Read Gimme an O! for Free Online

cat meowing as he extended a clawlike hand in the air. “Any more of that and I’ll have to see if we can find a pair of boxing gloves.” He paused briefly. “Or I can send you to the Springer show, two doors down.”
    Breathe, Lecia told herself. She felt her lungs constricting, and wished she had her inhaler.
    “Oh, that won’t be necessary,” Lecia said, laughing. She sounded like someone had put a gun to her head and screamed, “Laugh!”
    In her peripheral vision she saw a man standing near a camera whirling a finger in the air.
    Jay said, “I wish we had more time.”
    “Me, too,” Lecia lied. She pasted a smile on her face, though her heart beat out of control. It was all she could do to pretend this situation wasn’t the worst she’d ever experienced.
    Looking into one of the cameras, Jay said, “The book is called The Big O: Getting Everything You Want and More. You can pick it up at your nearest bookstore. We’ll be right back with our musical guest, Forgotten Promise.”
    Kevin Eubanks and the Tonight Show band began playing. Kevin wore that permanent and ever annoying smile of his. Or maybe she only found it annoying because this interview had turned into a certified disaster.
    Leno leaned forward and said, “I didn’t realize you two knew each other.”
    “I apologize, Jay,” Lecia said.
    “No, don’t apologize. This is great. You’re not taking yourselves too seriously. My viewers love that.”
    Lecia snuck a glance to her right. Anthony looked like he was barely containing a keg full of anger.
    Anthony said, “Maybe I should get out of here.”
    “No, no.” Jay held out a hand to keep him at bay.
    “Then maybe I should,” Lecia said.
    “Neither of you has to go anywhere. I’m telling you, this was great.”
    “Great?” Lecia asked, horrified. “You will cut that before tonight’s broadcast, right? The last thing I need—”
    “The audience loved it,” Jay said, dismissing her protest. “Hey, wait a second—”
    Lecia looked up to see Anthony Beals give Jay a wave as he exited stage left.

Four
    Lecia had been silent on the drive to her sister’s place, but as soon as she crossed the threshold into the Baldwin Hills home, she kicked off her shoes and said, “Oh…my…God.”
    “I see you have your voice back,” Tyanna commented wryly.
    Lecia darted into the living room. She plopped her body down onto Tyanna’s sofa, throwing an arm across her forehead. “Tell me that didn’t just happen,” Lecia said. “Tell me I wasn’t just humiliated on a taping of the Tonight Show .”
    “It wasn’t as bad as you thought.”
    “No,” she whined. “It was worse.”
    “Speaking as someone who was at the taping, I think the audience found it funny.”
    Lecia lifted her head and met her sister’s gaze. “Funny? You are joking, right? I thought that guy was going to…going to pummel me or something. And I think he would have, if the cameras weren’t rolling. According to his wife, he’s got an explosive temper.”
    “I don’t believe that.”
    Lecia whimpered as she dropped her head back. “I think I’d have preferred a pummeling to national disgrace.”
    “Relax,” Tyanna told her. “It really wasn’t that bad.”
    Easy for her sister to say. She was the one who had lived a life full of drama. The latest had occurred a couple years earlier, when Tyanna’s boyfriend had been working undercover to find his brother’s killer. The guy behind the murder had kidnapped Tyanna and would have killed her if the police hadn’t shot him dead first. Tyanna had gone on to marry the boyfriend, and Sheldon was now Lecia’s brother-in-law. He and Tyanna had moved to Los Angeles to pursue Tyanna’s new career as a fitness video star.
    “You want some tea?” Tyanna called from the kitchen.
    “No.”
    “Coffee?”
    “No.”
    “Juice?”
    “No. I don’t want anything.”
    Tyanna waltzed back into the living, her arms crossed over her chest. “You’re not gonna sulk all