“Let’s move,” she said to her bitches. Her crew all stood to their feet, following behind her to the door. “See you Friday.”
Diamond watched them leave, piling into their puke green car. Sex Piston’s face was still set in her I’ll-kick-your-ass visage she’d used since she was a little girl. Diamond had no doubt that Ace would rue the day he had cheated on Sex Piston.
*
Diamond had just put a pizza in the oven when her doorbell rang. Going to the door, she saw Rider and Knox.
When she opened the door, Rider handed her the keys to her car.
“All fixed.”
“Thanks. How much do I owe you?” Diamond asked, stepping away from the door to get her purse. When she turned back around both men were inside her apartment. Still embarrassed from the way that she had behaved the last time Knox was in her apartment, she kept her eyes on Rider.
“Viper took care of it. He said he’d take it out of your payment for representing Knox.” Diamond started to argue, but Rider held up his hand. “You got a problem with it, take it up with Viper. Don’t shoot the messenger.” Reluctantly, Diamond put down her purse.
“I won’t. I’ll settle up with him the next time I see him.”
“Cool. That pizza I smell?” Rider asked, lifting his nose in the air.
“Yes,” Diamond admitted reluctantly.
Neither man made a move to leave. Having dealt once today with her sister and her hungry crew, Diamond knew where this was headed.
“We didn’t get lunch today, trying to get your car fixed and brought back to you. We figured you’d be recovered enough to get back to work tomorrow,” Knox said. Diamond caved in at the reminders of his helping her when she was sick then fixing her car.
“Would you like to stay for dinner?”
“Yes,” they both answered at once.
“Have a seat.”
They sat at the kitchen table as Diamond took the pizza out of the oven.
“Got any beer?” Rider asked with hope in his voice.
“No, and I don’t have any wine. Sex Piston and her friends finished it off earlier today.”
“Thank God we missed them.” Rider shuddered.
“That’s her sister, dumbass.”
“Sorry,” Rider apologized as he pulled a slice of pizza free from the tray.
“It’s okay. My sister and her friends are an acquired taste.” Sitting down at the table, she put a pitcher of sweetened tea and glasses on the table before taking a slice of pizza onto her own plate.
As they ate, wiping out the pizza, Diamond barely managed to grab the last slice away from Rider, who gave her sad puppy dog eyes. When she was about to take a bite, his eyes dropped to her mouth as she opened it. Diamond closed her mouth and handed him the pizza.
“That wasn’t fair,” she chastised him. Rider took a large bite of the cheesy pizza, shrugging his shoulders.
“I don’t remember the last time I had homemade pizza. Usually we get frozen from the freezer. I was willing to fight dirty,” Rider explained.
Diamond found herself laughing at the friendly man. Her eyes went to Knox, surprised he had let his friend have the last slice. Her eyes met the heat in his, bringing the desire back into her body that had been missing since he left the other day.
Diamond broke eye contact and then stood to her feet and gathered the dirty dishes. As she turned around to get the glasses, she almost bumped into Knox as he carried the glasses to the sink.
“Let me do the dishes since we invited ourselves to dinner.”
“No, that’s okay.”
Knox ignored her and began doing the dishes as she stood helplessly watching, not wanting to make an ass of herself by throwing out the two men who had temporally taken over her apartment.
Rider went into the living room and turned on her television set, making himself comfortable as he started flipping through her channels.
“Thanks for the pizza,” Knox said.
“You’re welcome.” Diamond moved away to wipe the table down.
“Sex Piston stop by often?”
“Not really. We’re not very close.” Diamond shrugged, folding the dishcloth.
“She have any particular reason for stopping by today?” Knox asked. Diamond watched as he did a decent job at doing the dishes. For some reason she had assumed he would be clumsy because of his size, but his hands were expertly washing and rinsing them.
“We’re having a family dinner on Friday.”
Finishing the dishes, he turned to look at her. “From your expression, you’re not looking forward to it.”
“Not really. I’m not very close to my family.”
“Why?”
“No reason really; we’re just different. We don’t have much in common.” Diamond turned away, determined to change the subject from her family. It merely reminded her that she was stupid even to be talking to Knox. It was not only unprofessional, but it would lead to a road she had no intention of taking.