Page 114 of Forced Vows

My uncle's men are always around. I don't leave my room in my pajamas and I always wait to change into my swimsuit until I'm down at the pool or the dock.

It is what it is.

"It's how it should be done there too."

Judgy much? "Says you."

"Think about it, Róise. He wasn't there to see you." Miceli's tone is implying something nefarious.

"He was probably delivering a message for my uncle."

"That should only be done through your security detail," Miceli says bossily.

"I guess my uncle doesn't agree." But I am thinking like he ordered…darn him, and I send a text to the chat window on the show that's been playing silently this whole time.

Róise: Fiona, do you know why Troy was in the hall today?

Fiona: No. But I wish the men would stay away from our rooms.

Kara: It's worse around ours. Mick has his crew in and out of our rooms at all hours. I never know who's going to be there when I come out of the bedroom.

Fiona and my rooms might have less space, but we have more privacy than Kara.

I have a regular bedroom suite with a giant walk-in closet/dressing room and full bathroom. So does Fiona, but Kara and Mick have a set of rooms set up like an apartment. Moma does too.

The only people she invites into her space are us girls and Fitz.

I doubt Uncle Brogan and Mick even notice.

"Go watch your movie," he says abruptly.

Okay, then. "You do remember you are the one who called me? And it's a show. We're bingeing episodes."

"Which one?" he asks, like he didn't just basically tell me to hang up.

So, I tell him the title and what it's about in excruciating detail. After all, he asked.

Am I smiling with malice?

Maybe a little.

Saturday

A huge basket of cat treats and toys from Miceli arrives the next day for Pusheen.

I text him a picture of our…my cat hugging the stuffed mouse that smells like catnip. Her long front legs are wrapped around it like a baby.

Ares: Tell her there's more where that came from if she keeps attacking soldiers coming into the family wing.

Aphrodite: You are obsessed about that.

He has my name as Aphrodite in our text stream, but it's Róise everywhere else. Which means it's some kind of special tech mojo.

That I want him to share with me so that I can:

Change his name to Bossy Know it All.

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