Page 110 of Our Little Dove

Moments later, Joel’s voice crackles through the speaker again, this time I can actually make out his words. “Hey, sorry about that—Um, have you three checked the Hush account since you posted?” he asks and my heart immediately starts hammering.

“No, why? God, did you watch the video?” I nearly yell at the phone. The horror of my cousin watching our content makes my stomach flip.

“Gross! No, of course not! But I do get notified when actors post and you might want to check what is happening on that account.”

Fintan swipes up their phone that is still lying face-down in the middle of the table. I watch breathlessly as his fingers move over the screen.

Kieran leans over to see what Joel is talking about, and they both go still. Eyes wide as they stare at the phone. “God! What is it? You guys are freaking me out. Did we fuck up the plan?” I ask, feeling a panic attack creep in slowly.

“We have twenty-two thousand views,” Kieran says in an incredulous tone. “And counting,” Fintan adds before he hands me the phone.

“Ah, good. You three are together,” Joel says before the sound of rustling papers drown him out.

I stare at the climbing numbers on the screen in my hand and before I can even think of saying anything, Joel’s voice echoes again.

“Well done, guys. Looks like your bat-shit crazy plan is working. I got an email from one of the higher-ups about twenty minutes ago but we should talk face to face.”

“Holy shit,” I whisper, looking up at Fintan and Kieran. “We did it. It’s working.”

“This is just the beginning, Dove,” Fintan says with disbelief still clinging to his words.

“He’s right, but listen, come to Hell’s Playground. Molly is already on her way, and we need to celebrate your first win. I’ll fill you in on the rest when you’re here,” Joel chimes.

“We’ll be there,” Kieran announces before Fintan, and I can wrap our heads around this whole thing.

“Fantastic, come straight to my office when you arrive. I’ll have one of the bartenders here to take your drink orders; the bar is chaos tonight.”

Joel hangs up just as I am about to protest. I am going to punch him in the throat when I see him. I fucking hate it when he does that.

I turn to look at Kieran. “Seriously? You want to drive to the city at one in the morning?” I ask with a tired annoyance clinging to every word.

“We need to get out of the house, Alex. We deserve some respite for what we’ve been dealing with,” he tries to reason. “Agreed. Joel is definitely not my favorite person in the world, Dove, but celebrating a win is deserved,” Fintan chimes in. “We should go, but we are sure as fuck not driving, we’ve nearly finished the bottle of your heavenly whiskey. I’ll get us an Uber,” Fintan states with a smile.

Alex stomps toward her bedroom with annoyance radiating from her sexy little frame to change her clothes. I am surprised she didn’t fight us on the matter.

“How long?” I ask Fintan as he taps away on his phone. “Six minutes, Darlin’,” he responds as he gets up from his seat and slips his phone into his pocket before grabbing the work phone.

“Nearly fifty thousand,” he breathes as he checks the insights of our video. “Hmm, I didn’t think there were that many people on Hush, but I suppose some of those sick fucks could be rewatching,” I say with a sliver of bitterness in my tone.

Fintan lifts his eyes to mine and something flashes in his golden gaze that makes my heart thud faster. “We are going to have a proper celebration after drinks at the club.” His voice is low and tinged with lustful promises.

Fuck, if he doesn’t quit looking at me like that, we’re staying here and making good on his words.

A few minutes later, Alex appears from the bedroom and we head outside. She apologizes to the driver who has been parked outside for a short while as we pile into the car and take off toward the city.

The drive felt like it took an eternity before we come to a stop outside the club. Hell’s Playground. I think back to the last time Kieran and I were here and a devious smile quirks my lips.

Our little Dove managed to drug us and somehow got us back to her place. It’s impressive to think about when you ignore the darker details of what followed.

It’s nearly two in the morning now and this place is still crawling with patrons. Drunk, writhing bodies greet us as we step inside, they move as if being controlled by the loud music and thumping base. The floor under our feet feels alive as the beat vibrates the tiles.

“Follow me!” Alex yells at us over the noise blasting from the speakers as she weaves her way toward the bar, glancing behind her periodically to make sure we are tailing her in the sea of people.

Fuck, I can barely think with the chaos ringing in my ears.

Alex leads us to a door next to the bar, waving at the bartenders as she opens the door and lets us in while offering a brief explanation to the bouncer who walks over to us.

Following her up a flight of stairs, Kieran and I let out relieved breaths as the music begins to fade to a more appropriate volume, the higher we go.

---