Page 37 of Collin: Episodes 10-12
It took Damian a good two minutes of beating the pillows into shape and bunching up the blankets and comforter to get comfortable.
Collin lay beside his two doms as they quietly settled and kept his thought to himself. Whoever Damian was hoping to eventually have in his bed was going to have to be a special person indeed. Or not want to share a bed at night.
But Damian looked like he did want a sleeping partner. Just not Collin or Mr. Reevesworth.
Someday. Someday Damian would find the right person for him. Not only family but his person who he could commit to.
Collin carefully snuggled in against Mr. Reevesworth and reached over him to Mr. Moreau so that their hands tangled together on top of Mr. Reevesworth’s chest.
Someday, he was going to have to talk to his doms about rage, too, but that wasn’t this day. Well, night, actually.
Collin and Ash finished their Mandarin lessons just before ten a.m. and wished their teacher Zhou Laoshi, which translated to Teacher Zhou, mànmàn zou. The phrase had been part of their lesson for that day and meant literally to go slowly, which was a form of saying goodbye and wishing someone well. Collin rubbed his head and hoped Damian had sent him a mocha again.
Ash fist-bumped him and meandered down the hall toward the techno dungeon. The kid looked tired. Collin pulled out his phone and ordered delivery for a box of Danishes for the break room and a lunch set from the Greek place down the street. Then he texted Carrie to tell her to make sure the lunch got to Ash and the Danishes to the break room.
Before he forgot, he added the cost of Ash’s lunch into the running tally he was keeping against the pile of cash Ash had shoved at him the week before. It was going to be a while before Collin ran out, considering how many hundreds and twenties Ash had included. The kid had no sense of money, but at least he would learn a little bit when Collin eventually showed him the accounting.
He took a screenshot of the receipt for the Danishes and dropped that in the digital expense folder for the office. Bruiski would be so proud of him. Look at the college boy being all grown up.
But now it was ten minutes after ten. He was late. Collin pushed himself off the wall and hurried toward his office.
Veronica, the woman who had agreed to sue her hookup over the illegally leaked porn, was at her desk wearing a brown pantsuit and a soft mauve turtleneck sweater with gold jewelry.
Collin gave her a smile. “You look like you slept better than me.”
She smiled back. “I called my mom. And…it was good. Better than I thought. Actually, she’s going to fly out today to stay with me for a while. Also, you guys work fast. I already talked to a lawyer this morning. You were right. I’m going to sue that loser’s ass. Evidently, I’m not the only one he taped without consent.”
Collin smiled, a tingle running through his chest. “I—I have no right to say this, but I’m proud of you.”
Veronica blushed. “I think if my mom is with me I can do anything, especially since Mr. Sathers made it very clear that I won’t be fired. Not everyone has that privilege, you know, so I figure better make it count.”
Mr. Sathers…oh, that’s Damian! It was so odd to hear Damian referred to like that.
Collin held up his hand. “Is a high five appropriate?”
Veronica blinked, just a little harder than normal. “Actually, if you don’t mind a very professional side hug, I could use it.”
“I can do very professional side hugs.” Collin put his phone in his pocket, and Veronica stood up.
She put two arms around his shoulders and squeezed hard. Then she stepped back and straightened her jacket. “There’s a mocha in front of your monitor. It has your name on it, so I moved it. And Eliza is taking a meeting about keeping her family safe right now with Mr. Moreau, but let me catch you up on what we’re doing this week since we didn’t get much done yesterday.”
Collin grabbed the mocha and turned toward the large table in the middle of the room where bits of the project were projected down on the surface. “Hit me.”
Veronica drew herself up and waved toward the southern end of the proposed passenger rail. “Right now, we need new ideas. Specifically, ones that will get local populations involved in positive ways and collect their desires for the locations. But we’re running into an education deficit. These populations have historically been relying on cars almost since they were invented, so we don’t have a lot of historical memory or community experience to draw on to help them communicate what they need or want. Two of the communities have local movements for sustainable cities that we’re partnering with, but there’s nothing really to connect with in these other five places.”
Eliza arrived an hour later looking grim but confident. On her heels was a shy, pale woman with long blonde hair and an ankle-length gray coat over a gray office dress.
“Collin,” Eliza said, “this is Katharine. Katharine, this is Collin. He’s here to give us direct access to Mr. Reevesworth and help bring fresh eyes to the development concepts.”
Who is Katharine? Collin shot Veronica a quick look, but Veronica was jumping out of her seat and throwing herself at Katharine.
“You’re back!”
Katharine sniffed and squeezed Veronica. “I had to. When you told me you were going to sue, I couldn’t…I couldn’t wimp out on you.”
“So, they got rid of your resignation letter?”
Katharine nodded. “It’s annulled. And…and I talked with my family, and they all agree I should stay. But Mr. Moreau had me talk to some security people, and I’m not supposed to stay at my place anymore.”
