Chapter 5

It takes 200 muscles to fake an orgasm. One bearded man can save you a lot of trouble.

-E-card

Annie

“This isn’t what I ordered, bitch. You said it was a Coach purse, not a…” he never had the chance to finish what he was saying.

Mig struck like a snake.

One second he was leaning against a tree talking on his phone, and the next he had the guy by the throat and he was throwing him across the small parking lot.

The guy hit the gravel with a hard thud and skidded.

The rocks on the ground underneath his body made soft tinkling noises as he moved over them, making me wince.

The man would have one hell of a road rash after that landing

“Don’t fuckin’ put your hand in her face. What the fuck are you thinking?” Mig snarled, standing over the man.

“Mig…” I started, but he held his hand up to stop me from continuing.

“I’m not some fuckin’ man that’ll stop just because you want me to. I’m me, and me is what you get. Right now, you’ll let me handle this little piece of shit,” Mig said with a deadly quiet tone.

I nodded, backing up to sit on the bench at the side of the store, to watch the scene before me unfold.

“Now, how’s about you tell me what made you so upset that you’d get into a woman’s face like that.” Mig ordered the man at his feet.

“She didn’t give me what I ordered. Tried to fuck me over,” the man said petulantly.

Mig’s head tilted. “You didn’t comment on her post on that online garage sale site?”

The man nodded.

“And what’d you expect to get? She explained to me on the way here how it all worked,” Mig growled.

“I ordered a Coach purse, wrapped. She had it in her post that she’d wrap it,” the man screamed.

“I did wrap it!” I screamed right back, pointing to the pile of tissue paper and torn bag I’d purchased on the way here.

“You lying bitch! I just gave you a hundred and fifty dollars! You owe me two ounces!” The man spat.

Mig froze at the mention of ‘two ounces’ but I didn’t.

I picked up the bag that he’d thrown on the floor.

“This weighs more like a pound. What the hell does two ounces have to do with anything?” I fumed.

But before I could hand the money that I’d just ripped out of my pocket over to the man, Mig stopped me in my tracks.

“Call Griffin and get him here,” Mig ordered, handing me his phone.

I took it and opened it, then began searching through his contacts for Griffin.

I didn’t dwell on the fact that I had to pass an Angel, Barbara, Brianne, Cathy, Caty, DeeDee , Diane, Dora and Giselle to get to Griffin, though.

Okay, maybe I did a little bit.

If the first seven letters in his phone book had seven women in it, how many did the rest of his phone hold?

Once I found Griffin’s name, I hit call and held the phone to my ear as I watched Mig continue to question the man.

“Yeah?” A rough male voice grated from the other end of the line.

“Umm,” I hesitated. “This is Annie. Mig asked me to call you and ask you to please come out here.”

Griffin snorted. “I’m sure he asked real nice, exactly like that, too,” Griffin laughed. “Where are you?”

“The mall,” I answered.

“The actual mall in Marshall or the mall in between Jefferson and Uncertain?” Griffin clarified.

“The one in between Jefferson and Uncertain,” I answered quickly, flinching when Mig hauled the man up by his shirt and shook him. “And you might want to hurry before Mig goes all hardcore on this man.”

“Be there in fifteen, maybe less,” Griffin rang off, and I shoved the phone into my back pocket.

“He said he’d be here in fifteen minutes,” I answered, deciding to leave off the ‘maybe less.’

Mig didn’t acknowledge me, and I wondered idly whether I should call the police or not.

I decided against it, however, when Mig started to punch the man.

I bit my lip and watched.

I was ashamed to admit it, but the sight of Mig being so upset and bothered about me nearly being hurt was really turning me on.

I watched as the muscles in his arms bunched and released.

Mig’s grip on the man’s shirt loosened, but only long enough for Mig to put his entire hand across the man’s neck and squeeze.

I don’t know why I wasn’t more worried than I was.

I knew Mig wouldn’t hurt him too badly.

And he sure wouldn’t kill him.

“I asked you to tell me what you meant,” Mig ordered slowly.

The man started to cry.

“I was trying to buy drugs!” The man finally wailed. “Coke, man. I was trying to buy some fucking coke!”

I blinked.

He thought I was a drug dealer?

“Why would you think she was giving you drugs? She showed me the post. Nowhere in that post are drugs ever mentioned or even hinted about,” Mig snarled, leaning close.

I wanted to laugh as the man started to cry.

I was such a bitch!

“She used the code! Wrapping it. ‘Got it. Red tissue paper.’ She said that in her reply, man!”

I wanted to throw my hands up in exasperation.

Seriously?

I’d used the code back to him?

I’d been teasing about how I had to wrap it, never even realizing that I’d inadvertently set up a drug deal!

“I thought you weren’t working today,” Griffin said from behind us, making me squeak in surprise.

Mig looked up at Griffin and glared. “I haven’t had the chance to do what I needed to do yet because of this little shit head.”

Mig shook the man for emphasis.

“What’s going on?” Griffin asked, making no move to stop Mig from hitting the man one more time.

“Motherfucker tried to hit Annie when his supposed drug deal went south. Annie had no clue she was agreeing to deliver drugs. Seems the garage sale site she uses sets up code words in the posts to place their order and set up the deal. They settle on a meeting place, and the seller uses the code phrase in the reply,” Mig answered, standing up.

When the man tried to stand up as well, Mig fixed him with a stare.

“Stay where you are.”

The man flopped back onto the ground, and I would’ve laughed had this situation not been scary.

What would’ve happened if I had been by myself like I’d originally intended?

Would I be dead?