Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 138844 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138844 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Archie continued. “There’s a slight chance I neglected to communicate I was too tired, so Master showed me in his own way what he thought about that. And now he’s given me an exercise where I’m not allowed to finish my daily list of tasks. I have to scrap one item and postpone it.”
“Slight chance,” Master Greer snorted. “Boy, you’d do anything but tell me you were tired—and if you couldn’t complete your list, you got all twitchy.”
I smirked a little, understanding now. What a sadistic exercise! I was the same way. If I had a to-do list—and I always did—I couldn’t relax until it was completed.
Then again, I didn’t sub in a household with five children. My lists were undoubtedly a few miles shorter.
“I’m doing so much better now!” Archie said in his defense.
“Yeah, you are, and it’s all thanks to me.” Master Greer grinned.
I huffed a chuckle and folded the last napkin before placing it next to his plate.
Dinner was a loud, rambunctious affair, and it was making me appreciate Noa a lot more. At least he piped down when KC and Lucian gave him the right look; these kids did not. And Master Greer didn’t even try. He was almost as loud himself. This was his time to catch up with everyone, which he did in between jokes and playful provocation. He was such a button-pusher. But the kids loved it. Hell, so did Corey. Only Sloan tried to lower the volume from time to time.
Tasty burgers, though.
By the time I was adding cheese and barbecue sauce to my second burger, Master Greer had two kids on his lap, Kyla and Loki, and all three had more toppings on their faces than on their plates.
Loki was about three years old, and messy eating was clearly right up his alley. He laughed his butt off at Master Greer.
“It’s all in your beard!” Emma-Jo laughed.
“Huh?” Master Greer perked up, then touched his pinkie against the corner of his mouth to cover the smallest surface possible. “There. Did I get it all?”
Emma-Jo, Jamie, and Loki guffawed and shook their heads.
I smiled to myself and picked up my burger. KC was like that sometimes with Noa, and I needed that to continue. I loved to watch them interact as Daddy and Little—and how KC treated me similarly whenever I was down.
Christ, I had to go home. Nothing would get solved while I was out here.
I appreciated everything Archie and Master Greer and their family had done for me; they’d been the runaway support I’d needed last night and today. But now…
The downstairs grew quieter after dinner, thankfully. Sloan went upstairs with the kids, where some had bath time and others wanted to play video games. Corey and Master Greer took a few of the dogs on another walk, and I nagged Archie into letting me help him with the dishes.
“So, um…what are the odds of me convincing Master Greer to give me my phone back?” I asked.
Archie shot me a sly little smirk as he closed the dishwasher. “It depends. Are you calling someone to pick you up, or do you need to talk to Master Lucian?”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t foresee a phone conversation with Master that didn’t end with me falling apart, but I missed his voice so much. I wanted to hear it.
In the end, I’d probably call KC and ask for an update.
“I think I’m too chickenshit to call Master,” I admitted. “But I wanna know how today went. KC would know.”
He nodded with a dip of his chin and tossed me a dish towel. “I don’t think Master has any intentions of forbidding you from speaking to your own Owners, so if you ask when he comes back…”
That was great news. Now I just had to summon the courage to make the call. If Master Greer was like, “Actually, I think you should wait till tomorrow,” I could leave it in his hands. Then I wouldn’t feel like such a coward.
But yeah, great, great news. Yay.
We worked in silence for a beat, cleaning the stuff that couldn’t go in the dishwasher, and we could hear Corey and Master Greer outside when I was drying the last knives.
Archie peered out the kitchen window. “They’re two peas in a pod, I swear.” He could not look more in love with whatever he was seeing.
I leaned over the counter to peer out too, and I spotted Master Greer and Corey wrestling with the dogs. I scrunched my nose. It was dark and muddy and wet and gross.
I kept getting weepy while Master Greer took his second shower with Corey. The longer I stayed, the worse things got.
Daddy, come get me. Please come get me.
Archie fussed over me, and I felt so bad because it wasn’t working. There was nothing he could do. I just wanted to be with my own family.