Valentinos

In order not to spoil the experience of the book, I highly suggest you read this bonus chapter after you read Walk Through Fire from the Chaos Series. Trust me, you'll enjoy it a lot more. Rock on!

You Did It, Baby

Millie

"Girl, I ain't tryin' on no Valentinos," Elvira declared.

"Vira, those are amazing," Gwen returned, standing next to where Elvira was sitting in Nordstrom's shoe department (and incidentally, Gwen was wearing a pair of bronze Prada pumps that she was taking for a spin). "You have to try them on."

I watched Elvira's eyes narrow.

"Gwen, Hawk doesn't pay me minimum wage for herding his commandos. But the sky isn't the limit either. And you know I have a strict monthly policy."

Gwen opened her mouth to speak but didn't when Elvira lifted her hand with her sharp, talon-shaped, platinum-polished nails, shaking an upward-raised index finger at Gwen with each point she made next.

"One handbag or one pair of shoes or one outfit or one free-for-all at Charming Charlie or Francesca's per month. No additions. No exceptions." She dropped her hand and said in a near-mutter I still could hear from my distance, mainly because I was listening with everything I had. "Except when the new spring and fall lines come out. Then I can go crazy."

"Have you bought a pair of shoes this month?" Mara, sitting next to Elvira, asked her friend.

"Yes. The teal Joies. First day of the month," Elvira answered.

"Those are hot," Tabby decreed, inspecting the Manolo display.

"I know, that's why they're mine," Elvira returned.

Tabby grinned at Lanie as Camille noted, "You also got that John Hardy serpent ring when you were out shoppin' with me and Gwen last week."

"What?" Malik, standing at my back where we were hiding behind a column, rumbled quietly.

"Shush," I hushed Malik.

"Shush," Elvira shushed Camille. "Snakes don't count. I can buy as many snakes as I want."

"That's an exception," Tess pointed out.

"Technically, yes. John Hardy goes the way of the serpent, I relent," Elvira told Tess.

"Just saying," Tyra put in, settling a knee in the vacant seat on the other side of Elvira, wearing a pair of Weitzman's with a fringe ankle strap she was also trying on, "you made one exception, you can make another."

"Those shoes are nearly nine hundred dollars," Elvira retorted.

"You'll kick yourself if you don't try them on, then you come back next month and they're gone," Tracy put in.

"Am I talking to myself?" Elvira asked the shoe area at large then pinpointed Tracy with her gaze. "They're nine hundred dollars. I make decent money but my man's the po-po. Which means he's got a gun and knows how to use it. I come home with more than my allotted purchases this month, his head will explode. In that instance, I'd hafta hope he doesn't explode mine before his goes. And, just sayin', I like his head the way it is, specifically his mouth."

When the girls all smiled at each other, Elvira finished.

"And he's got good eyes."

She was being stingy.