Sweet Pain (Amatucci Family #3) - Sadie Jacks Page 0,66

I wasn’t going to win the war for his attention this time. He pressed his hips into my core as he fished for his phone in the pocket.

I moaned and grinded my pussy against his abs.

His smile was dark and sexy. “Hold that thought, cupcake. I’ll get rid of whoever this is.” He grabbed the phone and held it to his ear. “What?”

“I’ve got news on Willow’s parents. You free?” Nik said.

Ryker looked down at me, raised his eyebrows in question.

I nodded, sighed.

“Yeah, Nik. Come on up.” Ryker disconnected the call and dropped the phone to the bed beside my hip. “You sure you’re up for this right now?”

I shrugged. “Might as well get it over with. If they’re even worse people than we thought before, I think it’s better to know now. Don’t you?”

He nodded. “I’m sorry. Hopefully it won’t be too awful and we can get back to our day of just us.”

I smiled. “That would be nice. But knowing my parents, I doubt we’ll be that lucky.”

**

“Hey Nik. You want anything to eat or drink?” I called from the kitchen as she came in from the public elevator.

She nodded. “Have any electrolyte water? My workout was killer this morning.”

I gaped at her. “You workout in the mornings? Why? Are you a closet masochist?”

She chuckled. “Girls night is tonight right?”

I nodded.

“Then I couldn’t really do it tonight, now could I?”

I smiled. “Ah. Thatta girl. And no, I’m sorry. I don’t think Ryker keeps things stocked very well around here. That will be changing. I can get you some tap water, soda, or some milk.”

“Water is fine. I’m not sure my stomach would appreciate milk at the moment. And I never drink soda.”

I nodded. “Ice?” I asked as I got a cup from the dishwasher.

“Yes, please.”

I got the drink for her, set it on the kitchen bar. “So, what terrible things have you discovered about the egg and sperm donor who crafted me?”

She spluttered, her water spewed everywhere.

I jerked back with a laugh. Got her a towel. “Easy there, turbo.”

She choked for a second before she got her breath back. “I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of parents referred to that way, but I think I might steal it. Mine would fit in well with yours, I think.” She wiped her computer down. “Thank goodness I wasn’t gulping it down.” She shuddered.

I took the towel from her after she got everything dried off. I refilled her glass. “Want to try for round two?”

She smiled. “Sure.” She looked around. “Where’s Ryker?”

“In his home office. He said to tell you not to start without him. He’s pulling up some kind of file?” I shook my head. “I didn’t fully understand what he was saying, but I just nodded and smiled.”

She toasted me with her glass of water. “Sometimes that’s all you can feasibly do.”

I smiled. “Have you heard anything about Corrie? How’s she doing?”

Nik took another drink, swallowed. “Yeah. She’s good. They did some blood tests. Only one of the paralytics had been given. She woke up on her own in the ER. They were moving her back to the oncology ward last night.”

“That’s wonderful. How’s her mental state?”

Nik shrugged. “She’s not talking about it yet.”

I smiled sadly. “Sometimes trauma takes it out of you.”

Nik nodded. “Too often.”

We both sat there in silence, memories an almost physical weight in the room.

Ryker came in. “Hey, Nik. Corrie called just now. Said to tell you that it’s your turn.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Whatever that means. I’m assuming you understand?”

Nik smiled, nodded. “Yeah. Message received.” She looked between Ryker and I. “You ready?”

I nodded, grabbed a spot at the kitchen island. We really needed a table. Hopefully mine would fit in here somewhere.

“Yeah, jump in,” Ryker said as he pulled up a stool next to mine.

Nik hit some keys on her computer and spun it around so we could see her screen.

I blinked at the long lines of numbers and letters. “Sorry, Nik. I have no idea what any of that is.” I shook my head.

She pushed her head forward, looked at the screen. “Dammit. Sorry.” She hit a couple keys. “There.” She scooted back again.

I looked at the computer screen again. Skimmed through the paragraphs of text. Felt my skin crawl. “Are you saying my parents –” I cut the words. I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the sentence.

Nik nodded, her expression commiserating. “Yeah. From what all I could find, they’re front business has been declining over the years. They’ve