“Who is going to be your best man?” Apollo asks.
“My dad,” I tell him. “He’s the greatest man I’ve ever known.”
“That’s great, man,” Spade says, but his attention is on the other side of the pool.
“Still?” Thumper sighs as he follows his gaze to Lauren Vos who is flirting mercilessly with one of the local men.
Most of the people from the community have trickled out, and I know some of the guys are meeting up with several women from the party at Jake’s later, but apparently there are still a few stragglers.
“I warned you about her,” Thumper reminds him.
“What you did is send me out unprepared,” Spade says, his face twisting up in discomfort as he watches Lauren trail the tip of one finger down the front of the man’s shirt.
“I wasn’t trying to prepare you,” Thumper mutters.
“I got the vibe she was into some kinky shit, but I never thought it would leave me tied up and deserted.”
All of our eyes snap to him.
“What?” Legend asks, choking on a sip of beer.
“Yep,” Spade says not pulling his eyes from Lauren. “I had blue balls for days. Best night of my life. She’s so damn dominant, she makes my dick hard just thinking about it.”
I shake my head, a huff of laughter escaping my lips.
Thumper scoffs, the noise betraying his knowledge of the woman. In recent weeks, I’ve picked up on parts of his conversations about the woman. They were in the FBI together, and apparently she played a huge roll in the last case he worked for the government. The man got lucky because his cover as a sex traffic ringleader almost made him meet the wrong side of the business end of Cerberus. It all came out in time, and he was welcomed back into the fold, but I know it took its toll on him and his budding romance with Cara, who just happened to be one of the girls that was abducted and sold to him.
“Share with the class,” Spade snaps at Thumper, his anger growing as Lauren laughs at something the guy whispers to her.
With a sigh Thumper looks at Spade. “Slap her ass and pull her hair.”
“I can do that,” Spade says with a smile.
“Don’t stop when she tells you no.”
We all look at Thumper as if the man has lost his damn mind.
He shrugs. “It’s what she’s into. The more violent the better.”
My jaw is hanging open. “You’re into that?”
He shakes his head. “She’s into it. I’m not really comfortable talking about this shit.”
I understand where he’s coming from. He has a woman he’s devoted to, and it feels a little dirty to talk about your past, especially when it’s sexual in nature.
“What you’re saying—”
“I’m not saying another damn thing,” Thumper interrupts. “Figure the rest out on your own.”
“I don’t think you’re ready for Lauren Vos,” Legend mutters. “She’s a different breed.”
“Don’t tell me you—”
“No,” Legend snaps before Spade can make a full assumption. “But I saw some video footage. She’s fucking hardcore.”
Thumper cringes, making me think the videos in question have him in them as well.
I have no desire to see shit like that, so maybe it’s a good thing all of this shit happened before I showed up.
“And on that note,” I say, standing from the lounger. “I’m going to go celebrate Ali agreeing to marry me.”
Several of the men chuckle, holding their beers up like I have the right idea.
“I expect all of you to be there on Monday,” I say.
“We’ll be there,” Apollo says. “Spade will be too, unless he’s tied to a chair.”
I chuckle at their stupidity as I walk away.
Chatter in the kitchen draws me closer, but before I can make it there, a rough grunt and curse pulls me into the living room.
Rick has Landon pushed against the wall, both men snarling at each other like animals.
“What’s the problem?” I snap, but it takes both of them a few seconds to pull their gazes from each other into my direction.
“Fuck this,” Landon hisses, shrugging off Rick. “And fuck you.”
Landon stomps his way to the front door, slamming it behind him as he leaves.
Rick’s hands scrape over the top of his head, but then he too walks out the front door.
“What’s wrong?” Ali asks, her soft hand rubbing my bicep.
“Landon and Rick were about to beat the crap out of each other,” I mutter, turning to her.
I press my lips to hers, but she frowns against my mouth.
“Really?” she asks. “They were going to fight?”
I shrug. “It sure looked that way.”
“That’s weird because ten minutes ago, they were making out in the hallway.”
THE END