Page 93 of The Sidekick

“Andi,” I say in exasperation.

“There are so many men out there that won’t treat you like crap. Do you remember saying that to me? And then I found Alec on a stupid app you downloaded for me? I’m paying it forward.”

I bite my lower lip and slowly look up to meet Shade’s eyes as we both stifle our laughter. Blaze clears his throat and Felix coughs.

“Thanks,” my voice wobbles as I try not to laugh.

I don’t recognize the name of this dating app, so I look it up. What I find makes my cheeks turn tomato red.

“You signed me up for this? W-w-why would you do that?” My eyes are practically bulging out of my head at the submissive dating site. Find your Dom now? Oh my gosh. I’m not ready.

“I just did it today,” Andi says with pride. “I know you think you aren’t ready, but I think you need to see the bigger picture and stop fixating. Lots of guys want a little sub sitting at their feet. It’s no big deal.”

Shade snatches the phone out of my hand, and I’m in too much shock to protest. I know there are sites out there I could log into and find someone. Of course, I do. But I didn’t expect to be blindsided like this with an already made-up account.

“Touché, karma,” I mutter and shake my head in disbelief.

“How safe is this one?” Shade asks calmly as the twins read over his shoulder.

“Well, I’m not a computer guru like you two, but it has a 4.5 rating out of 5, and it has the option of a serious relationship or hook-up,” she sounds so pleased with herself while I want to sink into the floor with embarrassment.

Noticing the flush of shame taking over my body, Shade smirks and says, “Congrats on being number two, Andi. You just outed Tera.”Then he hangs up.

Babygirl,

You’re back. I don’t know how to talk to you. I wanted you to be happy out there without us, and now I can see what I did to you. I did that to you. I have to find a way to live with that, and I’m not sure I can.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Asher

The men in front of me are not what they sold themselves as. They’ve been training with me on Wednesdays for two months and still have trouble with the correct form. They each have some type of military training that interrupts the process of learning a new fighting style. If they had been honest in the beginning, I would have changed the way I taught them. They haven’t admitted anything to me, and I don’t pry, so the hard road it is.

“What’s next on the list?” One of the friends huffs as he continues his kicks.

If he has enough breath left to ask questions, something is wrong.

“Exercise.”The large one, Brody, continues his kicks smoothly, with no sign of distress.

“Does she have something she likes?” One of the twins says.

“Has she ever exercised?” The other puts in. It makes his brother chuckle.

The quiet one continues the workout without comment.

“Didn’t Andi say she did yoga once?” Ira asks.

“You teach yoga, right Ash?” The first twin, Blaze, I think, asks me.

“I do,” I have no idea when they decided they were comfortable enough with me to shorten my name, but I’m not going to say anything. I learned with Max that it’s a losing battle.

“What would it take to sign someone up?” Felix says, or Blaze, I can’t tell them apart.

“The same effort it took you to sign yourselves up.”I am not handing out free class time to a girlfriend.

“She won’t do it,” Brody comments with a disbelieving laugh as he looks at the twins.

“She could meet new people,” Felix/Blaze says.

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