“So, how about we find somewhere to take her instead? If you’ve already planted the seed, then let’s plan it for her,” Bax suggests, and the sudden urge to kick his shin overwhelms me.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” I huff, slouching in my seat and throwing my arm over my face.
“Because you’re an idiot,” Rayne quips, gradually relaxing the longer Maddie sleeps against him.
I damn near smile at the sight, a very clear indication that this could work when not a single ounce of jealousy rears its ugly head. Only envy lingers, and that’s only because he’s sitting exactly where I want to be. Lucky bastard.
“Who’s going to take the lead on that plan, then?” I wonder, the first yawn of the night sneaking up on me, my jaw stretching wide as my eyes water. By the time I’m done and I can see again, I startle when I find three pairs of eyes watching me with varying degrees of “what the fuck?” and realize my blunder.
Morphing my face into one of understanding, I nod once and mutter, “It’s me. I’ll take the lead there. Anyone want to throw some vacation suggestions at me before I do a deep dive?”
“Nowhere snowy,” Baxter quickly replies, shuddering at the thought of going away to someplace cold and treacherous again. And when I say again, he considers a trip to Aspen a risk to his life. With how that man struggles to do anything remotely snow-sport-related, I really do worry for his mortality when there’s snow or ice involved.
I whip my cell out and start a new note on my trusty app that holds several important notes for me to look back on,only briefly glancing at the section I’ve made for Maddie’s food preferences.
Fingers tapping quickly, I write and talk at the same time. “Okay. No… Snow… Bax… Will… Die. Cool. Anything else?”
“Think we can stay away from Korea this one time?” Rayne requests quietly, and I nod easily, already a given that we’d stay away from his home country, even though the cause of him fleeing is currently serving a life sentence and won’t see the outside of his prison walls anytime soon. I get why he doesn’t want to go home, so I waste no time writing it into the app.
“Skip… Korea… For… Rayne. Noted. Anything else?” I ask, turning my head to look at Ryan.
He drops his cell and looks up, thinking about it for a long moment before he says, “Nothing to avoid, but here are some requirements to consider when you’re looking. Check the location, what kind of attractions or places we can take her to, because she’ll definitely want to take plenty of photos. Everything else will be a bonus.”
I’m typing away frantically at my phone, noting everything down, before tucking it away and declaring, “Oh yeah, this is gonna be one hell of a vacation.”
“That look scares me,” Bax points at my face, smiling through his concern.
I grin. “It should scare you. I’m about to become the most unbearable son of a bitch in our separate group chat. Brace yourselves for Travel Adviser Caiden Miller, because I’m about to go ham on vacation listings.”
The sweet sound of already exhausted groans fills my ears, and I sit back against the couch, already plotting and planning on where to take the sleepy little menace.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Maddie
The week passes by with very little excitement, other than Caiden acting like a crackhead who needs to know every place on the planet I’ve ever wanted to visit. A game of “get to know you” turned very quickly into “20 questions,” which felt very much like a hundred and one questions that I answered with all the patience of a well-aged saint. And even then, it still didn’t feel like the persistent shithead was happy enough with what I provided.
Chuckling at the reminder of his pretty pout when Baxter told him to pack it in two nights ago, I sit back in my seat and continue to scroll through my work social media, replying to several messages and inquiries and feeling the warmth of the sun on my left. Once that’s done, I go about checking the joint social media the girls and I run for advertisements and such. I upload a new photo of Zelda wearing the newest gaming headset, my pretty bestie in a baggy sweater and checkered shorts, posing at her gaming setup like a hot professional I would absolutely be influenced by just from one look. And once I’m done with all of that, I go to my work email.
The moment it loads and my emails open in front of my face, I pause. My inbox displays a total of no less than a hundred and forty-three emails, and only twenty-six of those are from work-related contacts.
The others?
Toby motherfucking Moore.
This idiot has sent me one hundred and seventeen emails, all spaced mere minutes apart, the subject titles ranging from begging, to pleading, to vaguely threatening. I readthrough a few that were sent early this morning and rub a hand over my mouth at the diabolical times he sent each one.
TOBY MOORE
Please answer me - 1:12AM
TOBY MOORE
I just want to talk - 1:14AM
TOBY MOORE
I’m outside - 1:21AM
