“You’re welcome. I’ll be there in five minutes.” I press the elevator stop button, needing to go to the lower level, where the security office is located, below the parking garage. An ideal spot that Nico and his family had no problem pointing out. It’s also where there’s a side access not many people know about that will work in our favor in the transferring of money. Looks like my night is going from good to bad, to fantastic, to fucking worse.
EIGHT
Celeste
“What was soimportant that you sent an S.O.S. text at seven o’clock this morning?” That would be Tyra on the other end of the line asking this question. I’m not sure if she should be surprised about the text or the fact that I’ve been up since before the sun rose. Thank you, Mr. Wylder Hayes, for that. I figured after getting myself off then taking a shower, during which I was practically falling asleep, that I’d drift off fast to sleep. No such luck. The second my naked body slid between the sheets, I was wide awake, keyed up and ready for another round, this time with my vibrator instead of my fingers.
“Ugh, I wish the spa weren’t open today and that I could come over to spill the tea. I’ll keep this short and sweet since you’re on your way to get Von, which, by the way, give him an extra squeeze from Auntie Celeste.” I take a breath, hearing the engine of her car turning over, knowing the Bluetooth will connect and lose my voice.
“Well, that goes without saying,” Tyra says once she’s settled. “This weekend, we’ll get together, have dinner, and you can give me the full story. For now, summarize it quickly because you’ve got me for ten minutes max.” God, I love my best friend even if she is in total mom mode right now, totally understandable, by the way. It just cracks me up how she can go from crazy to stern in two seconds flat.
“Wylder Hayes kissed me last night. It was amazing, and absolutely dumb because hello, he’s my boss, well, our boss, but Jiminy Cricket, I’m still pinching myself wondering if it was real or not. No, I know it was real, but that doesn’t mean it’s allowed to be real. You read that ridiculously obnoxious rulebook. No fraternization between employees of any kind.” One breath, I get it out without taking a break, needing her opinion. And wouldn’t you know it, there is complete silence on the other end. Tyra isn’t saying a single freaking word, which totally doesn’t help the way my chest is tightening right about now. I mean, sure, I can hear her hmm, as if she’s trying to figure out what to say, along with the hum of the tires as she drives down the road.
“I’m fucked, aren’t I?” I ask, breaking the silence.
“I wouldn’t say you’re fucked. I’m insanely jealous you kissedtheWylder Hayes, the one who we’ve researched, checked every single place, never seeing him in a lip lock with anyone else on these dates. His sex life is non-existent because for whatever reason, he either is a monk or the previous girls know to keep their shit quiet. And where did you kiss him?” Tyra asks. I mean, that’s all she has to say? Maybe I need to start taking best friend applications.
“His private elevator, but we walked through half the hotel, and his hand was on my lower back for the majority of the time. If it wasn’t, our hands were touching. Oh shit, this is so bad. Everyone is going to know, and they’ll think I’ve slept my way to getting the spa open.” I’m sitting on the foot of my bed, ready to head to work in my black-on-black scrubs, black shoes, hair up in a ponytail, minimal makeup, ready to make myself a cup of coffee, grab my things, and head out the door. Even if it’s entirely too early to be functioning after barely a wink of sleep.
“Okay, first of all, get that out of your head about sleeping your way to the top. That’s so late nineteen-nineties. Everyone uses someone somehow. Yes, I know that wasn’t the case with you still, what person doesn’t use someone as a steppingstone these days? Anyways, the proof is in the pudding the minute they step into the spa, if they were actually thinking that to begin with. Now, I’m almost to Mom and Dad’s. Damn it, if only I weren’t such a deep sleeper, I’d have heard my phone go off, and this conversation could have happened earlier.” Yeah, right. I may sleep in late, but Tyra can sleep through a freight train passing outside her bedroom window.
“We can talk about this later. It’s Sunday; the spa closes at three. I’ll call you once Von is down for the night,” I offer. Her boy is basically my nephew since I’m an only child and will never have the luxury of spoiling a niece or nephew. Von is mine in every way possible, but Tyra still is all hands on deck when she’s with her boy. Her phone is put away, and life outside of their time together doesn’t exist. I love that for them both.
“Yeah, that’ll have to do. There’s a little boy, dark hair, and green-eyed rug rat beating at the storm door. I will say this, I’m happy for you. It might make things bumpy, but it could also be a start to something amazing. See where things go.” As if she could ever do that herself, yet she’s expecting me to do the same thing. Okay, sure, we’ll go with that.
“They are not going anywhere. It’s sink or swim out there, and I’m not letting all of my hard work die because I want to ride my boss’ dick.” My snarky side appears, making me laugh. Tyra snorts, then I snort, and here we are again, back to acting like teenagers.
