and avoided the two of them as they got into the kiss. I tried not to stare, but a little part of me wished I was in Lex’s place, a guy fawning all over me and wanting me desperately.
The part of me that I liked to mock and throw stuff at.
“Meet ya in the truck,” Zach ended the kiss and swatted her on the ass. She turned and rushed down the hallway and out into the yard with a haughty smirk thrown my way. She knew PDA bothered me.
“You’re like a horny teenager. I’ve lost all respect for you, just so you know,” I said as we walked into the chilly morning.
“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Baby.”
“Fuck you, boss," I flipped him off.
The three SCTVs were idling in the yard, waiting for their drivers. Ito, Jimmy, and Isaiah were going by water, with one of the armored vehicles loaded. We were leaving one here for the compound. I was going in the rig with Romeo and Lani. The second rig held Lex, Zach, and Blake. The third rig was driven by Kirk and held Duke and Bret Klein.
The goal was to meet up with the troopers and the National Guard in a house off St. Bernard Avenue and Filmore that the group had cleared and were using as a secondary base. Another team from the troopers would break off and hook up with the water craft at a park off Lakeshore Drive, close to Lakeview.
Ito would come in from the rear and we would come in from the main road with a direct assault. Hopefully, it would lead to a bunch of bikers peeing their pants and giving up like the pussies they were. Hopefully.
As we crossed the causeway that separated our compound from the main drag, I settled into the uncomfortable seat and closed my eyes to catch a few minutes of much needed rest.
Romeo didn’t talk and Lani was uncharacteristically quiet, so I slipped into a half doze. Lani usually talked my ear off, a constant barrage of questions about everything and anything. How to do this, and what was it like to do this or that? Poor thing hadn’t lived much before Z hit. She was a sheltered teenager and never got to explore the world before Z, much less live in it. Her quiet nervousness made me twitchy.
I cracked my eye when a large pothole jolted the vehicle and threw me into the door.
“Fuck! Watch it, Romeo,” I growled.
“It was unavoidable,” he responded.
“It wasn’t his fault,” Lani defended him. “The thing was huge. Come summer the streets are going to be a mess.”
New Orleans was a swamp. Our streets and houses were built on unstable ground. During the summer the cement heated up and expanded. Fissures in the road often appeared and huge potholes formed overnight. Before Z, the city didn’t fix many of the potholes that formed, unless they became a hazard, leading a lot of New Orleans residents to bitch and get little signs to put in their yard that said, “Fix our streets.” Now there was no one to fill them in, even if there was an inclination. We’d be reduced to expanses of crumbling cement in only a few short years.
“I remember there was this big pothole, probably more of a sinkhole than a pothole. It formed right outside of our school, and it was so funny. Someone put a flamingo in there and then during Christmas they decorated the flamingo. What part of the city did you live in before Z, Ro–Romeo?” She faltered on his name, which had alarm bells going off in my head.
I was trying to shut them out and go back to sleep, but something about the way Lani was carrying on had me feigning sleep. I felt kind of protective of her. She was a sweet girl and worked her ass off, something I respected. She was also really young and naive. I didn't want her to get grumpy and jaded like me.
Men tended to bring out the jadedness in most women. Whether it’s Daddy, or that first awful love, most of the time it’s a guy that fucks us up royally. Romeo was every girl’s fantasy. He had even starred in a few of mine, before I got to know him.
The part of me that I liked to mock and throw stuff at.
“Meet ya in the truck,” Zach ended the kiss and swatted her on the ass. She turned and rushed down the hallway and out into the yard with a haughty smirk thrown my way. She knew PDA bothered me.
“You’re like a horny teenager. I’ve lost all respect for you, just so you know,” I said as we walked into the chilly morning.
“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Baby.”
“Fuck you, boss," I flipped him off.
The three SCTVs were idling in the yard, waiting for their drivers. Ito, Jimmy, and Isaiah were going by water, with one of the armored vehicles loaded. We were leaving one here for the compound. I was going in the rig with Romeo and Lani. The second rig held Lex, Zach, and Blake. The third rig was driven by Kirk and held Duke and Bret Klein.
The goal was to meet up with the troopers and the National Guard in a house off St. Bernard Avenue and Filmore that the group had cleared and were using as a secondary base. Another team from the troopers would break off and hook up with the water craft at a park off Lakeshore Drive, close to Lakeview.
Ito would come in from the rear and we would come in from the main road with a direct assault. Hopefully, it would lead to a bunch of bikers peeing their pants and giving up like the pussies they were. Hopefully.
As we crossed the causeway that separated our compound from the main drag, I settled into the uncomfortable seat and closed my eyes to catch a few minutes of much needed rest.
Romeo didn’t talk and Lani was uncharacteristically quiet, so I slipped into a half doze. Lani usually talked my ear off, a constant barrage of questions about everything and anything. How to do this, and what was it like to do this or that? Poor thing hadn’t lived much before Z hit. She was a sheltered teenager and never got to explore the world before Z, much less live in it. Her quiet nervousness made me twitchy.
I cracked my eye when a large pothole jolted the vehicle and threw me into the door.
“Fuck! Watch it, Romeo,” I growled.
“It was unavoidable,” he responded.
“It wasn’t his fault,” Lani defended him. “The thing was huge. Come summer the streets are going to be a mess.”
New Orleans was a swamp. Our streets and houses were built on unstable ground. During the summer the cement heated up and expanded. Fissures in the road often appeared and huge potholes formed overnight. Before Z, the city didn’t fix many of the potholes that formed, unless they became a hazard, leading a lot of New Orleans residents to bitch and get little signs to put in their yard that said, “Fix our streets.” Now there was no one to fill them in, even if there was an inclination. We’d be reduced to expanses of crumbling cement in only a few short years.
“I remember there was this big pothole, probably more of a sinkhole than a pothole. It formed right outside of our school, and it was so funny. Someone put a flamingo in there and then during Christmas they decorated the flamingo. What part of the city did you live in before Z, Ro–Romeo?” She faltered on his name, which had alarm bells going off in my head.
I was trying to shut them out and go back to sleep, but something about the way Lani was carrying on had me feigning sleep. I felt kind of protective of her. She was a sweet girl and worked her ass off, something I respected. She was also really young and naive. I didn't want her to get grumpy and jaded like me.
Men tended to bring out the jadedness in most women. Whether it’s Daddy, or that first awful love, most of the time it’s a guy that fucks us up royally. Romeo was every girl’s fantasy. He had even starred in a few of mine, before I got to know him.
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