AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Get something to eat at McIntosh’s,” he murmurs, grabbing my hand. “You’ll feel better after a bagel.”
I nod and look away. “We’ll stop there, yeah.”
“Hey.” He squeezes my hand, making me look up. “I ain’t going anywhere, you hear? You know where to find me. Now get inside the car. And don’t forget to call me tonight.”
Mom and I make it to the bagel place, a whopping two miles from the marina, before I start to cry.
I don’t stop until I fall into a fitful sleep later that night.
twenty-eight
Riley
The silence inside my office is deafening.
Did Mondays ever suck this hard? I pound viciously on my laptop’s keyboard in an effort to distract myself from the quiet. And the seasick feeling in my stomach. And the fact that I feel like I’m coming out of my skin, a sensation that all the Nicorette in the world can’t seem to fix.
I blink when the F key flies off the keyboard and hits me square in the nose.
“God damn it,” I growl. I turn to the left. Then to the right. Don’t see the fucking key anywhere. Tom, who’s lying at my feet, cracks open an eye. Closes it.
It’s almost like he’s the one who’s beat from a week of nonstop sex and partying.
I slam the laptop shut on the email I was drafting and spear my hands through my hair. Glance at my phone.
I have twenty-two texts. None of them are from Lu. I haven’t heard from her since we had phone sex last night. The sex was good. Really good. Even if cleaning up alone in the silence of my boat was depressing as fuck.
So much silence everywhere. I hate it.
How is it only 10:23 A.M.?
I’m dying to reach out to Lu. Text her something flirty about Julia Wolf or butt stuff. But I said I’d give her space, so that’s what I’m gonna do.
I’m also going to need to steal another pack or three of cigarettes from Woody during my lunch break, or I’m gonna lose my fucking mind.
“Everything okay in here?” Tuck’s head appears in the doorway. “I heard a bang.”
Tom, the traitor, immediately comes to life upon hearing my best friend’s voice. He gets up and greets Tuck, thwacking his tail against Tuck’s knees.
“You bummin’ out too, sweet boy? You and your daddy are in bad shape, huh?”
“He’s fine. I’m fine. We’re all fine.” I rest my elbows on the desk and dig my thumbs into my eye sockets. “I’m dying a slow, miserable death. But otherwise okay.”
Tuck steps into my office and closes the door behind him, taking a seat in a chair against the wall so he can pet Tom. “Dude, I only say this because I’m concerned, but you really don’t look good.”
I glance up at him. “Neither do you.”
He’s got dark circles underneath his eyes. He always keeps his beard carefully trimmed, but today it’s overgrown, making him look like a scruffy biker.
“It was . . . a long weekend.” He crosses his massive arms over his chest. The back of his head lands against the wall with a dull thud. “I’m beat.”
“Care to elaborate?”
Tuck shifts, clearly uncomfortable. “No.”
I inhale a long breath through my nose. Wait.
Finally he sighs and says, “I had sex with Maren.”
“Whoa.” I stare at him. “Can’t say I’m surprised. Y’all clearly got chemistry. But—”
“It’s a fuckin’ mess. I know.” He pulls a hand over his beard. “I’m terrified she’s gonna quit on me now. Katie loves her, which means I love her. Not love her, love her. But you know what I mean.”
I grin. Wrong I’m relieved I’m not alone in my relationship problems? “Sounds like you love having sex with her.”
He shakes his head. “You ain’t getting any details from me.”
“But you want to do it again.”
Tuck scoffs. All the affirmation I need.
“Was it awkward this morning?” I ask.
He scratches his beard. “She wasn’t awkward.”
“But you were.”
“I mean, come on. Forgive me if I don’t know how to act around her. It’s the first time I’ve fucked my nanny.”
“But you fuck a lot of people.”
“Not nannies whose hot little rocket bodies I have to see up close and personal every damn day. Riley, she lives with me.”
I lift a shoulder. “Sounds awful convenient.”
“It’s not.” He finally meets my eyes. “Makes me feel like a bad parent, putting everything at risk like this.”
“C’mon, Tuck. You’re the best damn daddy ever. Anyone on this island would attest to that fact.”
“I know. Still, I need to—” He bangs his head against the wall. Tom barks. “I gotta keep my hands to myself.”
“Which is easier said than done when your nanny is a smoke show.”
“Your words, not mine. But yes.”
I rise to my feet, my desk chair rolling across the floor. “Let’s ditch this miserable fucking day and go surfing.”
Tuck pops a brow. “You do know we have a billion-dollar business to run, right?”
