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RHYS
Fully dressed, I stepped into the hallway, smoothing down my shirt as if it would wipe away the visible panic on my face.
We had agreed that they werejustcontractors, which meant they had to be way farther along in my kitchen than they currently were. In fifteen minutes, Valentyn and Dmitri had essentially stripped my counters of the fake marble and had already started on the wall beside the fridge. Plaster had exploded over the tile, Gianni taking apart my oven with ease.
Paval and I stood in awe as they worked seamlessly, each one of them losing a shirt at one point until I was basically standing there drooling.
Wild smiles adorned their faces, sweat glistening along their muscled torsos as I realized that the destruction wasfunfor them.
I had almost forgotten that Ada was even on her way over here until I heard the rapid knock on my door. “Wait!” All of them stopped and looked at me. “What about Paval? I don’t have a kid. I have no idea-”
Gianni stepped up to me, grinning. “Just say he’s your boyfriend’s kid, alright? You’re babysitting while he’s out. You’ve got this. She’s just coming over to see if you’re okay, right?” And then he turned to Paval, “Sell it, kid.”
Paval gave Gianni a terrible salute before running to the couch and pulling out one of his books. I knew this wasn’t going to work, that something was going to go horribly wrong but if I left Ada out there, she would 100% call the cops.
“Hey….” I drawled when I opened the door, Ada pushing past me and looking around as if I was hoarding something I wasn’t supposed to. She didn’t even greet me, scowling at Paval and then moving into my kitchen.
“What is going on here? Owen told me you were spiraling but this?”
I looked into the kitchen, wondering what she was seeing. Internally, I was freaking out but on the outside, I kept a calm and collected expression on my face. “Ada, what are you doing here?”
“Stop playing. I know Owen called you. I just didn’t know how bad it had gotten. Hiring sex workers? Babe,really? I know the stress-”
With all of the panic and adrenaline I had been holding onto for the past several hours, I couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t a small laugh either, bubbling out until I was holding onto the wall for support. Owen had told Ada that I had hired sex workers to satisfy me? In all actuality, it did sound like something I would have done in undergrad but that was just ridiculous.
“Ada,no. I’m getting the kitchen redone. You knew how much I hated the colors. I had a few extra dollars and apparently, Owen hired them when we were still together. It still needs to be done, but-”
Ada frowned and finally looked at me as she folded her arms across her chest. “There’s no need to lie. Owen was good for you and then you broke up with him for whatever reason and now you’re using a service. I get it. Everyone has needs but, this is extreme. I’m going to call him and-”
“No!” Oh, I didn’t mean to scream it but I hoped and prayed that Ada could see the terror on my face, her fingers hovering over the buttons. “No, don’t call him. I’m not using any service and I’m not dating Owen either. He’s an abusive piece of shit that I have a restraining order against. He shouldn’t be within 100 feet of me and yet you’re encouraging him?” I searched her expression but there was no sympathy in her eyes. Instead, she just deflected with another question.
“Answer me this. Whose kid?”
“Boyfriend’s.”
“And I know that you don’t have a boyfriend. Try again.”
I let out a deep sigh, trying to find the right lie. Paval prodded over to me and smiled, hands raised in the air, fingers curling and uncurling. I gladly picked him up as he laid his head on my shoulder. “Where’s dad?”
“In the kitchen. He’s still busy like the last time you asked.” It wasn’t part of the script and I was going to fucking kill myself for it later but Ada would have never believed that someone had left their child here. Ada’s frown grew and I knew that if I didn’t produce a boyfriend in the next ten seconds, things were going to go from bad to worse. “Uh, Gianni? Can you come out here?”
Gianni was the most believable, seeing as he had a similar physique to Owen—granted,waysexierandtaller but Valentyn and Dmitri would terrify Ada and set her onto the wrong path. Gianni prodded into the living room, cheesing at the two of us as he bent in to place a kiss on my cheek. I resisted the urge to drop Paval and run my hands down his chest. The man was slick with sweat, his abs rippling every time he took a breath.
Sex. God.
He seemed to know what I was thinking, his eyebrows wiggling in jest before looking at Ada. “Hey, I’m the boyfriend. I’d shake your hand, but I’m kind of messy.”
Just the way I like it.
God, if I ended up sporting a hard-on in this situation, I was going to die.
Ada looked between us, still not convinced. “That’syourkid? Where’s his mother?”
“Didn’t want the responsibility. I didn’t know you were stopping over. Rhys is pretty quiet about his family shit but I would have asked the guys to work on the kitchen at a different time.” He danced on his toes, almost as if he was just as antsy as I was. The only reason I wasn’t showing it was that I had my hands full with Paval. The kid was lightly tapping my back in sequences of five, almost as if he knew. What the fuck, these men were perfect.
“There’s no way you guys are dating. Owen specifically mentioned that he hired-”
Gianni put his hand up, “Used to be his neighbor. Look, I’d love to sit down and get to know Rhys’ sister but he’s paying for a job and I intend to make sure it’s completed on time. He starts studying in an hour so we have to be in a good place to stop so we don’t ruin the silence he needs.”
