Free A Lil' Less Hopeless by Tara Oakes

the knife down harshly into the box, causing both Tiny and myself to jump a little.
    Tossing the knife into the sink, she turns and drops the plate down in front of Tiny with the ceramic vibrating from the abuse. She pats her brother's shoulder, hard.
    “Enjoy. Next time... call first.”
    We watch her leave before noticing the plate she prepared for him. It's a large piece of the frosty cake from the night before. The dick cake. She just served Tiny the entire “head” of it.

CHAPTER FIVE
    LIL’S
     
    I love my brother. But he can be such a damn cock block sometimes. I blame him for my foul mood tonight.
    “Jess! You ready? I'm starving!”
    Not only did I not “get” any this morning, but now he's whisked Jay away to their little bachelor party. I'm not stupid. Jay might be telling me it's a patch-in party, but I know damn well it's a bachelor party. I don't expect to see either one of them, especially sober, for the next twenty-four hours.
    Whatever. I'll have to send Jay a pic of my pretty new pink toy later to rub it in a little. If I have to be all wound up for the next day or so, then so does he.
    “All right, all right!” Jess grabs her keys and we file out, locking the front door behind us. We take Jess's car... it's a little more comfortable than mine. I’m more concerned with the environment and gas mileage by driving a hybrid. With a rich daddy like Jessica's... she's more into the luxurious side of things.
    We have the same taste in food more or less, so dinner is an easy decision to make. We stop over at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. With Jay not being a huge fan of this place, I haven't been able to come here since I've been back in town. Not much has changed, though. The salsa is still the best I've ever had, and the little Mariachi band playing in the corner looks to be the same three men as I remember. The only thing that would make this night perfect, is if I could enjoy one of those golden frozen margaritas that Jess is sipping on across from me.
    I'm just about to put a chip piled high with fresh salsa into my mouth when I hear a chair pull up behind me.
    “Miss Kaegan?”
    I pause the chip's ascent into my mouth, turning to acknowledge the suited middle-aged man now sitting next to me.
    “Who's asking?” That probably sounded a lot bitchier than I meant.
    I notice there are three other similar-looking suited men standing nearby. The gentleman who addressed me reaches into his front pocket and carefully withdraws a slim looking leather wallet, which he skillfully opens with one hand while completing his introduction.
    ******
    They really knew what they were doing when they designed these rooms. The harsh bright light is cruel to your eyes. They leave you sitting in here for long stretches of time but you can't even close your eyelids and try to rest. The weird blue-toned light seems to penetrate right through. The cold, hard, unforgiving metal of the chair makes it difficult to find any position that could even resemble comfortable.
    But that's what they want, I guess... they want to wear you down. I've told the same story now to three of these men, each coming in with their neat little manila envelope, introducing themselves as “Special Agent So-and-So.” They all explain how they just need to verify the information in my statement. Then they proceed with the questions, twisting my words and the facts to see if I'll correct them... or if they have succeeded in tripping me up.
    So far, so good. I've managed to stay calm, keep the “facts” straight and keep my wits about me. I haven't been able to make a phone call yet, which I'm pretty sure is illegal. Jess was taken along with me, but we were separated almost immediately. Thank God I didn't tell Jessica anything about what really happened. She's a sweet girl, but no way would she be able to keep it to herself under these conditions.
    I tap my fingernails against the hard metal surface of the table watching the ringed ripples