Page 15 of Collin, Episodes 13-15 (The Residency Boys #5)

“You know something?” Collin craned his neck back to see his sir.

émeric shrugged, eyes twinkling.

“It’s too much money,” Alice sputtered on the other end of the phone.

Collin rubbed the back of his head. He had been studying Chinese because his first class since the kidnapping was scheduled for the next day. But Alice had called him, and of course, he’d answered.

“You’re literally living with Dana twenty-four seven, taking care of her,” he countered. “That means you can’t hold a job. Of course, Linda and Richard want to make sure you have what you need.”

“Dana’s not a job! She’s Dana.”

“And I thought you heard all of Mom’s rants about unpaid labor, or did you forget them? I can call Mom right now and get her to repeat them with footnotes.”

Alice huffed. “No. There’s no need for that.”

“Then accept the money. You’re contributing to the household. The household should contribute to you. If you weren’t doing this, Linda would have to pay a lot more people.”

“She’s already paying a nanny for when I go off on my own while Dana stays with her or Ellisandre.”

“See? If she has to pay someone else for when you’re not there, you should be paid too if it’s keeping you from working.”

“She’s not charging me rent.”

“So pay her rent if that’s so important. You know she’s going to pay you a higher salary if you insist on paying rent. What you’re doing is worth a lot more than rent on one small room and shared kitchen space.”

Alice gave a grumbling sigh. “Fine. Fine. It’s just…no one’s offered me this much money before. And it’s not like I have special qualifications.”

“Alice Ryker”—Collin put an edge in his voice—“you literally shot a man and rescued that girl from being used in an illegal international money-grabbing scene. You most certainly have specialized experience. Besides,” he said, making his voice more gentle, “I know what full-time nannies cost. She’s paying you standard going rates.

Save it up, help Dana become less dependent and able to go to school, and then you’ll have money to do what you want to do.

Go back to school, try an internship, sail around the world on an inflatable killer whale… ”

Alice snorted laughter through her nose. “That’s very specific.”

“Never mind, you probably need something a little bigger, maybe a blowup bed on top of three inflatable killer whales.”

“Fine! Stop talking about killer whales. The proper term is orcas, anyway. Killer whale is a term that makes them sound dangerous.”

“Orcas, then.”

Alice huffed. “I’ll do it. It’s just weird getting paid to do something I’d do for free.”

“It’s called being valued.” Collin sighed and looked up.

Richard was smiling at him from across the room.

“I get paid for what I do at the office, too. Linda and Richard aren’t paying you to be nice; they’re making sure your time is being honored.

Your love isn’t being bought; you’re being recognized and appreciated. ”

Alice sighed. “That…makes it feel a lot better, actually. She’s my kid, you know.”

“I know.”

“Okay, I got to go. Ash and I are taking Dana to the natural history museum again . She wants to see the dioramas. The zoo made her sad, which we didn’t understand until her therapist told us— that man is so, so good with her, and I’d be going crazy without him—but she’s decided the taxidermy animals in the museum aren’t suffering and are there to teach us, so she’d rather go see them.

I think we have a little naturalist on our hands.

And Ash wants to see the new exhibit on flowers.

He and Ellisandre are trying to make a wall garden in their living room.

Evidently that means we’re all going up to the botanical gardens this weekend.

It’s like an hour drive, so can we do breakfast on Sunday instead of Saturday? ”

Collin laughed. Alice was developing a solid case of babble-mouth info dump the longer she lived with Linda’s crew.

He was also fairly sure Alice was taking over some of the household management Ellisandre used to do.

Her feet were very solidly on the ground even if she claimed otherwise every other time they talked.

“Sunday. I have to do Chinese Saturday, anyway. Tell Ash and Dana I say hi.”

It was well into the second half of December before they finally drove north to the house Collin had been hearing about for weeks.

Beside Collin in the back seat, Damian was still on his computer, earpiece in his ear and connected to his phone.

émeric drove and Richard was similar to Damian, still finishing up last-minute business in the front seat of the SUV.

Collin kicked off his shoes and curled up with his legs on the seat, his head leaning against the window, watching the highway roll by.

Once he’d been let back into the office, he’d been working as hard as his doms would let him, setting up the imagination tour, supporting Eliza and her team, and studying with Zhou Laoshi.

