Chapter 12
AURORA
“I probably should’ve said no, shouldn’t I? A trip together? A trip together is insane, right?”
When I didn’t immediately receive an answer, I peeked out of my closet to find Sierra perched on the end of my bed, head in her hands.
“Hey,” I asked, stepping out. “Are you okay?”
Her head snapped up. “No, actually.”
“What?! What’s going on?” I was next to her in a flash, grabbing her hands as she met my gaze.
In the most serious tone I’d ever heard her use, she told me, “I’m about to beat your ass if you don’t throw a cowboy hat in that suitcase and go screw that man in a pasture for a week.”
“Oh my god,” I laughed, shoving her hands away so I could retake my post in the closet. “I’m trying to be serious here!”
“So am I!” she called out. “You give me one good reason you should’ve said no to this invitation!”
I blew out a sigh as I flipped deliberately through the hangers, mentally rejecting item after item as not being right for the occasion. “Well, we can start with barely knowing each other? That game was, what, like, three months ago?”
That was what I preferred to attach the “first time we met” memory to.
Not my birthday, not Monty’s antics.
“Okay and what better opportunity than a week together on his family’s massive ranch, away from the perils of day to day life and constant eyes of social media?”
I frowned. “Why do you sound like an about page?”
“Because I’m on their about page,” she laughed. “They have a whole resort on the property. The rooms are the cutest little bungalows, oh-em-gee. Let me send this to Kev.”
When I peeked out again, her fingers were flying over her phone screen. “A resort?”
“Yeah, it’s actually really beautiful too, based on the pictures. Horseback riding, fishing, swimming, kayaking, hiking, cattle herding. Uhh…all that might be a little too outdoorsy for me, but this scenic drive option might be a vibe. And they host a rodeo. And something called mudding?”
“You’re a mess,” I laughed.
“Fuck you, I’m perfect,” she quipped. “Seriously though… after the month you’ve had, including the weirdness with Yams?—”
“Are we seriously calling her that?”
“I could call her slore instead, but I’m trying to clean up my language.” Sierra shrugged. “Anyway, as I was saying, you need this.”
She was certainly right about that.
I’d been too busy trying to fix the problem to get the full picture of the blowback from the app outage while it was happening, now though?
I certainly got it.
Our app store rankings and reviews had tanked, helped in no small part by “Yams” hopping her ass on social media to be messy. It was going to take time and incentives to recover the goodwill we’d lost with customers. The decision for a free month of service had already been made and I couldn’t pretend it didn’t affect the bottom line.
Nearly a million subscribers, and more than half of them paid subscribers.
It was gonna hurt.
And really?
It might not even work.
We’d already lost a good chunk of subscribers who might or might not ever return. And the ones who were staying because of the free month might change their mind when that billing reminder hit notifications.
There were so many uncertainties.
Luckily… my in-person presence at the office wouldn’t change much, one way or another.
I could, would, take advantage of the opportunity for a mental and physical break.
The opportunity for lots of sex was just an extra perk.
I needed this.
I was taking this.
…as soon as I got this suitcase packed, so I would actually be ready when Tatum arrived to pick me up for the airport.
“How am I supposed to know what to wear for a week at a ranch?” I audibly pondered from back inside the closet, loud enough for Sierra to hear from the bedroom.
“It’s a vacation, Ri. If you’re doing it right, you shouldn’t be wearing much,” she called.
“Okay that’s a cute sentiment, but we’re talking about meeting his family here,” I reminded her. “Sisters, brothers, mom and dad, aunts, uncles, whoever else is there.”
“I mean, yes, that’s true, but you’re not meeting the parents meeting the parents,” Sierra retorted. “It’s like… an incidental.”
“Oh, babe, I wouldn’t be going if I was meeting the parents meeting the parents. That would be insane,” I moved back to the doorway to reply, shaking my head. “But I still don’t want them thinking I’m some slut who expected to be getting broken in like cattle all over their ranch.”
“Ooooh, broken in like cattle.” Sierra chuckled. “You’ve been studying up on rancher terms or something?”
“No, but should I? I probably should. Or no? I don’t want to be weird. This whole thing is bizarre enough on its own.”
“It’s not weird. You and Tatum are friends. Whatever else might be happening, you can’t deny that.”
I shrugged. “I mean… if I tried hard enough…”
“Don’t play with me.”
“Fine,” I laughed. “Yes. Tatum and I are friends,” I agreed. “But you and I both know that that’s like not quite… all. And Tatum and I know that too. His family knows. Social media knows. The whole world knows. Or will know, that I’m fucking him,” I added.
“Okay. Fine. Everybody knows you’re fucking him. What now?” Sierra sighed, exasperated. “Like, honestly. Big whoop. You’re both single adults. Why does it matter that much?” she continued.
