Page 52 of Fine, Dork

“My family hates me, and they’re blowing up my phone, but I’m cool with it.”

Kinley bit her lip. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but… do you want to talk to them? Because you don’t look like you’re cool with it.”

I groaned and covered my face with both hands. “I can’t believe you’re saying that either. You’re the one that always says my family is fucking crazy. You said you were proud of me for standing up to them!”

Kinley laughed and pulled my arms back down to her body. “I know! I know. Your family is certifiable! And you stood up to them last night, and I was so proud that I almost had tears in my eyes! I just love you and want you to have some semi-healthy family relationships if it’s possible.” She snuggled closer and ran her hands through my hair. “Do you think it’s possible, J?”

“I seriously don’t.”

Kinley sighed and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek. “Okay. I’ll drop it then. Some relationships are worth fixing, and some need to be cut out of your life. Only you know which is which.” She slid out of bed and smiled over her shoulder. “I’m going to take a shower now.”

I picked up my phone as the bathroom door closed behind Kinley. After skimming the text messages from my parents, it seemed fairly certain that they’d disowned me. I felt a mix of relief and pain and quickly pushed it down. Instead of dealing with my feelings, I pulled on some sweatpants and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. Kinley liked green tea smoothies, so I blended one for her and stuck it in the fridge. They tasted like grass to me, so I made bacon for myself.

Kinley came out of the bedroom a few minutes later in one of my t-shirts. Her wet hair was piled on top of her head, and her long legs were bare. Damn. She looked fucking edible. “Hey, baby, will you build me a custom website?” Kinley carried her laptop over to me with a sweet smile.

I sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter. I hated web-development. It was so fucking boring. “What do you need it for?”

“I’m going to start offering portraits on the side so that I don’t have to travel as much. I also thought that maybe I could take a design class and start doing book covers. I met a girl in New York a few months ago that does custom book covers for indie authors, and she makes enough to live in New York, so…”

“Would you like doing that?”

Kinley smiled. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Do you want to stop traveling so much?” I slid my arms around her waist. I missed her like crazy every time she traveled, but the last thing I wanted was for her to give up a part of her life for me.

“I do.” She leaned in to kiss me. “I got an email this morning offering me work in Paris, but I’ve only been home for a week, and I don’t want to leave again.” Kinley took another short trip to photograph some national parks in Utah last week. “So, website?” She held up her laptop with a big smile.

I groaned and covered my face with both hands. “Web development is boring as fuck, K, so it’s going to cost you.”

“Okay…” Kinley narrowed her eyes. “How much?”

I laughed and took the laptop from her hands. “Not money. Sexual favors.”

Kinley threw her head back and laughed. “How many blow jobs are we talking? I’m assuming that those are your currency of choice.”

“Your assumption is correct. I feel like I’m going to need one for every hour that I work on this, you know, to keep me motivated.” I glanced down at her ancient MacBook Air. “I’m not using this piece of shit, though.”

Kinley frowned. “What do you mean? My computer isn’t a piece of shit.”

“Kinley, it’s a fucking dinosaur, and the keyboard sucks.”

She laughed and pulled her laptop from me. “It’s only three years old, dork!”

I smiled and headed back to the guest room to grab my laptop. It used to make me feel like shit when K called me dork, but my cock was about to be in her pretty little mouth. She could call me whatever the hell she wanted. Besides that, she said it with love. I knew that now.

Before I could retrieve my laptop, my phone buzzed with a text message. When I saw Tyson’s name on my screen, I almost deleted the message without reading it, but my curiosity got the better of me. Tyson never reached out himself. He must seriously be pissed that I screwed up his engagement party.

Dude, can we meet up tonight. I’d like to have an honest talk.

What the fuck?

Kinley called from the kitchen, “J, did you get lost?”

“Tyson wants to meet.”

“Are you gonna go?”

“I don’t know. It could be a trap.”

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