Etiquette classes had been canceled until after the new year to make room for physical therapy.

The cast had been off for two weeks, and he was working with his physical therapist and his regular trainer to get his conditioning back.

It was going to take time for his right side to be as strong as his left again.

The bullet wound to the shoulder had actually been the most minor of the injuries.

His right hand was doing better than expected, but there were still days Collin gave in by midafternoon and let his left take over.

He’d finally learned voice to text during the weeks in the cast. But on the days he didn’t overuse his hand, he could tell it was healing.

It now only hurt from sustained use. The doctor had taken X-rays only the day before and given permission for play. Collin had almost cried.

They’d gone back to some of their routines.

Richard had offered Collin a new cock cage, and Collin had gone to his knees for it, grateful.

But everything had stayed gentle with petting and cuddling only once Richard and émeric had been able to start using the master bed again. They had also enjoyed long baths.

Healing took a lot out of a body. There’d been several weeks Collin hadn’t even seen half a hard-on in the entire Residency. All the four of them had been interested in was gentle cuddling—with pillow protection—kissing, as that became less of a fraught activity, and time together.

They’d spent so much time together. And it hadn’t gotten old.

Damian looked down at his phone and sighed, then put it away.

Collin poked his thigh with his foot. “You got that look again.”

“Something’s going down. Just a gut feeling. But nothing I can do about it.”

Collin grimaced in sympathy.

“Ten minutes out,” émeric said from the driver’s seat. “Once we’re at the house, no phones, computers, or laptops outside of the office space.”

Richard groaned. “One hour.”

émeric shot him a glare. “If you have one more hour of work, you can do it in the office. The rules are there for a reason.”

Richard growled. “Fine. I just want to get this done so I don’t have to think about it.”

émeric flipped on his blinker and turned into a shopping complex. Behind them, their security detail followed. émeric parked and turned off the car. “Collin, let’s go do a little shopping. Richard, Damian, you two have one hour, and then those devices are off.”

Holden trailed Collin and émeric into a café and bakery.

“Pick out a table, pet,” émeric murmured to Collin. “I’ll order us something.”

Collin ducked his head, receiving the order, and scanned the available tables. He chose one that he knew Holden would appreciate: it gave them a little privacy, a view of the cake display, and access to a rear exit.

Holden followed him across the room. “Good spot. You’re getting better at this.”

Collin flashed him a smile. It was nice to have Holden back.

The man’s confidence had been shaken, and he’d thought he’d be fired for being the missing link in Collin’s protection, but Collin, Mr. Reevesworth, and Holden’s employer had emphasized to him that they trusted him.

He’d been taken down by tranquilizer darts designed to subdue zoo animals.

And even though he’d tried to reach his walkie-talkie, the frequency had been jammed by a nearby handheld device, something they’d found once they collected the van that had been used to kidnap Collin.

He’d been an easy target for Mikhail to overpower when Mikhail had showed himself.

émeric came and sat down across from Collin, placing pretty blue mugs of coffee on the table. “Let’s see if those two can wrap up and pull themselves together.”

“They need to unplug.” Collin stifled a yawn. “Work will still be there when we come back.”

émeric smiled and raised his mug in a toast. “How far you’ve come, pet.”

Collin blushed and dropped his eyes. They sat in comfortable silence for a while.

“Did your mother decide where she’s spending Christmas?”

“Teotihuacan in Mexico. She wants to see the solstice at the Pyramid of the Sun.”

“Does that day have any ritual significance to the site?”

Collin shrugged. “Not that I know of. I don’t think we even have the name of any deity the pyramid was built for, if it was built for one. I think she just picked something she’d been wanting to do and the nearest significant date and planned it as a gift for herself.”

“How long until the house closes?”

“Arturo and his girlfriend and a cousin and their spouse collectively qualified yesterday. So, I think they plan to wrap everything up come mid-January or so.”

“I’m glad your mom feels good about where the house is going.”

“Me too. She and her friends are planning a ritual cleansing, and then I think a priest is going to come over and bless the house. The feds are finished digging around for anything. She says Arturo had a head start on redoing the landscaping by the time they finished. He’s been over there cleaning up. ”