“Could you make it so that if someone wants anonymous sex, they can just have a setting to keep their photos private?” Aspen asked.
“Or maybe recommend they do a no-face profile like those hot guys online that do those thirst trap videos with the masks!” Payton added.
All the guys stared at her, but Aspen was giggling like a schoolgirl, a blush taking over her face.
“What the hell is so funny, angel?” Rowan asked her.
Aspen shook her head. “We have a group chat with Ivy, and she likes to send us…uhm…videos from the book guys…” She stopped and bit her bottom lip and looked back to me. “So yeah. Photos of them without their face or the option to only display certain photos and what they look like.”She shrugged and covered her mouth—I assumed to cover up another laugh.
“You’re deleting that group chat,” Rowan mumbled.
She rolled her eyes, and Payton laughed. “And you’re turning off the cameras in the house,” Aspen threw back.
That seemed to shut him up. After Aspen’s ex broke into her apartment, I’d seen to it to install security cameras throughout Rowan’s place so he could keep an eye on Aspen when she was home and he had to work. We weren’t sure what her ex was going to do next, so he wanted to be safer now, rather than sorry later.
“Anyway, thank you ladies. Those are solid ideas. I’ll run them by Julian.” I pulled our text thread back up and summarized what they’d suggested. Especially recommending the faceless photos. That was smart as hell. These girls and their damn romance books were saving me a great deal of brain power tonight.
My phone buzzed again, and it was a topless photo of Mia that slid into my inbox. I couldn’t help the eye roll that overtook me.
“How does one get rid of a girl that was never any more than a casual thing?” I asked aloud.
Theo chuckled, and Oliver mumbled something about needing another beer as he got up and walked towards the bar.
“Depends. Did you make it clear what your intentions were from the beginning?” Aspen asked, a knowing brow raised.
“Is this about the blond?” Theo questioned.
I sighed. “Yes and yes.”
Payton shook her head and sighed, summoning up annoyance that only a sister could possess. “I told you to stay away from her. Did you know I heard that when she was asenior in high school, she not only screwed her best friend’s boyfriend, but then leaked her friend’sphotosall over the internet? Including in the school’s chat rooms. She never even got in trouble for it. The school just did their best to get it all taken down and swept it under the rug because her dad was part of the school’s administration or some shit.”
“Her photos? What does that mean?” Rowan asked.
Aspen and Payton both stared at him in a way that said‘duh’.
“Herphotos,cowboy,” Aspen muttered from beside him, a brow arched.
“Naked ones?” They both nodded slowly, and I could feel my anger rising for some girl I didn’t even know. Who the fuck did something like that? Especially to someone they called their friend.
“That’s horrible. I hope she’s okay,” Aspen added after a moment of silence.
I looked down at my inbox and deleted the message from Mia. No way in hell I needed any more of this drama in my life.
Before I could put away my phone, Julian liked the message, and I took that as a good sign.
I added it to my to-do list to add into the security features and the welcome menu in the next couple of days. I guess that meant I needed to add in some anonymous photos of myself too.
Lovely.
5
BANGING THE POOL CLEANER
Ember
I laidin bed for what felt like ages. I truly wasn’t sure how long it had been, but before I knew it, my alarm was going off, and it was actually time to crawl out of bed. I had a bakery to run and loads of fun things to bake today. The beginning of the autumn season was always my favorite for baked goods, and we’d finally made it to that point.
The sun hadn’t risen yet, but that didn’t mean anything when it came to running a bakery. I walked into my kitchen, throwing my long hair up into a messy bun, and started a pot of coffee. I kept telling myself that I was going to switch to tea and be one of those yoga girls who woke up and drank fancy tea with my yoga mat, but it hadn’t happened yet. I needed coffee like I needed oxygen, and today? Put a damn oxygen mask on my freckled face because I was suffering.
