Page 68 of Time Served in New York
“It would be . . .” Blue let out a grunt at the same time Frankie groaned, “. . . easier if I could . . .” There was another grunt and another groan, and I leaned farther back to pull on Frankie since Blue was tugging her the other way. “ . . . brace my foot on your ass . . .”
“Enough!” Frankie wheezed.
“Paula! Finger!”
With a wicked giggle, Paula pushed at the back of the corset, and Blue tied off the strings.
“There ya go! Instant skinny!”
“I can’t breathe,” Frankie gasped.
“Stand up straight and put your shoulders back. Breathe in through your nose and then exhale slowly,” Maylee said as I let go of Frankie’s hands.
Frankie did as she was told and then asked, “When does it get better?”
“When you take it off,” Maylee said with a shrug. “You’ll be fine. Oxygen is overrated, and you’re going to look fantastic.”
From the bedroom, Boo let out an ear-piercing scream, and we turned to look as Maylee darted around Frankie to go to her daughter. She skidded to a stop halfway across the room when a man stepped into the hallway with Boo under his arm. He pointed a gun at Maylee as he yelled, “Get back over there with your girlfriends.”
“Give me my daughter,” Maylee growled as she stood her ground. The man started to turn the gun toward Boo and Maylee stepped back, never taking her eyes off of the toddler squirming in his hold. She tried to reassure her by saying, “Be still, Boo. Be still,” but Boo wasn't having it and just squirmed harder.
“What are you doing, Don?” Frankie asked in a menacing voice.
“Those bastards took my life from me, and I’m going to take it back.”
“Let the baby go, and we’ll do anything you want,” Paula offered.
“You’ll do everything I say anyway, Paola. The little girl’s going with me, though. I’ll give her to your father so he can try again. He fucked up raising the first one, and I think he deserves another chance.”
“My father?” Paula asked. I saw her glance toward the bedroom where the man had come from, probably expecting her father to walk out any second now. “How did you get in here?”
“You never heard me come inside over all your cackling. Just shows how unprepared those bastards really are.” As he scanned the room, he asked, “Which one of you is Bernadette?”
“She’s not here,” Frankie told him. I fought the urge to look toward the terrace, wondering if Bernadette and Jenn even realized there was something going on inside.
“Where is she?” the man roared.
“She left,” Paula told him with a shrug. “She’s who you really want, isn’t she?”
“Oh no,” the man said with an evil grin. “Your father is outside waiting. He’s got plans for you, Paola. Big plans.”
“Well, he’s fucked then because I’m not going anywhere with either of you old bastards,” Paula snapped. “Put the baby down and get out while you can, Don.”
“Don’t sass me. I won’t put up with that shit,” the man said as he shifted his weight so he could get a better grip on Boo. “All of you line up. We’re going to take a little ride, and then I’m going to send each of you back to your men piece by fucking piece until I run out of bodies to cut up.”
“You are way too fucking dramatic,” Blue said as she rolled her eyes. “Don’t you watch movies? The man who does the long speech always dies.”
“Shut up. I’m not the one that’s going to die today,” the man barked.
“Actually, you are,” Blue said as she took a step toward him. From the other side of the room, Brea took a step in his direction, too, causing the man to look from one woman to the other and then back. Since I was on the opposite wall from Brea, I took a step his way, too, splitting his attention three ways now. “You can’t shoot all of us at once, and I can guaran-fucking-tee that whoever gets to you is gonna make you regret waking up this morning.”
“I’ll second that,” Brea said as she took another step his way.
I took a step, too, and his gaze wandered over to me. “Let the baby go and we might let you live.”
“No,” Blue said, causing the man to look at her now. “I’m going to enjoy killing him.”
“Not as much as I will,” Paula said as she took a step forward. “Did you think we’d start crying, Don? Are we supposed to be terrified?”
