Page 19

SARIEL

“This is Lori the Magnificent, what can’t I do for you?”

I roll my eyes at the way he answers the phone. “It’s Sari.”

“Hey, Angel. I’m having an Irish coffee with Ollie, want to join us?”

“I can’t. I’m at work.” I check the door of my lab, but Uri is still in Raph’s office.

“I need a favor.”

He hums. “I’ll do it if you give me something in exchange.”

“Just do it, Lor,” I hear Ollie scold him.

“Shush!”

“What do you want from me?” I ask.

“It’s pretty easy. Kiss a guy in front of Uri.”

Saliva goes into the wrong tube, and I start coughing.

“Look what you’ve done? That’s pretty shitty even for you,” Ollie barks at Lori over the line.

“That’s an oxymoron. Shit cannot be pretty,” Lori snaps back.

“That’s horribly shitty of you, then.”

“How dare you!”

When I’m able to breathe normally again, I question Lori, “Why do you want me to kiss a guy in front of Uri?”

“I’m tired of waiting. You both have enough pent-up sexual energy to power Chicago!” he huffs.

Is he suggesting that Uri and I…we… “I-I can’t do that! I want you to take me away from him…for the night. Tonight.” I gesture animatedly while talking.

“Did something happen?” Ollie sounds worried, which is the last thing I want. A few minutes, and all my brothers will converge here to find out who dared upset me.

“Beats me if I know what is going on between those two!” Lori mutters.

“I just need some fun time,” I hurriedly get out.

“Away from Uri?” Ollie’s voice is skeptical. Crap!

“I get it, Angel. A-holes be crazy. ” Lori saves me from answering. “Bugger! This goes against my bet,” I think I hear him mumble.

“Who cares?” Ollie counters. “This is more important than a bet.”

What bet? My brothers are always laying wagers on…anything. I can barely keep up.

“Alright. I can never say no to you, it would be like committing sacrilege against a celestial being.” His silly statement still lifts a weight off my shoulders.

I’m running away from Uri; it’s childish and cowardly. But since he eavesdropped on my conversation with Linda at the hospital yesterday, I feel like there’s an insurmountable brick wall between us. A wall I don’t feel ready to face, yet.

“Where do you want to go?” Ollie asks.

“A club?” But I’m not in the mood for dancing. “No, a bar. I want to drink.” And forget.

“Shitface-night it is. I’ll come with Ollie and bring Michael too. They need to leave their ball-and-chains at home.”

“I’ll tell Gabe you call him that, you fucker.”

“I didn’t, you daft prick. I was referring to your husbands,” Lori responds.

“I dare you to say it to Raph’s face!”

“Are you sure you want to vex me when you need to borrow clothes from my wardrobe for tonight?”

“Fuck! If I die in one of your George Michael short-shorts and crop tops, I’ll be extra pissed off,” Ollie clips.

“Why?” I ask.

“’Coz it will be my ghost attire, and I’ll be stuck in that horror for eternity!”

“Ghosts don’t exist,” I hazard.

“We’ll pick you up from work? I’ll bring a change for you, as well. We’ll be there in an hour and a shake,” Lori lets me know.

“A shake?”

“One long blink and a cha-cha.” Lori keeps confusing me.

“Cha-cha?”

“Quit the nonsense, Lor.” Olli sighs, and I hear an “ouch” followed by a curse. “Be downstairs in an hour.”

Fifty eight minutes later, I’m in the Bear-Stone Labs building lobby with Michael and Raph. Thankfully, Uri had to go check one of his restaurants. He told me to wait for him, which I never had any intention of doing.

While Raph and Michael are shamelessly making out near the elevators, I send Uri a text to let him know I’ll be with the guys tonight—maybe I can ask Ollie to stay at his place.

I haven’t seen Sully in a couple of weeks, and Albert E.

will be fine in his big room. I put my phone on silent mode just as I wince at the loud sound of a long honk from outside.

I follow the noise out of the building; the cold weather hits my face, making me pull the collar of my coat up. My eyes find Ollie’s Jeep pretty quickly under the yellow light of the lampposts. He’s in the driver’s seat, trying to bat Lori’s hands from the horn.

“Stop it! You’re acting crazier than usual.” Ollie huffs with exasperation, adjusting his clothes.

Lori leans back into the passenger seat. “Not acting here.” He turns on the windshield wipers.

Ollie stops the squeaky sound, glaring at his best friend. “Now it’s edging into insanity!”

I open the back door and climb inside the car.

“Edging…I wish!” Lori snorts and then touches the wiper lever again. The squeaky sound is back. “I can never find a windshield wiper setting that truly satisfies me. Too slow, too fast, too discontinuous.”

I see Lori’s hand moving toward the lever near the wheel again.

“I got it, you’re pissed at Bez, but I swear if you touch that switch, I’ll… Oww! You bit me.” Ollie is rubbing his cotton-clad forearm, sending a murderous look at Lori.

