Excerpt from Keys To My Cuffs © Lani Lynn Vale
“It’ll
work, I saw them on Facebook. Another
friend of mine made these for her daughter’s kindergarten class, and they were
a big hit,” Baylee said with enthusiasm.
I
looked at the half banana I had on the stick, and the bowl of melted chocolate
she wanted me to dip it in, and thought ‘fuck it.’
Reaching
forward, I dipped the entire thing into the chocolate and pulled it back out
again.
The
chocolate coated the entire banana, and then leaked down partially on the
stick.
I
rolled the stick around between my fingers as I watched the final stray bits of
chocolate drip off the concoction before I set it down on the wax paper beside
the bowl.
Baylee
was doing the same from her side as well, while we waited for whatever secret
meeting the men were having to break up.
When
I’d tried to go find Loki, I’d been met with a wall of men’s eyes, none of
which had been Loki, and I’d retreated right back to the kitchen and Baylee.
“How
many of these do you have to make?” I
wondered.
She
set the banana pop down that she was working on and reached for a new one as
she replied. “He has twenty two in his
class, a teacher, and a teacher’s aide.
So I’ll make twenty four. Does
that sound good?”
Sounded
good to me. “Yep.”
We
worked side by side for the next twenty minutes while we spoke about our jobs,
as well as the fire and police departments that a few of the men in The Dixie
Wardens worked at.
“Why
don’t you work here?” I questioned
curiously.
She’d
just told me that she worked in Kilgore, Texas.
Which was nearly an hour away from where we were at right now. Seemed to me if my husband worked at the
local fire department, then I’d try to get on at the department in which he
worked. Not to mention it was nearly an
hour closer.
That
was one hell of a drive to do every three days.
“Benton
Fire Department is a really small department.
They only recently started running three engines. Two at the North side of town, and one at the
South side of town. They only have two
ambulances, and they already have the positions filled for paramedics,” she
explained. “Maybe one day I’ll look to get on at the department, but I like
where I’m at. I also don’t think I could
handle working with Sebastian. He’s too
bossy, and I don’t think I would be able to stop myself from telling him to
fuck off.”
I
giggled. “That would be fun to see.”
I
could only imagine Sebastian giving Baylee an order of some kind. Then she underminded him in front of the
entire department by telling him to go ‘fuck himself.’
He’d
never hear the end of it then.
“I
guess I can see why you wouldn’t want to work with your husband. I could only imagine how freaked Loki would
be if I worked with him. He’d wrap me
in cotton, then probably get shot in the process because he was too busy
worrying about me rather than his own butt,” I agreed.
Baylee
snorted. “That’s nothing but the
truth. I’ve had my own form of
protection from those guys myself. They
don’t like it when their women are in danger.
Trust me on that.”
“Bet
your ass, sweet cheeks,” Sebastian’s deep baritone voice said from behind us.
Then
the unmistakable sound of a hand meeting the meaty part of an ass rent the air,
followed by Baylee’s shriek of outrage.
“Sebastian, you big shit. You
made me get chocolate on my fingers!”
I
turned just in time to see Sebastian put Baylee’s fingers into his mouth and
suck.
My
eyes returned immediately to what I was doing while my cheeks flamed.
A
warm hand sliding around from my hip to my stomach had me turning my head to
the side and up to find Loki’s amused face.
His
big body was shaking in silent laughter at the awkward position I was in, and
the degree of redness still tinging my cheeks.
“What’re
you making?” He asked curiously, as he watched me dip another banana on a stick
into the not-so-melted-anymore chocolate.
“Chocolate
covered bananas for Johnny’s kindergarten class party tomorrow,” I informed
him.
His
eyes moved from the banana in my hand to the finished ones cooling on the wax
paper, and his eyebrows furrowed.
“Sebastian,
did you see what they’re making your son for his Christmas party?” Loki asked.
My
eyes went from Loki’s furrowed brow to Sebastian, and the expression on his
face was comical.
“What
the fuck are you making, Baylee?” He
exclaimed.
“Chocolate
covered...oh fuck!” Baylee yelled. “What
the hell, the picture Winter showed me of hers didn’t look like that!”
Winter,
she explained, was her partner at the Kilgore Fire Department. Winter had made these for a family barbeque,
and they’d been a big hit with the kids.
“What’s
wrong with them?” I asked in confusion.
I
didn’t see anything wrong with them, I mean sure, they were a little messy
looking.
The
outsides had drips of chocolate that ran down the length of the banana in
rivulets, giving off a vein effect. And
the chocolate had clumped more about an inch down from the tip of the...holy shit!
“They
look like chocolate covered dicks!” I shrieked.
“And
there it is,” Loki chuckled as he pulled me in closer to his body.
“I
can’t give these to a bunch of five year olds!” Baylee cried.
Sebastian
picked one of the chocolate covered dicks...bananas, and held it up for
inspection. Then he surprised the
ever-loving shit out of me and took a bite of the concoction.
“It’s
pretty good,” Sebastian offered. “You
can’t take them to his school, but the guys will eat them. They won’t go to waste.”
Loki
followed suit, grabbing up six separate dried chocolate covered dicks and
walked into the living room.
We
followed behind him, Baylee and I, side by side, as we watched him pass out the
dicks to the men remaining in the living room.
There
were only seven now, and every one of them took the creations with a wary eye,
but nonetheless took a bite anyway.
“This
is the best dick I’ve ever tasted,” the old man who looked like Santa
exclaimed.
Baylee
and I giggled as Trance turned to the old man.
“Hopefully it’s the only dick you’ve ever tasted.”
