I merely smiled and followed Nate over to the counter.
“That’s settled, then. It means you two can go back to finishing your homework,” Nathan replied pointedly.
It was spaghetti and Bolognese night at the Riley-Mills house, so here we go. Nate had prepped everything in little bowls already. He did the seasoned pasta and salad, and I did the Bolognese. Those were the rules.
I threw a dish towel over my shoulder and dropped the ground pork into a skillet. Nathan wanted me to wait till thebutter was sizzling; I said it didn’t fucking matter. Besides, ground pork didn’t need butter.
I bobbed my head to the beat of Dylan’s favorite song on the entire CD. When a meerkat and a warthog got going, our boy wasn’t worried about being cool in front of classmates. He belted out the lyrics and made his sister laugh madly.
“How was your day off?” I asked.
“Good. I ran all our errandsandhad time for a nap,” Nate replied.
I smirked and cocked a brow at him. “The idea was for you to rest all day.”
He’d worked overtime the past month, so he needed some time off.
“If it makes you feel any better, I took one look at the banister and walked away.”
I laughed. Just as well. If he’d tried to fix it, chances were it’d be even looser than before. I was already planning on repairing it after dinner. It would take me an hour, tops. It was just one section of it, but that part was right outside Dylan’s room upstairs, where shit needed to be bolted down. Kid was wild.
A few hours later
Nathan Mills
“They’re asleep,” I yawned, rejoining Ash in the living room.
I picked up discarded toys and clothes along the way, leaving it all in my reading chair for later. Hallie wasn’t much for playing with toys anymore, even though she was only eight. Instead, she was obsessed with video games and crafts—although, she did have an impressive collection of stuffed animals. Dylan, on theother hand, wouldn’t retire his Legos and dinosaurs for quite a while.
Ash lifted an arm on the couch, and I was quick to join his side and rest my head on his shoulder. My legs landed on the coffee table, alongside his.
“Want some dirty talk?” He pressed his lips to my temple, then dropped his voice to a whisper. “I did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.”
I rumbled a sleepy laugh and smacked his chest.
He chuckled and grabbed his phone next to him. “Do you recognize this number?” He showed me the screen—and a text that’d been sent a couple of minutes ago.
Who is this?
I suppressed another yawn and eyed the number, then shook my head. “Text back and ask.”
He hummed, and I watched him type out a response.
Depends. How did you get my number?
I blinked sleepily and slid my gaze to the TV. The news was running on mute, perfect to fall asleep to.
I had an early day tomorrow with sessions starting at seven, so I had to go to bed soon.
“Mystery scammer responded.” Ash showed me the screen again.
If I knew, I’d be able to figure out who you are. I’m just cleaning up my phone, and I saw I had a number saved as N.A UK.
N.A UK?
“I don’t think it’s a scammer, but it’s definitely weird,” I said.
“Yeah.” Based on the little smirk on Ash’s face, he was going to be a dick in his answer. He looked way too smug typing, and he didn’t show it to me until he’d sent it.
