Page 55 of About the Green

“Just to get information, right?” She crosses her arms, pushing her tits up in the process. A tactic to get her way, maybe. Hard to tell, when I can remember just how soft they are in my hands.

“If you feel so uncomfortable, then stay close.”

“Don't know if I can do that without hurtin’ this guy myself.” Why the hell did I say that?

Her eyebrow rises, devious ideas in mind. “And why would you hurt him?”

“‘Cause you're not just a regular kind of doll.”

She blinks slowly. Her big eyes practically sparkling with her question. “And what kind of doll am I?”

“The fragile kind,” I monotone, coming back to myself. It’s difficult not to fall for her subby, playful eyes.

“Fragile like a bomb?” She smirks, too smug for her own good.

“No. Fragile like I don't know what's gonna set you off and kill this guy before we're able to actually get any answers.” She laughs and it’s a sound I hadn’t heard from her in a while. I want to hear more. I don’t think she laughs enough.

“Well, if he has it coming to him… Then what am I supposed to do?”

“Put your blade away.”

“Oh, it is. I don't even have it in my cheek. It's in my wallet,” she raises her bag to show me.

“That means absolutely nothin’ to me.”

She huffs, but I release her to finish doing what she’s agreed to do.

Never said I was going to leave her alone with him. That is more for his protection than hers, obviously.

I get a table in the restaurant to keep watch over her until she leaves with him…

“Vert, I think I got him where you want him,” she says, stepping out from the bed where he's tied up. I don't take any pleasure in having to look at this man's dick, so I throw a towel from the bathroom to cover him up. She’s effectively gotten him hogtied here. Couldn’t tell you how she pulled it off but he’s not going anywhere. An added wrap of tape over his mouth will do a lot of good in keeping us inconspicuous.

“The hell?” He balks when he sees me approach. From the back of my extended stay, it’s not the most private so I’m sure he’ll appreciate the coverage as we head to the Chrome Flame in the truck he drove to this date in.

I don’t know how I ended with grand theft auto in addition to kidnapping but here I am. Nina sits in the passenger seat like the unhinged version of Bonny as I drive away. This was not a bit of Louisianan history I’d like to emulate.

When we drive out past the back parking lot to the open grass lot behind the building, I feel confident enough in our seclusion to get done what we need to.

Nina takes my lead, getting out the truck and coming around to the bed with me.

“Have some questions,” I say when I open the gate up. “You're gonna give me the answers I need.”

The rip of duct tape from his mouth is a painful sound between the three of us as I remove his. He immediately starts spluttering out with his mouth free. “Answers to what, man? Is this your girl or something? I— we barely even kissed.”

“Nah, nah, nah. Don't care about that shit. Honestly, she signed your death warrant, not me, for kissin’ her.”

Sitting Remo up so he can talk a little easier, I readjust the towel to cover him. “Wait, wait, wait. I... I'm sorry, man. Look, I don't want no trouble at all. That's your girl? You and her make a beautiful couple, and I just... let me go. I will leave, and it’ll be fine.”

“No, it won't be fine, because I've got some questions about Colton. Know him?”

“Colton? Yea, yea, man, I know him. He's, uh...” He does his damnedest to see us better in the dark lot. “What? What do you want to know about Colton?”

“Well, he's got somethin’ goin’ on, and it is affectin’ my family and my livelihood. Know anythin’ about that?”

“I don't know nothin’, man.”

Nina sits on the tailgate beside him. Gone is her sweet act, right now, this must be what she looks like with the blade in her hand. “Just quit with the lies. We already know you're affiliated. I just have questions about what that affiliation is like.”