BooksBarbecue
Back His on Demand Save as PDF
Chapters (31)
  1. Copyright Page
  2. His on Demand
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29

An hour later, I am dripping with sweat and exhausted. After a cold shower, I’m back in bed. My mind still will not shut off. I give up and take a sleep aid with more than two fingers of scotch neat. Although the sleep aid works, it does not last. I wake up twice before my alarm sounds at five in the morning.

image
image
image

5

image

Alexa

––––––––

image

While the coffeemaker is going, I sit down to write out my letter of resignation. I’m lost in thought about actually leaving the company I worked at for so long. I’m pulled out by a light knock on my door. Natalie is holding out a takeout bag. “I smelled your coffeemaker when I went downstairs to get my coffee.”

I still can’t believe Natalie spends money on coffee from the corner coffee shop every morning rather than make her own. “Thanks, come in. What are you doing up so early?”

“I had to um, update, I guess you could say, the report on you from the security company. Then I have to get it into Leo’s office before he gets there.” Knowing she’s changing the file on me makes my stomach turn even as it grumbles. I open the takeout box. It’s waffles from the diner a few blocks away, where Natalie and I usually have brunch on the weekend. There’s a cup of strawberries and whip cream and a side of bacon. Heaven, my brunch breakfast. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

I’m confused as I bite into the bacon. “Tell you what?”

“About you writing those books. They were great, I actually have an alert set for when your new one comes out in a few months. How could you not tell me?”

“Oh.” I blush as I shrug. Concentrating on putting the strawberries on I don’t look up. “You really liked them?”

“I just said so. What are you doing working when you could be writing?”

I laugh. “I wish. I’m hardly burning up the best-seller list. It’s actually the main reason why I want to work for Leo. In only a few years, I can save up enough to write full-time. My publisher thinks if I can put out two or three books a year I could get to thirty or forty thousand a year, consistently.”

“You haven’t made that yet?”

“Not even close. Up to now, on all three books, I’ve only earned a little over twenty-eight thousand dollars in two years. Then I’m taxed on almost exactly half of it, that’s not enough to live off.”