That night, yelling jerked Tori awake. She shook her head. Was she dreaming? Again, loud voices pierced the nighttime. She rushed to the front window and saw her SUV in the street instead of the driveway. Lee held a handgun; the new neighbor, Brook, was in a fight with some guys.

Autumn wandered up. "What's going on?"

"I think someone's stealing my car. Call 911." Tori jumped into her boots wearing only her nightshirt, wielding a baseball bat. Brook struggled with three strangers as fists flew; she was losing.

Lee fired two shots into the lawn. "Brooklyn, move back so I can shoot the bastards."

Tori ran up and screamed, "Yee ha!" She swung her bat twice into the hip of one stranger who fought with Brook. The sound of wood on bone pleased her. The crook collapsed, moaning. Brook traded punches with one, felling him like timber in the forest. Tori took her bat to the guy.

Brook grabbed the smallest crook and tossed him head first into the SUV's fender.

Autumn joined the fray wearing only jeans and a T-shirt with her tits bouncing and rope coiled on her arm. She poked the barrel of a handgun into the groin of the first guy. "Move and lose your winkie." He put his hands up.

Lee covered a guy with his pistol and Brook held the third in a headlock.

"Where the hell are the cops?" Lee groaned.

"We called, too." Autumn tossed the rope to Tori. "Cowgirl up."

Tori hogtied one guy, then another, and finally the one Brook held.

Brooklyn checked Tori out. "Mighty fine roping for a city girl."

She grinned. "Thank you, cowgirl, but I only live in the city, I'm a country girl. You're bleeding."

She dabbed at her lip, forehead, and arm.

Lee counseled, "We'd better put the guns away before the cops get here." They stashed them in Tori's SUV.

An engine roared. Headlights and a spotlight raced toward them, then another car with revolving red and blue lights did the same. Two police cruisers pulled up with an officer from each rushing forward.

Lee told them, "We live here and these guys are thieves. We put them under citizen's arrest."

The cops took charge of the crooks. One said, "First time I got to a crime and had tied packages given to me." After they carted the criminals off, and Tori got her car back into the driveway, the four neighbors assembled in Tori and Autumn's home. Tori covered the kitchen table with a towel and tended to Brook's wounds. She winced at the antiseptic sting. "Nice fighting. You kicked ass." She got a scent of her woman's perspiration and flowery perfume. Their gazes locked for a bit.

Autumn broke their spell. "Brook, Lee, we're grateful for you stopping the car thieves."

Lee groaned, "It was Brooklyn. I heard her yelling, then I went out."

Brook patted her new bandages. "I couldn't sleep so I went out for a run, and saw those guys stealing your car. Damn, I hate thieves." She lowered her head. "The three of them were getting the best of me."

Lee slapped the table. "Just pure neighborly teamwork. I should get home. My wife will be thinking you two girls had me in your beds." He chortled and left.

Brook stood. "I should get home, too. Thanks for tending to me." Then almost as an afterthought, "They make these things called garages. You put your car in it so they're harder to steal." She smirked.

Tori squinted her eyes, knowing she was right.

Autumn passed a slip of paper to Brook, each woman pecked her cheek, and Brook left.

Tori inquired, "What you'd give her?"

"Just my phone number and email. Oh, to have that woman in my bed."

"Or mine."