Daddys Precious Pets – Lyla Dorine (1)

It dawned on me, during the moments when we were apart and I realized I’d let the day slip past without any of the breaks that I insisted on them taking, that being perpetually alone in my workspace had led to me becoming obsessed with my work. It felt good to set a firm stopping time at the end of the day so that the three of us could enjoy relaxing time together.

Like with everything that had come before, they cleaned their plates while excitedly listening to the next part of the mystery unfold, but when the time came to order dessert, they admitted to being too full to order individual ones and opted for one they could split. After a short debate, they decided on the edible sequins mini-cake in the shape of a handbag and took several photos of it when it arrived before they asked me to please cut it in half for them.

I was happy to do so and happier still to kiss a smear of frosting off the corner of Murry’s lips after he dove in. Raleigh, on the other hand, took small bites, savoring his half while he filled in the form on the front of his paper. Every now and again I’d see his tongue poke out while he paused, occasionally nibbling on the end of his pen before scribbling more.

Murry waited until he finished his dessert before filling his out, while I quickly worked on mine, choosing, as my suspect, a designer who’d seemed all too sure that she was going to win the competition through sheer talent alone and insisted that was the reason that she couldn’t possibly be the killer. And now to settle in for the big reveal. One by one, the actors made their final presentations, revealing that while they might have had motivation to kill the judge, they were, in fact, not the killer.

Murry’s pick was the third reveal, and he fake- pouted for several seconds before shrugging and eagerly awaiting the final result. By the time we were down to the last three, I was actually excited. My choice was still in the running, and so was Raleigh’s. He was squirming in his seat as one more was eliminated, neither of which had been one of our picks. “Holy crap, one of us was right,” Raleigh muttered, leaning against my shoulder as he clutched my hand. Seconds later he let out a little squeal.

“Daddy, you were right!” There were a few giggles around us, but no one stared or acted like there was something odd about what he’d called me.

“Damn, you went all out for this, didn’t you?” I asked, leaning over so I wouldn’t have to yell over the music for Aspen to hear me. “You only turn forty once,” Aspen declared. He was rocking out a mauve and gray suit tonight, looking sharp as hell, even with a matching tie that read I’m the birthday boy. Knowing him, he’d had it made just for the occasion.

A loud tsk from the other side of Aspen accompanied Parker’s eyebrows shooting up. “Forty? Please, you haven’t been forty in fi…” “If you finish that statement, there will be no lap dance for you tonight.” Aspen explained. “Wait, we’re getting lap dances?” Parker asked, expression immediately turning contrite. “As of this moment, Dorian and I will be the ones getting lap dances while you go find someone to refill these drinks. I’m so parched my tongue is sticking to the roof of my mouth.”

The bored expression Aspen shot him as he held his glass out for Parker to take was almost as amusing as the pouty look on Parker’s when I held my glass out to him too. After more than thirty years of friendship, he should have known not to give Aspen shit about his age. He’d been thirty for at least three years, and thirty-five had been met with steadfast refusal to even acknowledge the day.

He had thrown himself a rave at thirty-eight, but that was only because it coincided with the announcement that he’d be playing the lead role in All Roads Lead Within, a play that had been in pre-production at the local theater. In reality, this birthday was his forty-fifth, but with lap dances on the table, I knew to keep my mouth shut. The moment Parker was out of earshot, Aspen let out a fit of giggles and doubled over, shaking his head.

We were tucked in a somewhat private corner of our favorite club, in wide, plush leather chairs, sipping colorful cocktails while waiting for the next bit of entertainment Aspen had arranged to arrive. One thing about him, when he promised a good time, he delivered. We’d already been treated to a mini-drag show with the finale being the trio singing Happy Birthday to him while feeding each of us a cupcake.

Kinda sad that the most action I’d gotten all year was sucking buttercream frosting off a drag queen’s latex gloves. “Here ya go,” Parker said, handing me a pale pink drink with three cherries bobbing in crushed ice. Aspen took a sip of his the moment it was in his hands, lips pursing as his face scrunched up.

“Whoo-wee, what in the world,” he sputtered, licking his lips and eyeing the glass suspiciously. “A sourpuss for a sourpuss,” Parker said, raising his glass in a gesture to Aspen. “Seriously, that’s what the drink is called.”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 271139897f54ebbd
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,030,190 bytes (1.936 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 207
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 301.32 minutes
• Total Words: 60,265
• Total Characters: 323,402
• Average Words per Page: 291.14
• Average Characters per Page: 1562.33

Most Frequent Words

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