Page 117 of Heart Strings & Hotlines
I huff. “She still honks. Yips? Whatever, she just behaves like a fucking lady now and does it more quietly.”
“A lady, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we know how much you love the…ladies in your life.”
I cross the room in two long strides. “I also love when one of my ladies is a dirty beggar.”
Her cheeks flush crimson, and I imagine us revisiting our time in the lake last week.
“I’m ready.” Kara bounces into the room. If I had to describe her pre-Sweetbriar, I would have said a girl on the verge of joining a goth gang. But Sweetbriar Kara is, well, for lack of a better term, sweet. She’s lighter, and she smiles now instead of glaring—that changes everything.
“Are you excited to go back to North Carolina?” Lottie asks, sidestepping my grabby hands reaching for her hips.
“Yeah. I mean, we didn’t really spend much time there last time, but I liked Seren, and we’ve kept up on Snapchat.”
Lottie tilts her face to take me in as I loom over her. “Seren is Sebastian Walker’s daughter. Remember?”
Unfortunately, I do. That kid is bad news. She’s the one who was playing all the pranks on the nannies.
“Stop scowling, Brad. She was going through some really tough stuff with her mom. It doesn’t mean she’s a bad person.” Why is it so funny when Kara scolds me now? Maybe because her words are no longer sharpened with poison tips?
“Kara, she dyed people red. Grown women looked as though they’d exited a massacre.” How does that not constitute a bad kid?
“I have to agree with Kara on this one,” Lottie says. “Seren was struggling. Rowan said she’s come a long way, and it’s good for Kara to have some friends with similar…struggles.”
My finger rises in Kara’s direction as though I have no control of it. It definitely resembles a dad move, so I fully embrace it. “If that kid gets you arrested, I will clear out all her father’s assets, then hack the police station and put out an arrest warrant for her father, so ensure that you make good choices around her. No peer pressure.”
Kara’s mouth hangs open. “Can you do that?”
I try not to. I prefer to stay on the right side of the law, but there’s nothing I can’t do with a computer. Telling her that is certainly less fatherly though, so I keep it to myself.
“Do not test me on this, Kara.” The finger is waggling at her. It’s oddly cathartic. “If she tries to rope you into doing something you know is wrong, you’d better walk away.”
“Geez, Brad. She’s a thirteen-year-old girl whose mother had an affair in front of her entire school. Cut her a little break, would ya?”
Fair point. But still, my priority is Kara.
“Yoo-hoo, we’re here,” Mrs. Perez calls up the stairs. Lottie removed the new lock on her office after I complained about having to go up and down the stairs to let the Scuttlebutts in every half an hour.
Find the Scuttlebutt Society their own office space.I do appreciate that my narrator and I are on the same page more often than not here in Sweetbriar.
I would have preferred to take Hercules with us to New York, but Lottie said it wouldn’t be fair to subject her to the flight. More likely, she was worried that Hercules would disrupt the other passengers, but I know she would’ve been fine.
Now I’m stuck with Mrs. Perez staying in our space to dog sit. I can already imagine her grubby peanut butter fingers all over my shit.
Kara picks up Hercules and walks her down the stairs. “My suitcase is in my room.”
“Maybe Kara could use some independence training from you,” I grumble.
Lottie’s eyes heat in the way that make my balls lift high and tight. “Are you sure about that, Thane?”
I swallow hard as she rakes a fingernail down my chest.
“Remember how well this independent woman follows directions…when she wants to.” She cups my cock with an evil grin.
“Yeah, never mind.” I’m not even sure what we’re talking about anymore.
