Page 33 of The Sadist and the Brat

“That is an utter lie,” Rebecca declared while Sadie sputtered with laughter and Nikki choked on her water.

“Okay, maybe that was a bad way to put it,” Olivia admitted. “But I think you regret the dicks you don’t ride more than the ones you do.”

“Okay, that might be true,” Rebecca mused. “I still wonder what it would’ve been like to bang Dennis Fisher. He was my dad’s golf buddy.”

“Yourdad’sgolf buddy?” Sadie managed, still laughing.

“Younger than my dad, but only ten years older than me,” Rebecca remembered with a sigh. “Looking back, it’s probably a good thing he moved to Florida when I was sixteen.”

“I think we’re getting to the origin of Rebecca’s daddy kink,” Olivia said, “but back to the matter at hand. Carpe penis, my friend.”

“Carpe the hell out of it,” Rebecca agreed. “I wonder if Dennis is on social media. I bet he’s still hot.”

“It was twenty years ago,” Olivia reminded her. “And Nick might object to you getting in touch with the object of your teenage lust.”

“Yeah, he would.” Rebecca sighed, then brightened. “But I bet he’d be willing to play golf pro and caddy.”

“You guys are weird,” Olivia declared. “Can we get back to Sadie’s issue?”

“Fine.” Rebecca nudged Nikki. “What’s your vote?”

“I say go for it,” Nikki said. “For what it’s worth, he was really nice when we were negotiating for the demo. Kind and patient.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sadie told her. “And now, if we’re done discussing my potential sex life, I’d like to move on to yours.”

Nikki blinked, brown eyes wide. “Mine?” she squeaked.

“Yours,” Sadie repeated and raised an eyebrow. “Kody drove you home Saturday night. How’d it go?”

“Um.” Nikki swallowed, her cheeks turning a charming shade of pink. “It was fine.”

“Oh, do you like Kody?” Rebecca clasped her hands together in glee. "That’s great!”

“No, it’s not,” Nikki wailed, and covered her face with her hands. “I was a total dork.”

“Honey.” Olivia reached out and patted the younger woman’s knee. “I’m sure you weren’t.”

Nikki peeked through her fingers. “I accidentally threw a laundry basket full of dirty underwear at them.”

Sadie bit back the laugh and pasted a sympathetic look on her face. “I’m sure they found it charming.”

“No, they didn’t.” Nikki dropped her hands with a sigh, looking so forlorn that Sadie just wanted to cuddle her like a sad little puppy. “What am I going to do?”

“What do you want to do?”

Nikki looked at Olivia with wide eyes. “I want them to ask me out.”

“Maybe you should ask them out,” Sadie said.

Nikki bit her lip. “I wouldn’t even know what to say.”

“We’ll help,” Rebecca said, and, as they talked strategy, Sadie put Jack out of her mind.

Chapter Five

On Wednesday night—or rather, early Thursday morning—Sadie dipped her roller in a pan of paint and applied it to the wall. She hadn’t been sure of the color, worried that the gray-tinged blue would be too dark for the small bathroom, but it worked. She’d have to repaint the trim, as the standard apartment off-white didn’t provide a sharp enough contrast, but that was easily done. She wouldn’t even have to buy more paint, since her mother had some left over from the kitchen remodel they’d done last year and was more than happy to share.

She dipped her roller back in the pan, hips moving to the beat of the song playing on her phone. She’d lost her earbuds again, so the small space was filled with Adele’s big voice. She sang along with gusto, trying and failing to hit the high notes. She was tired, but she knew if she tried to go to bed, she’d just stare at the ceiling with her brain spinning in useless circles. So she let the monotony of the physical labor do its job and hoped that by the time the room was painted she’d be able to sleep.

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