“I’ve never had an accident in my life,” I informed him.

“And today, you won’t have one either even though you’ll court it.”

“I’m not that bad of a driver.”

“Baby, you are.”

“Am not!” I snapped.

Creed looked to the heavens.

“We have a meeting with Knight in twenty minutes, Creed,” I reminded him and his eyes came back to me.

Then his arms crossed on his chest.

I crossed mine on my chest and we went into stare down.

I may have mentioned patience wasn’t one of my virtues. Actually, I didn’t have many virtues but patience definitely wasn’t one of them.

So it was me who gave in.

But I did it grumping, “Oh all right,” and stomping to his truck.

I avoided looking at his face as we both angled in. I was in a good mood. I had my eighteenth birthday peridot at my neck (tough choice but I decided on chronological) and the man I loved since I was six at my side so I didn’t want my mood broken.

Creed pulled out of my driveway like a Grandpa.

I didn’t inform him of this.

Instead, I shared, “Just so you know, I speak English. You don’t have to macho-speak with shit like ‘you with me’ after you macho-speak with a bunch of bossing me around. I get you. I’m with you. Or if I’m not, I’ll tell you.”

“Noted,” he muttered but sounded like he was smiling.

I made the diplomatic decision not to look.

Then it hit me.

“You’re not gonna stop talking like that are you?” I asked.

“Nope,” he answered.

I sucked back coffee.

Then I turned on the radio.

“Switch it to news, baby,” he ordered.

I absolutely did not switch it to news. I switched it to country with excellent timing. Kellie Pickler was just beginning to sing, “Tough”.

“Sylvie, news,” Creed in a way repeated.

“News is depressing. Kickass country bitches are awesome.”

“Sylvie –”

I started singing. Loud.

Silence from the driver’s seat.

Then a burst of laugher.

So that was when I kept singing but did it smiling.

* * * * *

“You, a word. The rest of you, downstairs.”

This was Knight and on the first “you” he pointed a finger at Creed. We had just made it to his office at Slade. Rhash and Live were already there. Everyone but me looked at Creed. I glared at Knight.

I knew what this was about. Knight loved me. He hadn’t told me but he’d shown me. He thought Creed “shredded” me. He was instigating a badass throw down that, I suspected, would include threats and intimidation as to what he’d do if Creed hurt me again which had zero chance of working on Creed. Mostly because I knew in my soul Creed wouldn’t hurt me. Partly because Creed was as badass as Knight, just a little more rough around the edges and threats and intimidation didn’t work on badasses. Still, Knight was going to say his piece.

I loved that. I loved him. I loved that about him.

But it was totally unnecessary and it could cut into our happy vibe and I didn’t want that to happen for me or Creed.

Knight’s eyes sliced to me. “I’m having a word with Creed now, Sylvie.”

“And I’m feeling a girlie tantrum coming on, Knight,” I shot back.

He scowled at me.

I glared back.

Then he stated the God’s honest truth.

“You know you don’t have the patience to win this.”

I rolled my eyes.

Then I decided to make a point, walked right up to Creed, grabbed his head, pulled it down to me and laid a long, wet one on him.

We broke the kiss with Creed smiling so huge he looked in danger of laughing.

I tossed Knight an unhappy look, ignored Rhash and Live staring at me with huge eyes and sashayed to the door.

I was standing outside the door at the bottom of the stairs that led up to Knight’s office when Rhash and Live lumbered down behind me.

“What the f**k was that?” Rhash asked upon arrival. He was clearly both curious and also wondering why I was making out with the hired investigator seeing as that was a wee bit unprofessional.

Quickly, succinctly, honestly and somewhat brutally, I laid it out.

All of it.

When I shut up, they were both staring at me.

“Holy f**k,” Rhash whispered.

“They starved him, beat him, chained him and sliced him?” Live asked quietly. “For a month?”

“Yup,” I answered. “But they’re dead. We’re not. I’ve got twenty-six peridot necklaces and had a morning that included,” I lifted up my fingers with the count, “three orgasms. And this was before we went over to help out Charlene. So we win.”

“Shit yeah you do. Three?” Live was clearly impressed.

I grinned at him.

Rhash’s voice rumbled to me and the tone made my eyes cut quickly to him.

“He promised him you’d be safe, he’d see to it you had a good life then he sold you into hell?”

One look at him and I could see Rhash was in the mood to be super scary.

“Rhash –”

I didn’t say more because his hand shot out, tagged me at the back of my head, I did a face plant in his wide chest and his other arm closed tight around me.

All the air squeezed itself out of my lungs and not because he was holding me too tight. Without a choice, though I wouldn’t have taken another one, my arms stole around his bulk.

“Glad you won, Sylvie,” he whispered into the top of my hair. I took in a deep breath realizing that in the last two days the people I was tight with that meant the world had doubled to welcome back Creed and include Rhashan Banks.

“Thanks, babe,” I whispered back.

He let me go and his eyes went right to Live. “You tell anyone I hugged Pip, I’ll break your neck.”

Live grinned at him and held up his hands. “Lips sealed.”

I decided sharing time was over. At least for me.

That was why I asked Live, “You doin’ okay?”

Something flashed across his face, he looked away, down to the floor then back at me. “No. Don’t like breathin’ that bitch’s air. Don’t like her touchin’ me. Knight’s keepin’ me busy and away from her so I don’t gotta spend a lot of time with her but when I do, gotta keep up appearances. I’ll be happy when this shit is done and I can get shot of her ass.”

I got that, big time, so I nodded.

Rhash’s phone beeped, he pulled it out, looked at it and then he shoved it back in his pants.