Anxiety makes me horny apparently. As soon as Glitch and I calmly decide to kill Janx together, I am on his hot body like a sex addict. We fuck downstairs and then upstairs. Then we come back downstairs to eat but are interrupted by our need to fuck on the kitchen table. Moving to the couch, we eat a few bites, and then I get an unbearable need to suck Glitch’s cock. He has the same urge to devour my pussy when we walk up the stairs. I stand there, trying to keep my legs steady while he makes me come so hard I see stars.

This behavior continues until Pepper texts me to come to her place to put together a plan. Glitch and I get dressed and pretend we haven’t spent twenty-four hours fucking ourselves silly.

“I think I screwed up by injuring my pussy before we walk a few miles in the snow.”

“I feel your pain,” Glitch says, limping dramatically next to me on the way to Pepper’s.

Laughing, I’m not nervous about killing a man. The late winter cold is an entirely different beast I don’t want to face.

Inside Pepper’s townhome, we find Ginger and Oz in the kitchen while Bay lounges in the living room. She smiles at me when I make a beeline to her chair where she sits with her feet up.

“How are you feeling?” I ask and place my hand on her stomach. “Can I rub you?”

“I feel fine and rub away.”

“How is little Froggy?”

“The ultrasound technician said it was probably a girl.”

“So no Froggy?”

“No, we’re thinking about Zadie if it’s a girl.”

“But still Froggy for a boy, right?” I tease while caressing her sizable bump.

“Pepper likes the name Fartley.”

“Farley!” Pepper yells from the kitchen. “There’s no ‘t.’”

Oz laughs. “Fart.”

“Grow up,” Pepper grumbles.

“I did. That’s why my kids aren’t named Fartley.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

Ginger gets between a pissed Pepper and a laughing Oz. Rolling my eyes, I remain next to Bay’s chair.

“You’re going hunting, I hear,” she says.

“Someone has to do it now that your woman is whipped.”

“It’s true that I keep her on a short leash.”

Winking, I whisper, “Well done. You need to give me lessons.”

I hear Pepper call me to the kitchen, so I stand to kiss Bay’s freckled forehead. “You can teach me when I get back from this job.”

Bay nods, but I sense she hates feeling useless when the team gears up this way. Leaving her to watch TV, I join Glitch and the others in the kitchen.

“Here’s the deal,” Ginger says, straightening out an Arkansas map, “Janx is holed up nearly six miles off the main road. There’s a half-decent path up to the cabin, but clearly, you don’t want to come at him directly. Coming from the south makes more sense.”

Oz taps the map. “You’ll take a snowmobile from the road for a few miles and then walk the rest of the way. He’ll be able to hear the engine if you get any closer.”

“I suggest you try to hit him at night,” Pepper says. “That way, you can get close enough to take your time with the shot.”

“How do we get him outside?” I ask.

“You can flush him out by Glitch starting a fire at the back of the cabin. When Janx exits the front door, you can take your shot. If you time it right, he won’t be the wiser. Once he’s dead, you burn the place down.”

“And then what?” I ask, imagining the freezing cold weather we’ll be trapped in. “It’ll be nighttime. Do you expect us to walk back in the dark?”

Oz answers for Pepper. “You’ll take a small tent and sleeping bags. You hunker down for the night and return once the sun’s up. When you’re close to the road, call us to pick you up.”

“Why can’t we hunker down in his cabin rather than sleep in a tent?” Glitch asks, and I nearly yell out, “Yeah!”

“Janx is paranoid,” Oz says, “so we can’t be sure what he’s got set up. There might be booby traps. I don’t know if it’s safe to enter at all.”

“How soon can we go?”

Ginger pulls out her phone and checks the weather. “The snow should let up for a few days, but you’ll need to go tomorrow or wait until at least next week.”

“Waiting isn’t an option,” Glitch says and gives me a regretful smile. “If the weather is clear enough for us to get to him, it’ll be clear enough for him to leave. The longer we wait, the more likely he is to hit us first.”

“I told him I’d get him money, but a woman wasn’t on the table,” Oz says. “Janx just laughed and hung up. I have no idea what he’s planning.”

“Then we go tomorrow,” I announce, knowing I can stew with worry for a week or more. “Do we have everything we need?”

“I have the sleeping bags and tent,” Oz says.

Pepper nudges me. “I’ll get you set up with weapons.”

Following her upstairs to her hidden supply room where I try different rifles to find one I’m comfortable with. Glitch watches us and eventually tests a few too. He might be wondering why I’m the one taking the shot and not him. If he questions the plan, he says nothing. Not while we’re at Pepper and Bay’s or later when we’re alone.

For the first time in days, we don’t fuck. Instead, we cuddle on the couch with Gizmo and pretend we’re a normal couple enjoying a normal evening. His arms around me erase my fears, and I catch myself grinning at him. Glitch notices too and kisses me each time.

Tomorrow, we face freezing weather, a long trek, and murder. Tonight, we really are normal people in love.