Page 31

Joey and Craig burst into laughter simultaneously, and I dropped my head to hide my blush behind my hair. I heard Rich sputter over his coffee, and the laughing got louder. The lighthearted mood was a welcome change, even if I wanted to crawl under the table and die.

The atmosphere in the room was surprisingly friendly as we ate. Craig filled us in on Tiffany's exploits that I hadn't been in the room to see, and between the food and coffee, my hangover headache had started to ebb.

"Morning Princess! You look a little worse for wear this morning." Tiffany said brightly, despite how the joking and laughing suddenly died off.

I turned from where I'd been chatting with Joey, and my breath caught in my throat for a second. Az looked irritable, as was usual, but the bags under his eyes indicated a sleepless night. He rolled his eyes at Tiffany and poured a cup of coffee for himself.

"Don't be like that, Sleeping Beauty. No sense in raining on the parade. Craig was just telling us how much fun we had last night since we don't remember." Tiffany flicked a look my way and chuckled. I wished desperately that I could tell her telepathically she was playing with fire and that I was likely the one that was going to get burned.

"Is that right? Well, as much fun as that sounds, I'm not in the mood to keep company with vipers this morning." He said over his cup, his blue gaze momentarily pinning me to my seat.

"What the hell, man?" Joey started. I patted his arm and stood up, moving to dump my plate in the sink.

"It's fine, Joey. We don't respond to tantrums, and eventually they'll stop. If he's gonna be mad over something, no one remembers but him, he can be mad all by himself. I'm going to go get changed." I glared at him as I moved out of the kitchen and stalked down the hall toward my room.

In the great room, I was jerked to a stop by a rough hand on my upper arm. I looked, spotting the familiar tattoo.

"What Az? If you're here to insult me further, just go away. I'm not in the mood."

"You expect me to believe you don't remember? Bullshit, Princess." He growled as he turned me to face him.

"I don't particularly care what you believe. Now take your hand off me." I jerked my hand out of his grasp and took a stepback. "You don't get to walk around here all pissed off and act like it's my problem."

"Really?" He flashed a cruel smirk and crowded my personal space. "You have no memory of the best orgasm you've ever had at the hands of a gang banger?"

I couldn't stop the laugh that tore itself out of my throat. "You wanna know what I remember, Az?" I stepped closer, my chest brushing his, and lowered my voice. "I remember the taste of your desperation. Hold on to those memories from last night because it might as well have never happened for me. It certainly won't be happening again." I patted his chest and stepped back. "Besides, it's not the most memorable orgasm I've had in the last week."

I spotted Rich over his shoulder and stepped away from Az, dismissing him. I was taking the gloves off if he wanted to play this game. I smiled sweetly and moved toward the other man. He paused in his stride, a curious look on his face. I sidled up next to him and slid my arm around his.

"So,Daddy, Joey tells me you've had some plants moved into the greenhouse. If you have time later, do you think you could show them to me? I've always loved flowers." My voice was saccharine as I spoke, adopting my most sincere expression. I did like actually like flowers.

Rich exhaled hard, stepping back from me. Some expression ghosted through his features before his brows knit together in surprise and confusion. He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again as if to say something.

"Actually, Warden, before you sweep her off to smell the roses, I need to borrow our girl here for some girl talk." Tiffany's amused voice seemed to break him out of his stunned state.

"Yeah… Run along, Princess." Rich said.

Tiffany linked her arm through mine and pulled me toward my room. As she pushed me into my room, she spotted whereAz was standing by the great room and flipped him off before shutting the door behind us. She turned to face me, grinning mischievously.

"Welcome to your villain era,Princess. Now, let's plan."

The sun was setting as I paced around my room in my PJs. My hair was still wrapped up in a towel, and I was trying to talk myself out of finding a different set of clothes.

"This is fine. They're comfortable." I rambled to myself. "It's not like you're in nothing. And you can't play the game hiding in your room. Just… just do it." I exhaled heavily, moving toward the door.

A knock made me jump as I reached for the knob. I stood for a second so it didn't seem like I was standing right by the door before I plastered a casual look on my face. I turned the knob and let the door slowly slide open as I pulled my hair down from its towel. It fell in heavy curls that were still wet, dropping cold water across my shoulders and chest.

"Hey, Craig. What's up?" I said cooly, scrunching the ends of my hair in the towel. He didn't respond immediately, his gaze sliding over me in a heated once-over before reaching my face. I arched a brow curiously and smirked at him. "Can I do something for you?"

He made a strangled sound and shook his head, licking his lips nervously as a deep red crept across his intricately decorated skin. "Yeah… No! Wait."

I laughed and tossed the towel away. "You're cute. What do you need, Craig?"

"Uh… We're getting ready to set up for our game in a bit, and I just wanted to know if you wanted to sit in with us. You don't have to play if it's not your thing, but we ordered pizza and it's usually a pretty good time. And we're down–"

"I'd love to. I appreciate you asking." I smiled at him warmly, genuinely. He was adorable. "Fine if I come like this?" I asked, gesturing back to my outfit.

"Yeah…" His voice was barely a whisper as he gave me another once-over before clearing his throat. "Yeah, I don't see why not. We're just hanging out."