenly there.

He pushed me to the side and went into a squat. Then he did something with little tools at her lock, the door opened, he straightened and strode right in.

I stood in stupefied silence not only because my boyfriend knew how to pick a lock but would and did until I heard Tina screech, “What the fuck? You can’t just walk into my house! I’m callin’ the cops!”

“Call ‘em, I’ll wait,” Joe replied and I rushed in to see Tina at the mouth of her hall, Joe standing in the living room in his scary as shit, sinister, arms-crossed-on-chest, badass, alpha male stance.

“You broke in!” Tina shrieked.

“Yep,” Joe agreed.

“What the fuck!” Tina repeated.

“Okay, everyone just –” I started.

Joe cut me off by ordering Tina, “Write a check. Five hundred dollars. Made out to Violet Winters and do it now.”

“You’re fuckin’ crazy?” Tina screeched.

“You do it, this is done, no more,” Joe stated. “You don’t, I’m in this war and, trust me woman, you do not want me in this war. I’m done with you, you’ll move to the next fuckin’ county.”

“Are you threatening me?” Tina snapped, leaning forward, clearly having a death wish.

“Yep,” Joe replied, calm as could be.

“You can’t break in my house and threaten me!” Tina yelled.

Joe looked around then back at Tina. “Pay attention, bitch, I just did.”

Oh Lord.

I walked across the room and got close to Joe, wrapping my hands around his bicep which was usually firm but now it was flexed and it felt like steel.

“Joe, honey, go home. I’ll talk with Tina.”

He twisted his neck and looked down at me. “Gave you that chance, buddy. I told you she fucks with your yard, we got problems.”

“But, Joe –”

“She fucked with your yard, we got problems.”

“She toilet papered my yard!” Tina shouted. “It took me hours to clean that shit up.”

Joe looked back at Tina and I could only see his profile and it scared me. She got the full face and shrank back.

“She didn’t do that to your yard, woman, she was in bed with me. You shit where you live, pissin’ people off, you gotta expect retribution. And you make a habit of shittin’ where you live. Who fuckin’ knows who did that to your yard? All I know is, it wasn’t Vi. You retaliated against the wrong person that person is my woman and your retaliation crossed a line. She can’t clean that shit up without it costin’ her and you’re gonna fuckin’ pay for it.”

“Fuck you!” Tina shouted and Joe shrugged, dropped his arms and turned away.

“So be it,” he muttered, sliding a hand along my shoulders and moving me to the door where he stopped and turned back to Tina. “I was you, I’d think about it. You got until tomorrow mornin’ to put a check in Vi’s mailbox. You don’t, it’s on. You get me?”

“I’m callin’ the cops,” Tina returned.

“You think Mike Haines and Alec Colton and the boys who work with ‘em are gonna be fired up to help you?” Joe asked, this finally penetrated and Tina’s face twisted. “Yeah,” Joe murmured as he noticed Tina was realizing maybe she should have made some friends along with all the enemies she created along the way. “Five hundred dollars, Tina, in Vi’s mailbox by nine o’clock tomorrow morning,” he finished then he turned us again and walked us out the door.

When we hit the fence, he picked me up and lifted me over setting me on my feet. Then he jumped it, took my hand and walked us to the dead grass in my yard where the girls were standing.

“It smells of bleach,” Keira informed us, Joe’s mouth got tight, Kate saw it and shoved Keira’s arm.

“All right girls, take the shopping bags in the house,” I ordered, wondering if I’d have time to do anything about my yard before Bea and Gary got there and thinking I wouldn’t considering I only had one day and I’d be working that day.

“Should we –” Kate started and I looked at her.

“House, baby,” I said softly, “we’ll worry about this tomorrow, yeah?”

She nodded, tagged Keira, they went to the Mustang, got the bags and went into the house. Joe stood staring at the word in my lawn.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Hope that check isn’t in your box, buddy,” Joe said to the yard then looked at me. “Be my pleasure to fuck with that bitch.”

I looked at his face and hoped the check was in my box. Tina was indeed a bitch and her writing the same with bleach in my beautiful grass proved it. But I reckoned no one, not even Tina, deserved the fury Joe looked ready to unleash.

“You want a beer?” I asked and Joe stared at me.

Then he shook his head but answered, “Yeah.”

We walked in the house, my arm around his waist, his around my shoulders.

“It’s just grass,” I told him softly.

He stopped us at the front door and curled me into his front. “Yeah, Vi, it’s just grass. And your brother just died. I’d have a lot more patience with her shit if it was two months ago or six months from now. She’s not gonna change but she should be human enough to pick her times. She wasn’t so I hope that check is not in your box. She needs a lesson and I’m in the mood to give her one.”

“Joe –”

His head dipped down and he touched his lips to mine before saying, “Don’t worry, baby, whatever I do won’t blow back on us.”