Page 17 of Hide and Seek
For now, Big & Long Schlong #2 is requiring the rest of my attention.
I put my phone down as I wait for Laith’s response. He’s always been a little weird about sharing. It’s not the first time I’ve brought up wanting to explore a threesome, but he’s never really gotten on board with the idea. I don’t mind though.
When it comes to me and Laith, it’s only ever been about convenience. We get in, get the job done, and then we’re on our way. Adding a third . . . That’s where things could get complicated. Neither of us has the time to filter through our contacts to find someone we think would not only be down but make it worthwhile.
Laith’s text doesn’t come for a few minutes, but when it does, surprise pulses through my veins.
My brow arches. I expected him to either umm and ahh over it or completely shut the idea down, but the fact that he seems to be considering it has hope surging through me. Is there a chance I might actually get this?
A booming laugh tears through me, and I swing back in my desk chair as I prop my feet up on the lip of the bottom drawer of my desk. A million responses filter through my brain, and while I could console his fears and let him know that I respect his boundaries, I can’t resist the urge to tease.
His response comes a minute later with two simple words that have me cracking up even more.
Giddiness bubbles through me, and when it gets too hard to concentrate on my work, I push my phone away and try to focus. I can think about threesomes tomorrow. Right now, I have a body who deserves a thorough report.
A soft beep sounds through the morgue, and my back instantly stiffens as my gaze snaps toward the door. I knew my last shift left me shaken, but after talking with Knight about it, I felt somewhat more at ease. I had started to convince myself that maybe it was just some sick joke played by bored kids wanting to screw with me. But up until this very moment, I hadn’t realized just how much of a chokehold it has on me.
The door begins to open, and my hand curls around the pen on my desk, expecting the worst. I’m not a cold-blooded killer by any means, but if it came down to it, I would know exactly whereto stab the pen to cause the most damage. I’d be the one walking away from this, and while that snippet of information goes a long way to comfort me, that doesn’t mean that I’m not terrified right now.
The door begins to open, and I suck in a breath, preparing to scream if need be, and as I mentally war with the fear pulsing through my body, I watch as the night janitor, Vincent, strolls in without a single care in the world.
My body sags and I stare at Vincent, needing just a few seconds for my brain to comprehend that I’m not currently in mortal danger.
God. I’m an idiot.
Vincent drags his cleaning cart behind him before settling it in its usual position by the door as my fingers relax and I release my death grip on the pen.
“Oh, Miss Harper,” Vincent says, his eyes going wide as he takes me in. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I, ummm . . . Yeah,” I say, swallowing hard as though that can possibly ease the way my hands tremble beneath the table. “All good. How are you? Busy night?”
“Oh, you can say that,” he says, chuffed to be having a conversation. Vincent often tells me that I’m the only person who’ll speak to him during his shift. It’s heartbreaking, but I’m not surprised. The night crew at the hospital isn’t always the most welcoming. I’ve had more than my fair share of run-ins with people who want nothing to do with me. But despite how I like to work in peace, if someone were to walk into the morgue, you bet I’m going to go out of my way to make them feel comfortable.
“How’s Lila?” I ask. “Still struggling with kindergarten?”
Vincent lets out a heavy breath as he scoops up the antiseptic spray from his cart. “Yeah, unfortunately, kindergarten is really kicking our ass,” he tells me as he steps up to the autopsy tableand starts to clean it, despite me already having done it barely two hours ago. “I think her teacher reminds Lila of her mother. It hasn’t been that long since she passed, but they have similar features.”
My heart grows heavy. Vincent’s wife passed a little over a year ago, leaving him as a struggling single father of three little girls. He’s barely been getting by. He works an office job during the day, then has his janitorial shift during the night while his girls are watched by his mother. It breaks my heart. He’s doing everything he can to support his children and ensure they have a good life, all while grieving the loss of his wife.
“Damn. That must be hard,” I say, unable to imagine the hell he must be going through. Not to mention, the hell his daughter would be going through as well. Starting kindergarten is a huge adjustment for any kid, but to show up every day and see your dead mother in the eyes of your teacher must be so confusing.
Vincent gives me a small smile. “It is, but we’re getting there,” he says fondly before diving into all the highlights of Lila starting school. He chats away for almost an hour, and after finishing the ins and outs of kindergarten, he tells me all about the milestones of his other daughters, talking like the proudest father in the world.
For a fleeting moment, I’m jealous. I had an absent father growing up. He couldn’t even remember to call on my birthday, and then one day, he just stopped calling altogether. I don’t even know where he lives anymore. I don’t even know if he’s still alive, but it doesn’t matter to me anymore. If he doesn’t care to know about me, then I won’t waste my time being hurt by him. Besides, it was a long time ago. I’ve more than gotten over it.
Vincent though? He’s what I picture a real father to look like. As for what I think a real man is . . . shit.
Knight fucking Slater.
I’ve always known he was a delicious bowl of bossy snacks, but he surprised me last night. I wasn’t prepared. I know it’s wrong to think about him like this. To picture how wildly our bodies would fit together. To think about the way I’d lick the sweat off his defined chest while he fucked me raw, but damn. That man.
He’s my step-uncle, and that’s as far as it should go. I shouldn’t want him to bend me into a pretzel, and I sure as fuck shouldn’t want to know how effortlessly he could pick me up and throw me across the room. With him, the idea of a threesome wouldn’t even cross my mind because if I had all of that, if I was the woman who got to say he was mine, I wouldn’t dare share.
But it’s just a stupid fantasy, and up until now, I’ve been pretty good at keeping it hidden, but now that I’m older and know exactly what I like, the hunger within me is almost impossible to ignore.
Knight Slater is dangerously sexy with one hell of a filthy mouth. He’s not the clean-cut billionaire businessman like his brother who lures women in with his money. He’s rugged and oozes sex appeal, and after the way his dark stare seemed to rake up and down my body . . . I’m a fucking goner.
Knowing I won’t get anything done while Knight circles my brain, I wrap up what’s left of my report and print it up for Dr. McKullan to review and send off first thing in the morning. As Vincent does his thing, I start working out which autopsies need to be prioritized for the rest of my shift.
