Pranked Read Online Free Page B

from the night before.
    We’d ordered room service because it was late, and we were drunk and hungry—ordering everything that sounded good from the menu. I let her hide in the bedroom while the bellhop set it up. She couldn’t bear to interrupt the perfect evening (or perhaps, technically, it was actually this morning) with someone recognizing her. And then we snacked on everything we had ordered.
    “Shitfingers,” Ava had said, then snorted a laugh when I gave her a puzzled look. “Sorry,” she said. “Just... avocado.” She picked up a small sandwich, avocado and sprouts on multi-grain bread. “It’s my weakness.” She devoured the sandwich like a starving man, giggling around her first, far-too-big bite.
    “Sorry,” she muttered, holding a hand primly in front of her perfectly pink lips. “Hungry.”
    “I can see that,” I answered. “But why shitfingers?”
    She shrugged, smirking. “It was something one of my co-workers said on my first film. I was... twelve? And it felt... transgressive. I liked saying it because I knew I shouldn’t. So it’s sort of the thing I say when I’m faced with a temptation I don’t want to resist.”
    “Those are the best kind,” I murmured, reaching up to wipe away a smear of avocado from her cheek. She caught my wrist in delicate fingers and brought my thumb to her lips, slowly, meticulously sucking it clean, a gleam in her eye that let me know she knew exactly what she was doing to me. Her teeth scraped along my skin as she pulled her mouth away.
    If I closed my eyes now, I could almost feel her tongue wrapping around my thumb, caressing it as she locked her eyes on mine.
    But she didn’t remember any of that, and even though I could understand why, it still stung a little. It called into question everything I felt last night. We felt last night. I was sure she had felt it then too, even if she didn’t now. And it wasn’t just the booze, either. We had a connection. The alcohol had just helped us find it.
    I called back down to the concierge and asked them to add the avocado toast to our brunch. She’d laughed a lot last night. I wanted to see her do it again. Her eyes squinted and twinkled whenever she couldn’t help but laugh.
    My last task was to pull out my laptop and whip up a quick, fake marriage license. No use going for a prank if you aren’t all in, even ones you know aren’t going to last very long. Ava was smart. I knew she would want to see the license eventually.
    My portable printer did a passable job on it, and I quickly scrawled my name in the appropriate place, and scribbled illegibly in her spot.
    I found a pair of boxers in the dresser and pulled them on before starting to pack. The convention had ended last night, but I had the room through tomorrow. Spotting my phone on the nightstand, I was reminded to call River, the ranch caretaker, and let him know to expect me.
    The phone rang five times before a sleepy, lazy voice answered. “Yup?”
    “River,” I said, smirking. He was clearly stoned already. Without me around, it was probably a wake and bake day for him. He was a great caretaker, regardless, but he was nearly always high.
    “Oh hey, boss. How’s the tech?”
    “World-changing, as usual,” I answered wryly. River was something of a luddite, when it came to technology. Very old school. “Hey, listen. I’m going to be at the ranch tomorrow, and I’m bringing a guest.”
    “Business guest or fun guest?”
    “When was the last time I had a business guest?”
    “That’s classified,” River quipped, and I snorted softly.
    He wasn’t wrong. The last business I’d done was with the U.S. Air Force, and they’d paid me a tidy sum for both what I’d built, and for me to keep my silence about what I’d built. Tidy enough that I hadn’t had to sell an invention since, and I never would again—hell, neither would my kids or their kids, unless someone really fucked something up. It was more money than any reasonable person