Page 25 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 8
“We’ll find out in a second.” I yanked on the tape holding Tanner’s hand to the phone screen.
He shook his hand out. “Everyone ready? Make sure you keep your eyes on the conference table.”
We all turned towards the table.
Tanner snapped.
The air above the table exploded into a poof of colorful smoke and bubbles. When the smoke dissipated, Nigel was standing there wearing nothing but a rubber ducky float around his waist, bright yellow floaties on his muscular arms, and a great deal of bubbles.
He screamed at the top of his lungs.
Chastity screamed too.
And then I screamed.How the fuck did Nigel just appear?! And why was it Nigel?! She’d wished for a sexy hunk.
“Nigel!” yelled Tanner. “Put some pants on. This is a place of business.”
“Oh good heavens,” said Nigel. “I seem to have gotten mixed up again. I always forget that…” He looked around. “I always forget that the floor of the tub in the baths above…your offices? Baths are in ceilings of buildings. They lead to leakages in...” He looked around again and then tried to whisper to Tanner from across the room. “Where exactly are we?”
“You don’t have to pretend anymore,” said Tanner. “They know.”
“Know? Know what? That I’m too good at making bubbles baths and the bubbles get so heavy that I fall right through the ceiling onto a conference table?”
“They know that I’m a genie.”
Nigel gasped. “But Master… What about DODO?!”
“We’ll get to that later. They’re still processing the fact that I’m a genie.”
“Holy shit,” I muttered. “You really are a fucking genie!” This was insane.
“So you finally believe me?” asked Tanner. “God, it actually feels so good to get to share my secret with someone. But you all have to swear that this information doesn’t leave this room. Nigel’s right, DODO is no joke.”
“Wait. DODO is real?” If they were…that meant that he really had been kidnapped. Which meant he wasn’t a total ass.Score!
“Yes. The Department of Djinn Oversight. They really got nasty in the 60s after I tried to kill the sultan and overthrow the genie council.”
“The 60s? You were alive in 1960?”
“Yes. But I was referring to 1760.”
“For real? How old are you?”
“Almost 343. But I was 28 when I got turned into a genie, so my age kinda got frozen. Anyway, that’s not important. What’s important is that after my assassination attempt, the sultan instructed DODO to hunt rogue genies down using any means necessary. They have agents all over the world looking for signs of magic.”
“They’re everywhere,” whispered Nigel.
“They’re not everywhere. But we do have to move every decade or so to make sure they don’t find us.”
“But didn’t they already find you?” I asked.
“One agent did, yes. But the genie council decided that my current predicament is worse than any magical torture they could conjure for me.”
“And what is your current predicament?”
“I love you, Ash. But until I can help 1001 women find love, I’m stuck as an immortal genie with a flaming genie penis. So instead of being with you, I’ll be forced to watch you get old and die.”
Dr. Lyons cleared his throat. “I think I’m going to get going.” He gathered his pants off the floor and walked towards the door.
