Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 134830 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134830 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 674(@200wpm)___ 539(@250wpm)___ 449(@300wpm)
“Well, it’s too late for that,” I declare. She sputters like she’s not sure what to say to that. “Is there anything I can do to help you this weekend? Send a Costco order or anything?”
Dani sneers, “I don’t need help. I’ll figure it out on my own.”
She spins on her toe, marching back to her house.
If things go my way, she won’t have to figure anything out, but I keep that part on mute. For now.
“Thanks for coming, guys,” I tell the gathered group.
“We ain’t here for you. We’re here for Dani,” a young guy whose name I don’t know scoffs.
I give him a hard-eyed glance, then spread the wealth to everyone, turning a glare on every man as I snap, “If you’re here because you think doing this is gonna get you in Dani’s pants, get the fuck out now. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been seeing her” —I stare back at Mr. Here-for-Dani specifically— “and fucking her, and none of you are gonna get that honor. Ever.”
“So you’re saying she’s yours?” someone asks, but I don’t catch who, even though I jerk my head toward the voice.
“I’m saying Dani’s her own woman and doesn’t belong to anyone. But I’m hers and I’ll do anything for her, including fucking up your shit if need be.” There’s a murmur of disappointment in the group, but ultimately, they quiet down. “Good, now that that’s out of the way, here’s the deal…”
As I tell the men what’s been going on with Kathy and her fence, their anger grows. They like Dani, and I think everyone here has had some sort of run-in with Kathy or someone like her, and a chance to stand up for what’s right has us all ready to work. In Dani’s honor.
“What’s our timeline?” an older man with a toothpick in his mouth asks.
“She leaves around eleven to take food to her parents. As soon as she’s out, we’re in. We’ll have three to four hours at most before she gets home to do her prep work for the week. Think it’s doable?”
The guys look at each other, mumbling under their breath about how impossible this is and how crazy I am, so I remind them, “It’s for Dani.”
That gets them nodding their heads.
Right on time, too, because I get a text from Frogger… Demon has departed.
Any other time, calling Dani a demon would have me throwing hands. Right now, I’m focused and rally the team. “Let’s go. Clock’s ticking.”
We swarm for our trucks, pulling out of the parking lot we pre-gamed at in one long, messy line, with the younger guys volleying for position like it’s a race. And maybe it is… but if so, I’m gonna be the winner.
Or at least I hope I am.
I’m in Wayne’s truck with him because we did the supply run this morning together, grabbing Zeus along the way. He leans forward from the backseat. “We’ve got the yard work handled. You can trust us on that. So you focus on the door,” Zeus tells me, sounding like he’s in charge of this operation.
I press my lips together, hiding my grin. “That’s the plan,” I agree.
Wayne lifts a brow, glancing at me out of the side of his eye as his attention stays on the truck in front of us. “We’ve got you, Kyle.”
We swarm at Dani’s house like a pack of busy bees. Trucks park all along the roadway, men climb out of cabs and beds, and we march to Dani’s back yard with tools in hand, ready to work. We have a lot to accomplish and not a lot of time to do it. Fast and hard is the name of the game.
The guys need to scalp the lawn at the back of the house, right behind the kitchen, and then dig down several inches until they get to the packed, hard ground that can support a slab of concrete. They’ll need to check that it’s level, compact the dirt down even more with steel tampers, and then fill in the base layer to the proper grade. That’s when Zeus will go for the heavy equipment, carrying oversized concrete pavers from the trailer out front. We had to do prefabricated ones because poured concrete would take too long to set and this has to be done today so that Dani’s ready to work like usual tomorrow.
While that crew gets rolling with all that, I approach the door on the side of the house, the one that previously looked right into Kathy’s yard and now looks out on a solid fence. A pretty, well-installed one, but a fence, nonetheless.
“You sure about this part?” Wayne questions.
This part is the only sketchy bit of my plan.
Because Dani’s side door goes from her kitchen to her patio, she can work efficiently. By moving her patio and cook stations to the back to meet fire code, I’m adding about fifteen extra steps each way to her trips. She’d do it, but there’s the whole ‘step outside and get reminded of Kathy’s bullshit’ angle that sucks too. So I came up with an idea—which is genius, if I say so myself—to move her outside door access. It’ll be perfect in her kitchen, giving her more room for a work table with storage and still let her step from kitchen to patio directly.