Page 90 of Plum

I’m reaching for the door knob when Adam swings me over his shoulder, pinning me with a huge palm on my ass. “You all can find your way to the basement. Jo-Beth and I’ll be upstairs.”

Then he carries me up to bed, tosses me down, tugs my panties to the side, and slicks his cock down my slit before I can do much more than shriek and tell him to be careful not to knock my ass into the pictures on the walls.

“Are you taking me back, Jo-Beth?”

He’s easing into me, and I couldn’t tell this man “no” one more time if someone paid me a million dollars. He’s mine. That’s the end of it. He came back, and I’m keeping him.

“Yes,” I breathe out, and it’s an answer to everything.

EPILOGUE

PLUM

For the launch party, Adam’s rented out the restaurant where we had our first date. We argue about that. He says Altimeter was our first date. I say it didn’t count ‘cause I was on the clock, so our first date was Sawdust on the Floor. He winces when I say “on the clock,” but it bothers him less and less each time. I figure he’s got to come to terms with what I am. Was. Whatever.

I don’t dance at The White Van no more. Adam wasn’t chill with that at all. We had a few knock-down-drag-out fights at first. It all worked out, though. Deb kept me on doing bills for her, and when Adam and Eric got their first round of financing for their new venture, they put me to work finding office space and buying cubicles and getting the phones set up. Turns out I’m good at office management. That was almost a year ago.

Tonight, we celebrate our first profitable month. I’m good at numbers, too. I know that after this shindig, we’re gonna be back in the red next month.

The place is done up in purple in honor of the company’s name: Plum Financial Services. Adam’s idea. There’s purple and silver silk streamers swooping above the room and lavender roses and lilies on every table. The vibe is fancy but not overboard. Formal attire is not required, but I’m wearing a puffy, white gown like Cinderella with a purple crystal waterfall dripping from the waist.

When Adam saw it, he said, “I want to ruin that dress.” I told him if he did, he’d be ruining his evening, too.

Good thing there’s no dress code. Heavy, Gus, Charge and the other brothers from Steel Bones showed up in their jeans and cuts. The old ladies dressed how they feel. Fay-Lee’s in skin tight leopard print. Ernestine’s got on the mother-of-the-bride dress from her oldest’s wedding back in the nineties. Kayla’s in a classy, pale purple sheath dress.

Steel Bones was one of the first to trust their money to Adam, but they weren’t the last. Apparently, a lot of clients had been staying with Wade-Allyn because of Adam, and they followed him when he struck out on his own. These guys are the ones in expensive suits with wives in styled updos. It was awkward at first, but the liquor’s been flowing a few hours now, and the band’s playing everybody’s favorites. People are dancing, and Story’s letting some old dude in a jacket twirl her around.

Nickel’s watching, the corner of his mouth quirked up. He’s a different man these days. Less haunted.

“You checking out other men?” Adam eases up next to me, handing me a glass of champagne. I eye him, black hair to shiny, black shoes, admiring my handiwork.

I picked out a shirt for him the exact white of my dress, and his tie is the same shade as my purple crystals. His dark gray suit shows off the muscular breadth of his shoulders perfectly.

Pride swells in my chest. This brilliant man is mine. He’s here with me. He has eyes only for me. Which reminds me. “I’m just watchin’ Nickel. Still don’t trust him around breakables.”

“Probably wise.” Adam drops a kiss on the top of my head. “Did you talk to Eric?”

I nod. Adam’s on a campaign to get me and Eric to bond. We like each other fine, but Adam wants us to be tight. Same as he’s always having me hang out with Gus and him. I get that he wants me to feel like I have a family. He wants to give me everything, even things he can’t. It melts my heart, but all Gus does is talk bikes, and I had enough of that in my younger years.

Thomas Wade has cut Adam out of his life, and his mother only calls to piss and moan about how I’ve ruined the family, so Eric and Gus have become Adam’s hope to give me people. Adam don’t quite understand yet that Steel Bones are my people. Always will be.

Plus, with Eric, none of us have forgotten that I’ve sucked his dick. That’s actually kind of our thing when Adam’s not around. No matter what we’re doing, one of us ends up starting it, usually me. Tonight, it was Eric.

“Tell the truth, Jo-Beth. My dick is way bigger than Adam’s, isn’t it?”

“Couldn’t say. You’ve got a totally unmemorable cock. Sorry.”

“Bullshit. You dream about it.”

“I do. And then I wake up wondering why I got a hankering for those little cocktail weenies.”

“Ooo. Reminds me. They’ve got the best carpaccio here. Want some?”

“What’s carpaccio?”

“Raw, pounded meat.”

“Are you comin’ on to me?”

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