Page 75 of X's and O's

In fact, some stupid part of me was entirely turned on by the whole macho display.

Not that I would admit that to either of them.

The restaurant door opened, and my mouth dropped open when a familiar face strolled through the restaurant.

He stopped when he spotted me. “Omelet!”

I blinked; sure I was seeing things. Or perhaps having a stroke.

Fang, the big blond man who’d come in with Levi, glanced at me. “Did he just call you…”

“Omelet,” I agreed, realizing I wasn’t having a medical episode, more’s the pity. Instinctively, I edged closer to Fang and away from the psychopath I couldn’t seem to ditch.

Whip raised an eyebrow in X’s direction. “What are you doing here? And why are you calling her…” His voice trailed off, and then he pointed at X with a groan. “No. Nooooo.” He looked between the two of us like he was at a tennis match. One he wasn’t happy about the outcome of.

X came right over to me and put his arm around my shoulders, as if we were best friends. “Omelet, meet Whip. Whip, Omelet.”

I still had no idea why he was calling me that.

But Whip was groaning like it all made sense to him.Grayson walked in a second later, followed by a couple of other men I didn’t recognize, until the kitchen was full of big, male bodies.

And me.

Grayson stared at me. “Violet? What are you doing here?”

X leaned over and hissed. “Gray, you gotta call her Omelet while we’re in group. You said.”

Whip moaned again. “She’s the one you’re in love with?”

X nodded gleefully. “Yep!” He stared down at me with adoring eyes.

I shrugged out of his embrace. “He’s not in love with me.” Then I frowned. “Wait, you two know each other?” I glanced at Grayson, completely baffled. “I don’t understand what’s going on here.”

Grayson ran a hand through his hair. “I really wish I didn’t either. But let me break it down so we’re all on the same page. X calls you Omelet because he’s mentioned you a few times during our support group meetings. We told him not to use real names—”

“And Omelet was way cuter than eggs,” X explained. “You know, because you threw them at me? It was either that or vibrator—”

“X!” I snapped at him.

His eyes went big. “See! That’s why Ididn’tcall you that. I knew you wouldn’t like it!”

I stared at Grayson helplessly. “Please make it stop.”

He sighed. “I would if I knew how.”

Whip looked like he was in physical pain. “So what you’re saying is I was out on a date with X’s woman?”

X’s head snapped up. “You what?” He glanced at me. “You were on a date with Whip?” He leaned in. “You know he’s a lion tamer, right? Very dangerous job. He’ll probably be dead within a week. Not a good choice for a mate.”

I stared at him. “What?”

He shrugged, but then his gaze turned back to Whip. “I challenge you to a duel, sir.”

Whip squinted. “What the fuck for?”

“For her hand, of course!”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Grayson shouted. “Everybody just stop, please, while I try to work this out. X is in love with Violet. Violet and Whip were on a date.” He glanced at Levi. “And you…”