Protective Custody by Wynter Daniels

storm clouds were building. She wished she could shake the feeling that something bad was coming her way. Something really bad.
    ***
    Ed Dawkins walked Will to the door and patted the younger man’s back. “Thanks for helping me set up the surround sound, buddy. Not exactly in your job description, huh?”
    “I had to see for myself what a four-thousand-dollar television looked like. Tell your wife I’ll be here for the Super Bowl. And the World Series. In fact, just warn her that I’m moving in for baseball and football seasons.”
    Ed’s stomach burned when he thought about the money he and Veronica had spent in the past month. He pointed to Will’s cell phone. “Was that your new girlfriend a few minutes ago? She tell you how high to jump?”
    Will’s smile faded. “Nobody believes her about the murder. She thinks the guy’s after her. If he is, who’ll protect her besides me?”
    “Have you considered the possibility that she could have made it all up or that she’d had too much to drink and imagined the whole thing?”
    His lips flattened into a line. “She knows what she saw. I’m just helping her out. And she’s not my girlfriend.”
    “Come on, buddy. I’ve known you too long.” He moved closer and hooked his arm around Will’s shoulder. “Don’t look now, but she’s already got you pussy-whipped.”
    Will shook him off.
    Damn it. He’d pushed too hard. He hadn’t meant to piss the kid off. But he hated for his friend to make the same mistakes he had with Veronica. The moment he’d laid eyes on her, dancing onstage at the topless bar where she used to work, he had to have her. It started as a fling, an ego stroke to soothe his midlife crisis. Before he knew it, he’d fallen for her, and there was no looking back. “I’m teasing you. I know you’re too smart to let a girl get the best of you. Shit, I’m not one to talk, huh? My wife leads me around by my dick.”
    That earned him a chuckle.
    “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Will glanced toward the back of the house. “Goodbye, Veronica. Nice to see you.”
    “Bye.”
    Why didn’t she ever say thank you for anything? Will had been working on the speakers and hookups for more than two hours. Ed shut the door as Will drove off.
    Veronica’s breathy voice pulled him toward the living room. “I want to show you something.”
    He loosened his collar as he crossed the threshold and found her standing in front of his brand-new giant-screen TV. She wore only a gold chain around her waist and a pair of gold spike-heeled shoes. Come-fuck-me pumps, she liked to call them. Her blond hair spilled over her shoulders, pointing to her upturned nipples. And her legs, oh God. The best part was the spot where they connected to the rest of her sweet body. That little tuft of blond fuzz she had waxed every other week. Now, that was money well spent.
    His pulse quickened. Damn, he had the sexiest wife on the planet. She was worth it all—all the extra hours he put in so she could buy whatever she wanted, take short vacations with her girlfriends, live in the house they couldn’t really afford. How could he deny her anything?
    She held the remote. “I love my new television, Eddie Bear.” She shut off the TV and took a few steps toward him.
    His cock sprang to life, and that familiar heat flooded his body. “How much do you like it?” He never tired of her erotic games or her double-D tits, which he’d bought and paid for several times over.
    “So much that I think it deserves some better furniture around it. And new drapes and stuff.” She centered a hand on his chest, then crawled her fingers down his shirt before stopping right above his belt.
    Mentally calculating how much she’d want this time, he scratched his head. He’d already overdrawn their checking account once this month, but he’d find the money somehow. “I told you, kitten, we have to rein in our expenses, just for a little while.” Futile, but worth a shot.
    She sniffled, then