Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 74916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“Do you think Jesus helps cranky people?” I didn’t bother trying to whisper, but I leaned closer to Cash again, so it still counted as being polite. “I’m not sure who he’s talking to.”
“He’s not going to get what he wants no matter who he’s talking to.” Cash’s grumbling tone made it feel like he was sliding more toward his Dom headspace.
Us being alone in our room at night never made him feel like a Dom, so I’d thought he just needed Bates around to find it. Clearly, that was an incorrect assumption. Getting pissed at Jude brought it out too.
Hmm, maybe that was why they always butted heads?
I knew better than to ask since Cash hadn’t actually come out about being a switch yet, but I put it on my mental let’s talk about this list…and asking if it was supposed to be a secret was going on that list too.
“Do you know what we’re waiting for?” Jude had said he wanted to talk and I thought we were waiting for Brady. But he wasn’t back from class yet, and Jude looked like he’d taken us hostage.
Hmm.
“How do you know if you’re a hostage?” Jude rolled his eyes, so I just ignored him and picked up my phone again as I talked to Cash. “I know we technically live here but does that matter?”
Would Bates know?
Before Cash could answer, Jude glared more intensely and huffed. “I’m not holding you hostage. We’re just waiting for someone, and if I walk away, you two rabbits will wander off.”
Okay, maybe, but that was also something a hostage-taker would say too.
Wait. Who was coming?
“Do hostage-takers usually invite guest speakers?” If we’d been waiting for Brady, Jude would’ve said that, right?
Cash was just down to sighing and glaring back at Jude, so I didn’t get much of a response from him. “No. But who knows at this point.”
No one knew.
That was the problem.
“Do we need anything else besides toothbrushes and a few changes of clothes?” I figured I might as well get a few things planned out if we were stuck for a while. “Oh, did you want to bake anything for Bates? We need to make a grocery list.”
“You’re baking for him?” For some reason, cake made Jude mad too. “This is ridiculous.”
Oh yeah.
Even Cash snorted, so he knew it was nuts too.
“Something chocolate and decadent. Bates has been good to us, so it’s time to thank him thoroughly.” Cash had a good idea because Bates liked chocolate, but it made Jude look like a really angry cartoon character.
Did he think baking was too personal?
Should he be eating anything Cash made then?
“I like thanking Bates.” Orally and otherwise. “Can I blow him while you feed him?”
Jude wasn’t giving us enough privacy for me to ask that without an audience but watching his face get red was kind of fun.
However, I was saved from watching his head explode by a knock at the door.
That would’ve been messy and it was my turn to vacuum again.
“Should we take bets about who’s going to be our hostage guest speaker?” I had no idea who it could be, but Cash was smart, so he’d probably already guessed.
And if I lost a blow job bet to him, I wouldn’t complain…so it’d be a win either way.
He didn’t have enough time to guess, though, because Jude whipped the door open like it was going to explode. “Thank you for coming.”
Oh.
Brady’s mom.
“Hi, Brady’s mom.” She always smiled when I said it like that. But she’d been just Brady’s mom for so long that it was hard to remember she had a real name. Brady had just called her Mom for the first year we’d known him.
He’d forgotten she had a real name too.
“Hello, darlings.” She came in smiling and looking around like she was happy we remembered to keep the couch pillows looking nice. “It seems like you’re driving poor Jude crazy.”
Right to the point.
“Do you know why?” Her smile had me hoping that she did, but she could smile through anything. She even seemed to like going to Walmart with a thousand kids.
Oh, the kids.
She was happy because she was actually alone.
Cash laughed, probably realizing why she was happy too. “I think she does.”
She just smiled even wider and gave Jude a quick hug as she walked in. “I do. Let’s talk about that.”
Oh, there was Brady too.
As he came in behind her, Jude took a deep breath. “They kept accusing me of kidnapping them.”
“Well, actually it was holding us hostage, but I don’t know if there’s a difference.” As I shrugged, still not sure about the technical definitions, Brady sighed.
“Sorry, Daddy.” He kissed Jude’s cheek, knowing he could use his cheat way of making Jude less nuts. “Thank you for being so patient.”
Brady’s mom giggled, so she knew Brady was full of hot air too.