Page 16 of King

“No worries. I brought my tea.”

“Look, I need to get ready for the day, so if you don’t mind waiting outside.”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” the hippie said, taking a seat on my worn sofa. “Go ahead. I won’t look.”

“Umm.” Okay, not what I was expecting. There weren’t any walls in this place. I hadn’t had the time to call a contractor and start construction on my apartment. The place was completely barren. The only place I had to sleep was on the damn couch he was currently sitting on. Hell, there wasn’t even a bathroom up here. I had to use the one in the shop downstairs. Thinking he didn’t understand my plight, I tried again. “I need to change my clothes.”

“Oh, do you need help with your shirt because of your hand?”

“Um, no. I need you to leave so I can change my clothes.”

“Like I said, no worries. I won’t look.”

He had to be fucking high as a kite. There was no fucking way I was going to get naked with him in the same room.

No. Fucking. Way.

“I am not getting naked with you watching!”

“Makes no difference to me,” he said, making himself comfortable on my couch. Sighing, he stretched out. “Man, this is a monster couch. If you ever decide to sell it, let me know. I’d love to have it.”

And I’d love to shove it up his ass!

Heading over to my duffle where I kept all my clothes, I rummaged around, finding what I was looking for. Grabbing a clean pair of pants and my signature black tank I always wore, I headed for the front door only to stop when the hippie jumped to his feet.

“You can stay here. I’m just going down to the shop to use the bathroom and change.”

“Cool. I’d like to see your shop.”

“I wasn’t asking you to come.”

“No worries,” he smiled, opening the door for me.

Dumbstruck, I was beginning to think the man had a few screws loose. He just wasn’t taking the hint. I was about to say as much when he leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Just to put your mind at ease, beautiful. Your parts don’t do it for me. I mean, you are hot and totally fuckable, but ya ain’t jingling my bells. Whether you dress in here or downstairs makes no difference to me.”

“You’re gay?”

“Since I heardJordan Knightsing his first note.”

Blinking a few hundred times, I gaped at the man, then burst out laughing. “Oh. My. GOD! You like 90’s boy bands too!”

“Who doesn’t love them? They are my every waking fantasy. Three to five men singing and dancing. Mmm. I would die a lucky man.”

“Okay, TMI. You had me fooled. I was for sure you were batting for my team.”

“Your team has its perks, but no. I’m one-hundred percent batting for the home team.”

“And yet you live and work for King. That must be hard.”

“You have no idea,” he deadpanned, ushering me out the door into the morning sun.

The second I stepped into the shop, I headed straight for the bathroom shower combo I had installed. I knew it was going to be a while before I could concentrate on carpenters and my apartment, so I made sure that I had access to at least one fully functional bathroom. As it was, the shower was an experience.

Scribe, who I learned was actually called Dimeter Malpas, was the only son of two hippies. Born and raised in Southern California, Scribe spent more of his time playing in dirt than in a classroom. A child of free-range parents, Scribe’s education comprised mainly traveling around the world with his parents and three sisters. When he told me he spent four years in the Army after he turned eighteen, I dropped the damn shampoo bottle on my foot. Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that, nor was I expecting how he came to be with King and his merry band of misfits.

Apparently, King and Scribe met in Saudi Arabia. Of course, when I asked how that was possible, Scribe said just military stuff. After that, when Scribe got out of the Army, he looked up King and that was all she wrote.

Scribe told me that King knew about his sexual orientation and made damn sure the rest of the misfits didn’t cause too much trouble. According to Scribe, King didn’t give a shit who anyone fucked as long as they pulled their weight and if any brother was being a dick, King took care of it.

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