The driver wasn't going as fast as I wanted, but I refrained from snapping at him. When we finally made it to the warehouse, I threw a fifty at him, and nearly ran to the door. Putting my hand on the knob, I took a deep breath and opened it. A shrieking noise greeted me, and I had to duck as one of the crystal vases that had held part of the tiger lilies I had given Dee, sailed toward my head. Throwing myself to the floor, I covered my head, just as the vase smashed against the wall, showering me with shards of glass.

One, two, three, four...

Another vase smashed against the wall, this time a little ways down from me. Slowly and carefully, I stood up. The shrieking stopped, and as I stood, the tinkle of glass shards falling from my clothes and hair took over. Across the room was Benny, Trigger just down the hall near my study. Frozen against Benny, both trying to push away from the grip he had managed to get on them, was brunette Nina Damfino and blonde Diedre Vance, once known as Echo and Query, respectively. In her hand, Nina held another vase, Diedre, a smashed comm unit. The two were wearing skimpy, studded leather, and fishnet stockings; outfits similar to what they were wearing when I first hired them.

"Eddiekins!" screeched Diedre.

"You came back!" finished Nina.

The habit of Diedre to start a sentence, only to have Nina finish it, had always annoyed me. I suppose I had tolerated the two because they did their job, and for the most part, could deal with the riddles. And, I have to admit, on nights when I was lonely they were around to ease that. I had settled, deciding that there was no way my personal life would get any better, so I should take what I got, when I got it. Of course, these two took what they could, when they could as well. After they would sleep with me, any cash I had that wasn't in the safe, would be gone.

Now that I had a taste of what could be with Dee, I started to feel ashamed of everything I had ever done with these two, and what I had allowed them to do to me. Sex had been more of a slave and master versus the genuine exchange of affections that I got with Dee. Also, I had quickly become accustom to the fact that Dee was not demanding, and manipulative. Well, not manipulative in the same ways that these women were. Where they manipulated me to get trinkets or more money than they had rightfully earned, Dee would manipulate me to get attention for herself, or, as she had done earlier, a meal where she wanted, when she wanted.

The differences between what they were, and what she was were now clearer to me than before. While I had known of the dissimilarities, seeing these two back in my hideout now shoved those into a brighter light. They were dirty and uncouth in comparison. Dee's training for the Triad showed how much more poise she had, and respect for others, as well as the property of her coworkers. She never would have come into the warehouse, or any other hideout, and started trashing it as these two were.

Silently, I stood there, surveying the damage these two had done. They must have been here for a while, as there were dishes stacked around with food clinging to them, and molding. There were beer cans and empty bottles of hard liquor tossed carelessly around. On the walls, they had decided to play games of tic-tac-toe and hangman with purple and green spray paint from the garage. The furniture, including my favorite chair, was shredded here and there, my best dagger sticking out of the couch arm. I didn't even want to think about the rest of the hideout at the moment.

"I'm back, yes. What are you two doing here?" I asked, trying very hard to keep my voice level.

"We heard some stupid rumor that you had hooked up with someone..." started Diedre.

"...and we came to see if it was true," finished Nina.

"But you..."

"...weren't here when we came by."

"So we decided to wait for you..."

"...and have ourselves some fun!"

"Ok, stop that right now. Diedre, why would it matter if I had hired someone else after you two took everything from the last heist, all of my gold and silver cufflinks and tie tacks, and emptied my safe before you left? You think that you can continuously take advantage of me and come back?!" I demanded.

"We needed the money..."

"...for new clothes!"

"Nina, shut up. Do not speak unless I tell you that you may do so. Do not even breathe too loudly!" I snarled. I motioned for Benny to let them go, waving for him and Trigger to leave the room. They disappeared into their own room, leaving me with the two jackals. "I have hired someone else to take your place. Please note that I only had to hire one to do the job of the two of you."

"You need us, Eddie. You know you do. Two heads are better than one," Diedre said, giving Nina a wink.

From across the room, I watched as the two started walking toward me. The way they looked, and they way they moved, though it was supposed to be seductive, caused me to feel like a wounded fish being circled by sharks. I stood my ground, knowing one thing that they didn't know: They no longer held any power over me.

"Oh, Eddie," purred Diedre, putting a hand on my shoulder. Her hand felt like slime as it slipped down the front of my jacket, and pushed between my jacket and shirt.

