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I paused, looking at our group chat. There hadn’t been any text notifications from my bank. How had she paid for pizza without my card?

She’d better not have paid for it herself.

If she had, I would be having a stern word with her. I would also have to restrain myself from spanking that ridiculously pert ass of hers.

Cullen:

I should be able to leave in a few hours.

Jensen:

Good. I think they’re having a good time. Bethany sent me this.

The screen filled with a selfie a second later of Bethany and Joey sitting in the theater room, cookies spread out between them, beaming widely at the camera.

Jensen:

Apparently, Joey ended up eating half of Beth’s pizza slices, even though there are peppers on them…

Gideon:

What? I thought it would be a cold day in hell when that girl ate peppers.

Jensen:

Seems Bethany has the magic touch.

Gideon:

We need to beg her to babysit more often.

Jensen:

She’s already working two jobs and studying. We can’t give her more work.

Gideon:

We could always replace one of those jobs and pay her a hell of a lot better. Hell, I would tell her to quit both her jobs, but I think Joey would revolt if Bethany wasn’t teaching her anymore.

I raised my brows; that actually wasn’t a terrible idea.

Having Bethany in our house constantly sounded like a special kind of torture, though.

Maybe I was a masochist because I liked the idea a little too much.

It was almost ten-thirty by the time I could pull myself away from the restaurant. Most of the guests had left, and there were only a few stragglers remaining, so my staff could take care of it.

“I’ve got to get going,” I explained to Sally, who had been practically running the joint whenever I wasn’t there.

She looked at me, surprised. “You’re leaving before midnight. Are you okay? Do you have a fever? Do I need to call an ambulance?”

I shook my head, biting back a smile.

I was a slight workaholic.

“I had to leave Joey with a babysitter, and I don’t want to make them wait up too late.”

Sally nodded. “Ahh, yeah, the little miss. Do you want some cheesecake to go? We’ve got that and a few slices of red velvet cake left.”