Lock You Down (Rivers Brothers 2)

"Yes," she said against my lips.

Then, well, let's say I was glad I rented the whole place out.

I had a lot of memories with Reagan and peaches.

This one was by far my favorite.Reagan - 1.5 years"Wait, what are you doing here?" Lea asked as Fiona walked in the door, a giant cup of coffee in her hand, looking entirely too pleased with herself.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? It's Sunday. I am here to pretend to cook, and talk a lot of shit. That's what we do here," she told us, dropping her purse onto a chair, moving over to the island with the rest of us.

"Rush told us that there was a big corporate event this week," Scotti said, brows drawing down. "Like a rented-out lodge and being alone in the woods and stuff. One of those retreats meant to make everyone friends and shit."

"Mmhmm," Fiona said, looking away, clearly lying.

"Then why aren't you there?" Lea asked, eyes keen.

"Gee, you know, it was the damnedest thing. I seemed to forget to send the invites out. Or even get them made up..."

"But Rush had an invite," Scotti insisted, trying to figure out Fee's angle.

"Oh, right. Well... I somehow had two invites made up. And two flights books. And two cars rented..."

"What did you do?" Autumn asked, smiling. "You're not usually a meddler."

"Well, look," Fiona said, shrugging. "I am just going over a few phone conversations with my people and clients. You know, making sure everything stays wildly inappropriate. But also that no one working for me is doing anything they shouldn't. I had one girl last year offering to meet up with callers in her private time and, well, making money a different kind of way. And, hey, more power to her. Sex work is real work. But, y'know, I'm not your pimp."

"You're digressing," Lea reminded her."

"Right. Well, yeah, I screen sometimes. Just to keep an eye on things. And I uncovered something very interesting..."

"Spit it out, or I am going to have you on grating duty again," Helen demanded, making a shudder move through Fiona who'd managed to skin three knuckles the last time she'd been given the task.

"Well, as you can imagine, Rush's line isn't the busiest. I mean, when he gets a caller, he is on with her for a long time. You know women," she said, shrugging. "Anyway, I noticed about six months ago, he has had one caller."

"Wow, he's losing his touch, huh?" Lea asked.

"No. See. That's the thing. He gets calls in. But his line is always busy. With one caller."

"Jesus. That must be costing her a fortune," Helen said, shaking her head.

"Believe me, it is. And, hey, no judgements. People get lonely. If she wants to spend her money talking to some random guy, good for her. The thing is... I recognized that voice."

"Is it one of the other women?" Lea asked, face scrunching up.

I'd been to Fee's office. For the most part, the women who worked in phone sex were moms and older ladies. They took calls while knitting or creating Halloween costumes by hand.

They weren't exactly the sort who seemed like they'd have some giant crush on Rush, enough to spend all the money they made working there, calling in there.

"Well, yes and no," Fee said, taking an exaggerated sip of her coffee, eyes watching us, knowing we were all waiting to hear what she had to say, all prepping and cooking ceasing for a long moment.

"Fee," Helen said, tone a little firm. And despite our love for each other, despite knowing she was as good a woman as they came, we all jumped to do whatever she wanted when she got her mom-voice on.

"Well, it's not one of the other call center girls," Fee said.

"Wait, there's no one...oh," Lea said, smile spreading slow and big. "Oooh," she added, eyes going a little dreamy.

"I know, right?" Fiona said, smacking a hand against the counter. "I am not a meddler. But, well, if I didn't meddle here, we all know nothing would have ever happened. I just wanted to give them a little nudge."

"Trapping them in the woods together is quite a nudge," Helen said, but her smile was soft and sweet too. "Did you make sure there was enough firewood for them, or are they supposed to share body heat to keep warm?"

"Well... let's just say... things should get interesting," Fiona said, looking pleased with herself.

"Someone needs to call Mark in," Scotti added. "It looks like we have something else to place bets on."

"I don't know why we even bother," Savvy said, shaking her head. "Mark always loses. Helen always wins."

"Wait now," Lea piped in. "We still have that one ongoing."

The one where they placed bets on when I would get pregnant.

"Yeah, and, for once," Savea agreed, "it looks like Helen is going to lose."