2. Noah #2
He throws his arm around my shoulders and pulls me toward the door. Surprisingly, my body doesn’t tense at his touch, something I’ve come to realize only happens, or I should say doesn’t happen, with one other man. Noah.
It stunned me the first time he put his hand on me, and I didn’t get that itching, panic-filled feeling to push him off. Instead, I felt a sense of calm surrounding him. Even when he drinks, I still feel safe.
But with Gabriel, it hits me every time. It’s strong and consuming, yet for some reason, I never push him off right away. Instead, I let him do it more and more, slowly getting used to the feeling of him, something I should be putting a stop to but can’t seem to find the strength.
Once back in the kitchen, Sam takes the bottle from my hand and proceeds to open it before taking three wine glasses out and filling them. Cecilia stands on the opposite side of the island watching us but doesn’t say a word.
I lean into Sam. “Aren’t you on the clock?” I whisper to him.
He chuckles. “No, not necessarily. And anyway, my bosses are pretty cool.” He looks up at Cecilia and winks, making her blush slightly in response. She’s a bit like Aubrey and blushes easily, although Brey is a whole other level.
“Just don’t tell my husband I let you drink. He’ll just use it as another excuse for why you aren’t good for the job,” Cecilia giggles.
She’s not wrong; Silas tends to be a little possessive when it comes to her and has been looking for reasons to fire Sam, even though Sam is honestly a perfect fit for the kids and our little group.
He’s not like all those other super professional and strict nannies you hear about.
He’s fun and playful and the kids love him.
But the main reason Silas wants him out is because he’s a smoking-hot Italian who spends a lot of time alone with his wife.
He also happens to be the only one in our group that doesn’t know Sam is into men.
Finally, having my extremely deserved glass of wine in my hands, I take a hefty gulp and sigh with satisfaction. “God, thirty thousand tastes good.”
“So… I take it you’re mad at me…” Cece says as she slides in closer.
I give her a tight smile and chuckle sarcastically, then bring up my hands and begin to undo the two buns over my head, letting my hair fall. I then shake it out and pass my fingers through it before gifting her a reply.
“Oh, mad is not even the right word for how I feel. I can’t believe you would do that to me! You know how I feel about the twins. They’re relentless! What do you think will happen if I’m constantly around them and in their space?”
I take another sip before continuing. “They’ll probably end up kidnapping me and tying me to their bed until I give them what they want! And anyway, how did you even manage to get me up there if they didn’t know it was me?”
She gives me an apologetic smile. “Silas still owns the penthouse. They rent it from him, so it was easy to get your name on the approval list of people allowed up.”
Her smile falls after as she speaks sincerely.
“Look, I’m sorry. I know I should have told you.
But you needed a job, and they needed someone to take care of their place.
It felt like the perfect solution. Plus, it’s with people you know, so they’ll give you some slack.
And you’d be making way more than you would at any other job you could find. ”
“I get that, but a heads-up would have been nice.”
“If I had told you from the start, you would have refused.” She gives me a ‘don’t bullshit me’ look when I go to protest.
We hear the front door open seconds before the two blondes, Morgan and Aubrey, come into view. “Oh! You’re already here. How did it go?” Morg asks, her eyes flicking to Cecilia, before coming back to me with the fakest smile I’ve ever seen on her face.
“Oh my God! You were in on it too!? Really, Morgan? I thought you were better than this.” I fold my arms under my chest, showing clear disappointment.
“I’m sorry! I was going to tell you, but then Emma told me to be quiet. Please don’t hate me,” she pleads with big blue puppy eyes.
“Wait, what’s going on?” Aubrey questions with such innocence. She would never have held information like that if she knew.
“You know my new job I was excited about?” She nods. “Well, it’s for Gabe and Noah.” I don’t need to explain myself further for her to understand.
“Oh…” Her big brown eyes widen.
“Yeah, Oh. So now I have to look for another job. Again.” I sigh as my shoulders drop.
“What?! No!” Cecilia grabs my hand like that will stop me from not going back to that penthouse.
“Please, just give it a shot. Test it out for one week at least, then you can decide if you want to find something else. You’re the best person for the job, Ronnie.
No one can put up with those boys like you do.
There’s a reason they can’t keep a cleaner longer than a day, because no one can deal with their shit long enough to see through it. ”
Everyone nods in agreement. That’s true; even if they never truly give up on their pursuit, I do have a knack for being able to put them in their place.
