Divine Charity(Divine Creek Ranch 18)(99)
“Well,” Ransome said, looking over at Val with healthy fear in his eyes. “We took them out of all those little white zipper bags you had them in and…put them in the dryer.”
Justin had warned them but they clearly hadn’t understood. He felt like every inch of skin was being flayed off as she laid into them, her voice booming with power that he had not heretofore known she possessed. Frankly, it made him even hotter even though he knew on some level contrition and repentance should be the only emotions he was feeling. She was glorious as she let them have it. “I showed you my hamper in the laundry room, the one with my name on it, when you moved in. And what did I tell you?”
Ransome started to speak but she cut him off.
“I asked you nicely, nicely, to leave my clothes for me to wash. I told you I do my own laundry. I explained why I do my own laundry. I can’t afford to replace some of those items. I have to budget to go clothes shopping. I take special care of my clothes. I don’t put lingerie in the dryer because it ruins it. I don’t put my blue jeans in the dryer because the legs shrink. I know it’s an idiosyncrasy to some but I made it clear. Leave my laundry the fuck alone!”
“I’m so sorry, angel. We’re so sorry.” Ransome said, gesturing at Val. “We didn’t mean to ruin your sparkly pants or your other stuff.”
“Where is my lingerie?”
Val said, “In the basket on the dryer.”
Hope shriveled that she was winding down and close to forgiving them when she ran in the utility room and made a pained shrieking sound. She returned with the basket, which she thumped on the table. She reached in and lifted out the first…thing and held it up. “What is this?”
Val frowned, knowing this was going to get worse. “I think it’s a bunch of your bras all…knotted together.”
“This is why I put them in those nifty zipper bags.” After a little work, she unknotted one of the bras and held it up to her. “You remember seeing me in this the other night?”
Ransome grinned at the memory and then had the good sense to stifle himself. “It doesn’t look the way it did last time we saw it on you.”
She turned a steely gaze from one man to the other, “And it never will again. This stuff is called delicate for a reason. The heat from the dryer ruined the lace and the elastic.”
Val reached out and stroked her hip. “We’re really sorry, baby. We’ll never touch your laundry ever again. I hate seeing you upset. I’ll replace everything.”
Ransome said, “It was just as much my idea. We’ll share the cost of replacing everything, angel.”
She let out a breath and nailed them with her blue eyes. “You’ll have to because I don’t have the money in my budget right now and some of this stuff was for work.” She gestured at her jeans which were undeniably never going to look the same again. As if to emphasize the point, one of the large rhinestones popped off and fell on the floor at his feet. “How many of my jeans did you wash?”
Ransome exchanged a glance with him and gave a minute shake of his head, the coward.
Val said, “All of them that were in the hamper.”
Charity nodded, several times in succession while breathing deep, her lips mashed into a flat line. Val reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. She kept nodding and he said, “Was that every pair you owned?”
She just kept nodding and held out her hand as he pulled out his debit card. “If there’s any problem just have them call me to authorize the purchase.”
“Purchases, you mean. Right? Grace and I are going to Cheaver’s to do a little shopping for Rose Marie. I’ll replace the jeans there and then we’re going to Discretion, because—” She waved the big knot-o-bras through the air.
Preemptively, he said, “Buy whatever you want, baby. Buy extras.” Ransome nodded in confirmation.
“—because I can’t be having this shit.”
“And we solemnly promise to never touch your laundry ever again.”
She took a deep breath, threw the bras back in the basket and trudged off still nodding, muttering under her breath, his debit card in her hand.
“This is gonna hurt, buddy,” Ransome whispered, rubbing his face and then shaking his head.
Val shook his head, recalling the way she stood in that utility room door, breasts heaving, fire in her eyes, looking like an avenging Valkyrie. “We don’t see her like that very often. She’s really hot when she’s angry.”
He turned to Ransome and his cousin smirked for just a second but hid it, possibly in fear that she might come back and catch them.