“I’m feral.” Lori smirks wickedly at him.

“You should get a shot,” Michael giggles, appearing near the car.

“A rabies shot,” Raph states, helping his husband into the seat next to mine.

Lori crosses his arms, looking like a capricious child. “Ollie, you can’t drive with an injured arm. I’ll do it.”

He’s instantly shot down by everyone in a chorus—including me. Lori’s driving is scary. The memory I have of it sends a cold shudder down my spine.

“I’ll take Michael home right now if you even think about driving,” Raph growls, half bent inside the car, stern eyes on Lori.

“You’ll find whatever excuse to lock your hubby up for a rabbit-bonking-long month of Sundays.” Lori passes me the clothes I should wear tonight.

Raph growls low. “Where are you going?”

Nobody answers, so Michael cups my brother’s cheek. “You can track my phone, okay? I’ll text you when I’m ready to come home.”

“You better behave, piglet.” Raph sounds threatening.

But Michael simply smiles excitedly at him.“Oooor?”

“Message him the rest, we are losing light here.”

It’s technically dark already, but I do understand what Ollie means. Raph grabs Michael’s nape and lands a bruising kiss on his lips before turning my way. “Uri is looking for you.” His intense look is reading every single thought inside my head.

“I need this. Keep him away.” I turn my pleading eyes toward my big brother. Will Raph help me? I can’t tell by his blank face.

As soon as he slams the car door, Ollie drives away.

My phone keeps vibrating inside my bag, and I keep ignoring it.

“Bloody hell, talk about clinginess.” Lori makes a pfft sound. “Alright!” He turns toward me and Michael. “Your mission tonight, if you choose to accept it, is to get disgustingly drunk and shake your ass till it does it by itself.”

Ollie lets out a “Whoo-hoo!”

“Now, Sari, we all know you’re a gaygin .”

I frown at Lori as I start changing into the clothes he handed me.

“Gay-virgin,” Michael explains. It makes me blush; is it that obvious?

“So, I’ve been thinking—” he keeps going.

“Don’t hurt your mind,” Ollie taunts him.

“Sharp-tongued harpy, give me a little kissy-wissy.” Lori starts making smacking sounds with his lips.

“So you’ll bite my face too? I don’t think so. You’re such a pain in the ass!”

Lori proudly states, “I’m so stunning when others see their own reflections, they puke.”

“You’re right about the puking part; you’re a bit confused about who’s reflection they see.” Another taunt.

“Where are we going?” Michael asks, halting the banter.

“I don’t know, which is very Thelma and Louise of us.” Lori winks in the rearview mirror.

“They die in the end, right?” I don’t really watch TV or go to the movies, so I’m not sure.

“Let’s drive around and stop randomly every five minutes. It will drive our men wild while they’re tracking us.”

“Oh! We can use my stalking kit!”

“Isn’t this Ollie’s car?” Michael asks Lori.

“There’s one in the trunk.”

“What is that doing in my trunk?” Ollie frowns.

“First of all, this is Sully’s Jeep, not yours. And second, none of you crybabies let me drive anymore, so I stashed one in each car.” He shrugs.

“How did you pull that off?” Michael asks.

“I had some external help.”

“Clover,” I guess, pulling my pants down.

“B-I-ngo!” Lori beams, until he sees Ollie. “You look like I ran over your cat.”

“You almost did it once!” Ollie barks.

“Did I? Am I supposed to remember all the animals I ran over?”

“You’re supposed to not do it,” Michael tells him.

“They were mostly sewer rats and cockroaches.”

“The latter are insects,” I tell him.

Lori pouts for a moment. “Okay. Let’s go back to the juicy conversation. Sari, I’ll make it my personal mission to find you a nice, hot bloke to help you get off tonight.”

“For the love of God,” I hear Ollie mutter.

“I’m okay, Lori,” I try. Do I want his help? Maybe I do need it since past experience didn’t go so well.

“It’s going to be easy. Maybe you won’t even need me.”

“I won’t?” I ask hopefully.

“Adorable if naive. You are too unaware of yourself, Angel. I’ll help with the screening process, alright?”

I nod, a bit confused by his words. My phone stopped vibrating. Did Raph distract Uri? Or did Uri get fed up? The last possibility upsets me. I’m such a mess.

“Rami told me about a place the other day,” Michael suddenly says, checking his phone. “It’s a bar not too far from here. I’m sending you the pin.”

“Got it.” Ollie taps on the Jeep’s navigation screen. “I need the booze to do its work. Being sober just leads to murderous thoughts,” Ollie grumbles, sending a glance to his right where Lori is happily humming what sounds like “Livin’ la Vida Loca.”

After fifteen minutes, Ollie parks the red Jeep on the street and we make our way to the bar. The wooden sign reads Wine, Cock, and Beer.