Leah sat frozen in place, mostly drunk, listening to the crickets in the field that surrounded her out in the sticks fire station. She had forgotten a...bout Nick, but with her drinking, the issues surrounding her fire station and whether she would have it in the next three months raced through her head. At the same time, the thought of getting caught drunk, in her vehicle, in the parking lot and the consequences just made her laugh and take another deep swig from the bottle. A tear spilled from. . and saw their green shovel. He grinned. Ai was smart, when she wanted to be. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted her name. Julie and Betty did the same as all three converged on the marker. Bushes twitched, moments later giving birth to a dirty white sheet containing Ai. She leapt forward, slamming herself into Bill."Bill! Bill! Bill!"He held Ai tight, nothing existing at that moment except her. She was safe.Bill looked up at Julie, who already had her phone out."Let's go home."It. I said, "Yeah." I knew she'd share some dirty little fantasy involving them for me to focus on.She says, "Well...they're here." Then she said, "Look at you, tied to that bed and nearly naked. That's no way to greet our guests! You're improperly dressed and ill-prepared for company. There will be consequences for your arrogance and ineptitude. I'm going to humiliate you in front of them. I'll fuck Rick and force you to watch."She loves that fantasy. Frankly, so do I. I knew they hadn't really. They had sex, the way they both liked it; rough, while choking each other. Bethany used her silk scarf on Diana, and before it was over, Diana was dead.”“Or at least,” I say after a brief pause, standing up. I look at Bethany and for just a split second I wish I had chosen a different approach. Her face is as white as the wall behind her, and her breath is wheezing through her nose. She looks as if she's about to pass out.“At least,” I continue, “that's how you wanted us to see it, isn't it.