Page 123 of Filthy Liar

“I get it. I like it here too,” I replied, glancing around. “Where is everyone?”

“Mostly at work, I think. Rory’s stress cleaning some guy’s room upstairs, me and Frank are watching a movie with Alex, and Lara is with Jade. I’m glad Frank and Lara have nice people to look out for them. Alex is really cool, and I met Harley too. Apparently, they own a bar here?” he questioned.

“Rory’s son’s coming home in two days. He’s Beckett’s twin,” I explained. “And yeah, Harley’s Bar is the most popular bar in town. They serve really good food all day. It’s more like a family diner with booze and pool tables. I’ve been there. They do the best chocolate shakes.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a shake.”

“We’ll have to fix that,” Alex said as he walked into the kitchen from the living room, looking offended. “It should be against the law to not try a shake.”

“How much are they?” he asked hesitantly, but Alex waved a dismissive hand at him. “It’s on the house. You think I’d make Frank’s best friend pay for a shake? I don’t think so. How about you boys finish your movie and then we can go to the bar for lunch? We have good burgers too.”

“We get burgers too?” he asked with surprise, distrust filling his eyes. “Why?”

“They give me free food too. No strings,” I said to ease his anxiety, patting his shoulder. “And he’s not wrong, the burgers are really good.”

“Are you coming with us?” he asked hopefully, and I wasn’t really sure. I was technically here to watch the kids, but it seemed there were no kids here.

“She’s helping me today. Sorry, Greg,” Rory said as she strolled in, a pile of laundry in her arms and her hair tied up in a messy bun.

“Don’t you have staff for that?” I joked, but I was also a little serious. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t really seen staff here at all.

She shook her head, dropping the laundry on the floor as she started grabbing jackets and baby bibs from around the kitchen. “Not anymore. Sarah was our housekeeper and did most of it, but we finally convinced her to retire before Christmas. Bought her a nice little house in Lightning Cove by the beach as a Christmas gift, alongside a retirement paycheck. She wasn’t too happy, she likes being useful, but she’s tired. Had to force it on her.”

“She was your only staff?”

“We’ve had cleaners and chefs, but Lukas and Jensen took care of a lot of the household stuff. We’re looking into hiring people again soon once they’re working full-time.”

“I can clean,” I offered, earning a scowl.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll need you for other things, and then you’ll be studying. I want your sole focus to be on school once that happens.”

“I need money,” I said in a slight panic, making her frown.

“You’ll still do some babysitting for me, but you guys are used to sharing income, right? Logan and Reid are pulling in two full-time incomes, Zavier will be earning good money by then, and your mafia prince is loaded. I think they’d all agree with me that studying is more important for you.”

“I like being independent,” I sighed, and Gregory raised an eyebrow at me.

“Then you need to go to school and get your fancy teacher job.”

Alex laughed, patting his shoulder. “You tell her. Speaking of school, you’d better study hard too.”

I expected Gregory to grumble about it once the novelty wore off, but he was still super excited.

“Oh! Did Rory tell you she hired a tutor for me and Frank? We’re working with him a few days a week to try and catch up to the other kids before school starts after summer break. It’s only a few months away, but we won’t feel so dumb on the first day now.”

“I hope you said thank you.”

“We did. A lot,” he admitted, and Rory disappeared into the living room in search of more dirty clothes, her voice trailing behind her.

“They start lessons in two weeks. We wanted to get Greg’s siblings settled in their new home first so Greg can focus, and it means Frank and Lara can be settled in at Jade’s too.”

“Make sure you work your ass off,” I said quietly, holding Gregory’s gaze. “This is an amazing opportunity.”

“I will if you do,” he sassed, making me huff out a laugh.

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