“Oh.” He wrung his hands together. “I’m sorry…I heard Master say it once. I thought it was some of the new lingo he always makes me study. But I’m behind on my lessons. I’m very busy.”
What the what?
“Who did Tanner say the whore mouth thing about?” Chastity asked. “Was there a whore at his apartment?”
Nigel took a step away from us like he was scared we might bite.
And I got a fantastic idea. Nigel had all the answers we needed. “Scratch that question.” There were a million reasons why Tanner would tell someone to shut their whore mouths. They were either a whore or saying something saucy. I wasn’t concerned about that. Honestly, I wanted to start saying that more often. Just like I’d recently started trying to addyas queeninto my vocabulary. “Nigel, we need your help.”
He perked up. “I’m ready to serve.”
Weird.“First, can you please take the bag off Chastity’s head?”
“Who?”
Who else could I possibly be talking about? I nodded to Chastity on the couch next to me. “My friend over there.”
“Oh. Yes, for you, of course.” He hurried over and unbagged Chastity. He turned to me like he was waiting for his next order.
Chastity blew her bubblegum-colored bangs out of her eyes. And then she just stared at Nigel like he was an alien. It was probably the lederhosen throwing her off.
“Back to the help I need,” I said. “It’s about Tanner’s secret closet.” I could finally get the answers about how he’d made it.
Nigel’s eyes grew round. “No. You can’t go in there!” He shook his head back and forth.
“What, why?” I asked.
“Not unless you want to get burned.”
“What?” Chastity said. “I’ve been in there dozens of times already.”
Nigel gasped. “But you can’t. He’ll…it’ll…” He put his hand over his mouth.
“Are you scared of normal clothing or something?” I asked.
Nigel looked so confused. He looked down at his outfit and then back at me. “No?” He smoothed down his suspenders. “I like lederhosen. They’re very comfortable. You got a problem with that?”
“Not at all. You look quite dapper.”
He smiled to himself.
“Please just tell us how Tanner made that closet.” I nodded over to the bookcase that doubled as a secret entrance to my new closet.
“Oh.” He put his hand to his chest. “Thatcloset. I thought you meant his…” his eyes grew round again. “Stop talking. Both of you. Timeout! Those are the rules.”
“We’re grown women, Nigel.” Chastity batted her eyelashes at him. “You can’t put us in timeout. Now can you please untie us?”
It looked like Nigel was blushing. But then he frantically shook his head. “No.”
“Please?” she shimmied a little.
Nigel glanced down at her cleavage and then back at her face. “Never. I love to serve. But I only serve two men.”
I glanced at Chastity and then back to Nigel. “Two men? Who’s the other man besides Tanner?”
Nigel lit up at the mention of this other man. “Tanner’s best friend. I love serving him. Very much so.”
“Ah, Matt?” asked Chastity. “We’ve heard all about Tanner’s secret best friend. I’ve actually been dying to know more about him. Surely you can give us all the details about him.”
