Page 9 of Burn With Me

Answering it, I say, “What do you want?”

“Is that any way to talk to your best friend, you asshole? I’m already putting up with Pam and Amelia’s bullshit. Pam won’t even let me bring someone back to the house when I go out. She says it’s one of her rules,” Sam whines.

“What did you expect? She’s your sister. How would you feel if she brought someone home while you were there? She doesn’t want to hear whoever you’re banging,” I say, knowing I’m riling him up.

“Don’t say stupid shit, man. She knows better than to bring a hookup around me. I’d whoop his ass.”

I roll my eyes and huff. “Why are you calling me, anyway? I’m ready to pass out.”

“Well, I was wondering about two things. One, I wanted to see if you would suck it up and come out with me tonight? And two, Pam says you have to help us at the farmers’ market this weekend since the person who normally works for Amelia is out of town.”

“Wait, how did I get roped into having to help? I have shit to do so I can get ready for the week. And no, I’m not going out tonight. I plan on sleeping for the next day, at least. And before you ask, no, you can’t bring your hookup back to the cabin I got upgraded to,” I tell him.

“Damn, a cabin! What did you do to deserve that?”

“Nothing. It seems they’re doing maintenance and had to upgrade me. I even have a hot tub.”

“Well, now you’re just being rude and rubbing it in. Are you really going to be a little bitch and not come out?”

“Yup,” I say on a yawn.

“Then you owe me, and I’m calling in the favor for you to help at the farmers’ market. Think about how many women we could meet there. Women love that shit,” he says.

“You’re annoying, and I hope your dick falls off,” Pam yells in the background.

I snicker because she’s right. If anyone’s dick is going to fall off, it’ll be Sam’s.

“Fine, just text me the details,” I say and hang up.

Groaning, I roll over and wonder why I agreed to help. I’ve never even met Amelia. But maybe it’ll be good to get out and meet people at the farmers’ market.

As I start to fall asleep, I decide that planning to fit that into everything else will be a tomorrow problem.

Four

Amelia

My alarm goes off, and I squeeze my eyes shut, hoping I’m dreaming and it’s not actually time to get up yet. When it doesn’t stop, I curse the person who came up with the noise for alarms, and groan as I roll over to get up and turn it off. Because, yes, I have to put my alarm on the other side of the room so I don’t hit snooze and fall back asleep. Penny stands and stretches on the bed before jumping down to come up next to me with a yawn.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s time to start our day, my girl.”

My phone dings as I walk to the sliding door in my room to let her out. As Penny does her business, I grab my phone on my way to the kitchen to get Penny’s breakfast ready. I snort when I see several texts back-to-back.

Pam: This is your first wake-up call. If you want your chai from Atomic, you better be on time.

WAKE UP

YOU BETTER BE UP AND NOT LATE TODAY

Me: Fuck off . . .

I’m up. Penny has to eat, and then we’re out of here.

I’d say she’s exaggerating, but she knows I’m always late, and if something requires me to be somewhere before eleven in the morning, I most likely need the wake-up call. You’d think, as a business owner, that would change, but it hasn’t. I have never been, nor will I ever be, a morning person.

Penny eats while I finish up my skincare routine and brush my teeth.

I grab Penny’s farmers’ market bag because I’m that pet parent who packs a bag like she’s going somewhere overnight when we’re really just going to be gone for half the day. She even has her own raised dog bed and a shirt that matches our team.

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