How to Stay Out of Prison: A Modern-Day Woman's Guide

Chapter 22

Nixon~

I was pissed.

I was so fucking pissed, and the only thing keeping me from tearing the place apart was the fact that this woman, the same one that had given herself over to me Saturday night, had walked into my apartment to find a hot woman wearing nothing but lingerie coming out of my hallway as if we'd had a night of debauchery scheduled.

I knew how bad it looked, and for that reason alone, I was doing my best not to flip the fuck out at Lyrical calling me a liar to my face. In all my thirty-three years of life, I'd been a lot of things, but never a liar. I didn't lie; there was no point in it. Sure, it made me appear like a dick sometimes, but in my opinion, the truth was more important than what people thought of me. I was trying to recall the last time that someone had insulted my integrity to my face, and I couldn't come up with a time. I couldn't remember the last time that someone had insulted me to this degree.

My back straightened, and I could feel the anger boiling in my veins. I also wasn't doing anything to hide it from my face as I towered over Lyrical, pissed as fuck. "It's not a story I made up," I seethed. "It's the fucking truth, Lyrical. She's someone I used to fuck with years ago, and she didn't take it well when I told her I'd moved on to a serious relationship."

The mutinous look on her face faltered a bit, but she was quick to call on her reinforcements. She shrugged her damn shoulder again as if she didn't have a care in the world. "I don't really care if your story is true or not, Nixon. The fact remains that we've only known each other for a couple of weeks. There's nothing wrong with seeing other people."

That was the second time that she'd said that shit, and it was making me murderous. Hell, maybe I really was in love with her, because I couldn't imagine how I was getting this feral over her if I weren't. I could barely get the words out, but I managed through gritted teeth. "I will fuck up any man you dare bring home, Lyrical. So, I suggest you don't."

Her beautiful brown eyes widened, and I could see that she hadn't been expecting that. "You...you can't just say stuff like that," she announced. "Fighting is against the law, Nixon. You'll get arrested."

Like I gave a fuck.

"Well, then I guess it's a good thing that Lincoln's a damn good criminal lawyer," I snapped.

Jesus Christ, I was pissed. I couldn't recall ever being so mad before in my life, and that was saying something, considering the temper that I had. Still, Lyrical was trying me something fierce.

She must have seemed to realize that she'd broken her aloof persona, because she quickly shook off her shock, then went back to acting like an ice princess. "Don't be ridiculous, Nixon," she huffed. "Jail isn't worth it over a casual hookup."

Forget assault on her imaginary lover, Lincoln was going to have to defend me for murder because I was about to strangle the hell out of this crazy woman for saying fucked-up shit like that. "Believe me when I tell you that nothing about you is casual, Lyric," I said acidly. "But that aside, I'm not lying about how Dina ended up in my apartment. I'm not a fucking liar."

She narrowed her eyes at me, finally getting rid of her cool-girl act. "Even if your story is true, Nixon, that doesn't mean you need to explain yourself to me," she snapped. "Like I said, this is just a casual hook-"

Fuck that shit.

I wasn't going to stand here and listen to her tell me how acceptable it was to have another woman in my apartment. I was not going to stand here and let her downplay our connection because, believe me, we had one, even if she didn't want to acknowledge it right now.