Page 66 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 8
“Speaking of which, we really should get started,” said Tanner.
“Come with me, Mr. Jacob,” said Nigel. “We’re going to go play in the pool. The adults need to do their work.”
Did Nigel not consider himself an adult?
The two of them wandered off.
“I’m so confused,” I said. “You’re able to have children?”
“Who are Jacob’s parents?” Chastity said at the exact same time.
“Brooklyn and Miller,” said Tanner. He shook his head. “Well, now Matt has stepped up to the plate to raise the sweet little guy.”
No. Matt and Brooklyn? As in Matthew and Brooklyn Caldwell?!
“You’reMatt’s daddy?” Chastity asked.
I’d went on a date with Tanner’s son?!And that wasn’t even the worst of it. I’d also mutilated his penis! It was tempting to fling myself off the side of the infinity pool.
“Good heavens, no,” said Tanner with a laugh. “I can’t have sex. How do you expect me to have children?” He laughed again. “When Jacob met me, he could tell I was an old soul. And he wasn’t on speaking terms with his actual living grandfather. So I kind of adopted the role. And it stuck.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s very cute. And he knows you’re a genie?”
“No, not exactly. You see...children believe in magic for a time. And as they age, it slowly goes away. For at least a while, it’s safe for Jacob to see it all.” He gestured around his island. “Even though Jacob can tell it’s real right now, his parents just think we play make-believe. And one day, Jacob will think it was all make-believe too. I’ll hate the day all this has to come to an end. It’s been nice getting to share it with someone.” He smiled at me. “But I guess I’ll get to keep sharing it with you.”
“Totes adorbs,” said Chastity. “We’re excited to share this with you too. And I do promise not to tell a soul.”
Tanner nodded.
“Well, now that we know Ash isn’t Matt’s new mommy, should we get started?” Chastity sat down in a lounge chair. “We have dates to plan.”
“Maybe you should let us know about the current process and success rates?” I asked.
“Sure,” said Tanner. “So there are a few ways to find perfect matches through the Society. First up is the wishes people make when they join. Each member gets three to start with...”
“Wait,” said Chastity. “I thought those were just wishes? What do they have to do with finding love?”
“They have everything to do with it,” said Tanner. “We take the wishes and turn them into fantasy dates. For example, Ashwished for a bunch of shoes. And we got to shop at Odegaard together.” He smiled at me.
I definitely remembered that date. He’d made me feel so desired when I modeled for him. We’d made out and gotten so caught up in each other that we’d broken a shelf. The date was definitely successful. I’d already been in love with him since I’d been stalking him. I shook away the thought. I meanthe’dalready been in love withme, since he was the dirty stalker.
I wrote WISHES on the board. “Yeah, the dates are pretty great at pushing people toward love, I guess. How often do the wishes lead to true love?”
“The success rate for people finding true love as a direct result of their wishes is...about 93 out of 10,000.”
What in the hell?He must have seen my face, because he kept going.
“But it’s getting better. Destiny uses an algorithm that analyzes over 200 variables to find the perfect match. Each time she finds true love, the matching gets even better.”
Huh.I wondered who the algorithm matched me with? Was it Tanner? I nodded. It was probably Tanner. We’d gone on so many dates together. And we were definitely a perfect match, flaming genie penis aside.
“And then we have the Hallway of Love. That’s great for matches.”
“Is that the sex hallway at Club Onyx?” asked Chastity.
I laughed and wrote SEX HALLWAY on the board.
Tanner laughed too. “I guess you could call it that. Either way, since we acquired Club Onyx five years ago, we’ve had an average of 26 rooms in service. And they’re usually active about four nights a week depending on events...” He got up and started doing the math on the board.
