Chapter Twenty-Nine
I end up getting up when Casey does. I walk downstairs to the kitchen, where she’s making coffee for me. I’ve pulled a robe on, and I step behind her and wrap my arms around her.
How many countless times did I do this to Ellen? Exactly like this?
Not realizing at the time that the number of mornings I would experience that simple pleasure were incredibly,tragically finite.
She pats my hands and leans back against me. “Other reason I’m sending him tonight is because this makes three nights in a rowIbarely slept because of work. In addition to hysterical phone calls from my goddamned boss.” I can tell from her tone she’s not upset.
Still, more guilt flares inside me. “Sorry.”
She snickers. “No, hon. It’s okay. It’s the job. I was reading backgroundfor prep. But if Dec’s with you tonight, that means I cannotexpect a panicked nightmare phone call.” She tips her head against my shoulder and looks into my eyes. “He is helping you, right?” she quietly asks.
“Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize. If you two were fucking around behind my back and I had no clue,thatwould piss me off.” She reaches back and pokes me in the side, almost butnot quite tickling me. “That’s another reason I was so pissed at you that night when you tried to cop an attitude with me. Sharing him with you honestly doesn’t bother me, because I know about it and I’ve given you both permission. There’s no reason to sneak around. You care about him, he cares about you.”
Honestly, I’m about to open my mouth to ask her to make this an official triad when shespeaks again.
“Let’s get through the re-election however we have to right now. Then you and I can maybe sit down and…talk. We have a lot of stuff we need to talk about.” She softly laughs. “You might wish you’d never met me after you finish picking my brain.”
That pulls me up short. I make her turn and face me. “Case, I’ve known you literally half my life. There’snouniverse in which I wishI’d never met you. There’s no universe in which I don’tneedyou in my life, honey. The kids need you. Even if all you ever want to be is my friend, and I never get more from you than what I have with you right this minute, I’ll accept that and be damned glad for it.”
That’s absolutely the truth. Every word of it.
I don’t understand why her smile looks so…sad. There’s so much about her pastI don’t know, not really.
I wonder how much I don’t know about her since meeting her? I didn’t know about Declan. I still don’t even know how long they’ve been seeing each other, or how that started in the first place.
“You’re a good man, George Forrester,” she says. “You’re a thousand times the governor Ed Willis was, and I don’t give a shit who hears me say that.”
A shiver rolls through me,but I don’t tell her that. “Thanks.” Her comment is an eerie specter from the past, especially in light of my nightmare. Something Ellen said.
They did that a lot, said the exact same thing at different times, echoing each other without even having heard the other say it. Even more frequently, they used to say the exact same thing at the same time, total twinsies, in that way.
I miss it likefucking hell, even though sometimes they’d playfully gang up on me to pick on me. Not in mean ways, though. Friendly teasing.
Once she heads home with a travel mug of coffee, I take my coffee mug and return upstairs to stand in the shower and try to wake up.
At least I’ll be able to sleep tonight. My cock stiffens at the thought of having my boy in bed with me. Even if all we end up doing issnuggling and sleeping, that’d still be fine with me.
Although…
She did say he needed a beating. Maybe we can have a hard scene, I can have fun with him, and try his new favorite thing on him again.
That sounds like a plan.
* * * *
Despite not having texted with Declan yet that morning, I know as soon as he walks into my office seconds after my arrival that Casey’s already told him aboutthe change of plans. There’s a sweet, needy hunger burning in his eyes as he looks at me, a playful smile he tries to hide.
The way he reaches down to adjust himself.
“Good morning, Declan.”
His smile widens, and now he’s not the only one who needs to adjust himself. “Good morning, Sir.”
But then Cassidy Larraby, my comms director, walks in, with Dana on her heels, Casey not far behind her,and I behave myself as the governor’s day officially starts.
