Payback Overload

Tyler shows up with flowers, knocks, and gets all bright when Lauren opens the door. “Special delivery from AT Gardens for a Mrs. Phillips!” Lauren just stares, suspicious as hell, until he drops her husband’s name. That lights the fuse. She grabs him by the wrist and yanks him inside. Her crew—Katie, Dee, Syren, and Caitlin—are already parked around the living room. Lauren jerks her thumb at Tyler like he’s yesterday’s trash. “Ladies, meet the delivery guy who just brought flowers from my cheating prick of a husband.” They all lose it—gasps, eye-rolls, swearing up a storm—while Tyler stands there clutching the bouquet like a shield. It finally sinks in: her man stepped out, so the girls have circled up to back Lauren, and the idiot thinks roses are gonna fix it. Tyler starts blurting apologies, “I just work the register,” but the ladies aren’t listening anymore. They’re looking him over like a toy they forgot they wanted. Lauren tilts her head, eyes dark and hungry. “Girls, do I play nice… or do I get some payback of my own?” Four pairs of hands inch closer. Flowers hit the floor. Lauren steps in, voice low. “Show us what a real man can do.”