Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 132791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Tiernan: I don’t negotiate with terrorists.
Tierney: To negotiate I’d have to budge from my demands. I’ll do no such thing.
I heard the toilet flush on the other side of the door. I didn’t have time.
Tiernan: Fine. I don’t want her dead. Happy?
Tierney: Elated.
The faucet was running. Tierney was typing.
Tierney: Whenever sleep escapes me, I find a willing victim and orgasm. HARD. A good orgasm always knocks me out.
Tiernan: THIS is your advice?
Tierney: Yup. It’s a good one, brosky.
Tiernan: Hate you, sis.
Tierney: <3 <3 <3
_______
When we got home, I filled Lila a warm bath and threw a pink bath bomb into it. The entire bleeding bathroom reeked of essential oils and strawberries. I made a note to torch down the apartment to get rid of the smell.
Not that it needed to be set on fire. The temperature was already at a record fucking high.
Lila must’ve been a lizard in a previous life, because she liked the thermostat on seventy-six.
I preferred it at forty-nine. We settled for seventy-six. Whoever said marriage was all about compromise had never wedded an Italian princess.
“Don’t fall asleep in the bath,” I barked out the order.
She nodded sleepily, shutting the door in my face.
While Lila took a bath, I took my sister’s demented advice. It was shit terrible, but I had zero alternatives. Apparently, giving Lila pills could fuck up the baby. And while that sounded like a win-win situation to me, she seemed fond of the devil’s spawn.
Ambling to the kitchen, I grabbed a whiskey bottle and poured three fingers into a tumbler, tossing it back and wiping my mouth. I fished out my phone and texted Rhyland Coltridge.
Coltridge was a newly minted tech billionaire. He was also a former escort who used to screw half of New York’s socialites for a living. I had it on good authority he knew what he was doing in the sack. I needed expert advice. Someone who wouldn’t run their mouth. For all his faults—and fuck knew I could write a dissertation about them—he was discreet.
I knew, because my sister had hired him to overcome her own hang-ups back in the day.
Tiernan: I need advice.
Rhyland: Is this Tiernan Callaghan?
Tiernan: …
Rhyland: Don’t reproduce.
Tiernan: Sex advice, you low-grade gigolo.
Rhyland: First of all? Very endearing. Second? I’m retired.
Tiernan: 20K an hour.
Rhyland: Sorry, should’ve specified: I’m retired AND a billionaire.
Tiernan: I’ll sell you my shares of App-date.
My having shares in his wholesome fake dating app had been a thorn in his side. Anyone associated with me was as good as dead in polite society.
Rhyland: JK. Giving back is my passion.
Rhyland: Talk to me, buddy.
Tiernan: Virgin. Skittish. Needs to come hard. No full-blown sex.
Rhyland: IDK if I’d call you skittish.
Tiernan: Not me, you eejit. HER.
Rhyland: Oh. Well, only one in five women orgasm from vaginal intercourse, so I wasn’t going to suggest penetration, anyway. Your best bet is eating her out. The clit has over 10,000 nerve fibers. Not much room for error, unless your tongue is made out of sandpaper.
Groaning, I refilled my glass. A headache formed behind my eyelids.
Tiernan: I’ve never engaged in such activity.
Rhyland: Eating pussy? My condolences. Highly recommend. 12/10.
Rhyland: I’ll send a video with a demonstration on an adult doll.
Tiernan: And you have that kind of thing handy because…?
Rhyland: I taught a Harvard course last year. You know, as a world-renowned expert in pussy.
Rhyland: We all leave our footprint on this planet. You fight overpopulation. I promote great orgasms.
Tiernan: Let’s promote bringing this conversation to an end.
Rhyland: Forwarding you the reel. Make sure you sell your stock first thing tomorrow morning.
Tiernan: One thing, Coltridge.
Rhyland: Yes?
Tiernan: This conversation never happened.
Five minutes later, I was watching Rhyland pleasuring a plastic doll with far too much enthusiasm. Ten minutes later, I entered our bedroom. Lila was already in bed, running a towel over her damp hair.
I stopped at the foot of the bed.
“What’s wrong?” Her bloodshot eyes clouded. Christ, how long had it been since she had a decent night of sleep?
“I’m going to help you fall asleep.” I rolled the tip of my tongue over my teeth, tasting the residue alcohol. “If you let me.”
I never asked for permission.
What I wanted, I took.
I did ask for permission now.
She sat up straighter, expression wary. “How will you do that?”
“I can touch you in a way that would make you very happy. Very sleepy, too.”
She bit down on her lower lip, considering my proposal. I stood there, like a schoolboy, waiting for her words. Waiting to hear if she’d let me serve her. Kneel at her altar and eat her out.
Pathetic.
“What if you hurt me by accident?” She rubbed her button nose. “That monster did. I can still feel it, sometimes. Between my legs. His rough fingers. His thing inside me.”
I closed my eye, drawing in a breath. My bloodthirst for this faceless tool was infinite. I wanted his life more than I did Alex’s.