Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. In fact, it was a good excuse to not get involved in any annoying festivities. He could stay in bed, watching TV and cuddling puppies. He just needed to steal Duchess and he’d have a complete set. Yeah, this was going to be fine.
CHAPTERTHREE
“Get back here so I can pummel you!”
Uh oh. Here we go again.
Gio stepped out of the kitchen in time to see Ace round the living room couch, Sacha hopping after him, swinging one of his crutches. Chip ran circles around them, barking, and poor Cookie looked very confused as he watched whatever madness was happening. Good thing the cabin’s living room was spacious.
With Ace, three grown dogs, and a puppy, there was no telling what piece of furniture or decorative accent might end up a casualty of their play. Gio’s biggest concern was why his boyfriend wore nothing but black boxer briefs.
“I was just trying to help!”
“I didn’t ask for your help! I don’t need help putting on my pants!”
Ace stopped at the opposite end of the long cream-colored couch and folded his arms over his chest, his smile smug. “Then why did you fall over?”
“Because some asshole came into my room while I was getting dressed and scared the shit out of me,” Sacha growled.
“You tripped on your pant leg.”
“Because they’re Gio’s yoga pants, and like the rest of you tall assholes, he’s a fucking redwood, so there’s a foot of extra fabric!”
A bit of an exaggeration. Depending on who Sacha stood next to, he wasn’tthatmuch shorter. Okay, maybe there were at least six to seven inches of extra fabric when Sacha wore Gio’s pants, but not an extra foot.
“Stop running,” Sacha demanded, hopping on his good foot and using his crutch to help him maneuver around the living room.
“So you can hurt me? Um, no.”
“Oh, you mean how the floor hurt my body when I collided with it? Because ofyou?”
Ace put his hands up in front of him. “I’ll knock next time.”
“There will be no next time!”
“Darling,” Gio said gently as he walked to Sacha. “Why don’t we go back upstairs? I’ll finish making your hot chocolate and bring it to you in bed. We could watch a movie.”
Sacha narrowed his eyes at Ace. “Babe, I need you to take this crutch and whack him.”
“I’m sure Ace meant well.”
“See?” Ace said. “Not my fault. You’re just being grumpy, and I understand. You have every right to be a grumpy pants. Speaking of pants, you might want to put some on. Just saying.”
Sacha lunged at Ace, but Gio threw his arms around him, catching him before he could fall. Again. Sacha tried to hit Ace with his crutch, but considering how far away Ace stood, he was mainly swinging at the air. The front door opened, and everyone flooded in, stopping inside to stare at them. They must’ve made quite the picture. Not that any of their family would be at all surprised by this situation.
“I don’t want to know,” King grumbled, heading for the kitchen.
Sacha thrust his crutch in Ace’s direction. “It’shisfault.”
“I’m sure it is,” King said as he walked to the fridge, not in the least bit fazed by whatever was happening.
“Ouch.” Ace put a hand to his heart.
“Did Ace steal your clothes?” Leo asked. He frowned at Ace. “Why would you steal his clothes? He’s injured.”
“I didn’t steal his clothes. He fell out of them. Wait, that didn’t come out right.” Ace shook his head, then burst into laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Sacha demanded.
