Free Piece of Tail by Celia Kyle Page A

He thinks that he may be behind the whole thing.” Meg grew quiet at the end, but Gina got the gist of her message.
    "No.” Gina blinked back the tears that filled her eyes. “No way. I don't… I don't know him that well, but after last—No. Just, no."
    Blaze crawled into bed with her and pulled Gina close. Meg sandwiched her on the other side. The three of them cuddled and hugged as Gina's world collapsed around her.
    "Is he sure, Meg-sie? Surely sure?"
    Meg stroked her hair. “Of course we need to check with him, Gi. But Jack confirmed he smelled dog in the house and it wasn't just Andy. It was the scent of another pup-shifter in the living room."
    Gina nodded. Okay, this sucked and she didn't really dream of happily ever after with the two twits, right? Right. It had been a night of sexin’ and fun. That's all. No emotions involved, no hopes or dreams of the future with a white picket fence and two point five fur-kids. None of that. She'd spent the night with them to get her rocks off and now, she'd do a stupid fake photo shoot and return to Half-were house and live with people like her.
    "So, we really think Daniel set me up? To be captured by mad scientists and picked apart?"
    "Yes,” they replied in unison, without hesitation and she recognized the truth in their faces and didn't doubt that they spoke the truth, which could only mean…
    "It's cause he was jealous, right? ‘Cause my body was too bootylicious?” Humor, she could fight anything in the world with humor. Even conniving fuckbuddies.
    Blaze snorted.
    Meg chuckled.
    And Gina let out a laugh. ‘Cause if she didn't laugh, she'd cry.
    "Alright. Let's get this over with and then y’all can take me home to Tash. Lord knows she's already heard about everything and is probably sharpening knives for my beheading or some shit. I swear, that woman has been after my ass for years."
    Blaze pulled her closer. “It's only ‘cause she loves us and wants what's best for us, Gi, that's all."
    Meg slipped from the bed and Gina followed her friend. “Yeah, yeah. Let me tell you that making us eat her nasty meatloaf was ‘good for us’ alright.” She snickered.
    Gina donned the dirty-again dress and Meg and Blaze followed her back downstairs. Daniel, Patrick, Ryan and Meg's mate, Ben, were sitting in the living room awkwardly not talking. The knowledge of Daniel's guilt was written on all their faces and she couldn't bring herself to look at Daniel. The tears she'd pushed away upstairs were threatening to come back with a vengeance and that wouldn't make for very good photographs, would it? Plastering on a fake smile, she leaned against the wall and arched her back, shooting for a sexy pose. “I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeVille.” Funny, no one laughed. “Spoilsports."
    She pushed away from the wall and strode toward the front door. “Let's do this shit.” She wanted to get the photos taken and then she was going to go home to Half-were house, take a shower and burn this damned dress. It held too many memories best forgotten and a wicked stench of betrayal that she didn't think any Maytag could get rid of.
    Using the newspaper photographs as a guide, it didn't take the group long to recreate the photos in the tabloids. Patrick scooped Gina into his arms and carried her up and down the steps more times than she could count in an effort to portray their initial homecoming. Only this time, she made sure the tail was hidden and was not whacking the idiot dog in the head. They made sure they took quite a few, just to be safe. After all, Andy was a dog and couldn't be trusted to actually listen when he was given an order, though Jack's presence, as a fellow pup, did help.
    When all was said and done with the photos, Gina didn't hang around. She trusted Ryan with the film and knew, as a cop, pride enforcer, and best friend to one of his relatives, he'd do all he could to help her. She strode to Meg's little Ford Escort and crawled into the cramped back seat.