Page 91 of The Sadist and the Brat

“Since when do you have a housekeeper?”

“Since I got promoted.” Amanda grabbed a spatula, dug out a slice of lasagne, and laid it on Sadie’s plate. “I’m spending so much more time at the office, it just made sense to have someone come in to handle the housework. She comes in three times a week, and I swear, I don’t know how we ever got along without her.”

Sadie grabbed the salad bowl and dished up a serving for each of them. “Work’s keeping you that busy?”

“I’m hoping it’ll calm down once I finish cleaning up the mess the last director left behind.” Amanda picked up her fork. “But even if it does, I’m not giving Julia up. I always have clean underwear, I don’t have to dust or vacuum, and I’ve never eaten better.”

Sadie swallowed her first bite of lasagne. “Me neither. Whatever you’re paying her, it’s not enough.”

Amanda’s mouth was full, so she just nodded and forked up another bite. When she’d swallowed, she picked up her wine. “Are you going to Nick and Rebecca’s for Thanksgiving next week?”

Sadie shook her head. “I have to go to my parents’ house for dinner. But they always eat early, so I told Rebecca I’d swing by after.”

“Is Jack going?”

Sadie poked at the salad. “Rebecca invited him, so probably.”

“You haven’t talked about it?”

“No.” Sadie reached for her wine glass, saw it was empty, and got up to help herself to a bottle of water. “Why would we?”

“It seems like it would come up, since y’all are dating.”

Sadie rolled her eyes. “We’re not dating.”

Amanda snorted. “Right.”

“We’re not,” Sadie insisted, and resumed her seat. “We just hang out sometimes, that’s all.”

“And fuck, and play, and go out to dinner, and spend the night at each other’s homes—”

“He has not spent the night at my apartment,” Sadie interrupted.

“But you’ve slept over at his,” Amanda pointed out.

“Have you seen his place?” Sadie demanded. “He’s got thousand-thread-count sheets and a bathtub you could drown in. It’s like staying in a five-star hotel.”

“So you’re just there for the sheets and the tub,” Amanda drawled.

“And the sex,” Sadie admitted, twisting the cap off her water. “That’s pretty good, too.”

“Sounds like dating to me.”

“Well, it’s not.”

“I guess you’d know,” Amanda said, and set her wine back down. “How’s the sadist thing working for you?”

Sadie sipped her water, hoping it would dissolve the sudden knot in her belly. “He’s pretty mean.”

Amanda snickered. “Most sadists are.”

“But he’s sneaky about it,” Sadie went on. “By the time I realize he’s doing something awful, I’m either already coming or about to, so I don’t care. He brought out an actual stun gun the other night.”

Amanda dropped her fork with aclang. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. He said the zapper thingy he used the first time I went to his place had such an, and I quote, ‘amusing effect’, he wanted to see how I’d react to an upgrade.”

Amanda’s eyes were wide. “And?”

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