page52 (2/2)

“Seriously?” Shell fired back

“I don’t know, it’s your story” Izzy was doing a terrible job hiding her laughter which had the rest of theain

Man, Chloe would love to be part of this group Too bad they were involved with a bunch of cri to do with her kidnapping She frowned So, independent, not any kind of beaten down or degraded possession like she’d heard of ol’ ladies Hard to i with men who abused women But Lefty clearly told her the Handlers were to thank for what he did to her Couldand rape of others? If she didn’t have the horrifying ht not believe it possible

“Okay shut up and let ht ere—”

“Fucking,” Izzy said

Everyone glared at her

“What? I’”

“Okay, fine, ere fucking,” Shell said way too loud, drawing the attention of a stern-faced older wori and there was a pounding on the door It was Beth and she wasabout hoas unfair, and hoe didn’t like her, and hoere mean”

The table had quieted as they all waited for the outcome of the story

“She pretty much killed the mood, at least for the moment, so I tossed on some clothes and unlocked the door She marched her sassy little four-year-old self in the room, looked at the television then at us, and said, ‘What did you do with it?’ Neither of us had any idea what she was talking about Then she said, ‘I knohat you were doing in here’ By now, Copper was laughing his ass off, and I thought I was about to have to call a therapist for ht ere doing, she said atching the Lion King without her and she was very angry at us”

Toni’s forehead dren as she blew on the black coffee in her oversizedShe made up for the low-calorie drink with that plate sized chocolate chip cookie “The Lion King?”

“Yep,” Shell replied, popping the p “She said could hear all the wild anihing, and a‘ooo ooo, ahh ahh’ She then crossed her arms and demanded to knoe turned off the TV”