Page 50 of Gang of Roses: Dice

Revv was acting brand new.

“Come on, nephew.”

The other guy held out his arms, and without hesitation, Revv went right to him.

“Boyyyyy... you brand new within an hour, huh?”

“Puffs,” Revv said while staring up at the man whose name I still didn’t know, like he personally had the cheese puffs.

“Ayy, yo, Tinker Bell, go get the doggon puffs. Clearly, you got ‘em."

“Global, this my best friend, Oats. Oats, this Global.”

“What it do?”

He barely looked my way before turning back toward Coca.

“Man, get the mofo cheese puffs.”

I’m guessing Revv had already told him about his bad words because he definitely didn’t look like the type to clean up his mouth just because kids were around.

“Glo, I’m ‘bout to be over yo’ unwanted guest,” Coca groaned.

“Listen, you already got a grown man calling yo’ tall avalanche Coca. What we need is the puffs, and you can go twirl yo’ fairy in the other room. Yo’ Global, pull us up some Paw Patrol before you rock out. I’m on baby duty.”

“Negro, it’s four adults in this house, and you acting like we bout to leave for vacation,” Coca said, heading to the kitchen to get cheese puffs.

The man I now knew as Oats huffed, and Revv did his own little huff.

How long have they been here? My baby was being poisoned too fast for this to be his first time meeting them.

“Come on,” Ritz’s deep voice came slicing into my thoughts.

I put on the cartoon and switched my ass down the hallway, knowing that he was watching. The silent chuckle let me know he knew what I was doing, but he was not going to call me out on it, though.

Walking into my room, it was so beautiful that I knew I’d have a hard time letting it go.

The master ensuite felt like a five-star suite tucked inside the mountains. A king-sized bed with a thick reclaimed-wood frame sat beneath vaulted ceilings crossed with exposed cedar beams. I loved my comforter set; it was everything. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked a priceless view of the mountains, and I had my very own stone fireplace.

The white double barn doors opened into the ensuite bathroom. I walked to the spacious walk-in closet to grab something comfortable to put on. Grabbing a short lounge set and my fluffy socks, I walked to the freestanding soaking tub and ran a bubble bath.

Ritz just watched, I’m guessing, giving me my space to get right. I took the remote and played rainforest sounds on volume two. Once the water was to my liking and I felt like I was drowning in bubbles, I stripped out of my clothes. If Ritz was still standing, he definitely could see me, and there was nothing shy about my game, and I was too sore to care.

Once I stepped into the tub, I took a second to just pray and ask God for some guidance. My head rested against the tub pillow. I was about to call for Ritz, but I smelled him before I saw him. I opened one eye before deciding to just sit up.

“I was about to call you.”

“Talk, ma.”

I guess time was up. This man wanted answers; I clearly owed him.

“Have a seat.”

I motioned to the benches on either side of the double vanity here.

“Listen, I’m just gonna give you my point of view because I can’t go into this whole thing like we knew each other. I know you have questions, so if you can just let me talk, we can approach this thing like adults.”

I waited to see if he was going to interrupt me, but he just watched me with an intense gaze. So I continued.