gift of the gab and didn’t deserve a fucking family of my own.
“No, of course not,” he grumbled. “Just wanted you to know the lay of the land.”
I refrained, barely, from rolling my eyes. “Look, I’ll see you later.”
He nodded. “Tell Lena I won’t be coming to the compound tonight.”
“Will do,” I agreed, making a move to leave before he could ask me to stay.
I wanted out of there. Stat. And not just because of the dildo.
***
Aoife
“Whatcha doing?”
“Not a lot.” I sighed as I stared up at the ceiling, having plopped my phone on my tits and put the call on speaker. “I’m bored shitless.”
“I wish I could be bored. I’m working so goddamn much, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.”
I snorted. “You can’t have hooked up in a while then.”
“Bitch!” Jenny retorted, and I laughed.
“You’re only pissed because you know I’m right. Jesus, I know way too much about your sex life, Jen.”
“That’s because I had a sex life to talk about. Now, Mrs. O’Grady, you do too. Spill the beans.”
“Not much sex to be had when you make a skeleton look like it has the fidgets.”
She clucked her tongue. “I know, honey. I meant before.”
“Oh.” My cheeks burned. “Yeah. I told you. He’s awesome in bed.”
“You can’t just tell me the details once, Aoife.”
“Why not?” I whined.
“Because I need to live vicariously through you. I seriously have no energy at the moment. When I climb into bed, all I want to do is sleep.”
“Shit, you must be tired.”
She blew a raspberry. “You know it.”
“He’s just… you know, dirty.”
A snicker sounded down the line. “And here’s me thinking you’d be all prim and proper in bed.”
“Hey, just because I was a virgin didn’t mean I was innocent.” Innocence was Mary-Ellen, and I’d never been like her. I don’t think Jenny would have hung around with me if I was.
“That’s true. I’ve seen your kindle. I know what you read.”
That had me grinning. “I read an awesome one yesterday. This chick had five guys.”
“Five?” Jenny sputtered.
“Yeah. It was hot as fuck. They were all geniuses and they lived together in this house in London.” I clucked my tongue. “The sex was dynamite.”
“I’ll bet. I can’t imagine Finn sharing you with four other guys.”
A smile curved my lips. “Nope. I doubt he would.”
“Don’t sound like the cat that got the cream, would you? Jesus. You’re going to make me jealous.”
“You already are,” I stated. “Don’t make out you weren’t pissed at me for getting married first.”
“Yeah, I was, and then I almost died at the wedding so that might have put me off being a bride for life.”
I winced. “I’m so glad you weren’t hurt, sweetie, and I’m really sorry I put you through that.”
She pshawed. “You think I thought you did it on purpose? I’m just fucking devastated you got shot, Eef. And I hate that I can’t visit. This lockdown shit sucks.”
“Don’t worry, hon. I know how busy you are so this makes it easier on you. We’re way out in Queens, so that’s too far even if you could visit.”
“I can’t believe they have a safe house.”
“Believe it,” I said with a grunt. “I hate it here.”
“You do? Why?”
“I just want to be at home, and all the kids make a shit ton of noise even though I’m up on the top level so I shouldn’t be able to hear anything at all.”
“You’re just grouchy because you can’t get laid.”
I snickered. “That and the hole in my abdomen aches like a bitch.”
“Bet the ache down below is worse,” she retorted in a singsong tone that had me rolling my eyes. Before I countered it though, she blurted out, “Man, I forgot to text you last night. You’ll never guess what happened in school.”
Jen was studying to be an accountant at night school, and I felt guilty not only about her losing the tea room job because I’d always worked out ways for her to have shorter days on her school nights, but also because now she was working flat out to cover her bills.
“What? Did that hot guy—what’s his name, Chris?—sit next to you again?” She might have been twenty-five too, but when it came to guys, Jen could be like a teenager.
“Yeah, and he asked me out, but you should have seen his shoes yesterday, Aoife. They were gross.”
That had me laughing. Jen had a thing about white teeth and clean shoes. Anything else was pretty much a green light when she was horny.