tone, ensuring they heard his last name. Arjen nodded towards the group, not bothered by any of their behavior, even as a few snarled like dogs.
Half the table had the presence of mind to know the name, and stared in awe between Arjen and me, knowing what a marriage between us could mean. I noticed Johnathan, ‘Ja Ja’ punch his cousin, Shawn ‘Shockey’ in the arm to get his attention before he leaned in to share his knowledge.
Some of the group were too in their feelings to let the Vallin name spark the flame that should have ignited in their brains. Once Shawn was informed, his eyes widened before his intrigued gaze landed on Arjen and stayed on him, observing with newfound respect. At least more than half of them knew the name and were smart enough to connect the dots.
“I don’t believe this shit. Tell me you haven’t gone and married a white boy?” came Marshawn’s outburst.
“Yes, I have gone and married whoever the fuck I want,” I replied. My voice was low, but my eyes were cutting his ass into bite-sized pieces. I stared at him, unblinking, my glare saying, Keep-fucking-questioning-me.
Marshawn was one of the hardest workers in our group, but I had warned him many times that that mouth of his would get him in a world of trouble. Also, we had hooked up once when I was twenty-two, and he presumed it gave him extra privilege and an elevated level of authority.
He was a few years younger, so fucking me had inflated his ego even more than it already was. Although it had happened once, four years ago, he had never given up the quest to get me back in bed with him. He wasn’t a bad bed partner compared to what I had gotten tangled up in but sleeping with him was a rookie mistake on my part.
“No, I don’t believe this shit either,” Marcus, Marshawn’s cousin, stated, following in his cousin’s footsteps with the unnecessary mouth action. They weren’t real cousins, but they had been aces long enough that they claimed it.
I reached down, taking my time, fingering my shoes off. The audience at the table, as well as Arjen, watched, curious as to what I was doing.
The purple designer pantsuit I wore, highlighted my curves. The jacket was cut to flash a little bit of cleavage that I had just given them a glimpse of when I bent. The action quieted the last hints of chatter. There were times when I enjoyed being a woman. We had the ability to control men without them even realizing it.
Without my extra four and a half inches, I didn’t tower above them like I wanted, but a bunch of grown toddlers complaining, and the shoes pinching my left baby toe had me about ready to blow the hell up and lose the little bit of chill I had.
“Does your uncle know what kind of ratchet ass bullshit you’re out here pulling?” Marcus continued, showing out in front of his play cousin.
Before I could catch myself, my red bottom heel went flying at Marcus’s head, but unfortunately not connecting with the big ass target he provided. The other shoe went flying at Marshawn, who dodged it before it caught him in the eye. I had done my best to blind their asses. It was too bad I wasn’t a better shoe thrower.
The rest of the group, including Arjen, were unable to hold in their laughter, but I stood in place, steaming. The mean glare I cast at the cousins quieted everyone else’s laughter. One was staring back at where my shoe had landed, attempting to hold in a laugh, while the other cast deadly eyes in my direction.
“Next time, it will be a fucking bullet. Now get me my fucking shoes before you make me do something I’m not going to regret.”
HB sat snug against my back, begging for a chance to demonstrate his talents. He gave a motherfucker seventeen reasons not to piss me off. HB had been with me since I was nineteen, and although I owned a cache of other weapons, he kept me protected better than any of the others.
HB also had the most bodies on him. If he came out, he would eat because I rarely denied him a meal. This group knew of the havoc me and HB were capable of stirring.
The silence in the room came alive. When they knew I was pissed or getting pissed, they jumped serious, knowing