Page 56 of Little Fury

“Do you know anyone in the Caymans who cleans?”

“Did you finally wise up and kill Marcus?”

“Seriously, dude, not funny.”

I hear him chuckle.“Yeah, let me make a call.”

“Thank you, Sebastian. Oh, and please don’t tell Harryor the guys.”

“No promises on that, Little Fury. Try to stay out of trouble.”He disconnects the call.

“Wonder how long it'll take till Harry calls me?”I ask dead guy number two.

I see headlights through the windows by the front door. Marcus is back.

“Fuck Ava, sorry that took so long. The Shanty Hut was busy.” He calls as he heads into the kitchen to place the food on the counter.“Ava?”

“Here,”I call as I walk into the kitchen. He looks at me, unsure of what he sees on my face. He looks me up and down, and I know the moment he sees blood splatter on my legs and shorts.

“What happened?”He asks, quirking an eyebrow at me.

I take his hand and lead him into the great room. He takes in the two dead men on the floor and chuckles.“Guess they should have sent more men.”

“Fuck off Marcus. But also, yes, they should have.”

“Any idea who they are or who sent them?”

“None. They were dead before I could ask them anything.” I lie.

Why are you lying to him, Ava?My inner voice asks me condescendingly.

“I just got off the phone with Sebastian, and he’s making a call for me. So, I expect a cleaner will be here in the next hour. Let’s eat. I’m starving now.”

Marcus nods his head, not looking at me. Instead, he keeps his eyes rooted on the men on the floor. He turns towards the kitchen.“Ava, did I see fingers on the floor?”

“Yeah, I shot one in the hand when he called me a bitch after I shot his friend in the head.”

“You couldn’t have just shot him in the head as well? Shooting off his fingers was the only option?”He asks as hegrabs the food, takes it out of the bag, and lays it on the island.

I grab a couple of beers out of the fridge and pop the tops off, handing him one.“I mean, I could have just shot him in the head, but really, he broke into our house trying to kill us; he called me a bitch, and it annoyed me.”

Marcus studies me, looking for a lie, but he won’t see any. Harry is really the only one who can. I grab a beer-battered shrimp and pop it in my mouth. He shakes his head, and smiles, then begins to eat. “How long will it take Harry to call you, do you think? “

“Ha! I thought he would have already, but Sebastian is on a job, so he might be unable to tattle on me for a bit.” There’s a knock at the door, so I pop another shrimp in my mouth and head over to meet the cleaners.

There is a tiny little black woman at my door. Her greying curls and sweet smile make me want to hug her and ask her to bake me cookies.

Wow, you’re never having a grandma is showing, Ava.

“Hello,” I say

“Hello, dear,”she says, and I melt. She called me dear. All she needs to do now is pat my hand and tell me everything will be okay, and I’ll ask her to adopt me.

“I’m Mrs. Bodden. These are my sons Anthony and Michael.” Both men nod at me when their mamma introduces them.“Sebastian said you needed some cleaning looked after.”

“Yes. Come in, please. Would any of you like a drink? Coffee, tea, water, beer?”

“I would love a spot of tea. Boys?”Mrs. Bodden says.

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