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"My god, Linus. That's a helluva mess."

"She was engaged to another royal line. The whole of European aristocracy is in an uproar."

"That's still a thing?"

"Uproars or aristocracy?" he joked. "Yes, it very much is. And he dumped gunpowder all over it and lit a match. I had him locked in a room in the palace so I wouldn't give in to my temptation to simply castrate him with a butter knife."

A long pause and another heavy sigh.

"Anyway," he muttered. "Enough of that. You and Tea. The crash. The bear."

"You've heard, then."

"Asking if you're okay seems kind of stupid, but…"

"No, I am. Over a hundred stitches, and I'll have five really intense scars for the rest of my life, but it could've been a lot worse. The crash too."

"And Tea?"

"It was pretty fucking traumatic, Linus. Another crash so soon after the last one? And you have to know what happened there, yeah?"

"The shape of things, at least, yes. She lost someone she cared about." A disgusted sigh. "I'm so, so sorry I'm not there—that I wasn't there, Jax. It's unforgivable. I may never speak to Gunnar again, to be perfectly honest."

“Hey, far be it from me to tell you what to do about your own son, but don't cut him out entirely."

"I just don't know what to do," he grumbled. "He is pathologically incapable of controlling his penis."

"What's gonna happen over there?"

"Oh lord, Jax. I can't even begin to go there. I'm not allowed to, for one."

"Fair."

"Look, you guys just…take time, okay? And please, don't even think about money or work. I'll honor the payout of your contract and then some. And Tea, too, obviously."

I felt her presence before anything else, an awareness of her nearness. She pressed up against me, breasts flattening against my back, her hips and stomach pressing into my ass. She wrapped her arms around my middle and rested her cheek on my back.

"Hey," she murmured. "That's Linus?"

"Mmm," I hummed, momentarily lost in the enjoyment of her touch. "Yeah."

"Does he have a good explanation?"

"Yeah," I said. "You want to talk to him?"

She shook her head, cheek rolling against my back. "Mmm, no. You can fill me in later."

I heard Linus's voice from the phone. "I'll let you guys go. I'm sorry for what happened and that I wasn't there, and I’m glad you're both alright."

He kept speaking, but I lost the ability to comprehend language when Tea's hand closed around my cock, slipped down to fondle my balls, and then started stroking me to erection.

"…Tell Tea for me, would you?"

I cleared my throat. "Ah, would you repeat that last part?"

Tea pressed her nose into my spine and huffed a quiet, skin-muffled laugh.

"I just said that Tea in particular to take all the time she needs. I'll keep paying you both. If you need to feel useful, I have more remote work than you can shake a stick at. When Tea’s ready, have her call me. If I can’t answer, I will call her back as I’m able, and we’ll discuss her needs for the future."