Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 147789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147789 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“We’re in this together, Mitch. We’re working as a team on this one. You aren’t responsible for all of us and we’ll be more vigilant. They won’t get the drop on us again. We won’t let those fuckers win,” Cody said, his voice low and assertive. Mitch continued to stare at Cody, letting the words sit between them.
“I know I said we need to follow your treatment plan, but I wanna call your doctor in the morning, see if we can get clearance to practice at a shooting range. We’re all the backup we have in this deal. Sinacola’s thirty minutes away. Colt and Jace need us to be our best.”
“I feel great. I have good range of motion. I feel solid,” Cody encouraged, nodding to reaffirm the words.
“I know you keep saying that, but I’d just feel better hearing it was okayed after they look over the latest PT reports. If it’s still not a good idea, we need to know the risk so we can make an informed decision. Being here, the threat seems too real to me. I might just feel that way because you’re involved. I don’t know. I gotta talk to Sinacola. He’s the instinct guy. He’ll tell me if I’m off base,” Mitch said, reaching his free hand behind Cody’s neck, drawing him forward for a light but lingering kiss. Cody soothed his heart. He had to stop being balls to the wall and talk to his mister before every knee-jerk reaction.
The door opened and a blast of cold air swept over them.
“Get a room,” Colt said cheekily, walking to the sink to wash his hands. Mitch was slower to move away from Cody’s full lips, but when he did, he winked at Cody. His guy’s soft smile froze and his eyes widened before he immediately shook his head no. Mitch ignored the very clear instruction.
“My guy here’s a good one. He’s agreed to inviting Jace to join us for a… Well, you know.” Mitch waggled his eyebrows at the group now looking his way. He felt lighter already.
“Do you see? If I give him a break, that’s the thanks I get. I can’t live with that for the next week, Jace,” Colt heatedly complained. He’d wheeled around so quickly to face Jace he was dripping water on the floor in front of the sink.
“He’s kidding, Colt, and stop getting water all over the floor. You know he’s not serious. He loves to yank your chain,” Jace said, and Mitch barked out a laugh as Jace and Colt bent in unison to the floor, almost knocking each other in the head to clean up the spilled water. Colt effectively made a bigger mess as his hands continued to drip as he started to step away. “Baby, stop! Don’t move. The dirt on your shoes is gettin’ the floor muddy. Hands in the sink!”
“Jace, just for the record, I’m not interested in yanking on anything Michaels has to offer, but now you, on the other han…” Cody’s elbow went to Mitch’s ribs as the comic show of Jace and Colt played out right in front of them. Colt’s eyes grew even bigger and his mouth dropped open in silent protest at his last comment. “Okay, okay. That’s my one time. Honest. I think I got it out of my system. I swear. I’m willing to call a truce,” Mitch announced to the room, lifting his hands in a gesture of surrender.
With a huff, Colt grabbed the paper towels and wiped his hands before dropping them to the floor and scooting them with his foot. Jace was bent over, cleaning the floor with a hand towel and stopped what he was doing as he watched his mister from behind. He looked over at Mitch and Cody, giving them a dramatic eye roll.
“We’ll call a truce after I call your pop, Knox. He told me to call him if you got out of hand,” Colt added smugly, still pushing the beat-up paper towels with his shoe.
“I’m calling Dr. Knox,” Jace said firmly, reaching up to knock Colt off balance to get the paper towels out from under his foot. “He told me to call him when you got out of hand too, mister. Who does this?” Jace said, lifting the dirty, torn paper towels for everyone to see. That had all of them laughing as Jace shook his head and went for the pantry, presumably to throw the mangled paper into the trash.
Chapter 10
“Knox said they fixed enough dinner for us,” Kreed mentioned to Aaron as he took a quick turn onto a side road, leading them deeper inside a stately tree-lined neighborhood.
“What’re they having?” Aaron asked. He lifted the cover to the mirror on the visor; small lights popped on, and he cupped his fingers to work his hair in place.
“I didn’t ask. You don’t seem picky,” Kreed teased, watching the street addresses on the mailboxes until he found the one he was looking for and pulled into the long driveway. “You don’t ever get that pretty for me. I’m butthurt.”
“I’ve heard Knox talk about Jace being a vegan. I generally like some form of meat in my food,” Aaron said, completely ignoring Kreed’s last remark as he flicked the visor up then reached over the seat to grab his coat. “And you aren’t the real MVP. Colt’s one of the biggest names in sports history and he came out. He’s a game-changer, and besides, Colt and his boyfriend are hot.”
Kreed had started to put the gear in place, but abruptly stopped as he listened to Aaron’s explanation. He glanced at the man as he finally gave some sort of real clue about his sexual orientation.
“So you’re gay? Or at least Bi?” Kreed blurted out, finally asking the question that had been plaguing him for the last two days.
“What’s it matter? You don’t do your partners, remember?” Aaron repeated Kreed’s own words back to him in a teasing way before quickly opening the door and hurrying out of the rental.