Page 8 of Colin

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Colin looked away, fidgeting with his water bottle. “That’s fine. You don’t have to answer.”

“What if I said I was hoping you’d be there?”

“I don’t think I’d believe you.” Colin scoffed. “What exactly are you doing here with me now?”

I sighed and leaned back in my chair. It was a good question. “I don’t know. Feels like I’m trying to keep you out of trouble. If you keep showing up in Vick’s circle, dressed like that, you may end up in someone else’s bed.”

“And how would that be trouble?”

“It would be trouble for whoever you ended up with.”

Colin picked at his shirt. “I’m not, uh, I don’t normally, you know? I don’t dress like this. Act like this. I’m out of my depth, and I feel like that’s what you see. This isn’t me. Not really.”

“Not at all.” I chuckled. “Well, maybe. But you seem sweet. Innocent. Sexy, too.”

Colin made a weird roll of his head. “Nothing sexy about me. Seriously. Don’t humor me. Maybe I need to go back to the party now?” He handed me the bottle. “Andy will get worried.”

Chapter three

Colin

Daddy hunting and apartment hunting had left me less than satisfied. I had gotten nowhere with either of them. I stared at my body in the mirror. I had dropped a quick five pounds in the past week since finding out about the move out deadline. It was only a start.

I did twenty squats, taking Andy’s advice, and then turned to look at my ass in the mirror. It was shaping up, but still not enough to land someone like Rourke. I did twenty more, then hit the shower. Despite all my extracurricular activities, I still had to get to work on time.

When I got there, I opened the back door to Koffee Kraze and called out, “Andy, I’m here.” I punched my card at the old-fashioned time clock. The system was ancient but still worked for our small store, so why spend money to change it? Couldn’t blame the owners for that.

Andy came from the front and whistled sharply. “You’re looking good, Turtle.”

“Thanks. I’m running out of time, though.” Two weeks left. “Unless you want me sleeping on a cot in here, I have to get my ass in gear.”

Andy shuffled closer and smacked me on the butt. “That ass is getting cuter. We’ll have to go out tonight after work.”

I huffed. I didn’t want to. I was exhausted already, and my day was only getting started. What choice did I have, though? “Guess so.” I needed to turn on my slut-mode and actually find a daddy.

“Unless you want to get with Vick Petrov?”

“No, thank you.”

Andy laughed. “Okay. Open these boxes and stack this stuff, I’m opening in…” He looked at his fancy watch. “Two minutes.” He flipped his wrist back and forth, making a show of it.

“Okay, I give, where’d you get that?” It looked expensive.

“I subbed for this guy a few weeks back. Met him at Afterglow. He liked me. A lot.” Andy winked.

“That’s great. For you. But I need more than a fancy watch.” I should have added I’m not subbing for anyone, but I kept my mouth shut. Maybe I shouldn’t take that off the table.

“I’m sure you’ll get it, Turtle-shell. Stick with me.”

“Turtle-shell?” I shook my head. “Just don’t with that.”

“Whatever.” He snapped his fingers, did a fancy turn, and then headed to the front to open the shop. I didn’t understand Andy sometimes, but he had a point underneath that ostentatious air.

I so needed to find a daddy to take care of me.

I had applied to a few jobs, but none had bitten. I scoured Craig’s list for apartments and roommates, but when I did the math, nothing added up. I was actually bad at math, but I could add and subtract, and I knew how much income I needed in order to afford a place on my own, and I didn’t have that. There were exactly four bucks in my savings account.

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