“Why now, though?” Ace asked.
Gio shrugged. “Probably because he has nothing left. Last I heard, his boss had been caught and imprisoned, along with the rest of his men, and everything had been seized. Angelo clearly avoided arrest. Who else could he blame for losing everything?”
“Um, himself,” Lucky offered.
King shook his head. “You’re thinking like a rational person, Eduardo. Men like Angelo aren’t rational.”
Lucky sighed. “True.”
King stood. “We’ll let you two get some rest. Call us if you need anything.”
“Thanks,” Joker replied, grateful his brothers always had his back. “Oh, Ace. Take a couple of those fruit baskets with you.”
Ace scanned the counter. “Really, bro? You have a candy aisle’s worth of snack baskets, and you’re giving me fruit? Iswept your floor. That at least deserves one of the small snack baskets.”
“Fine,” Joker huffed, not really caring, but he couldn’t give Ace the basket without busting his balls. “You know what? Because I’m feeling magnanimous, you can have one of the big baskets. But not that one,” he said, pointing to one of the big cellophane-wrapped baskets with a giant brown bow. “That cookie basket has my favorite cookies, and if you touch it, I’ll make sure you get nothing but fruit as snacks for the rest of your life.”
“Ouch. Also, spell ‘magnanimous,’” Ace teased.
“Take your basket and fuck off, Anston.”
Ace cackled and grabbed one of the massive snack baskets before hurrying off with it, Lucky on his heels, the two arguing over who was getting what. Dorks. Joker turned to his brothers.
“No, seriously, guys. Take some baskets before they fill up the rest of the house. Jack, take your man some flowers.”
“Um, okay.” He scanned the room. “Who the hell sent you a tree?”
“It’s an orange tree,” Gio chuckled. “And that was from Ryden.”
Jack snorted. “Of course it was. Aw, everyone loves yousomuch.”
“Don’t make me hurt you, Jacopo. Take your flowers and go.”
Jack laughed and grabbed some flowers for Fitz. The others also took some baskets and flowers, and yet their living room was still full.
“How are there still so many?” Joker said, then yawned. Gio laced their fingers together and kissed Joker’s cheek.
“Let’s go upstairs, sweetheart.”
They made sure everything was locked and secure for the night before heading upstairs with the dogs. The house was quiet and peaceful, but Joker wasn’t worried about the house. Oncethey’d washed up and gotten into bed with Chip and Cookie settled in at their feet, Joker faced Gio and cupped his cheek.
“You were so fucking brave.”
Tears welled in Gio’s eyes. “I was so angry. Not because he blamed me for his actions, but because he said he was going to take my family from me. All I could think about was how close I came to losing you because of that son of a bitch, and here he was, in our home, threatening my family. Maybe it was the emotional exhaustion, or all the tension from the last few days hitting me at once, but when he hurt Chip, I was furious. I think, um…I kinda lost my shit. I kind of surprised myself.”
“I’m not surprised,” Joker said, running his thumb over Gio’s bottom lip. “You are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. You’re beautiful, gentle, and so fucking brave and strong.” He frowned. “When I saw him pinning you to the wall, I was terrified. Your life was in danger, and I could barely get myself downstairs.”
Gio shook his head. “No. None of what’s happened is on us. We were protecting our family.” He smiled softly and kissed Joker’s fingers. Mischief filled his eyes. “Your doctor is going to be so mad at you. When she said gentle exercise, I’m pretty sure she didn’t mean knife throwing.”
Joker waggled his eyebrows. “It was a badass throw, though, wasn’t it?”
Gio hummed and kissed Sacha. “So badass.”
“Did it turn you on? It turned you on, didn’t it?”
Gio laughed softly, leaning in to kiss Sacha when a big furry menace crawled up the bed in between them and rolled onto his back, paws up as he attacked Joker and Gio with doggy kisses.
“Way to ruin the moment,” Joker said, wiping his face. He chuckled and rubbed Chip’s belly. His smile faded. “You know, I think it’s time for Chip to retire.”
