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Sean’s face may have looked scared when Stephanie pointed the gun at him, but the fear wasn’t real in his eyes until she pulled the trigger. At first, the fear only came from his frustration that Stephanie had forgotten the signal and that she had blown the entire operation with her bad acting. He hadn’t been convinced with Stephanie’s performance so why would Emily? But when he heard that all too real crack of the gunfire and felt that all too real sting in his chest, he realized that Stephanie’s acting was all too real too. His thumb slipped on the hidden switch in his pocket, triggering the small explosive he wore on his chest and forcing him to stumble back, but his hand went to clutch the ache on the other side of his shirt. The two forming stains didn’t bleed the same color. The one his right bleed bright red and was sticky to the touch, while the one on his left only bleed dark and pain. When his knees hit the floor, Sean was finally shocked into the truth.
“You… you shot me,” he whispered, still stunned and clutching the left side of his chest. “You actually shot me.”
“Oh no, did I accidently grab the loaded one?” Stephanie frowned, still holding the gun out in front of her as she walked towards him. “Aw, darn.”
“Right through the chest,” Emily said as she stalked forward, the yellow lemon sloshing in her cold martini glass. “I’m impressed.”
“I sure hope he doesn’t leave a stain on that carpet.” Stephanie pouted. “I’ve grown quite fond of this house.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure out something,” Emily assured her with a wave of her hand. “Besides, it’s white. We can just bleach it. You can even make a vlog about it.”
Sean couldn’t believe this. The two women standing in front of him, each he at one point in time trusted with his life, now showed more concern of the carpet he now sat on rather than his own state of bleeding out. They played him better than he played them. But he was the writer. He was the artist. He was the planner. He was superior. And how dare they try to out con him.
“You two fucking psychotic bitches!” he cried as clutched his chest tighter.
“Op, that’s another quarter for the oopsie jar,” Stephanie said, chastising him by waving the barrel of the gun in front of him as if it were her finger and he a child.
“Two quarters actually,” Emily noted as she took a sip of her martini.
“I’ll put my whole wallet in that fucking jar,” Sean barked through his gritted teeth. “It doesn’t matter. The police will be here in minutes. They’ve heard all of this.”
“Oh, you mean from those bugs, right?” Emily asked as she pulled out two severed black cords from her pocket. “These bugs?”
Sean’s face fell. His cockiness flowing out of him faster than his plasma.
“How did you…”
“Oh please, Sean,” Emily tossed the severed cords behind her. “You weren’t exactly creative in your hiding places. Besides, did you really think Stephanie would let me in unprepared?”
Sean whipped his head back to the brunette in front of him who had already lowered the revolver.
“But we had an agreement…” he said.
“We all have our secrets,” Stephanie shrugged. “You had your TA.” She tilted her head towards the blonde and offered her a sweet smile. “And I had Emily.”
His brow wrinkled in confusion as he watched his wife return the same sweet smile to her. The kind of smile he himself had not been the receiver of in years. Maybe ever. His already rapid pulse quickened, thoroughly covering his hand and wrist in red at a faster pace, as he realized just what she had meant.
“No…”
Emily’s smile morphed into a smirk as she closed the distance between her and the brunette so she could place her lips on Stephanie’s blushing cheek.
“No!” Sean shouted, starting to lean forward but was cut off by a cringe of agony.
“Oh relax, Sean,” Emily said as she wrapped her arm around Stephanie’s waist. “It’s just another Tuesday.”
“Should we call an ambulance?” Stephanie asked as she leaned into Emily’s hold. “He is leaving an awfully big stain. I guess we could always shoot him again.”
Sean’s eyes widened and frantically began searching for an exit. The closest appeared to be the front door, but the longer he looked at it, the further away it seemed. Despite his ever-increasing light headedness, he decided that he had to try and began pushing himself towards the front door at a sluggish pace with his hand still firmly over the hole in his chest.
“Ugh,” groaned Stephanie. “Now, he’s smearing it!”
“We have a better chance of a jury believing self-defense with just one gunshot wound,” Emily said as she took another generous sip of her martini. “I guess we ought to call them. It’s most unfortunate for him though to have sent them all the way to Darren’s and those obnoxious snoops. We can only hope now that they’ll get here in time for our dear lover’s sake. Should I make us a drink in the meantime?”
“Thank you, but blood makes me a little queasy.”
“More for me then,” Emily grinned as she reached for the vermouth.
“You two are both fucking insane,” Sean slurred as his movements started to slow and room began to spin. “I can’t believe I ever loved either of you.”
“You loved parts of us,” Emily clarified as she wiped the lemon peel along the rim of the glass. “But you never loved a sister killer or a brother fucker.” She squeezed the lemon and dropped it in before bringing it to her mouth for a sip. “Now, should I call the ambulance or you? Personally, I’m a much better actress when I’ve finished my second drink.”
---
The police came and took the statements from the two shaken women as the disgraced professor and husband was carried away unconscious on a stretcher. With the gun handed in as evidence and the bottom floor taped off as a crime scene, Emily and Stephanie took their sons with them to a hotel room for the night. Doing their best to explain the trip as a vacation rather than necessity, Emily and Stephanie successfully tired their boys out with a trip to the pool and a dinner from room service. When they did finally pass out and were tucked in their bed, Emily and Stephanie slipped on to the balcony for a much need drink.
