“The time has passed,” she sang merrily.
“Well, that’s too bad.” I meant it.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about working another job with you,” she called out, not looking back at us. “You can think about it, but you better have an answer before you get home. And it better be therightanswer.”
“Or what?” I shouted back at her.
“You don’t want to know.” Her giggle followed her down the hall.
I looked at Jinx. “I really don’t.”
He grinned and shook his head in agreement.
* * *
Laikyn
After Rule and Jinx left for work, I puttered around the house. Waldo and I spent time out on the patio while I had breakfast. A meal that didn’t consist of cherries or whipped cream. I still couldn’t believe they hadn’t fallen for that trick.
Then again, this was Rule and Jinx. They liked to keep me on my toes. They could pretend all day that they hadn’t been affected, but I knew better. Their cocks made a rather distinct impression on the front of their jeans when they were turned on, and they had certainly been excited to see me.
However, they weren’t as easy as I sometimes wished they were. Not that I had any room to complain. I was getting laid on the regular, so I didn’t mind when they pretended to play hard to get now and then.
My cell phone buzzed with a text message from my mother.
“God, woman! Can’t you just leave me alone?”
I gritted my teeth and read the message.
—Laikyn, honey, I wish you would stop being like this. I deserve to spend time with my daughter.
Deserved?That was my mother for you. She thought the entire world owed her. The good news was she’d stopped calling, but she hadn’t stopped attempting to get my attention. I’d avoided all her messages about the fundraiser for the past week. I honestly wanted to skip it this year. Yeah, it was for a good cause, but I knew Monica. She always made it about herself. I expected no less this year.
“I really don’t want to go to that fundraiser, Waldo.”
He lifted his head and watched me for a second before flopping back down to snooze.
“She wants to use me, I’m sure. Whatever she needs to get the attention she thinks she deserves.”
And in this case, I wouldn’t put it past her to use my recent surprise wedding to her advantage.
Thanks to a rather gossipy gallery curator, I was trending on social media because of my impromptu marriage to Rule, the sexy, enigmatic Hollywood Fixer, as they liked to refer to him.
It was my fault for introducing him as my husband when I encountered her on one of my “dates” with Rule. I should’ve known better, but these days, I was enjoying married life, and to be honest, I’d wanted to put Rule on the spot simply because I could. Didn’t matter that he had played it off brilliantly.
That little tidbit of information didn’t stay within the walls of the art gallery for long.
The next thing I knew, I was being tagged on all my social media platforms as people speculated as to why I got married so quickly. Not to mention so quietly. Most of the rumors pointed to me being pregnant. Everyone was expecting me to start showing any day now. I even received a couple of DMs from designers of maternity clothes, asking if I’d be willing to wear their stuff. A couple of tabloids stated that I’d been dating Rule for several years, hiding the romance because of our age difference. One even claimed that I met him while working as a stripper. Where they’d come up with that, I have no idea. I’d never stripped a day in my life. Unless you counted the show I put on for Jinx and Rule last week.
So, yeah, that was another reason I was avoiding my mother. I wouldn’t put it past Monica to want to officially announce my marital status at this gala. It was precisely the sort of thing she would get excited about.
But I didn’t care whatshewanted. What bothered me was that I knew my mother was responsible for my kidnapping, yet she hadn’t mentioned it once since I left. Surely, she knew I was aware since Rule knew exactly what she’d done. But Monica was doing what she did best. Pretending that whatever ill deed she was responsible for never happened.
My phone buzzed in my hand.
— Please call me, Laikyn. There’s something I want to discuss with you. It’s not about the fundraiser.
“Do I fall for it, Waldo?” I asked the dog. “Do you think she’s lying?”
