“We’ll have to stretch them out later. Or maybe repeat. See if that helps ease them up.”
* * *
There wasa round of shower sex before we headed over to Toad Hall via her house so she could get changed, taking my car to save on time. I was on a late shift at Mount Street later while Simone was chefing at Blue, so our day together was going to be shorter than I wanted. What I actually wanted was to find a room with a decently heighted bed and to fuck her ten ways till Sunday on repeat until neither of us could walk without assistance, but real life wasn’t going to accommodate that.
A clean-up crew were already there, as was Killian O’Hara, the brother-in-law of Simone’s friend. He was standing with a man who was almost his double, deep in discussion about cameras until they saw us.
“You okay, Simone?” Killian said, stuffing hands in pockets. “Nothing odd happened last night. Maybe whoever did it had the wrong address.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. I feel better with this being done.”
Killian started to go through exactly what they were installing, making it sound as if the project was similar to one that would happen at Windsor Castle.
“I can leave it with you?” She handed over a set of keys to Killian at the end of what had been a detailed conversation that I half listened to.
He nodded. “We’ll get it sorted. There’s a security detail on here, the other restaurants and your place too for the time being.” He looked at me. “Shall we put one on yours just in case? If Simone’s there it might be worth it.”
Lauren. If this was about Sim, then Killian had a point. And Lauren was often at my house on her own. “I’ll cover the cost of it.”
He shook his head and grinned. “It’s on the house. Simone’s done enough for my family recently. Such as when she gets invited over to Claire’s parents’ place in Oxford and she ends up cooking all weekend. Plus, she lets Seph stay with her.”
My back stiffened and I started to give out some vibe that Simone noticed as I saw her give me a curious look, as if to saywhat the fuck’s your problem?I had no idea who Seph was but I didn’t like the idea of him staying over. Or anyone.
“Seph’s Killian’s brother-in-law and a friend of mine. He’s a bit like Tigger from Winnie-the-Pooh. Bounces everywhere.”
“And annoys the fuck out of everyone. He’s like a pet that you have to look after for the school holidays.” Killian looked amused. “Or a boomerang.”
Simone laughed. I didn’t like someone else making her laugh. I also wasn’t sure where this possessive streak was coming from.
“He’s misunderstood.”
“He needs to move out of Maxwell’s before Maxwell does something catastrophic.” Killian glanced at his near-double. “He did mention staying with Nick here…”
“Growing family, don’t have space.” Nick sounded fairly chilled, as if this had already been discussed and dismissed.
“Maybe Seph needs a girlfriend.” Simone moved closer to me.
I wasn’t sure whether I should touch her or not, how she would react to any form of possession, because that was what it would be.
“Seph needs a lot of things.” Killian grinned, taking his phone out of his pocket as it was now vibrating. “That’s Claire. I’d better go.”
“Baby duty.” Nick raised a brow at me. “This is like paradise coming here. No fucking Lego to tread on and I can swear without getting told off.”
Killian laughed and I remembered when me and Robert used to laugh with each other.
“Which of the twins told you to fuck off last week?”
“Don’t, K. That was not a highlight of my life so far.” He groaned, looking pained. “Katie didn’t speak to me for two days. She was mortified.” Nick placed a hand on his chest and looked wounded.
“I remember the first time my daughter swore at school. The teacher pulled me when I went to pick her up and told me that she’d said to this boy to ‘fuck off’ when he’d asked her to give him her lunch. I asked what reward she’d been given for sticking up for herself.” It was a good memory; the teacher had struggled to hide a smile and asked me to have a word with her about using more appropriate language. I hadn’t bothered. Instead, we’d gone out for dinner to her favourite restaurant and talked about how no one should ever tell you what to do if they’re trying to be mean.
“I can see the twins doing that,” Nick said. “Only they wouldn’t just swear. They’d probably maim as well.”
“At least they don’t have Claire’s genes. I live in fear that she’ll murder me because no one would ever know.”
Killian did actually look semi-scared.
* * *
