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“Where’s Ace?” King asked, sounding suspiciously breathless, but Ryden was not about to think about why that was.

“He’s out on a job and won’t return until tonight. This, uh, could potentially be dangerous.”

“Okay. Tell me.”

Mason provided all the information they had, and they waited. The phone went quiet while King processed everything.

“Ry, did any of the others approach you?” King asked.

“Well, uh. Kind of.”

“Meaning?”

Oh boy. The thing about King was that it was very hard to keep secrets from him.

He had a way of getting you to spill the beans without saying a word, no matter how hard you told yourself you wouldn’t.

And it didn’t matter whether it was over the phone, in person, or via email; it was a talent the man had. A very annoying talent.

“I knew somethin’ was up when Martin looked at me.

He was walkin’ over, and I asked Jay to pretend to be my boyfriend.

Later, I went to get us drinks at the cocktail hour, and Jay disappeared.

He texted me ’bout where he was and said he might need me.

I found him in the stairwell with one of the Marines.

The guy had what looked like an iron grip on Jay’s arm.

Jay acted like he’d been waitin’ for me.

Then he, um, jumped into my arms, kissed me, and we, uh, started makin’ out. For appearances, obviously.”

A choked sound escaped Lucky, and Mason coughed into his fist.

There was a momentary pause before King spoke up. “Obviously. Go on.”

“The guy told me to get a room or take off the uniform, then stormed off when a door slammed upstairs somewhere. That’s where Martin had been talkin’ to one of the other Marines.”

King went quiet. “I don’t like this. You were right to bring me in.

It could be something or nothing, but we can’t make that call until we know more about who these guys are.

Impersonating military personnel isn’t something you do on a whim.

Bring Ace, Red, Jack, and Joker into the loop.

Have Jack discreetly look into these guys.

I don’t want any of them knowing we’re onto them.

Keep an eye on Jay. I got a bad feeling about this. ”

“Will do,” Mason replied. “Enjoy the rest of your honeymoon.”

“Thanks. I’ll?—”

“Ward, please,” Leo moaned.

“Gotta go,” King said gruffly and hung up.

Ryden blinked at the phone. Had they…? No. King wouldn’t have answered if he’d been in the middle of… “Were they?—”

“Nope.” Mason grabbed his phone and shoved it in his pocket. “Do not go there, Marine.”

“I think they were,” Lucky said, waggling his eyebrows. “Or at least about to.”

“You shut your mouth!” Ryden put a hand on his chest and placed the other on his desk for support. “Oh God. Quick, I need somethin’ to replace that image.”

Lucky’s expression turned wicked. “Ace, Chip, and the tearaway pants.”

“Oh God!” Ryden smacked his hands over his eyes despite knowing it would do nothing to get that disturbing image out of his head. He ignored Mason laughing his ass off. “ Why ?” Ryden moved a hand away and thrust a finger at Lucky. “You’re an asshole, Morales!”

Lucky cackled. “You wanted a new image. I gave you one.”

“Of your fool cousin and his naked ass!” It was all Joker’s fault.

The moment he discovered Ace had been wearing tearaway pants for whatever sexcapades he’d had planned for Colton, he’d slipped a bacon dog treat into Ace’s pocket and sent Chip to “find it.” When Chip latched onto the side of the pants with bacon in the pocket, pulling the leg clean off Ace, Ryden had laughed so hard he couldn’t see from the tears.

Unfortunately, Chip hadn’t stopped there.

Seeing Ace attempting to run down a sandy beach, naked from the waist down, cupping himself in a feeble attempt at modesty, was not an image Ryden had wanted seared into his brain, but there it was.

Lucky dropped onto the couch beside Mason. “You know Jack and Joker have video.”

“Of course they do,” Ryden muttered, shaking his head, hoping he could knock that image of Ace loose.

The room plunged into silence, and Ryden glanced up, groaning at the shit-eating grins on his friends’ faces. Damn, and here he’d hoped maybe they’d forgotten about it.

“So,” Lucky said, tilting his head to one side, his eyes twinkling. “You and Jay made out, huh? You conveniently left that part out of your story when you told us.”

“It wasn’t relevant,” Ryden muttered.

Mason hummed. “But it suddenly became relevant when you told King?”

“You know he’s not going to let that go,” Lucky added.

“Yes, thank you. I know. Doesn’t matter because nothing’s gonna happen between us.”

Lucky arched an eyebrow at him. “Why? It’s about time if you ask me. Six years, bro. Six years of watching you two playing your little game.”

