Page 61 of X's and O's

Ace leaned back in his chair, making it squeak beneath his heavy weight. “I knit.”

Grayson got excited over that too. “Fantastic! Maybeyou could lead the others in learning if you already have experience?”

Ace nodded. “Sure. Anytime. I should maybe mention though, that the only thing I actually ended up knitting was a noose.” He shrugged. “Old habits die hard, you know?”

I snorted on a laugh. “Did it hold up when you used it?”

He sniggered. “Nah, I missed so many stitches and tied up the ends so badly that as soon as I had it around the guy’s neck it snapped, and then we went through this whole thing where I had to chase him down again. But the upside was I still had the knitting needles, so I just stabbed him with one of those instead.”

I couldn’t stop laughing, both at the image of Ace chasing a victim around with an old lady pair of knitting needles and at Grayson’s horrified expression.

He coughed uncomfortably. “Okay, maybe we start with something more simple. Everyone, close your eyes.”

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered.

Grayson gave me a look, and I settled back, crossing my arms over my chest. Grudgingly, I closed my eyes.

“Let’s all take a deep breath. Now hold it for three. One…two…three.”

There was an audible sigh from each of the men around me.

Trig muttered something about his brother’s counting being so slow he’d nearly asphyxiated.

Grayson ignored him and carried on. “Okay, now when you breathe in, I want you to focus on a peaceful place. Picture it in your mind. What do you hear?”

“Screams. Sweet, sweet screams.”

I cracked an eye open to peek at X.

His eyes were definitely not closed, and he shrugged at me. “Screams in the dark peaceful night? Screams in the quiet alley. Screams in the shadowy woods! Where am I going wrong? Can we do something else now?”

Grayson scrubbed a hand over his face. “That something else should be getting you tested for ADHD, but sure. Floor’s open. Anyone want to talk—”

X was practically bouncing on his seat with his need to speak. “I need to know how to make a woman love me back.”

Grayson squinted at him. “That’s not exactly what I meant by talk. I meant about your feelings toward killing—”

“Fine. I would kill to make Vi—”

“Ah!” Grayson interrupted, like he was admonishing a toddler. “If you were about to say her name, don’t. No real names in here, X. That goes for anyone you might be interested in too.”

His eyebrows pulled together in a frown. “What am I supposed to call her then?”

“Whatever you want. Give her a code name, like all of you have.”

He screwed up his face, then it smoothed out into a grin. “I would kill to make Omelet my lover.”

I snorted on a laugh so hard tears sprang to my eyes. The group erupted with me, and even Doc struggled to keep a straight face.

He got up, shaking his head. “I need a drink to deal with all of you tonight. Anyone else want one?”

All of us raised our hands. Grayson just brought backthe bottle and, after taking a swig of dark brown liquid, he passed it around.

Couldn’t blame him. Dealing with X would drive anyone to drink.

I took the bottle and downed a slug of whiskey before handing it to X. “Okay, so if you want to make…Omelet…your girl, you just need to do nice things for her.”

“I did! I brought her flowers.”