Lion Den

Part 16

As soon as Emma walked into the house, Mrs. Wu met her.

"Who that? Where your car?" Emma smiled at the woman.

"I just got into a little car wreck. That's Jewel, my boyfriend. I'm keeping my car at his house. I'm moving in with him now. I'll be out of your hair." Mrs. Wu frowned.

"Emma, I care for you like my own daughter. You be careful. You know what you getting into?" Emma nodded. She was touched by Mrs. Wu's concern.

"I do, Mrs. Wu, thank you. I'm gonna start moving my stuff out." Mrs. Wu looked out the window and eyed Andrei.

"Why not ask boyfriend to help you?" She smiled at the old lady.

"I will, thank you. Where's Karlie?" Mrs. Wu walked her back to the door.

 "She at work. You should find job too."  Emma rolled her eyes.

"I will, at some point.  I should, now that I'm going to be living on my own."  Emma walked outside and gestured for Andrei to join her.  He got out of the car and popped the trunk.  Wordlessly, they headed up the stairs to gather all of Emma's belongings.  Emma realized that most of her clothes were in her ruined trunk.

"Fuck.  I need to get in my trunk.  It's completely busted though."  Andrei, who'd been helping her gather up her duffel, answered her with his back turned.

"Just use a crowbar."  She rolled her eyes.

"Right.  Like I'm strong enough to pry it open."  He shrugged, not affected by her sarcasm.

"You don't need to be strong, Babes.  You just need to have leverage.  Would you like me to show you how to do it?"  She mused for a second as he turned around.  She wondered where he acquired a skill like that, but realized she didn't want to know about all the illegal activities he was up to.  

It's best not to know sometimes.  Ignorance really is bliss.  It was funny that she'd never felt that way until Andrei came into her life.  He was still waiting for her answer.

"Sure, I'd like that.  Hopefully the pictures of my dad that I have in there won't be ruined."  Andrei followed her into the bathroom where she grabbed all of her cosmetics.

"I think your car is ruined.  It looked totaled to me."  Emma nodded.

"It definitely is.  Listen, Andrei.  I have a friend in the police department who might be able to keep Officer Brown from following me again.  That fucker deserved to have his car ruined.  I'm just happy I damaged his radiator."  He scrutinized her.

"You do realize that it's not in either of our best interests to talk to the cops right now, right?  You don't know if you can trust this officer."  Emma crossed her arms.

"I certainly trust him a lot more than I trust most of those pigs.  He stood up for me.  He's a Sergeant, too.  My father was at his promotion."  They headed down the stairs, and Emma handed Andrei her cosmetic bags.