“Red,” Tack whispered.

I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. I’ve decided just now to let it go because, looking back on it, it was stupid. I should never have let it get to me.”

“It ain’t stupid. That shit is whacked,” he clipped.

This response surprised me but the vehemence with which it was uttered surprised me more.

“Really?” I asked.

“Fuck yeah,” he bit out. “Christ, bitches. They’re the worst. I’ll take a pissed off man, his fists and the best man wins any time. But bitches, no. They play their mind games, f**k with your head. Jesus, darlin’, I hate that happened to you.”

Wow, that was sweet too. Very sweet.

“Are you, um… speaking from experience?” I asked.

“Yeah, experiencing you tellin’ me that shit,” he answered. “But no. There’s a reason I am who I am, where I am and do what I do. I got a minefield of politics I have to negotiate but I also got a brain in my head, I’m smart enough to be cautious, I got my own weapons and I’m not afraid to use them. What I don’t got is bitches who play mind games because they’re pissed off about somethin’ in their lives. Or they’re pissed off that they’re small, not good enough and know it and instead of doin’ better, workin’ harder, they gotta tear down someone who doesn’t carry their load of shit. Jealousy is an ugly emotion that makes people do some seriously whacked shit and when a woman is experiencing it, it’s worse. No, I am who I am, where I am and do what I do to avoid that kind of bullshit hassle.”

I had to admit, it felt nice not only that he didn’t belittle that situation but also that he understood it. And more, that he was angry on my behalf because it happened to me.

Before I could find the words to share this with him, Tack spoke again.

“So what’d you do?”

“I quit.”

His head tipped to the side. “That’s it?”

“Well. Yeah. One day, I’d had enough and it hit me. I wasn’t going to be incarcerated for quitting my job. I had enough money to get by for a while. I wasn’t eating and I couldn’t even brush my teeth. That poison was infecting me. She was winning. So I packed up my desk and walked out. I didn’t even tell my boss I was going. I just left.”

“You didn’t f**k with her back?”

“No. I just left.”

“Babe, someone f**ks with you, you f**k back.”

“Looking back, she didn’t deserve the effort.”

“Wrong.”

It was me who blinked this time.

“Pardon?”

“Wrong. Bitches should not get away with that.”

“Tack, she has to live her small life knowing she’s not good enough and swimming in her own poison. That’s her penance.”

“Wrong again, Red.”

“But –” I started, his arms gave me a squeeze and I stopped talking.

“That shit starts, you key her car. It continues, you slash her tires. That shit keeps goin’, you get creative.”

His words surprised me so much my, “What?” was high-pitched.

“Life is lessons and she needs to learn hers.”

“By keying her car and slashing her tires?” That was high-pitched too.

“She’s got shit in her life she’s gotta deal with, she’s got less time to focus on makin’ your life miserable.”

“That’s a strange way of solving a problem, handsome,” I told him. “Not to mention illegal.”

“Maybe strange to you. Maybe illegal. But, no doubt about it, Red, it’d work. Luckily, your ass is in your office at my garage and you work with all men so you don’t gotta deal with bitches anymore. For some asinine reason you take some other job and you got bitches targeting you, you tell me and I’ll see to it they stop.”

I blinked again.

Then I stated, “Well, first, I like my job and I’m f**king it up less every day so it’s unlikely I’ll be moving on.”

“Babe, you resigned this morning,” he reminded me then finished with, “Again.”

“Yes, because I was fighting with you. Now we’re not fighting so I’m sticking.”

He grinned and muttered, “Good to know.”

I kept on target. “But, second, if some great opportunity came my way and I took it and the same thing happened, you wouldn’t stop it. I’d just know next time to quit before it gets to me.”

“Uh… no. You’ll tell your man and he’ll deliver a lesson.”

“Tack –”

“Tyra,” he cut me off quietly, leaning into me, “baby, listen to me because right now I’m delivering a lesson to you and I’m doin’ it gentle-like so you’ll get it and not freak. This is your new world. People don’t f**k with people like us. They do, payback. This bitch might have been jealous you got promoted over her. But, my guess, she’s butt ugly, possibly overweight and you said she was older. It wasn’t about the promotion. It was about you bein’ funny and sweet and smart and beautiful and she couldn’t find a way to work with what she has and find happiness in herself so she saw all you had goin’ for you and she had to drag you down. That’s bullshit. You don’t get to walk all over people without retribution.”

He said I was beautiful.

Nice.

Further, that was the second time he said something like that today.

Very nice.

And he had my work situation figured out too even with limited information. She hadn’t been exactly attractive, though not overweight but definitely older.

Even so, I said softly, “I’m not sure we agree about this, handsome.”

“That’s all right, darlin’. If what we’re building doesn’t go south, we’re good and the job you got, you’re surrounded by men so that shit’s not gonna happen. And if it does, any man at the garage who’s stupid enough to f**k with you will answer to me.”

I could do that seeing as he was my boss so that would be his job anyway.

Still.

“And, if what we’re building doesn’t go south, something happens, an opportunity I can’t refuse, I move on job-wise and someone targets me, then what?” I asked. “I mean, if you’re my man, I should be able to talk with you about stuff like this without you going scary biker dude and laying a trail of devastation to someone’s life.”