The kid started the SUV.
Quin tapped the kid’s shoulder. “Take us to the spot where I’m always getting our guns.”
The kid grinned. “Will we get some donuts too?”
“I doubt that.”
Phoenix leaned forward. “But be careful, Devin. When you get close, ride up slow. Someone killed Johnny Cupcakes. So, the police or Syndicate may be around.”
“What the fuck?” Quin shook her head. “Who would take out Johnny Cupcakes?”
Phoenix shrugged. “We don’t know.”
Quin glared at me. “You sure psycho didn’t do that shit?”
“It wasn’t him. And be nice.” Phoenix sucked her teeth. “His name is Cain.”
The SUV took us away from the house.
“Motherfucker was born Cole.” Quin rolled her eyes.
I gritted my teeth. “I prefer Cain.”
“Oh really? Let me jot this note down.” Quin pulled out a pen and min pad from within her jacket. “His name is. . .Cain. That’s what you want me to put on your tombstone when I kill you? Cain?”
I grinned.
She scribbled on the pad. “Let me know, man. So I can get it right.”
“No need for a tombstone, Quin.”
“Are you sure about that, Cain?”
“I’m sure.” I curled my lips into a wide smile. “But I do have a request.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I would rather you put me behind my chapel with all the bodies that I’ve buried back there. I call it my Holy Garden.”
Quin stopped writing and looked at Phoenix. “He has dead bodies behind that chapel?”
Phoenix stirred. “I didn’t see them, but I believe him.”
The kid shook his head and headed for Caviar Lime Highway.
Quin put the pad and pen up.
I quirked my brows. “You don’t want to write that down?”
“Don’t need to note that.” Quin turned around. “Who could forget it?”
West chuckled. “So. . .do we think we can all get along, Quin and Cain?”
“All is fair in love and war.” Quin raised her middle finger. “And any time I get a new chick Phoenix is a super bitch to them for several weeks, so this is her karma. Not to mention the fact that I don’t like Cain because he’s fucking crazy.”
I looked at Phoenix. “You’re mean to her girlfriends?”
Phoenix looked out the window. “Just a couple of tests to make sure those chicks’ heads are right and they play their position.”
Quin spoke, “Nix has the nerve to call it orientation.”
“Not just anybody can be around Quin. I just like to let those chicks and dudes know.” Phoenix chuckled. “It’s like an intensive orientation for six weeks.”
Griff cleared his throat. “Chicks and dudes? So. . .you’re bi, Quin?”
West shook his head. “Quin is off limits to you, bro.”
“Why?” Griff brushed his shoulders as if fixing himself up. “I’m a great catch.”
West frowned. “Keep your dick in your pants this time. You already put us in enough trouble.”
Griff shook his head. “You can’t stop the natural flow of love. If it happens, it happens.”
Quin turned back and assessed Griff. After a minute of checking him out, she laughed. “Motherfucker, I would break you.”
Griff opened his mouth in shock.
“Like, break you, break you.” Quin laughed. “With my pussy.”
“We got it, Quin.” Phoenix rolled her eyes.
“But, I’m for real though. I would break his dick.” Quin clapped in between her laughter. “And don’t let me get Shaka Zulu out. Your ass would be bloody for days.”
Griff widened his eyes. “Who the fuck is Shaka Zulu?”
Quin licked her lips. “You want to meet him, baby? I can show him to you, if you want.”
“No, Quin.” Phoenix glared. “Griff doesn’t want to meet Shaka Zulu.”
Griff looked back at Phoenix and then returned his view to Quin. “But who’s Shaka Zulu?”
“I got you, Griffy baby.” Quin grabbed a bag by her feet and pulled out a 15-inch black dildo. “Shaka Zulu is my dick, motherfucker.”
Horror spread across Griff’s face.
Quin wiggled it. “Come over here and kiss the tip. You know the saying right? Once you go black you never go back.”
Phoenix appeared to be trying to keep down her chuckling. “He doesn’t want to kiss it, Quin. Put it away.”
“Let me show you how it looks with the strap-on.” Quin dug into the back. “Check this shit out.”
“No!” West and I yelled out in unison.
Shocked, West turned back to Phoenix and laughed.
That made me join them in the laughter too.
For some reason, Quin and Phoenix chuckled more. Perhaps, the laughter was truly contagious because the kid joined in, laughing and hitting the steering wheel. I’d read that laughter released endorphins in our brain through opioid receptors—the same receptors that highly addictive opioid drugs bound to. So perhaps it was good that we laughed.
Maybe, we needed the natural high.
Then, West made some joke about Griff probably needing a date with Shaka Zulu.
The women laughed more. The kid’s laughter rose and I couldn’t help but chuckle as I looked out the window.
A sense of euphoria saturated the SUV.
We’d just been hiding inside of a dark, wet cave. We’d just discovered that the Paradise job was a complete waste, that Pandora had stolen our shit and probably tried to kill us. We knew that the Syndicate could possibly start to hunt us.