“Buddy, I’m in the middle of something.”

“You come over here or I come over there and we do it in front of all the boys who’re demolishing your house.”

He was silent then he sighed and said, “Give me ten.”

“You got ten then I’m headin’ over.”

“All right, baby, cool it. I said I’d be over.”

“Right,” I said into the phone then slid it shut.

I had ten minutes and I knew what I’d do with them.

I limped out the front door, walked across my yard, cautiously jumped the split rail fence that separated the front of Tina and my yards then walked right up to her door and pounded on it.

She made me do this awhile then opened it, her face a smirk, she knew this was coming and she wanted it, the bitch.

“Hey Violet.”

I didn’t greet her, I said, “I hear you spread my business around again, we got problems.”

She put her hand to her chest and said with totally fake innocence, “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

“Donuts for our boys in blue, tellin’ Mike shit you have no idea what you’re talkin’ about, that’s what I’m talkin’ about,” I unnecessarily reminded her.

The fake innocence melted away and her eyes narrowed. “Know you walked out Cal’s backdoor wearin’ his shirt. Know you’re stringin’ along a good man like Mike. Know that’s f**ked.”

“You’re standin’ there throwin’ stones when you regularly screw a married man,” I fired back, watched her sneer even as she flinched and continued. “You don’t know shit, Tina, but even if you did, it isn’t your business so keep your mouth shut.”

“You gonna make me?” she asked, like we were eight and having a verbal tussle at recess during grade school.

“Yeah,” I answered, not in the mood to be mature. “I got way too much f**ked up crap happening in my life, I don’t need to deal with you.”

She leaned back and sneered, “What can you do to me?”

I decided to steal Joe’s line. “Don’t know, but you force it, I’ll get creative.”

“Bring it on,” she snapped.

I shrugged and replied, “You got it.”

Then I turned and limped away to see Joe standing in my yard, feet planted, arms crossed on his chest, his eyes aimed beyond me to Tina’s house.

“What was that?” he asked when I’d jumped the fence again and got close.

“Nothin’,” I replied, limped passed him to my front door and I stepped through.

Joe followed me and closed the door.

“Vi, what was that?” he repeated.

“You and me, we’re over,” I announced again.

He crossed his arms on his chest, stared down at me and I forgot how scary he could look. He’d never done the arm crossing thing and that was super scary.

“I asked twice and I’ll do it one last time, what the f**k was that with Tina?”

I noticed he ignored my announcement so I decided to answer him so we could get to what I wanted to get straight, something that Joe wouldn’t let me do if he was stuck on Tina.

“She saw you drive us away yesterday, she saw you leave the house this morning. She decided to bring donuts to the Station and, while spreading her sugar cheer, share all that shit with the guys, Mike bein’ one of them.”

Joe’s face got hard and far scarier and he turned his head in the direction of Tina’s house to look at my wall.

“Mike and I are good, we’re solid, she’s tryin’ to shake that up and I told her I’m not havin’ that,” I finished, bringing that subject to a close.

Joe’s hard face swung back to me.

“You and Haines are solid?” he asked.

“Yes, which reminds me, you agree or not, we’re over.”

He shook his head.

I stared then asked, “Why are you shakin’ your head?”

“Because we’re not over.”

“We are.”

“We’re not and you’re not seeing him again,” he declared.

My mouth dropped open.

Then I asked, “What?”

“You need to tell him it’s done.”

I felt my eyes get wide and I repeated, “What?”

“Do it today, he’s a good man, you need to cut him loose.”

I felt my body grow slowly solid but I leaned forward a bit while this was happening and asked, yet again, “What?”

“You’re mine, the girls are mine. I’m stakin’ my claim with you right now and, you force it, I’ll do it with him too.”

Did he…

Did he…

Did he just say I was his and the girls were his?

Did he just say he was staking his claim?

Straight out?

“Are you crazy?” I breathed.

“Nope.”

That was when I lost it. It’d been building all day so it wasn’t really a surprise.

“You have got to be f**kin’ kidding me!” I shouted.

“Nope,” he repeated calmly.

I took a step toward him and snapped, “You f**ked someone else while you were f**king me.”

“I lied, never f**ked Nadia,” he replied, still cool as could be.

I sucked in breath at the same time my torso swung back.

“What?”

“I lied, buddy.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does!” I shouted.

“The whole time I was with you, I wasn’t with anyone else. Didn’t even think about it.”

I shook my head, taking a step back then two, his words pummeling me into retreat.

Then I stopped and rallied. “This doesn’t matter, I don’t care. We’re over. I’m not goin’ back there again.”

“You’re already back.”

I stopped shaking my head and glared at him. “I am not.”

“Buddy, you are. You never f**kin’ left.”

“How d’you figure that?” I asked sarcastically.

“You sleep in my shirt,” he answered.

Oh f**k. Why was I such an idiot?

“It’s comfortable,” I snapped.

“And Kate told me, when Mike spent the night, he did it on the couch,” Joe went on.

“He did that because he’s being cool around the girls.”

“I walked out of your room this morning Vi, and neither of them f**kin’ blinked.”