“Not it,” Ryden said seconds before Lucky.
Mason let his head fall back with a groan. “Shiiiit.” With a heavy sigh, he sat up. “Fine. But you two owe me.”
Lucky winked at Mason. “I’ll make it up to you later, cariño.”
“I will not,” Ryden said, chuckling when Mason flipped him off. He also wasn’t going to be the guy who interrupted King on his honeymoon with Leo for work stuff, even if the two were due to return in a couple of days.
Mason called King and put him on speaker.
“What?”
Ryden held back a smile at King’s usual gruff greeting.
“Hey, King,” Mason replied cheerfully. “Sorry to bug ya on your honeymoon, but we kinda got somethin’ goin’ on here, and we wanted to run it by you before we made any kinda move.”
“Where’s Ace?” King asked, sounding suspiciously breathless, but Ryden wasnotabout to think about why that was.
“He’s out on a job and won’t return until tonight. This, uh, could potentially be dangerous.”
“Okay. Tell me.”
Mason provided all the information they had, and they waited. The phone went quiet while King processed everything.
“Ry, did any of the others approach you?” King asked.
“Well, uh. Kind of.”
“Meaning?”
Oh boy. The thing about King was that it wasveryhard to keep secrets from him. He had a way of getting you to spill the beans without saying a word, no matter how hard you told yourself you wouldn’t. And it didn’t matter whether it was over the phone, in person, or via email; it was a talent the man had. A very annoying talent.
“I knew somethin’ was up when Martin looked at me. He was walkin’ over, and I asked Jay to pretend to be my boyfriend. Later, I went to get us drinks at the cocktail hour, and Jay disappeared. He texted me ’bout where he was and said he might need me. I found him in the stairwell with one of the Marines. The guy had what looked like an iron grip on Jay’s arm. Jay acted like he’d been waitin’ for me. Then he, um, jumped into my arms, kissed me, and we, uh, started makin’ out. For appearances, obviously.”
A choked sound escaped Lucky, and Mason coughed into his fist.
There was a momentary pause before King spoke up. “Obviously. Go on.”
“The guy told me to get a room or take off the uniform, then stormed off when a door slammed upstairs somewhere. That’s where Martin had been talkin’ to one of the other Marines.”
King went quiet. “I don’t like this. You were right to bring me in. It could be something or nothing, but we can’t make that call until we know more about who these guys are. Impersonating military personnel isn’t something you do on a whim. Bring Ace, Red, Jack, and Joker into the loop. Have Jackdiscreetlylook into these guys. I don’t want any of them knowing we’re onto them. Keep an eye on Jay. I got a bad feeling about this.”
“Will do,” Mason replied. “Enjoy the rest of your honeymoon.”
“Thanks. I’ll?—”
“Ward, please,” Leo moaned.
“Gotta go,” King said gruffly and hung up.
Ryden blinked at the phone. Had they…? No. King wouldn’t have answered if he’d been in the middle of… “Were they?—”
“Nope.” Mason grabbed his phone and shoved it in his pocket. “Donotgo there, Marine.”
“I think they were,” Lucky said, waggling his eyebrows. “Or at least about to.”
“You shut your mouth!” Ryden put a hand on his chest and placed the other on his desk for support. “Oh God. Quick, I need somethin’ to replace that image.”
Lucky’s expression turned wicked. “Ace, Chip, and the tearaway pants.”
