Page 77 of Puck
“What’s the bad news, then?” Duke asked.
“Cain is still out there,” Harris said with a shrug. “Gone to ground for the time being, and I don’t think there’s any immediate chance of him popping up, since between us and Interpol we’ve taken down most of his high-ranking payroll members and freed all his so-called merchandise. But . . . he’s still alive, and we know he doesn’t forget.”
“So is it back to business as normal?” Thresh asked.
“Pretty much. We’ll keep our ears open and stay sharp, because that’s just how you stay alive in this business, but I think we’re in the clear. I know Ivar and Anselm both have a serious hard-on for taking Cain out, so I’m pretty sure between them, if that fucker can be found, they’ll find him and put a slug in his skull.”
He cast his gaze from person to person around the table. “Doesn’t mean go lax on the personal security measures, boys. You know that, but I feel compelled to remind you. Especially now that most of us have women to protect, just make sure you’re staying sharp. But I think, for now, we can put this whole stupid business behind us.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it stupid,” Layla pointed out. “If I were y’all, I’d almost thank Cain—thank him, and then kill him, but still thank him.”
“Thank his ass for what?” I demanded.
She smirked and pointed at Colbie, who was practically on my lap, and then at Temple and Lola, who were both pretty much straddling their respective men. “All of y’all. Thresh got Lola out of this whole thing, Duke got Temple, and you got Colbie. Sounds like a win all around, since all of us walked away intact.”
Duke, his arm in a sling, snorted. “Speak for yourself.”
Thresh laughed. “I second that.”
Layla rolled her eyes. “Oh, whatever. Don’t be pussies. You’ll both be back to deadlifting Volkswagens in no time.”
I acceded her point with a tilt of my head. “She has a point, fellas.”
Both Duke and Thresh glanced at me, at each other, and then at the women on their laps, and then at Layla.
“Yeah, well, still. I may be thankful, but the only thanks I’m gonna give Cain is a potshot,” Duke said.
“Leave that to someone else,” Temple said. “I’m taking you home with me to Beverly Hills. Mom is gonna flip when she meets you.”
Duke frowned. “You do realize I’ll fit in like a pit bull at a cat shelter in Beverly Hills, right?”
Temple just laughed. “That’s what I’m looking forward to.” She stroked his ridiculously chiseled jawline. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you get offers to model or act or both.”
I laughed. “That’d be the funniest shit in the world, if you get a gig moonlighting as an underwear model.”
Temple laughed. “It wouldn’t be underwear he’d be modeling,” she murmured under her breath, and then dissolved into giggles.
Which set off the rest of the women, and left us men staring at them like the slack-jawed mouth-breathers we all were.
“I feel like we missed a joke, Duke,” Thresh said.
Duke was suddenly studious about adding cream to his coffee, even though the dumb-shit took his coffee black, the only real way to drink coffee. “Speak for yourself,” he mumbled, shooting a grin at Temple.
The penny dropped, and Thresh just stared. “Dick models? Is that really a thing?” He eyed his own crotch dubiously. “I could probably do that.”
Lola choked on her orange juice, and once she recovered, patted him on the chest. “Yeah, you’d break the Internet if you did that. Maybe leave that to men with something to prove.”
Duke glared at her. “What exactly do you think I have to prove, woman?”
Thresh’s voice rumbled threateningly. “Don’t call her woman, jackass.”
“Don’t call me jackass, jackass.”
Temple and Lola exchangedmen are so stupidlooks as Thresh and Duke decided to resolve the matter with an arm wrestling match, even though both of them had an arm in a sling. It was funny to watch, though.
Layla stood beside Harris’s chair, leaning against him, running her fingers idly through his hair, watching the whole thing with an expression akin to a mother happily watching her grown boys horsing around.
Which wasn’t far from the truth, it seemed to me. She was the boss lady, after all.