Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
We probably should’ve told her about the cat.
For the record, Paws had bolted back into hiding.
“You have to whisper, Lily!” Micah exclaimed. “You’re scaring him.”
“But it’s a cat!” Lily whipped around to face me, then Ash, then me again. “Do we have a cat now?”
Topic effectively changed.
CHAPTER 5
Ash Riley
Ipoked my head into Theo’s office. “Oi. Where’s James?”
He looked up from his computer. “Hey, birthday boy. Didn’t I text you? I need him on Ortega’s crew. He’s two men short.”
Well, fuck. “But he’s my emotional support animal,” I argued.
My brother, the dickhead, snorted a laugh. “I think you’ll survive one day.”
Sure, but I wanted to shout my good news to the world, and that included rambling for two hours to James. It was our thing.
In return, he was in charge of the music in the truck.
“I guess I can tell you too,” I said, checking my watch. “But I don’t have time to word-vomit. Nate and I are back together.”
“About fucking time. Really?” He looked genuinely happy, so I couldn’t give him too much shit. “Good, I’m glad. You never told Lily and Mikey, did you?”
I shook my head. “We made it in the nick of time.”
“Well, I’m happy for ya. Poor Nate, though. Gotta put up with your shit again.”
I flipped him off. Asshole.
“Did you tell Ma?”
“Not yet, so don’t let it spill,” I told him. “I wanna casually mention that I’m lookin’ to buy an RV and that they cost a pretty penny. But if we could possibly get help with the down payment…”
He chuckled. “I did that last year when Claire’s car broke down. But wait till Pop starts talkin’ about their annual return. He invested a lot last year—and you know how Ma gets.”
Fuck yeah. She loved to spend money on three things. Charities, her grandbabies, and her two fantastic sons.
“Good lookin’ out,” I said. “Am I getting my birthday treatment at lunch?”
“Don’t you always?”
Just wanted to make sure. “See you then.” I walked out again, in a bit of a hurry now to get to Fairfax. Without James.
On my way downstairs, I texted him.
Who am I gonna use for emotional support today?
I checked my messages with Jordan too. I’d only texted him briefly last night to let him know everything had worked out. To which he’d unleashed the CAPS LOCK.
I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT! YAY! I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU, DADDY. TALK SOON. ENJOY THE FAMILY TIME AND HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY TOMORROW. HUGS AND KISSES.
I smiled to myself, and now I was really looking forward to tomorrow when Nate got to meet them. I assumed James would be there too, though I couldn’t be sure. It was only Jordan who’d signed up for the bondage demo, but James was intrigued by it as well.
James replied when I got outside the building.
Do you need one, boss? Jordan said everything was great again.
Oh, I didn’t mean—fuck. I texted back.
The sky is bluer today, and I can hear birds singing. Life is great. I just enjoy working with you. ;)
I unlocked the door and got into the truck, and I had to suffer for several moments while I adjusted my seat and fixed the radio. ’Cause my usual work truck was at home… I needed to get that back here at some point.
I threw out the air freshener and made a mental note to pick it up later, but I wasn’t spending the day inhaling coconut breeze, whatever the fuck that was.
This wasn’t the Bahamas.
Just when I was about to back out, I received James’s text.
I enjoy working with you too, boss. :) Btw, Jordan won’t text you today. He’s worried about being in the way. Only saying it in case you’re expecting something.
Sweet boy. Hell, they were both sweet. I appreciated them being mindful, but a text here and there was always welcome, so I sent Jordan a message before I let the workday take over.
Good morning, little one. It’s gonna be a busy day with work and then spending time with the family, but I wanted to say I’m thinking about you. And confirm that we’ll see each other tomorrow at Nate’s bondage demo.
It was almost time for my worlds to collide.
Which reminded me…
Fuck me, I was gonna be late. But whatever. I was the boss—and it was my damn birthday.
I went into the Mclean House app, set Nate as my husband and co-Top. I wanted to be James’s Sadist, and Jordan… Where was he? My list of friends wasn’t exactly long, so why wasn’t I finding him?
Jesus, were we not friends on there?
That needed to be fixed. I found him and sent him a friend request. There. Once he’d approved me, I would add him as my Little. A symbolic gesture he could lean against until the dust had settled.
What the fresh…
I started scrolling.
And scrolling.