Page 33 of Happily Ever After… Again and Again

Jumping down from the bar, Tommy blinks, confused, like that had never occurred to him. “But then you wouldn’t have come. We couldn’t have enjoyed a couple’s pineapple-high-colonic together.”

Ouch.

And that’s when Luca snaps.

He grabs Doodle by the scruff and drops her into Nix’s arms with zero ceremony. The music halts, as if someone yanked the cord.

“Nix, my love,” Luca intones, deadly calm. “Hold our cat. Doodle, I will be having words about your disobedience post-haste.”

Then he turns on Tommy like a judgment in thigh-high socks.

The bigger man backs against the bar, eyes wide as Luca stalks forward.

“You,” he growls, low and menacing, “will never, ever look at my mate again. Or I will reach down your throat and play cat’s cradle with your entrails.”

Nix sways slightly, hard as a rock in under a second, praying no one notices the slick between his cheeks.

“Luc,” he whispers.

Doodle sneezes from the scorched coffee scent rolling off Luca’s fury.

But his mate’s not done.

With claws digging into Tommy’s shirt, Luca pulls him close, biting out, “And that won’t be the most painful part. I’ve got one hell of an imagination. Are we clear, Thomas?”

Tommy nods frantically, following it up by visibly peeing himself.

“Good,” Luca purrs, letting him collapse onto the counter. He swipes the phone, clears the livestream, and tucks it gently into Tommy’s now soggy waistband. He cracks the glass on Tommy’s contraband photo of Nix. Folding it neatly in half and then again in quarters, he tucks it inside Gideon’s jacket pocket.

“Say goodbye, Baby.”

“Bye,” Nix offers, voice all sugar, while his thoughts are filth.So hot.

The crowd parts like the Red Sea, and as soon as they step outside, the music resumes like nothing happened.

“Holy fuck, Luc. That was so hot,” Nix murmurs, wondering if he can suck Luca off in the alley and how much of a technicality it might be if he tells Gideon he made Luca do it. “Want you so bad right now.”

“I didn’t know I could do that. Wait till I tell the others I made him pee his pants—” He stops, visibly disappointed when he realizes they won’t be telling anyone anything of the sort.

It’s truly dark already, and they must have been in the club longer than Nix thought. He can’t tell what time it is exactly, but Jamie and Leo will be home before long. And while Nix might have been willing to risk Gideon’s wrath about Luca’s orgasm, he was not willing to risk Jamie’s disappointed meltdown about the Ducati.

“We gotta go. They’ll be home any minute.”

“Shit. Come here, Doods. You caused enough trouble today. You get to ride with me.” He unzips the jacket and slips her tiny black body inside.

This time, getting the bike moving is easier, but no less exciting.

Even with the clock ticking, Nix grins as he runs every red light, taking corners at high speeds. At one point, Nix takes a hill at sixty miles an hour, and the bike flies over the top. A look in the rearview mirror shows Luca’s eyes closed as he mouths what looks like a prayer to the Goddess.

But Doodle? Her tiny ears may be flat, eyes squinted against the wind, but he can feel her purring against his spine.

She might love this almost as much as he does.

Surely, when she escaped, she had only been seeking adventure. Broadening her horizons. New places, fresh faces, and the occasional mango smoothie.

He can relate.

At that moment, Nix vows to take her out whenever he can. He knows what it feels like to have his freedom curtailed—life just beyond the window, choices made for him out of genuine care, but feeling no less restrictivefor it.