“Fuck off. No one’s playin’ any game.” Is that what everyone thought? That he and Jay had been playing games?

“What did you do this time?” Lucky asked.

“Why the hell do you assume it was me?”

Lucky pursed his lips. “So you didn’t say anything that set him off?”

“For your information, I said I didn’t want him anywhere near this because he’s not a Marine. That I didn’t want him gettin’ himself into trouble and gettin’ hurt.”

Lucky sighed. “Really, bro? You couldn’t have just said you didn’t want to see him get hurt because you care about him?”

“I did. That’s what I said,” Ryden replied through his teeth.

“No,” Lucky said, standing. “You said he would do something to get himself in trouble and implied that because he was not skilled enough or strong enough, he wouldn’t be able to get himself out of it.”

Ryden frowned. “That ain’t what I said, but even if it was implied, he’s not skilled or strong enough to face a group of Marines. Hell, none of us could take them on by ourselves and win. It’s math.”

Lucky’s expression softened. “And I understand that. I am saying that we all carry baggage, and Jay is no different. He needed to hear you were concerned for him and his safety, not that he wasn’t enough.”

Fucking hell. When had Lucky become the voice of reason? He wasn’t wrong, though. “Yeah, I guess I coulda executed that better.” Ryden had never been very good at talking about his feelings, and the fact that Jay had a way of flipping his world upside down didn’t help. “Thanks, fellas.”

“What are you going to do?” Mason asked.

“Apologize. Again. Maybe find a way to make it up to him.”

“And if he forgives you?” Lucky prompted.

“Then we move on,” Ryden replied with a shrug.

Lucky and Mason exchanged glances again.

“What? We don’t fit. Yeah, makin’ out with him was hot, but we can’t go a day without pushin’ each other’s buttons. Our truce lasted for shit. That ain’t the foundation for a long, healthy relationship.”

Mason and Lucky broke into peals of laughter. What the hell? What was he missing? Because Ryden was definitely missing something. Mason wiped a tear from his eye as he stood, Lucky following.

“You’re right, Marine.” Mason wrapped his arm around Lucky and pulled him in, popping a kiss on his lips. “I don’t know any fellas ’round here in long, healthy relationships who push each other’s buttons.”

Lucky poked Mason’s side, his grin wide. “Cabrón.”

Oh. Well, shit.

“We’ll talk to Jack on our way out,” Mason said.

Lucky paused at the door. “Talk to Jay.”

“He can’t,” Mason said. “Jay’s not in the office.”

“Where is he?” Ryden asked.

“Um….”

“Mason?”

Mason’s expression was apologetic. “He’s out on a date.” He walked out, and Lucky met Ryden’s gaze.

“Don’t wait too long to figure things out, bro. Jay isn’t going to wait around forever.”

Who said Jay was waiting around at all?

Before Ryden could answer, Lucky was gone, closing the door behind him.

As much as Ryden appreciated the support, whatever was going on between him and Jay was far more complicated than whatever had happened between Lucky and Mason.

They might have had a rough start, but they were meant to be together.

The two were more alike than they thought.

Jay and Ryden? They had nothing in common.

Jay wore trendy outfits and drank fancy coffee.

He read more books in a week than Ryden did in a year.

Ryden wore nothing but T-shirts, took his coffee black, and fell asleep on the couch watching TV.

Jay was a romantic who wore his heart on his sleeve, and Ryden sometimes wondered if Jay refused to believe Ryden had a heart.

Whatever Mason and Lucky thought, they were wrong.

Jay and Ryden had no future together, so why risk his heart knowing it would only lead to heartache?

Ryden turned off everything in his office and headed out, making his way toward the elevator. Everyone who wasn’t on a job had gone home for the day. He’d just hit the button when his phone rang. With a grin, he answered.

“Hey, Frank. How’s?—”

“You need to get over to the Urban Unicorn now .”

“The fuck is an urban unicorn?”

“It’s one of those fancy burger places. I’m on my way there. Joshua messaged me. He was having dinner with Jay and?—”

Ryden stepped into the elevator, confused. “Wait, Jay was on a date with Joshua?”

“What? No. Jay canceled his date and asked Joshua to meet him for dinner.”

Jay canceled his date? Ryden’s pulse quickened at the possibility that Jay might have canceled because of what had happened between them.

“I texted you the address.”

Wait. Why did Frank sound rattled? Frank was not the kind of man who got rattled. Not unless someone he loved was in danger. “Frank, what happened?”

“Someone tried to kidnap Jay.”