AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Before I could push the issue, the door pushed open and Nyla bustled in, stopping short when she saw us.
“Oh shoot. I’m sorry. I forgot you were in here.” She spun on her heel and made to leave. I was grateful, but Archer stopped her.
“Nyla, wait.”
She turned with an inquisitive expression on her face. “Did you need something?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say no to a blanket, but I wanted to talk to you about my Rent-A-Daddy workload.”
She shuffled to a closet on the back wall and pulled out a soft fleece blanket, laying it across Audrey’s lap. “No problem on the blanket, but are you sure you want to talk business right now? You’re kind of busy and we have a meeting on Monday. Can’t whatever it is wait until then?”
Archer gave a terse side to side shake of his head. “No. I want Audrey to hear this.”
Nyla’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline, and she seemed to bite back a smile as she grabbed a chair from one of the tables to sit down across from us.
It felt strange to have her sitting there, ready to talk business while I was nearly naked and sitting in my Daddy’s lap with a sore ass, but I was also too curious about what was happening to care.
“I have a feeling this is gonna be good,” Nyla teased, leaning forward with her elbow on her knee and her chin in her hand.
“I think it is, yes.” Archer had his lawyer voice on, intriguing me even more than the thought that whatever it was apparently couldn’t wait. “I want to relinquish my Rent-A-Daddy clients.”
I gasped in shock, immediately feeling guilty though I was pretty sure I had no reason to. “Archer,” I exclaimed. “You don’t have to. Really, I’m fine now. It was all just a misunderstanding and lack of communication. I won’t get stupid jealous again, I promise.”
Archer booped my nose. “Your jealousy isn't the point, and it's certainly not a reason I would ever quit doing something if I wanted to do it and I knew I wasn’t doing anything wrong. But, I don’t want to do it. First of all, six clients is ridiculous. I never should have insisted on taking them all. I basically did it because Nyla said I couldn’t, because I’m ridiculous like that sometimes. And honestly, I don’t regret it because if I hadn’t done it, I probably wouldn't have gotten off my ass and finally looked for a new assistant, and I wouldn’t have met you, but, I also don’t need to keep doing it. It is too much. Nyla was right about that.”
Well, I couldn’t really argue when he put it like that, and I opened my mouth to say as much but he kept talking.
“Also, I think most of them were just there because they viewed me as this unattainable thing. I didn’t realize how standoffish and reclusive I had a reputation for being, but apparently, it was a whole thing. I seemed to be some sort of prize they were fighting for and that’s not what Rent-A-Daddy is supposed to be about.”
“No, it’s not.” Nyla’s gaze shuttered with anger and her mouth set in a flat line. “Should I even bother reassigning them or should I just boot them?”
I twisted my neck to look from Nyla to Archer, my attention bouncing between them like a basketball.
“Zoe is in it for the right reasons, I think. Or at least her reasons never seemed to be trying to get me in bed. Reassign her. You should probably boot Marissa though. She’s almost as bad as Lola was, and she and Sophie were pretty awful to Audrey tonight. Ellie’s okay to be reassigned, but whoever gets her might want to tell her to be more careful about who she hangs out with. She’s a follower as far as I can tell, and if she keeps following Marissa, she’s gonna make bad choices. Riley is fine to be reassigned too, but honestly, she’ll probably just quit.”
“Got it. I’ll pass all this on to the guys and see what they want to do with it, but you’re off the cases.”
“Thank you.”
“No problem.” She stood to go, but paused once she reached the door. “Are you good here? Do you need anything else? Are you going to stick around a while?”
Archer looked at me, but I kept my expression neutral. I didn’t really care whether we stayed here in the lounge all night or went home, but I did not want to be around people.
“I think we’re going to head out soon. It’s been a lot for a first club experience. And we have some things to talk about.”
She nodded and left and then it was just us again, with all the tension between us.
“Thanks for doing that,” I said, realizing how relieved I was that I didn’t have to feel like I was one of seven women any longer.
“I did it more for me than you, but you’re welcome anyway.”
I nodded, and relaxed against him once more, my eyes drifting close for just a moment before they popped back open and I sat up like a shot, startling Archer and almost elbowing him in the nose. “Oh no!”
“What? What’s wrong?” The worry was evident in his voice and I instantly felt guilty for overreacting.
“It’s not a big deal,” I rushed to clarify. “It’s just if you don’t have clients, I don’t have extra work.”
“And then you don’t have extra money,” Archer intoned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “You don’t need it. You’re going to move in with me.”