"We're sorry we made you mad," Nina chimed, doing the same on the opposite side.

"You've had a long flight, and you're cranky because of that. We know how to make you feel better." Diedre started to loosen my tie, while Nina unbuttoned my shirt. "Just give us..."

"...two minutes, and you'll be so happy," Nina breathed, pressing herself against me.

"Get off me," I snapped, trying to push them away.

They laughed, each holding an arm down, sandwiching me between the two of them. With their free hands, they continued to unbutton my shirt, heading toward my pants. I tried to shrug them off, and ended up on the floor, under both of them. The more I thrashed about, the firmer they held me. After a few minutes of fighting with them, I stopped trying to catch my breath.

"So this is the 'business' you had to deal with! Edward Nigma, you are the biggest liar I have ever had the displeasure of meeting!" roared Dee.

With everything going on, I hadn't even heard her come in. Thankfully, it made the two harlots stop and let me go. I stood quickly, facing Dee. At her side, Tangram bristled and growled. Her hands were in tight fists at her side, eyes narrowed to slits. She didn't have her ring on at the moment, but I knew it was nestled in her breast pocket. I had put it there before we had landed, when she had pounced on me in my dressing room.

She looked me up and down with distaste. "You might want to tuck yourself in."

Blushing furiously, I did as she said, zipping my pants back up, and hurriedly buttoning my shirt. I attempted to tuck the tails back in as I stammered. "Dee! This... This isn't what you think!"

"Oh yes it is!" giggled Diedre, throwing her arms around my neck.

"It's exactly what you think!" tittered Nina, her arms going around my waist.

This time I wasn't at all gentle in trying to dislodge the two from me. Grunting, I threw my arms wide, knocking them to the floor.

"I told you to get off of me, and I meant it!" I bellowed.

Instead of looking angry, the two looked pleased. On all fours, they started to crawl toward me, greasy smiles of pleasure on their faces. I'm not ashamed to say that I bolted toward Dee, in hopes of using her as a shield against the two. The moment I put a hand on her, she threw me to the ground, holding my arm as she placed one of her booted feet against my throat. My arm burned, and I was forced to stay still, unless I wanted my air cut off and my arm broken at the shoulder.

"Don't you touch me you sleaze!" She looked far more hurt than I had ever seen her look before. She hadn't even looked this hurt the day I tried to break things off between us.

"Kitten, you were supposed to wait until I sent Benny or Trigger to pick you up," I gagged, trying to keep things neutral between the two of us. It wasn't working, and she gave my arm a small twist to know she wasn't happy with my response.

"Wait until you were done with them? You left me sitting there telling me you had important business to deal with. Business that I would find boring! I don't find this boring, I find it disgusting! How could you?! How could you leave me there to come have a romp with these two tramps?"

"Watch it, girlie," Diedre sneered, standing up now.

"'Less you wanna find yourself with a bloody nose," piped Nina.

"Kitten, let me up so we can talk about this, please?"

Instead of answering me, she released my arm, flinging it at me, and stepping on my chest as she walked over me. I thought she was going to confront the other two women, but she didn't. She walked right past them, and down the hall to our bedroom.

"You two need to leave immediately. You've caused me enough trouble," I spat.

The door to the bedroom slammed, and Dee came storming back down the hall, holding the suitcase she had taken to Europe. Tangram still trailed her, his tail lashing back and forth. I noticed that she still hadn't put her ring on, and hurried over, taking her by the shoulders.

"Dee, this really isn't at all what you think. Trigger called me to tell me that these two had shown up..."

"Be quiet, Edward. I don't want to hear your excuses!" She closed her hand around the little silver question mark at her throat. With a tug, she snapped the chain, and then shook my hands off. "I believe this is yours."

With that, she threw the pendant at me, shoved past, and headed for the door to the garage.

"Dee!" I called out, stepping forward to go after her.

Diedre and Nina intercepted me, knocking me back to the ground. I stared at the door to the garage in shock, as I heard my car start up, and the squeal of tires as she peeled out and drove away. Now feeling the weight of the girls on me, I writhed in effort to free myself. From somewhere, one of them had produced a pair of handcuffs, which now snapped around my wrists.

"Who woulda thought you would hook up..."

"...with a prude like that!"

As a last ditch effort, I called for Benny and Trigger to get the two off of me.
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