“We can’t go now; we’re working.”
Atticus nudged Delane, who pulled out her Earpod like we just interrupted her solving the world hunger crisis.
“What?” she hissed, keeping her Earpod close to her ear ready to re-cork and shut us out at the drop of a hat.
“We’re going out for thirty. Tell Miller to hold it down.”
She looked at me then back to Atticus. “Tell him yourself, I work the desk, I’m not a relay service.”
I snorted. Atticus turned to me. “Go tell Miller we’ll be back in thirty.”
He fished his hand into the pocket of my leather jacket and pulled out my phone. “I’m driving, and we’re taking your car.”
Using my phone, he remotely unlocked the doors to my Tesla and walked out of the shop, leaving me no way of getting out of this. And these shoves are clearly what I needed. Because I did need to figure my shit out.
I looked at Delane and found her grinning.
“You’re going to the lab, aren’t you? To pick up your swab?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
With one hand on the lapel of my coat, Delane stopped me. “I’ll tell Miller you guys are going out for a few. But I’m only being nice because you’re about to find out about your mom and that’s a big deal.” She patted my coat and with that, her Earpod went back in and the faint noise of a man describing how he fucks his woman drifted around.
How she listened to that stuff all day without being massively turned on was beyond me. But I slid on my aviators and headed out.
Atti waited in my car when I went in. It took all of four seconds to hand me my results, and I sat in the passenger seat of my own vehicle as I scanned the QR code on the pages of results, leading me to an app. After creating an account, I was rerouted to my results.
And would you know it? I had a paternal match. Unsurprisingly, itwasn’tGraham Burns.
“Sleep well?” I ask Beck, snapping the memories of the DNA test from my mind. I was asleep on the couch, and she’s in her bed, and we’re only a few blocks apart.
“Hmm,” she moans her answer, and the noise makes all of me go weak. Well, except my cock. That gets hard. “Are we still on tonight?”
“Fuck yes,” I answer through my own yawn. “I had my alarm set. How’d your nap go?”
Jett has been teething, Beck has been working hard to get things going at the studio, and Goldie–whose trip was supposed to be temporary–has decided to stay. Needless to say, my girl has been exhausted. We agreed to nap before our date tonight, so we’d feel a bit more refreshed. Though truthfully, I don’t feel like I need sleep. I need a fucking emotional recharge after today.
Talking to Toby and getting the results of the DNA swab… I can’t really gather my thoughts. One foot is in a cement boot of my past and the other feels like it’s trying to steady itself on ice. I hate how I feel right now, but seeing Beck and Jett is quite possibly the only thing keeping me going.
She yawns. “Good. Goldie’s coming back with Jett in fifteen minutes and then she’s going out.”
I smile. “You didn’t have to kick out your friend.”But I’m glad you did.
Beck laughs. “I kind of enjoy torturing her a little.”
“Uh, how is leaving for a few hours torture?” Then I remember that Beck told me her best friend is unemployed, and it doesn’t seem like it was amicable or expected.
Beck laughs again, this time a little conspiratorially. “Don’t get weirded out, okay?”
“I promise, though I have no context, so how about instead of promising I just say I’ll do my best?”
“Fair enough.”
I get comfortable on the couch and assume she’s doing the same, wherever she’s sitting.
“Nancy thinks you’re a hunk. Goldie asked my mom about you when she came over the day I was sick because she knew you were at my parents’ house the night before.”
I have to interrupt her story. “How’d she know your mom met me the night before?” I grin, and I hope she’s grinning, too. “Did you call your friend after our date and tell her all about it?”