“God, I needed that laugh. I’m off to get our boy. Love you.” Tyra gets her laughter under control before I do.
“Love you, too. Give everyone my love. I’ll call you tonight.” I hang up the phone then stand up from my place on the bed, pocketing my phone while glancing down at my watch.
“Shit.” The time got away from me being on the phone. I walk down the hallway knowing I need to make my to-go cup of coffee, grab a protein bar, and head to the spa. If today is anything like last night, I’ll have to get an overnight order placed for the skincare line we carry. At least worrying about stock is better than worrying about wanting your boss to kiss you again. I mean, there is a silver lining of getting a moment of reprieve.
NINE
Wylde
“What the hell?Can’t I walk into my office once without someone making themselves at home?” Instead of it being Nico like last night, this time, it’s my sister, Journey. I rolled out of bed with a throbbing cock, knowing if I didn’t take care of it this morning, there would be no relief in sight. It didn’t take me but a few strokes before I was painting the tiled wall with my cum while bringing up the image of Celeste on her knees, hair slicked back from the water sluicing down her body, mouth open as I jacked my cock until I couldn’t stave off the hunger any longer. The way her mouth suckled at the head, suctioning the cum from my body… Fuck, that fantasy was hot. Afterwards, I had to take a seat in the shower just to regain my strength. It wasn’t long until I realized if I didn’t get moving, there was no way I would. I washed up, got out, wrapped the towel around my lower body, letting the rest of me air dry, combed my hair, brushed my teeth, picked out another fucking suit, complete with a tie, all on a damn Sunday. Before the hotel was open, I’d at least have those days to myself, where it didn’t consist of anything tailored, more of a jeans and vintage band tee of some sort.
“Well, it’s not my fault you haven’t given me the grand tour yet.” Journey is twelve years my junior, younger, more carefree, but still a go-getter when it comes to anything she’s involved in. Mom and Journey aren’t the ladies who lunch. Neither of them wants a dime of my money, nor the notoriety. Believe me, I tried to set my sister up with more, with no luck. The only reason Mom and Dad let me pay off their house was because I did it behind their backs. Words were said. Dad almost lost his shit on me. It took them time to calm down, days even. When I left and things were still rocky, a part of me was worried we wouldn’t go back to normal. Dad ended up being the one to reach out. It was hard for him to apologize and for me to understand it made him feel like less of a man, until I explained to him it was the least I could do after they put my ass through college.
“There’s a reason for that, too. You’ll book appointments at the salon, the spa, buy out the boutique, and I need some kind of stock for tomorrow when the doors officially open.” Journey has made a name for herself, a fashion influencer on social media with over two million followers, doing collaborations with some big brand names.
“You do realize I’ll be sharing about everything on Instalook, too, right? I mean, sure, I’m going to want to try new products, but it will help everyone involved, and did you say spa?” Fuck, now I’ve done it. Rookie move mentioning that. Journey, being an influencer, is always looking at something new that will help her audience in any way, shape, or form. That more than likely stemmed from teenage acne, not having the money or knowledge on how to deal with it until she was older.
“Come on. I’ll take you down there. As long as you promise not to do too much damage. I know the spa was being restocked late last night for today.” I walk towards her. She stands up from her seat, and I move closer to my sister to wrap my arms around her and kiss her cheek.
“Fine, but I’m coming back if I’m impressed. And how do you know the spa was being restocked last night? I assumed you’d be in your office watching everything through the cameras.” Journey’s head tilts to the side, pointing to the screens. Jesus, between her and Nico, I’m going to have to start shutting things down when I’m not in my office.
“I was, along with Nico. We noticed something was going down outside her doors. Things started to escalate; the situation seemed to clear up but then got worse. Delaney’s lucky he’s a friend of mine, or we’d have to ban him.” Journey looks downright scandalized.
“Are we talking about the Delaney who secured our apartments? He faints at the sign of trouble,” she replies.
“That’s the one. Let’s just say his boyfriend is now banned. Obviously, as soon as Delaney told me what was going on, I understood and he’s still a welcome guest.” It sucks that Delaney keeps seeming to find duds along the way. He’s a good guy but has shit taste in men.
“Good news is that the asshole is gone. The better news is that Monica and I can hook him up with Pierre since he’s finally single.”
“I’ll leave you two ladies to it. Have you eaten yet?” If it weren’t for working so late into the early morning hours, I would have hit the gym we have set up here, grabbed some food, and then started my day. Seeing as how I’m running on less than four hours of sleep, that didn’t happen.