From Secret Desire for My Stepbrother to Reality novel · Chapter 21 of 32
Chapter 21: The Deal
"I'm not sitting down for you," I said. "Say it."
"Not on the phone. In person."
"Then come to the shop."
"I'd rather not do this in a lock shop."
"Then don't do it."
There was a pause.
I could hear him deciding it was beneath him and coming anyway.
"Noon," he said, and hung up.
Jem was looking at the ceiling.
"He's coming to my counter," he said.
"He's coming to your counter."
"Can I change the lock before he gets there?"
"He'll just knock."
"I know," Jem said. "I want to hear him knock."
Tom came at noon exactly.
It was Sunday, and the shop was open short hours, and the counter was full.
A woman buying a mailbox key.
Two college boys who'd locked themselves out of a bike lock and brought the whole bike.
The old key-cutter at his grinder, the apprentice at the register, Kath at her door desk in the workshop doorway with her arms folded.
Tom came in with the bell ringing over him.
Jem stood at the far end of the counter with a padlock in his hand.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of From Secret Desire for My Stepbrother to Reality are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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