Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“I am?”
“Yeah,” they both said.
“Thank you for the compliment,” I told them.
“I just don’t know what to say to them,” Harper confessed. “I mean, ‘I hope you had a nice time’ seems not great.”
Kola nodded.
I chuckled. “You can just offer them coffee and whatever pastry you have on hand and leave it at that. You guys don’t have to entertain Jake’s guests.”
“There’s so many,” Kola groaned.
“There were two the other morning,” Harper apprised me.
“Okay, I don’t think I need to––”
“Here,” Jake said, passing Kola and Harper each a can of soda. They were both looking at him, and he turned to me. “Were they telling you about the threesome from the other day?”
“No, sir,” I assured him.
“You guys suck,” he told them.
“I’ll call you back,” Kola told me as I heard them call his name. It was good that something broken would get him seen sooner than later.
I called Hannah and was surprised that I got her.
“Hey,” she greeted me. “I’m on my way to a make-up lab. What’s going on?”
“It’s Saturday,” I reminded her.
“Yes dear, I know. My biology professor does not care, and schedules them for his TA, and his students, whenever he feels like it.”
“Ah, okay. Well, your brother broke something.”
“Like in the house or on his body?”
“On his body.”
“How?” she asked irritably, sounding worried.
“He fell off a ladder.”
“And he thinks he has good balance,” she huffed out.
“I know.”
“I’ll call him,” she said, and then cackled. “Guess who’s sleeping his way through all the lovely coeds at Stanford.”
I groaned. “Don’t be mean.”
“I sent him a giant box of condoms when I sent Kola and Harper their favorite cookies.”
“What did I just say about being mean?”
Her scoff was loud. “Kola says it’s like a revolving door in their house. He bought to-go cups for coffee.”
“You’re horrible.”
She snickered. “I find it hysterical.”
“By the way, I forgot to ask, did you tell George you were being harassed by that boy at school?”
“Oh hell no. And don't you tell him!”
“When do I see George that he's not with you?”
“True,” she agreed. "But still, just don’t. It was bad enough that Ian and Miro and Eli showed up. If George heard about it, Uncle Aaron would have armed guards stationed outside my door. I couldn't go anywhere or do anything.”
“Don't you think that's a little melodramatic?”
“Really? You think?”
Now that I was imagining her having that conversation with Aaron, an image unfolded in my head. Blackhawk helicopters, men dressed in an ocean of khaki, and people watching Hannah sleep. Or Hannah trying to sleep. Her roommate would need drugs. “Okay, I see your point.”
“Though, with how often George pops over and scowls at people, I bet that narc Ian told him.”
“Now listen, Ian means well.”
“The man is a menace,” she assured me.
I let her go after that.
After we hung up, I got a call from Dylan. Apparently, our client, Baylor Stoops from Cecil’s Orchard, which wasn’t an orchard but an exclusive dating app that we’d done the branding and marketing for—make your love grow, that kind of stuff—was having trouble getting their tech to work at their launch party. She would have gone to check, it was her weekend to be on call for client emergencies, but she was with her son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law, looking at wedding venues. Since I would not get between Dylan and the happiness she was experiencing with her stunning and smart new favorite person—the woman Micah loved, Eshe—I told her I would take care of it.
I arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel downtown and immediately went to the ballroom where the event was being held and encountered a security guard.
“I’m sorry, sir, but do you have an invitation?”
The thing about Cecil’s Orchard was that to even be on the app you had to first have your finances cleared. You had to be a millionaire to even have your face in the pool of people.
“I’m actually here to fix whatever issues they’re having with your tech,” I explained. “If you want to call––”
“Ohmygod, Jory!”
Turning to my right, I saw Abigail Schneider rushing down the hall to me. “Thank God you’re here. I think there’s some kind of issue with what the hotel has and the network and––”
“I’ll take care of it,” I assured her as she reached me and grasped my hand. “Don’t worry.”
She led me inside and to where everything was set up, and of course, there was a driver that wasn’t loaded. Simple things. Quickly, I got it downloaded, and suddenly the room was filled with sound and lights, and everyone cheered as everything ran seamlessly.
I was going to leave, but Abigail begged me to just stay until the bachelor auction began, which would be the end of the part that Dylan, Fallon, and I were responsible for. The site that another party had built, with our images and logos, was not on us.