Page 81 of Nothing to Do

“These things?” Roxie scoffed. “What things? There are no things. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, yes, you do, Little Miss Meddler.”

“I’m not meddling in anything. We were just wondering.”

“We? Who’s we? No, let me guess, you’re with Thea.”

She licked her lips when Roxie turned to gesture at the phone. “Hi, Zairn.”

“See, you and your girls. Always you and your girls.”

A gasp of excitement thrust Roxie’s shoulders back. “Oh, oooh! This could be another threesome opportunity!”

“He’s not gay,” Zairn said. How did he know what Roxie meant? She could’ve meant the two of them and the hot, sculpted, stunt guy. Although, hold up, they’d had a threesome before? “And, yes, I am sure.”

“Fun sucker,” Roxie mumbled at the phone. “Does he use the Roman thing? Maybe it’s not just money he gets out of the deal. Might help him pick up women.”

“Could do,” Zairn said. “Though he wouldn’t. Struan? Not in a million years. Commit sexual fraud like that?”

“Ah, yes, of course, we have to call Gauge for advice on that.”

“You know him and Rainie are together now. Happy. That’s all forgotten.”

Roxie bowed closer to the phone and tapped her temple. “Not all forgotten, it still lives in here.”

“Uh,” she said, rising. “He can’t see you.”

“Mm hmm,” Zairn agreed, kind of smug. “You want to know why I can’t see you?”

“Because I’m not naked and you don’t like video calls unless my breasts are exposed?”

Zairn hmmed. “That, yes, and because I will bet every cent I have that your cellphone isn’t charged.”

She tsked, her head rolling on her shoulders. “Well that’s not a surprise. No points, no prizes, Caller. You have met me before.”

“I’m calling Astrid.”

“You could do that, Skippy, but by the time she got here, I’d be somewhere else.”

“Planes can go in all different directions, baby. The pilot just presses some buttons, and the stick moves—”

“Yes, thank you, my big, handsome, mansplaining billionaire. Like you know anything about flying a plane. We should invite Struan to New York for a while.”

And Zairn accepted the conversation shift without missing a beat.

“Okay. Don’t know how that will work with the show being shot in LA. He spends a lot of time in New York. He stays with Tripp when he’s there.”

Roxie slanted her way. “Which, translated, means he spends a lot of time living with us. Life at Crimson Palace is a never-ending slumber party.”

“You complaining? You were just saying to invite the guy—”

“I think everyone should live with us always.”

“Yeah, damn our friends for having their own lives.”

“How does Struan get laid?” Roxie asked, just tossing the question in there like it was nothing.

Zairn’s inhale was audible. “I guess the same way other guys get laid. You know when I give you one of our special, special hugs—”

---