“Oh God!” Ryden smacked his hands over his eyes despite knowing it would do nothing to getthatdisturbing image out of his head. He ignored Mason laughing his ass off. “Why?” Ryden moved a hand away and thrust a finger at Lucky. “You’re an asshole, Morales!”
Lucky cackled. “You wanted a new image. I gave you one.”
“Of your fool cousin and his naked ass!” It was all Joker’s fault. The moment he discovered Ace had been wearing tearaway pants for whatever sexcapades he’d had planned for Colton, he’d slipped a bacon dog treat into Ace’s pocket and sentChip to “find it.” When Chip latched onto the side of the pants with bacon in the pocket, pulling the leg clean off Ace, Ryden had laughed so hard he couldn’t see from the tears. Unfortunately, Chip hadn’t stopped there.
Seeing Ace attempting to run down a sandy beach, naked from the waist down, cupping himself in a feeble attempt at modesty, was not an image Ryden had wanted seared into his brain, but there it was.
Lucky dropped onto the couch beside Mason. “You know Jack and Joker have video.”
“Of course they do,” Ryden muttered, shaking his head, hoping he could knock that image of Ace loose.
The room plunged into silence, and Ryden glanced up, groaning at the shit-eating grins on his friends’ faces. Damn, and here he’d hoped maybe they’d forgotten about it.
“So,” Lucky said, tilting his head to one side, his eyes twinkling. “You and Jay made out, huh? You conveniently left that part out of your story when you told us.”
“It wasn’t relevant,” Ryden muttered.
Mason hummed. “But it suddenly became relevant when you told King?”
“You know he’s not going to let that go,” Lucky added.
“Yes, thank you. I know. Doesn’t matter because nothing’s gonna happen between us.”
Lucky arched an eyebrow at him. “Why? It’s about time if you ask me. Six years, bro. Six years of watching you two playing your little game.”
“Fuck off. No one’s playin’ any game.” Is that what everyone thought? That he and Jay had been playing games?
“What did you do this time?” Lucky asked.
“Why the hell do you assume it was me?”
Lucky pursed his lips. “So you didn’t say anything that set him off?”
“For your information, I said I didn’t want him anywhere near this because he’s not a Marine. That I didn’t want him gettin’ himself into trouble and gettin’ hurt.”
Lucky sighed. “Really, bro? You couldn’t have just said you didn’t want to see him get hurt because you care about him?”
“I did. That’s what I said,” Ryden replied through his teeth.
“No,” Lucky said, standing. “You said he would do something to get himself in trouble and implied that because he was not skilled enough or strong enough, he wouldn’t be able to get himself out of it.”
Ryden frowned. “That ain’t what I said, but even if it was implied, he’snotskilled or strong enough to face a group of Marines. Hell, none of us could take them on by ourselves and win. It’s math.”
Lucky’s expression softened. “And I understand that. I am saying that we all carry baggage, and Jay is no different. He needed to hear you were concerned for him and his safety, not that he wasn’t enough.”
Fucking hell. When had Lucky become the voice of reason? He wasn’t wrong, though. “Yeah, I guess I coulda executed that better.” Ryden had never been very good at talking about his feelings, and the fact that Jay had a way of flipping his world upside down didn’t help. “Thanks, fellas.”
“What are you going to do?” Mason asked.
“Apologize. Again. Maybe find a way to make it up to him.”
“And if he forgives you?” Lucky prompted.
“Then we move on,” Ryden replied with a shrug.
Lucky and Mason exchanged glances again.
“What? We don’t fit. Yeah, makin’ out with him was hot, but we can’t go a day without pushin’ each other’s buttons. Our truce lasted for shit. That ain’t the foundation for a long, healthy relationship.”
