Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Five points!
Or maybe three? Because the next photo that appeared reminded me that so many had brought their A game. Jesus Christ, Noa was in full doll makeup, and he was standing inside a giant paper box. Eyes closed, arms along his sides, with wires around his midsection, legs, and chest, just like a doll in its original packaging.
“Fuck me.” Ty raised his brows.
“They must’ve gone to a professional FX artist,” I marveled. “Look at the lines.” I pointed to the makeup that essentially cut his body into several positionable limbs.
The photo after that captured my attention just as much. It was Archie. Two photos combined to create two halves, from top to bottom. Left side was clearly his vanilla representation. An out-of-focus toddler crawled in the background, facing away from the camera. Archie held a mixing bowl to his side, he had some flour on his cheek, and his white tee was stained. The life of a parent, right? A stark contrast to the right side, where he only wore a pair of black boxer briefs. Serenity radiated from his expression, his posture was flawless, and he was holding a leather collar.
This was gonna be tough.
And we wouldn’t get the results till next month?
At the same time, it was a nice feeling. Next month, I’d be here with Ty again. We’d gear up for a new event. I wouldn’t just be Macklin’s casual boyfriend agreeing to be a member so that my summer fling could take part in a contest. It’d be Ty and me, as a couple, with a long future ahead of us.
EPILOGUE 2
One week later
Walker McKenna
“Thank you so much for picking me up, Sir. I thought for sure it was just gonna be another forty-five-minute thing.”
“Not a problem at all, sweetheart. Did they tell you what’s wrong with the car?” I pulled away from the sidewalk and headed back into traffic. For the auto shop to keep Lane’s car, whatever they’d found in the annual inspection must’ve been fairly serious.
“Um.” He squinted as if he struggled to remember. “Ty would’ve understood every word.” He huffed. “I heard cylinder block, cooling system, radiator, something about something, and overflow.”
I felt my forehead wrinkle. That could mean a lot, but sure, at least we could determine what part of the vehicle we were talking about.
“Sorry, I’m just the guy who says, all right, thanks, please fix this for me, here’s my card,” he admitted.
I chuckled. “Understood. Either way, I’m glad Ty called me.” I had a feeling Lane wouldn’t have. He’d texted Macklin, who was busy working, and he’d called Ty, who was stuck in meetings out in Fairfax.
“Are you sure I’m not keeping you from anything important?” he asked hesitantly.
“I’m very sure,” I promised. “I was just on my way out of the office to run errands anyway.”
I’d held on to Macklin’s wedding band long enough, and I wanted it back on his finger before I was swept away by my next work project. I had some long hours in the next few weeks to look forward to. Ed was acquiring a small, local hotel chain in Illinois and Wisconsin, so we had much to do. I was sending my scouts out for both on-ground research as well as meetings with the current employees at the hotels, and my job was to make the numbers in our predictions match the end results.
“Macklin told me you’re about to be super busy,” Lane mentioned.
I inclined my head and stepped on the gas as a light turned yellow. “In short, I have to find the demographics that regularly spend money on hotels in Wisconsin and Illinois.”
Chicago was a nonissue, but the rural areas were always a challenge.
Lane scratched his ear. “You have the Harley-Davidson headquarters in Milwaukee. My dad is a motorcycle enthusiast. Every summer, he’s talking about a rally or event in Wisconsin. It’s supposedly huge there.”
I smiled, pleasantly surprised. We actually had the biker lifestyle on our so far quite-short list. “Your father is right. They’re not shy about spending money either.” My phone buzzed with a message in my cupholder, and I grabbed it and smirked at the message preview. Ty was wondering if Lane was with me yet. “Speakin’ of not your father, your Daddy’s making sure I picked you up.”
Lane grinned to himself and opened his own phone, presumably to send Ty a message.
On our way back to Arlington, we talked a bit about the next few weeks. Lane had a deadline of his own that was going to take up a lot of time. He and Corey were launching a new comic strip, which put Lane in marketing mode. It was all about reach, as he said.
Then we confirmed we’d all gotten our latest test results back so we could continue playing without protection. We’d already known, of course, but it was nice to have it in writing, so to speak. Our dynamic was sacred for the four of us, and so we’d agreed that any play with outsiders would be protected. With one exception for Macklin and me, but I’d only told Ty so far.