“It doesn’t. I just… Dude, I’m in a weird place, okay? Is that okay for me to admit?” I confessed.
“Of course it is.” Sierra nodded sympathetically. “It would be weird if you weren’t in a weird place, considering…” She waved a hand around, indicating everything. “But, as much as you give weight to the negative parts of this weird place, I want you to find some enjoyment in the positive parts, too. And there are positive parts,” she said gently. “You deserve those positive parts.”
“Do I?”
“Ri!” she scolded. “You must have thought I was playing about beating your ass?”
“You can’t fight Sierra, come on,” I chuckled.
“Maybe not, but neither can you,” she countered. “We’d just be two windmilling ass bitches, but my point would still be made, would it not?”
“I guess,” I conceded. “Do you think you could stop threatening me long enough to help me pack? That’s what you swore you were coming over here for, right? Now, come on,” I urged.
“Okay, okay,” Sierra relented, finally focusing on the task at hand. “What all will you be doing? Besides fucking?”
I rolled my eyes. “Girl. This mudding thing you saw, is like, really a thing.”
“Ew. Like, sterile mud?”
“Same thing I asked!”
Two hours later, my bag was packed and my doorman was calling to ask if I approved of my guest coming up.
I did, of course, and then turned to Sierra, who I’d hoped to convince to leave before now specifically, so I didn’t have to make this little speech.
“Hey bitch, the little jokey-joke shit? Absolutely not,” I declared firmly, catching her off guard.
“What jokey-jokes? Me? I don’t even tell jokes. What are you talking about?” She feigned innocence, a sly grin betraying her.
“Sisi, I’m serious,” I insisted. “No ‘what are your intentions with my friend.’ No jokes about us using protection. No snapping pictures like we’re heading off to prom,” I said, running down the most obvious of silly shit she might do. “Best behavior, please.”
“I’m really offended that you think I would be on anything but my best behavior,” Sierra protested, rolling her eyes as a knock sounded at my door.
“Remember,” I prompted her as I moved to answer it. “Windmillin’ ass bitches.”
I tried not to be too excited as I went for the door. I didn’t want to come off thirsty.
…If such a thing was even possible to avoid when you’d said yes to going to the family home of a man you’d only known a few months.
It was just an inherently parched decision.
Still, I braced myself, taking a deep breath to calm my sudden flare of nerves before I unlocked and opened the door to see Tatum waiting on the other side.
I wasn’t sure when it would stop striking me how damn good this man looked.
He was more dressed down than I’d ever seen him, besides when we didn’t have on any clothes. Clearly he was ready for travel, clad in sweats and a hoodie, a mirror of my clothing choice.
“Bring your pretty ass here,” Tatum drawled, pulling me into a tight embrace.
“Bring my pretty ass here, bring my pretty ass there.” I giggled as he squeezed me tightly against him, no hurry to let go. “You sure do like demanding my pretty ass around. What you gonna do if I stop listening?”
“Try it and see, I got something for that,” he quipped back, hands full of my ass, leaning into me for a quick kiss before propping a finger under my chin. “Hey, you alright?”
“Yeah. I’m fine,” I replied quickly, but he shook his head.
“No, like for real,” he pressed, meeting my gaze. “Are you okay? You need me to do anything?”
Shit.
Those butterflies were a full-blown swarm now, and my stomach wasn’t the only thing aflutter.
“Nothing more than you’re already doing,” I assured him. “Thank you for the invite.”
“Thank you for accepting.”
He leaned in to kiss me again, and just as things were heating up… I heard a throat clear.
Oh!
I jerked back, remembering that Sierra was there. When I looked behind me, she was walking up, not even bothering to hide her amusement.
“I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting,” she said, extending her hand to Tatum. “Sierra Ward.”
“Kev’s wife!” Tatum retorted, ignoring the handshake and pulling her into a hug, a noticeably different type from the one he had given me. “Hey, you were the one at the game with her that night. You let her be mean to me,” he teased.
Sierra shrugged, laughing. “In my defense, I tried to tell her! She was handing you her left hand and shit, I was like, Girl, don’t nobody give a fuck about Monty’s ring.”
“Bitch?!” I squealed, and she shrugged.
“Right?” she added, looking to Tatum for confirmation.
And his ass agreed. “Yeah, I wasn’t fazed by that shit.”
“Wow. Okay, fuck both of y’all,” I laughed, shaking my head. “You can get out.” I pointed at Sierra. “You can grab my suitcase,” I told Tatum.
“Aye, aye, captain,” Sierra quipped, and Tatum responded with a simple “Yes, ma’am.”
And shortly thereafter, we were on our way to the airport. After a few minutes on the road, Tatum spoke up.