She smiles like she thinks she just convinced me. “But you can. You’re tough and levelheaded. It’s exactly what they need. Just set them straight, I’m sure it will all be fine from there.”
I groan, my eyes closing as I inhale heavily through my nose.
I really don’t want to work for them. I love those guys as friends, but I don’t necessarily want to spend more time with them.
I also don’t feel like looking for a new job, one I know I’ll hate but will force myself to do anyway because I need the money.
“Ugh! Fine. One week. That’s all I’m giving them. But I’ll need to have a serious talk with them, because what I walked into—no way in hell am I dealing with that every other day!”
“Was it really that bad?” Morgan asks with a worried look.
“HA!” I drain the rest of my glass, then point at it while looking at Sam, who stands quietly leaning against the counter behind us, telling him to top me up. He chuckles as he takes it from my hand and does as instructed.
“Where to start? The place was a total pigsty.” I scrunch my nose up.
“Really? I never pictured Gabe and Noah to be that messy.” Cecilia furrows her brow, thinking about it. She’s not alone. It’s not the image they necessarily give off.
“Oh yeah, it was. There was garbage all over the place, shoes and clothes were scattered everywhere. Piles of dishes in the sink and along the counters. The windows were so dirty you could barely see through them anymore. Don’t even ask me about the bathrooms.”
They all carry a horrid expression. “But that’s not the worst part…” I stop to make it a little more dramatic, even if it does deserve the dramatic pause.
“What can be worse than that?” Aubrey questions as she watches me take a sip of my refilled glass.
“Oh, sometimes I forget how sweet and innocent you are.” I giggle. “See, there were wrappers all around the couch, so I thought I’d take it apart to make sure there were none beneath the cushions. Big mistake.” I widen my eyes as I emphasize the words.
“Oh God, please tell me there wasn’t rotten food there?” Morgan looks nauseous as she says it.
“Worse. Condoms. And not just one… Five!”
“Oh! That’s not too bad. We all know how sexually active those two are.” Cecilia shrugs like it’s no big deal. I don’t think she’s caught on completely.
“No, Cece. Used condoms… as in tied with a knot and dried cum at the end!”
“EWW!” they all say at once, pushing back from the kitchen island like the condoms are lying there.
“Okay, that’s nasty. Even for me,” Sam says with a revolted look.
“You aren’t the one who had to touch them! I don’t think I’ve ever washed my hands so many times in my life.” I shudder as my mind is brought back to the incident. Add buying THICK rubber gloves at the top of the list.
The baby monitor on the counter next to Sam starts producing babbling sounds, indicating that little Gracie is awake from her nap.
Sam turns it off before pushing off the counter.
“I’ll get the princess. You can finish this conversation without me.
I think I’ve heard enough.” He laughs and heads up the stairs.
Dante rushes over to his mom, holding up his favorite miniature hockey stick. That boy carries that thing with him everywhere he goes. “Cie key?” he says to Cecilia. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.
“No, baby. Gracie’s still too young to play hockey with you. But maybe Uncle Greyson will play when he arrives. We’ll ask him, okay?” she tells him in that sweet, motherly voice.
He drops his arm, then turns and walks back to the living room, where the rest of the toys lie.
“How do you understand what he says?” I ask her, impressed.
“You just pick up on the words and sounds they associate with things they hear. Cie means Gracie and key means hockey. He only recently started trying to say Gracie. It took me a full week to figure it out,” she informs us. Still pretty impressive.
The girls transition the conversation to hockey and how the guys are doing in the Stanley Cup Finals. I’ve never been much of a hockey fan, or a sports fan in general, so I sit back and watch them as they talk spiritedly.
You know how they say, ‘Pretty people stick together’?
That’s definitely the case for this group.
Every one of them is gorgeous in their own way.
Morgan looks like those blonde barbies you see in sorority houses with her golden hair, crystal blue eyes, and permanently pink-tinted lips.
Although, she’s nothing like those sorority witches.
Cecilia has bright hazel eyes, rich chocolate-brown hair that holds perfect natural waves, and a killer rack that’s hard not to notice.
She’s also the shortest in our group, standing at five-foot-two, while her husband is a six-foot-four giant.
When they stand next to each other, the height difference is pretty comical.