always worried about the questions I’d have to answer if anyone saw the space knowing I didn’t have
kids.
I might never have kids, but I finally had myself a boy who I’d do just about anything for, starting
with talking to the art teacher at the school to see if she knew anyone who could paint a mural along
the unobstructed wall. And if it was truly going to becomeour space, that meant he needed a
sanctuary where he could get away from everything. Even me.
“Come on, you’ve seen my place. It wouldn’t exactly be a hardship to use part of it for a
playroom. Eventually, it would be nice to invite people over. I know Sammy’s never going to want to
play here, and I’d bet your boy would be more comfortable having someplace a bit more private,
too,” I told him. It felt an awful lot like I was trying to sell him on the concept. And maybe I was. Or
maybe I was the one who needed some reassurance that I wasn’t going completely overboard. “I just
want him to know that he has a home with me.”
“You really mean that, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.” It might have been the truest statement I’d ever uttered.
11
Sam
I was inso muchtrouble. And I couldn’t even be mad at William because he didn’t know I hadn’t
been honest with Daddy about where I spent the night when we weren’t together. It wasn’t the same,
but I almost felt like I was cheating on him, because I wasn’t where I was supposed to be, and that
made me sick to my stomach.
All night, I’d been distracted and grumpy. It was hard to believe it had only been hours earlier
when Daddy was texting me naughty messages and I was begging him to let me rub one out when I got
home. I wished there was a way to go back to that easy banter, but I had a feeling my night was going
to be filled with groveling instead.
“You go back and count the tills,” William instructed me as he turned out the lights and Theron
locked the front door. “We’ll help Corey finish up out here. That way all of us can have an early
night.”
“I have to check on the back deck, too,” I reminded him. Ihatedhaving to go back there. Now that
William had agreed to oversee the more hardcore side of the club, I didn’t spend much time back
there, but I still had to collect the tills and do a final walkthrough to make sure no one was hiding out