“Hey,” he said, his tone serious. “How sensitive are you still feeling about the app outage thing?” he asked. “I was curious to know what actually happened. I know we haven’t really talked about it.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You want to know, like, the technical details?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Is that strange?”
“Uh, no. Not exactly. Not strange. Just… a little surprising, I guess. People who aren’t really into tech, when I start talking shop, their eyes kinda do this thing where they glaze over, and I can tell they’re not really listening anymore after about a minute.”
“Nah,” Tatum laughed. “I really want to know. I mean, don’t take me too far over the river and through the woods, because I’m not going to know what you’re talking about, but hit me with, like, the skyline view.”
“Okay,” I agreed. “I can do that. To start, do you know what an authenticator is?”
“I’m only familiar with the ones who make sure your jewelry isn’t fake.”
I laughed. “Well, it’s in that same vein. It’s a cybersecurity thing. Making sure a person isn’t fake.”
“Ahh, so it’s got something to do with logging in.”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “That login is what connects you to whatever data you have in the app, your account. And you have to have an account, paid or unpaid, because everything in the app is so specific. For the vast majority of companies building an app, it’s simpler to just contract with a service that already does this.”
“But that leaves you at the mercy of what they’ve got going on, right?”
“Exactly. If they have an outage, we have an outage. And ideally, something like that does not have outages. Like, it’s part of the business model. One of the selling points is literally uptime.”
Tatum cringed. “I don’t like where it seems like this is headed.”
“Because it’s headed somewhere fucked up.” I nodded. “I was trying to give a smaller company this opportunity, since I was building a business too, and knew how hard it was. So we’ve basically grown together. I didn’t think too much of it when the business sold, because I’ve not had many issues with the service.”
“But not zero issues…”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “Not zero. And apparently the new front office doesn’t know what customer service is, because when their shit went down, meaning my shit went down, they basically played me off. Instead of being normal, apologizing, telling me they would put all their best efforts into putting a fix together, etcetera, etcetera—which is what we told the BabyBee customers—they got an attitude with me. Acted like I was infringing on their time, I wasn’t their biggest client, and so on.”
“That’s…”
“Fucked up is what it is,” I said. “You want to guess how much authentication costs me on a month-to-month basis for an app that services nearly a million people?”
Tatum scowled, thinking before he shook his head. “Man, I don’t know, twenty-five hundred a month?”
“More.”
“More?”
“Yep,” I said. “About three times that. It’s expensive because it’s important. The important stuff is always expensive. So…”
“Shit.” He nodded. “I get it, but like… shit. I’m feeling like you’re about to tell me you don’t work with them anymore.”
“And don’t,” I confirmed. “Which is part of why I had my head down for all that time. We did a marathon coding session, and I had to write several bonus checks. Developers, security techs, etcetera, etcetera. And I’m not even sure we have a perfect solution. But, I got my app back up, and I’m not dealing with people who clearly don’t see the value in me and my business. Hollis and Shan are watching out for any kinks that need to be worked through, and we’re on high alert for bugs. But I’m happy with the solution.”
“That sounds like you’re telling me you’re going to need to be on call this week.”
“I wouldn’t say on call,” I corrected. “A bit more available than either of us would probably prefer. But, Shan wouldn’t interrupt for something frivolous.”
“Oh, you don’t have to convince me,” Tatum replied, as we turned off onto a side road from the main path to the airport. We weren’t flying private, but the airline did have options for enhanced privacy, like a separate lounge, security, and boarding area for “Elite” level flyers.
It meant that even though we were getting on a commercial flight, I didn’t have to worry about cell phone cameras in my face, being stared at, none of it.
I could start relaxing now.
The journey through security was a breeze, and we weren’t in the lounge very long before we were able to board the plane. My ass had barely hit the seat before a flight attendant was putting a glass of wine in my hand, and a whiskey and coke in Tatum’s.
After that, we pulled the privacy screen and tuned everything out.
Or maybe that was just me.
I’d been going, going, going, since the app outage occurred, and the wine served as a quick reminder that I hadn’t gotten caught up on sleep. I blinked, or so I thought, and the next thing I knew, it was time to get off the plane from the two-hour flight.
Off the plane, we got into a Range Rover Tatum arranged to have waiting for us, for another two hours of travel time to get to the ranch.
The wine was still on my ass unfortunately, and I promptly fell asleep again.
In my defense, the sun was going down.
It was fully faded, giving way to an inky, blue-black sky peppered with stars by the time I opened my eyes again. The vehicle was stopped, and we were parked in front of a gorgeous sprawling ranch style home, illuminated with lights anchored to the ground.
“This is the family home?” I asked, gawking as Tatum opened my door and helped me out.
“Yep,” he chuckled. “Welcome to Wildwood.”