Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Hi, yes, we’re looking for Franky. Is he home by any chance?” I tried to sound as unassuming as possible, even though my nerves were buzzing.
“What is this about?” She sized the two of us up, taking a step so that she planted herself firmly in the center of the threshold.
“We’re old friends,” I lied, hoping that would get her to relax a little bit. “I know showing up unannounced isn’t the most polite thing to do, but we—”
“Susan, who are you talking to?”
She looked over her shoulder. “I don’t know. These two guys say they’re old friends of yours?”
She stepped to the side, which gave me my first good look at Franky.
He was a stocky guy, clearly lifted weights, and had tattoos going up and down his legs, disappearing underneath a long pair of black shorts. He wore a T-shirt that advertised some kind of cleaning business called Frankly Franky’s Cleaning Service, a cartoon representation of himself covered in soap suds holding up the letters. He looked to me first before looking to Noah, their eyes meeting and all the color draining from Franky’s face. He stepped in front of his wife.
“I’ve got this.”
Her brow furrowed together, questions clear on her expression.
“Go, get inside, Susan. It’s fine.”
“Are they really your friends?”
“We know each other, yeah. Haven’t seen them in years, though, and I’m not real fond of surprises.” He took another step forward, forcing us to move back. Now that the initial shock of seeing Noah at his doorstep was fading, it appeared to be replaced by a growing anger, reflected in the cherry-red color that started to spread across his cheeks like a bad rash. “Go. I’m fine.”
Susan gave one last skeptical glare before shrugging and going back inside the house, closing the door behind her with a heavy thud.
Franky turned all his focus onto Noah. “What the fuck are you doing here?” He looked back over his shoulder at the shut door before pointing to the sidewalk. “Explain it down there,” he said, moving forward again, nearly pushing us this time. I took the hint, not putting up any resistance and instead going down the steps with Noah, stopping on the sidewalk. The dogs—three of them, all clustered together in a window—continued to bark, getting louder now that they could see us.
“We wanted to ask you a similar question,” Noah said, keeping his calm, even though the way he picked at the palm of his hand revealed how nervous he really was. “Franky, I know we ended on terrible terms, but I genuinely thought we were both on the same page. So why are you leaving me threatening packages? Why are you trying to break into my friend’s house? Huh?”
Franky’s face scrunched up as if he’d just popped a Warhead into his mouth. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“There was a box left at my door addressed to me, and it had a severed chicken head and a Pride necklace in there. There’s footage of your car driving away from my community around that same time. Then, last night, we were woken up by an alarm—someone tried breaking in. And, once again, we have footage of your car leaving the area. So tell me the truth, Franky. Why are you doing any of this?”
He should have changed the name of his company to Flabbergasted Franky’s Cleaning Service because the guy looked completely bamboozled. He shook his head, rubbing a hand over his face. “Seriously? You show up to my house for this crap?”
“I wouldn’t consider Noah’s safety and well-being as crap,” I said, getting the urge to punch this guy’s lights out. If not for being a dick, then also for breaking Noah’s heart.
“Listen, I don’t want my wife asking any questions. You two need to get off my property before I call the cops.” Franky cracked his fingers into a fist in a schoolyard display of aggression.
“Don’t worry,” I said, “we already called them. They said they were going to have a word with you. But that can all be pulled back as long as you tell the truth and stop playing these crazy games.”
He scoffed, the cherry red spreading down his jaw, onto his neck. “I didn’t do shit. I haven’t thought about you in years, Noah. Why the hell would I fuck up my life trying to fuck with yours?” He shot another glance back up at the house. I could tell he didn’t want his wife hearing any of this. I wondered how she’d feel if she found out this “old friend” of her husband’s was actually a long-term boyfriend, the two of them in a secret relationship that could have worked out if Franky hadn’t chosen to stuff himself in the closet.
She’d probably be pretty upset, and Franky knew that. It explained why he wanted her back in the house and far removed from this conversation as quickly as possible.