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The thought of his ugly dog made him think of the man he’d named him after. A long-haired, tattooed stranger who’d studied him during the worst day of his life, giving him ‘fuck me’ eyes in a room full of men in suits.
“Go ahead. She won’t stop nagging until you do. She’s powered by gay tears.”
“You fucked his wife…and his son.” Yep. There it was. What could he say? “Not at the same time?” Calder wondered which one of them blabbed. Probably the housekeeper. At least Linc didn’t know about her. He hoped.
“Your job is to keep his family alive, not stick your dick in them.” Calder snorted, another grin spreading over his face. “Did they die?” he drawled, letting the Texan seep into his voice. “No. In fact, it might be the first time they ever truly lived. My dick changes lives, man.”
“Linc, I’m not trying to be an asshole, but I feel the need to point out that both you and Shepherd married the only clients you were ever charged with watching. Hell, at this point Jackson might as well call this place Elite Protection and Matchmaking Services. I submit that I’m being unfairly targeted and punished not because I fuck our clients but because I just refuse to marry all of them afterward, and honestly, it’s starting to feel a bit like discrimination.”
CALDER I AM SCREAMING
Calder snorted. “Assaulting a police officer? Angel face in there? The kid is the personification of a basket of kittens. What did he assault him with? Kindness?” Linc’s lips twitched as he tried to keep a straight face. “A twelve-inch black dildo known as the ‘hole wrecker.’”
“Come on, angel face. I’m gonna give you a ride.” Charlie choked on a laugh. “Well, damn, Calder. Right here in the conference room. I thought only Linc was allowed to do that.” “Get thee behind me, hooker Barbie. I have no time for your forked tongue today.
“You scared of me, angel face?” he asked, tone teasing but not mean. “I’m scared of everything,” Robby heard himself whisper.
Ha. Real.
What else are you hiding underneath that choirboy exterior?” Once more, his inner voice flooded his brain with answers. Fear. Anxiety. Loneliness. An unhealthy obsession with gangsta rap and mochi.
Had to go. Didn’t want to wake you. Call if you ever need me. XO Calder
Robby felt himself sulking. “What makes you two think I’m a virgin?” Charlie gave him a pitying gaze. “Oh, sweetie. If we were villagers, you’d be the first one we’d chuck into a volcano to appease the gods.”
Why are you whispering?” “I don’t know. I’ve never killed somebody before,” Robby shot back. “I’m scared.”
Not that I don’t think most religions are just cults anyway.”
This.
“Calder has fucked so many of Linc’s clients, they think it’s part of their service contract.
That’s not how the real world works.” Charlie rolled her eyes. “Who lives in the real world? We live in Lalaland. You are a twenty-one-year-old virgin who was raised in a cult. I’m in the movies. Wyatt makes money on YouTube. Your ex-boyfriend left you for a dude who’s probably a serial killer. The real world doesn’t apply to people like us.
Charlie continuing to be the best character of this series
“I know what it’s like to be invisible, for nobody to want you. I couldn’t stomach the thought of him living the rest of his life feeling unloved.”
Robby: Whatever you’re planning won’t work. He’s not interested. Wyatt: False. He’s interested, but my idiot husband is cock-blocking you.
Robby: Does Linc know you’re telling me all this? Wyatt: Oh, God. No. I wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week. Robby: Oh. So, why are you telling me this? Charlie: Because he’s hoping Linc punishes him hard enough that he won’t be able to sit down for a week.
I don’t drive because I spend my life in fear of having to parallel park.”
REAL.
“Wow, you sound mighty ungrateful. I gave you the very shirt off my back—” “You pulled it from your bottom drawer,” Robby corrected with a giggle. “—off my back,” Calder continued as if he hadn’t heard the boy. “And this is the thanks I get.”
It was like he was in a completely different kind of fake relationship, one where Calder would be every single thing Robby had always wanted but never dared hope for, but only for a limited time. It was perfect. Calder was perfect. But there was a clock ticking over their heads.
Calder wouldn’t let anything bad happen, even if it meant breaking the law. Hell, even if it meant breaking every law.
“You called Webster, Webster called Linc, Linc was getting a blowjob so he put it on speaker, Wyatt finished up his…husbandly duties and then called me, and here we are.”
your knight in dirty denim
This was his life now. Overrun and bossed around by two twinks and a scary brunette with no filter.
“What’s on your mind, sweetness?” A million answers raced through his mind. Kiss me, fuck me, love me, keep me.
Maybe I am into spanking or bondage or whatever furries do.” “They dress up as animals and rub off on each other,” Calder explained. Robby frowned. “Okay, we can skip that one,
“My type?” Robby asked, biting at Calder’s earlobe. “Tall, older, sexy, southern drawl, tough, a butt that looks really good in Wranglers, and has a truck with a bench seat.”
Chumbawumba
Yassss, Tubthumping
Robby was always so certain the world didn’t see him that it would never occur to him he was in danger, that somebody stalked him.
“What…what am I to you?” Calder brought his forehead to Robby’s. “Fuck, angel. I don’t know. Special? Important? Cared for? More than you should be but too much for me to push you away?”
Then Calder was reaching for something on the side table. Robby frowned as Calder’s phone lit up. Was he making a phone call? Now? Robby had never been so confused. He heard the gruff greeting, even with the phone pressed to Calder’s ear. Calder only uttered two words. “I quit.”
Holy. Shit.
“Think you can take another finger?” “I could probably take a tractor trailer back there by now,” Robby grumbled.
“Why’d you have to pick that kid?” Calder looked towards the closed door. “How could I not? He’s…perfect.” Linc slammed his fist on his desk. “You know what? Fine. But I want you to know that I now owe Wyatt a thousand fucking dollars and I’m taking it out of your yearly fucking bonus. You know how smug he’s going to be about this? I hope this kid’s worth it.”
Lmaoooo
“I’m going to rehire you just so I can fire your ass. What now?” Linc asked, exasperated.
“This place feels like a museum. Your house feels cozy. Warm. Like a home.” Calder’s grin slipped off his face as he brushed his lips across Robby’s once, then again. “Places aren’t home, angel. People are.”
“I’m scared, too. Of everything. But I’m less scared when I’m with you.”
“Shit. I don’t even know how to do this anymore, but please, please, please, God, please don’t take him away from me. Not now. Fuck, please. Please, let him be okay.”
“Stay with me, angel. You hear me? We’ve got plans. A whole life together. Don’t you dare fucking close your eyes, just keep looking at me, okay?” Robby nodded, but his skin was chalk white, even his lips. “Don’t die on me, angel. I love you. I’ll give you anything you want. A ring. A kidney? A house full of kids and rescue animals. Anything.”
“You promise?” he whispered. “What?” Calder asked. Robby gazed up at him, his breathing labored. “The kids, the animals…the ring. You promise?” Calder nodded, sniffling, wiping at his tears as they fell onto Robby’s cheeks. “Yes, angel. You just keep your eyes open and it’s all yours. I swear it.”
“Hard to believe all of this started with a shower,” Robby mused. “Nah, baby. All of this started the minute I saw you in that conference room chair, looking like the loneliest boy in the world.” Robby looked up. “I think I was, you know. The loneliest boy. Before you.”