“I know it’s no martini, but can I interest you in some wine?” Stephanie asked, holding up a dark bottle.
“You know they’ll charge us a small fortune for that,” Emily said as she thought back to the bill they already had waiting for them from the candy bars their sons raided from the mini bar earlier.
“At least they provided the cups,” Stephanie said as she held up two paper cups from the bathroom. “And we can always steal all toiletries. I have a weakness for the mini bottles. They make me feel like a giant when I shower. Like watch out soap bubbles; the giant Stephanie is here!”
Emily laughed and took the paper cup from her to take a quick sip.
“Wow, that’s bad,” Emily said as she added a cough for dramatic effect. It may have been the most expensive cheap wine she’d ever paid for, but the company made it worth it. “But here’s to a hopeful future of freedom, love, and four million.”
“I think I can drink to that,” Stephanie smirked as she tapped her cup against Emily’s and took a drink. “Nice dress, by the way.”
“Aw, thanks baby,” Emily gave a little twirl so that the floral skirt flared out. “I thought I’d take something out of your Target Mom style. It clearly works on some men.”
“But those heels and that underskirt…”
Emily cocked her head to the side and grinned as she gave a fake curtsey.
“Well, I had to dress it up somehow. You don’t mind, do you?”
“What? Oh no. I mean, I’m actually quite the fan of your style. Your pant suits, pocket watches, canes, designer dresses, leather shoes and all…”
“Really?” Emily arched an eyebrow. “Because you seemed quite excited when you were clearing all that out of my closet.”
“Well, I mean… I um.”
“Of course, that wasn’t as heart breaking as when you took that pair of scissors to that lovely black dress,” Emily leaned forward so her were lips mere inches from her Stephanie’s ear. “And it looked so fucking good on you.”
A blush colored Stephanie’s cheeks a deeper shade than the wine in her cup. Her eyes fluttered closed as a chill ran through her spine, and she sent up a silent pray of thanks that they had closed the curtains before stepping out on to the balcony. The last thing she wanted to worry about was what Nicky or Miles might see.
“Sorry,” Stephanie breathed against Emily’s blonde hair.
Emily’s steady hand glided around the brunette’s waist, settling on her ass. She elicited a sharp gasp from Stephanie’s lips as she gripped it tightly and pulled her body flush with her own.
“Now,” Emily purred. “What did I say about using that word?”
---
“Miles honey, don’t forget to tie your shoes. I don’t want you tripping on those laces, okay smooch?”
The curly haired boy stopped chasing after his friend through the playground to stoop down to tie his shoe in a sloppy knot as he was told before resuming his chase in full force. Emily smiled as she watched Stephanie visibly relax, and she couldn’t resist brushing back the lock of brown hair blocking Stephanie’s face from view.
“Do you think they’ll be okay?” Stephanie asked, her eyes not leaving her son.
“They went through a lot,” Emily sighed, her own gaze locking on her own child. “But so did we, and everything went well in the end. I’m sure the same will happen to them. They have each other. And they have us.” Emily turned back towards the brunette with a smile playing on her lips as her fingers now lingering on the exposed skin on Stephanie’s shoulder and neck. “We’ll keep them safe. No one could love them more than us.”
“I just worry, you know?”
“Well don’t,” Emily said as she rubbed her thumb against Stephanie’s cheek. “It’ll only give you wrinkles.”
Stephanie sighed and shook her head, but not hard enough to shake off Emily’s gentle touch.
“Have you given any thoughts to what you’re going to do now?” Stephanie asked.
“I thought about returning to modeling. I’m sure Diana would jump at the chance to paint me again.”
“Um, I think we should probably limit our home décor to just one nude painting.”
Emily laughed and let her arm fall to wrap around the brunette’s shoulders, pulling her close.
“Well I guess I have time to think about it,” Emily sighed. “We could do a lot with four million. Just think of all the places we could travel. Paris, Florence, Saint Petersburg…”
“We should probably wait until the summer for any vacation,” Stephanie said. “And as much as I’d love anyone of those places, I don’t know how kid friendly they’d be.”
“Baby, who said anything about the kids?”
The corners of Stephanie’s mouth quirked up and her hand reached out to interlace her fingers with Emily’s on her lap. Just the fact that they could show these simple displays of affection towards each other in public now sent a small thrill though her. Screw what the other moms would say. They’d endured worse.
“I’d like that,” Stephanie said.
“Good because I’d been thinking about sweeping us away for a while now. I think it’d help both of us if we got away for a bit. How about this weekend?”
“Emily, as much as I would love that, we’d have so much to do. We’d have to find a sitter and make an itinerary and book flights and pack our suitcases. Not to mention, I’d still have to make my video for this week.”
“You could do all of that in your sleep. And besides, you can skip one week, can’t you?”
“But they’re important to me. You know…” a slow grin spread across Stephanie’s face as she turned and wrapped her arms around Emily’s neck. “You could always guest star on my vlog. After all this, I’m sure that would push me to a million subscribers.”
“Oh please,” Emily scoffed. “I’d rather blow my brains out.”
“Hey,” Stephanie gripped Emily gently by her chin so she could lock eyes with her. “Don’t talk like that. Please.”
Emily smiled and pressed her lips against Stephanie’s.
“It’s all good, baby. I don’t have a reason to anymore.”