“Who are you going to borrow a car from?”
“Decoy, maybe.”
“Is that Folk’s boyfriend?”
“Yup.”
“Jordan thought he was a—”
“Yeah, yeah.” I cut her off before she could call Decoy a DILF again. Once around the block with that was enough. “I’ll text you tomorrow. You want me to bring you anything?”
“Can you buy me a vape?”
“No.”
“Fine. Can I have a lemon Fanta? Oh, and don’t have your music loud when you pick me up, okay? And don’t have the windows down. Or, you know, like, get out or anything.”
“You want me to park in the next county and you can fuckin’ walk?”
“Hardy ha, old man. Gotta go. Loveyoubye.”
Willow hung up. I dropped the phone on the bed and released a hassled breath, my fingers still using Nash’s hair as a stress toy. Was he awake?
Couldn’t be sure.
Then I rubbed the base of his skull again and a low moan filtered out from beneath the pillow.
A moan that made me want to slide down the bed and funnel his dick down my throat. “You can come out now, bro.”
Slowly, Nash pushed the pillow away and treated me to my first proper glimpse of his face. Of his heavy half-lidded baby-blue eyes, and the sheet lines indented in his rugged cheek.
I spoke without thinking. “You wake up as pretty as your woman.”
Nash slow-blinked, rolling his shoulders, wincing. “That ain’t true.”
He was wrong, but the words kinda washed over me as his voice reeled me in. Whatever Nash was saying, I could listen to him talk all day. Mellow, deep,masculine, everything about him was a tranquilliser to my fucked-up soul.
Except the wanting to bang him part.
That part was pure fuckin’ meth, and it reminded me that I had a confession to make. “I need to tell you something.”
“Hang on a sec.” Nash rolled away from me, flicked a speaker on, and opened a drawer in his bedside table.
As Ben Howard filtered into the quiet morning, I expected him to come back with cigarettes, but it was that damn envelope again.
“Take it.” He tossed it before I could speak. “Don’t make life harder for no fucking reason.”
The envelope landed on my chest.
Nash stared at it. At me. Then he settled on his back, his forearm half shielding his eyes from the sun streaming through the open blinds.
Shut them.
Nope. I wouldn’t be able to see Orla. And... it wasn’t dark anymore.
I took the envelope and set it next to my empty tea mug. “If I don’t seeyourkids with the same fuckin’ payday, there’s gonna be trouble.”
“I haven’t got kids.”
