Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“I’m glad you touched base. Keep your phones on.” His dad lifted a hand, waving goodbye, and the screen darkened.
Chad lowered the phone, laying it on his thigh, all his attention landed on Ducky who had stopped feet away. He had to have heard every word Chad said. The concern that had driven him to the living room, melted off his face, leaving nothing but love behind.
Ducky came forward, his cell phone was in his hand but angled in a way that suggested the call might have been forgotten. Chad could hear talking on the other end, but Ducky only focused on Chad. His love leaned down. Warm lips didn’t hesitate to press against his. The kiss was so tender and thoughtful that Chad didn’t want it to end.
“You good?” Ducky whispered, hovering an inch above his mouth, staring him unabashedly straight in the eyes. With no pretense, only honesty. Genuine love stared at him. They were stronger together, just as Chad had always envisioned them to be.
Chad slid his hand around Ducky’s neck, drawing him back for another tender press of lips. The move didn’t surprise Ducky, he easily went with it, opening as Chad slanted his mouth, deepening the kiss.
Ducky. The name reverted through his head as if his soul had a voice.
His gamer reared back, ending the sweet embrace. They stared at one another, puffs of breath mingling between them.
“My brother’s on the phone,” Ducky said and glanced down at the forgotten cell phone still in his hand.
Reality was back in a flash, interrupting their private peaceful paradise. He could hear Dallas’s chuckle on the other end of the video call. He looked down to see Dallas’s face filling Ducky’s phone screen, looking as amused yet concerned as his father had.
He got a playful wink before Ducky took off toward his bedroom.
Crazy-in-love didn’t begin to describe all this feeling flowing through him. Chad had no choice but to push up from the sofa and follow Ducky into his room, not wanting to be away from him for a single second. “Wait, I’ll go with you.”
Chapter 21
Hours after Ducky ventured into the world of StreamTrainer, he tore the headphones off his ears, tossing them onto the desk, and looked up from the workspace he’d created in his bedroom. His laptop sat in the center of the small desk, his phone with the screen facing forward slightly angled to the right, his tablet positioned in the same way to the left. He missed his bank of monitors at the office.
He glanced out the open window toward the ocean, surprised it was already close to dusk. He listened as he stood, stretching his back and shoulders, rolling his neck, hoping to release the tension from being hunched over his equipment. No noise came from inside the villa as he went in search of Chad. Dinner containers rested on the stovetop, closed tight, the smells were delicious.
“You in there?” he called, stopping by Chad’s bedroom. He was nowhere to be found.
That something special about their vacation had dimmed over the last few hours. If he were being honest with how bad things were with StreamTrainer because of his brother Donny, he should probably head back to Texas.
Dylan’s concern had seemed overkill until Ducky got a taste of what was happening inside StreamTrainer’s social media site. Donny may not have an account on the platform, but his malevolent presence and opinions about the LGBT community had upset the balance of their users. Class participation was down due to an uptick of user comments arguing with one another rather than attending classes, souring the safe place they had worked so hard to achieve.
All hands were on deck in their corporate office. The entire executive team had given up their project loads to be available to assist customer service and their site’s monitors fielding all the activity. The entire experience had taxed their already depleted service team.
On the bright side, individual training box orders were up over eight percent from this time last year. On the bad side, his older brother Donny was the lead story on DailyMail and practically every other tabloid site.
Apparently, Donny had found his place in apocalyptic religion over the last year, becoming a born-again believer. He wanted to start his own ministry. His brother’s entire religious platform centered on the evils of everything he and Dallas stood for. From their big business goals all the way to the personal decisions both Ducky and Dallas made with their lives.
Obviously, his fundraising efforts grew with every accusation he sounded off on. Donny was such a whore. Sure, he believed a lot of the venom he spewed, but he’d do or say anything if cash were involved.
The tension in his neck increased again, the muscles clamping down, unerringly reminding him of what had caused these problems. Money.