Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Ugh,” I swiftly sneer, “I hope he’s been using his hospital stay to do what sounds like some much needed self-reflection.”
“According to him, he has no clue who placed the order. He simply saw the number of zeroes they were offering and took the gig.”
“Another double-blind blackboard assignment?”
“Yup.”
“And there’s no way we can trace that shit?”
“Well…” Blu’s lettering resumes its typical bouncy nature, “I didn’t say that.”
“Your ass better say somethin’ if you’d like to spend the mornin’ havin’ biscuits with your girlfriend instead of handin’ the dentist your teeth.”
“There’s no way we can trace that shit, but I have a contact willing to chase a few IP address leads. Maybe get an idea of where the assignments have been being posted from. Or – if the price is right – he can do us one better and lead us directly to the site’s owner who we can then…persuade into granting us the access we need to find whoever this asshole is.”
“Make sure the price isn’t wrong, Blu.”
He executes a single nod. “Roger.”
“Sorrysorrysorry,” Aviva squeaks at the same time she bursts back into the room with syrup in hand, “I didn’t mean to take so long!” The door shuts loudly behind her. “It’s just one thing led to another, and I got a little too caught up making notes about my bees and-”
“You have bees?” Intrigue has me rudely interrupting. “Like at work?”
“There too!” She places the bottle down on the counter and finds her way into Blu’s arms. “And while I love all sorts of insects – especially those with wings – bees are undeniably my favorite. It’s why being an apiculturist is my dream job.” Her boyfriend tucks his arm around her lower waist. “The fact that the ones I help cultivate for work are used for much greater causes than just their honey is simply an added bonus.” Her round face leans forward in a playful fashion. “But the ones I keep at home are strictly for pleasure.”
A dramatic wink is shot in our direction that causes Slater to shake his head in amusement while I simply snicker.
Oh, she totally means it in that avenue.
Aviva is far from shy when it comes to the topic of sex.
Although, in her defense, she’s usually talking about bugs boning versus people.
Guess we have that in common.
She has an easier time understanding the dynamics and structures of insects rather than people while I have an easier time understanding the characteristics of people’s handwriting and speech patterns rather than social constructs such as the appropriate time to bring up what’s someone’s favorite song to sing in the shower.
Curiosity continues to control the conversation that’s coming from me, “And where exactly are these bees?”
“Oh, on my patio,” she nonchalantly answers. “It’s one of the reasons I had to have a penthouse apartment. I needed enough room for Williamsburg.”
“Named after the capital of the Virginia Colony?” Slater questions, finally joining in on the investigation.
“Yeah! You know a group of bees is called a colony, so all my colonies have different colonial names.”
There’s no dialing down my squeak. “You have multiple colonies on your patio!?”
“Nononono,” she shakes her hands in a frantic fashion, “I just have the one here at home. Yorktown and Jamestown are the ones I deal with at work.”
I nod my understanding prior to playfully looking up at Slater, “And here I thought it was safest for us to eat at our place for other reasons.”
He warmly chuckles while Aviva carries on explaining her disappearance, “I took so long because I was jotting some additional reactions I forgot to write down earlier. See, I’ve begun to notice that the mornings in which we engage in sex, the bees have a different response to my presence than on the mornings when we don’t. I’ve been working on discovering a more cohesive correlation in hopes of finding information that could be of value to those in my field.”
“And I am more than happy to be doing my part in this experiment,” a waggling of Blu’s eyebrows precedes a swift pop to her backside.
Slater’s laughs get louder yet are abruptly interrupted by his other best friend’s significant other releasing a loud contemplative hum, “You know I’ve also made some observations about the two of you.” The yellow hue of her words matches that of her boyfriends. “You aren’t extremely physical for two people new to a relationship nor does there seem to be any typical changes in your behavior as there should be when high levels of endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and prolactin are being released.”
Huh.
So that’s what “just friends” sounds like in scientific terminology.
“We’re just um…um…” my eyes swing up to Slater’s to wordlessly request a little assistance, “you know…”
His expression remains stoic.
Obnoxiously. Still.
“Taking things…kind of…slow?” When he doesn’t even attempt to aid in the justifying, I redirect my attention back to Aviva. “Transitioning from best friends to…a…non best friends situation-”