Page 71 of Mister Mom

“Go to bed, buddy, I’m just sugaring the cookies,” he says.

I press my lips together to try to keep from laughing, but Vance covers my mouth and I shake my head at his innuendo.

“Oh, yay!” Payne says.

“Get to bed so you can have one tomorrow,” Vance continues, a smile teasing at his lips.

“I’m going,” he says.

We hear the door shut and Vance lets go of my mouth.

“You’re bad,” I say, but he leans forward and kisses me.

“Please, you love me sugaring the cookie as much as I do.” He winks. “Now let’s get you cleaned up.”

18

Vance

“Put your fucking phone down. This is a guys’ trip.” Jagger tries to snatch my phone from my hands, but I dodge his attempts.

“We aren’t twenty-one, shithead.” I finish my text to Layla.

Me: Miss you already.

I’m waiting for the three dots to appear when the flight attendant places a vodka tonic on my tray. I glance to the side at Jagger, who raises his own drink in the air. Shifting my eyes to Leo, I see him raising his beer.

My phone dings and Leo smiles, shaking his head because he already knows the shit Jagger is going to give me.

I glance down at my phone to find a picture of Layla, Via, and Payne—all with frowns on their faces. A second later and my phone dings again.

Layla: Have fun and good luck with the investor. We’ll miss you. See you when you get home. ??

Me: Thank you. I’ll text you when we land.

The pilot comes over the speaker and asks everyone to turn their electronics to airplane mode.

“Finally,” Jagger says across the aisle.

“I’m not sure why you have such a problem with Layla.”

I’ve dealt with the jokes, the heavy sighs, and his predictions that we won’t make it. We’re going to hash this out now.

“Layla isn’t the problem. You know the problem. You shouldn’t be dating the actress who’s going to star in your film.”

“Let it go. I’m a big boy.”

“Yeah, Jagger, it’s really none of your business,” Leo chimes in and I fistbump him. “Our Vancey is all grown up with a girlfriend. Deal with it.” Leo grabs my shoulder, rocking me a few times to the side.

Jagger closes his eyes once the pilot says we’re ready for take-off and that ends the conversation. Thank God, he’s afraid to fly or I’d probably have to listen to him the entire ride.

During the flight, Leo and Jagger both hammer away on their computers, Leo with headphones on and Jagger working on his third drink, me with my script on the table. I flip through the pages, looking at the rewrites that the script manager I hired is suggesting. She seems to be on the same side as Layla—that the romance is missing and I have to redo the majority of the intimate scenes to show that side of the hero.

Midflight, Leo nudges me. “Hey, I think what’s happening with Layla is awesome.” He runs his hand through his dark blond hair and then inches forward to check out Jagger.

I follow his movements to see Jagger is passed out cold. Probably from his four drinks. The man hates to fly, so it’s probably better he’s asleep. I won’t even tell you about the time we went to St. Croix and we had to drug him just to get him on the plane. Oops, I guess I just did. Payback’s a bitch, friend.

“Thanks.” It’s nice one of my friends can be happy for me.

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