Page 67 of Say it Ain’t So

“Speaking of Frank.” I peered out the window. The bird was still sitting on the railing, its beady black eyes staring back at me.

“He’s harmless.” She lifted onto her toes, pressing a kiss to my lips.

“No, I meant…” I kissed her back, because why the hell wouldn’t I? “Can you show me more?”

“Right now?”

“Well, I mean⁠—”

“Because I can think of something else we could do…” She snaked her hand between us, her palm cupping my balls.

A moan ripped up my throat, and I grabbed hold of Joss’s hips, tugging her closer. “Yeah. Yeah, that works too. But…”

“But what?” she asked as she kissed along my jaw.

“But after? Can you show me more?”

Joss let out a giggle that had my cock hardening to the point of pain. “You got it, babe.”

20

JOSS

Seven Months Later

My phone burned a hole in my pocket as I rushed out of the back door at work and to my car. I’d gotten a text from an unknown number that I was dying to respond to.

Unknown: Miss your face, babe. Call when you’re free.

It was Cheyenne, I was sure of it. I hadn’t talked to her in almost a year because she had to go into hiding to escape Peter’s harassment. This radio silence was killing me.

I missed my friend. I missed her so much, I almost didn’t care if this text was a trick. I needed to talk to her, to make sure she was okay, as much as I needed my next meal.

The phone rang once before it was answered, and those fears in the back of my head that this wasn’t Chey blew away on the breath I let out when I heard her familiar voice.

“Girl, it has been way too long.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and I curled around myself as if I could reach through my phone and pull her into a hug. “Cheyenne! I’ve missed you.”

“Missed you too, babe. You doing okay?”

Swallowing the ball of emotions that choked my throat, I let out a huff of a laugh. “Yeah. I’m doing okay.”

It wasn’t a lie, but it also wasn’t the full truth. But I couldn’t explain the past week if I’d wanted to.

We’d had some unexpected visitors at Bridgewater Security. An ex-cop and his hacker friend flew in from New York to ask Lee about the teen who’d gone missing when Kelly O’Connor had been abducted a year ago. Rylan had gone with them to search for answers and ended up getting grazed by a bullet that could have been so much worse.

My emotions had been a hot mess all week, and Rylan’s injury was only part of it. The arrival of these two had thrown my little world into chaos, and it made me realize just how lonely I’d become.

“You don’t sound okay,” Cheyenne said, her voice quiet in my ear. “You still having boy troubles?”

A laugh shot out of me. “Boy troubles?”

“That’s what troubled you the last time we talked. These damn boys.”

“I don’t think I’d consider Rylan a boy.”

“Wait. Rylan? You mean Unicorn Dick?”