AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lead Ollie and Ed up the stairs to my room, where we find Susan sitting at my desk, furiously scribbling away in her moleskin notebook. I can see the way her shoulders are bunched, indicating how tense she is.
I exchange a glance with my brothers. They were right.
“Hey, Susie Q,” Ollie says, giving her a gentle shoulder massage. “What’s shakin’?”
Susan looks up, surprised to see us there. “What are you guys doing here?” she asks, clearly caught off guard.
“We’re here to help you relieve some stress,” Ollie says with a sly grin.
Susan raises an eyebrow. “And how exactly do you plan on doing that?”
He drums his fingers along her shoulder. “We’re going to give you the royal treatment, Susie. You deserve it.”
Susan leans back into Ollie’s touch, closing her eyes. “Hmm, this is nice.”
“Or we could have a different kind of fun.”
Susan smirks up at him. “What did you have in mind?”
“I have a board game, the adult kind,” Ollie says. “I’ve been waiting to use it.”
Susan closes the notebook. “Then let’s see it.”
Ollie picks her up in his arms, making her squeal. He carries her to bed, Ed and me following closely behind. “Is this part of the game?” Susan asks.
“Yeah, the first step, in fact,” Ollie says with a smirk.
15
OLLIE
Iwake up the next morning feeling warm and content, memories of last night still fresh in my mind. The four of us gathered in Artie’s room to play a fun adult board game, and things quickly escalated from there.
I turn over in bed and see Susan lying next to me, her eyes still closed in sleep. I smile, thinking about how beautiful she looked last night as we made love. I glance over to the other side of the bed and see Ed lying there, still snoring softly.
I can’t help but laugh to myself, thinking about how he fell asleep mid-game. I get out of bed and stretch, feeling a little sore from all the physical activity last night. But it’s a good kind of sore—the kind that reminds me how much fun we had together.
I gently kiss Susan’s shoulder, feeling grateful for her warmth. She stirs slightly, and I whisper in her ear, “Good morning, gorgeous.”
She turns to face me, smiling. “Good morning, yourself. Last night was amazing.”
I nod in agreement. “It really was.”
We head downstairs, and I notice that she carries the moleskin notebook with her. I don’t think I’ve seen it with her before, so I assume Ed made it for her.
The big softy. He pretends to be a scary grizzly but is actually a giant panda at heart. I chuckle to myself at the thought.
Susan and I make our way downstairs to the kitchen, where she starts on the coffee. I grab a mug and join her at the counter.
Susan pours herself a cup of coffee and puts some in mine. “You make some mean coffee,” I say.
“Perils of working on a deadline,” she says.
“Does coffee help your writing?” I ask.
“It definitely increases my productivity,” she admits. “And I’m forced to think about something for hours because I need to send over the finished product to my team. My writing speed increases significantly, as well.”
“Do you feel like the materials you put out are better when under a deadline or not?” I ask curiously. I’m trying to figure out how exactly it works.
