“Rafael,” I corrected him. “Good to see you.”
“It is, isn’t it?” He grinned at Alessio and then checked his watch. “Figured you would’ve tracked us twenty minutes ago.”
“I did. We were busy.” Alessio gestured for me to enter first and then knocked into Lachlan’s shoulder as we passed.
Inside, the entire group waited in the escape room’s colorful lobby, looking entirely out of place even with all of them wearing casual clothes—something else I’d never seen. They’d always worn suits for their late-night visits, but I had to admit that this was a nice change of pace.
Even as one by one, they all turned in our direction, their laughs and conversation coming to an abrupt halt at seeing the two of us together.
Their half of the room went dead silent, until Alessio muttered, “Fuck it,” and reached for my hand. A couple of jaws dropped, and Benoit made the motion of literally picking his up off the floor.“You all know Rafael,” Alessio said, giving my fingers a squeeze. “Don’t make it fucking weird.”
King didn’t miss a beat then, stepping forward and extending his hand to me. “It’s good to see you in the daylight. And you’ve dragged Alessio out of his cave, so that’s an accomplishment.”
“You make it sound like we’re vampires.” Alessio rolled his eyes, but I smiled and shook King’s hand.
“Thanks for inviting us out.”
“He saidus,” Benoit stage-whispered. “And oh my God, they’re holding hands.”
“Maybe don’t say God,” Theo said.
“Merde.”
“Maybe don’t say that either.”
Alessio groaned. “Hey, assholes. We’re not zoo animals.”
“Your hair begs to differ,” Lachlan said, which earned him a choice finger from my guy.
Lucien, smooth and unbothered as always, walked up after King, a soft expression on his face as he looked between the two of us. “Always a pleasure, father.”
I shook his hand warmly, while Alessio still held tight to my other. “Call me Rafael, please.”
“Right, sorry. Rafael.” Lucien let out a small laugh. “That’s going to take some getting used to, but King’s right. We’re glad you’re here.”
I smiled back at him, his charm always infectious, especially with the newlywed glow about him. “Thank you, Lucien.”
The others greeted me then, and by the time the line got to Shep, he leaned in and said, “Blink twice if he kidnapped you. I’m great with extractions.”
Alessio’s “Fuck off” had the group laughing, and I figured now was a good time to ask what we were doing at an escape room, of all places.
“Consider this your introduction to our world and what we do,” Shep said, waggling his brows beneath the bill of his hat.
Actually, Theo was wearing one too, and I was reminded that these were two of the most recognizable men in the world. It had never occurred to me, having only seen them in private, that they’d want to keep a low profile when they ventured out in the world, but it made sense.
“Come on, this is nothing,” Lachlan grumbled. “A five-year-old would be able to unlock these rooms.”
King leveled a smirk in his direction. “You’re begging for a bet. You go a second over time and I will never let you forget it.”
“You’re on.”
“All right, all right,” Alessio said, “let’s get this over with.”
“Can’t.” Lucien pointed to one of the screens in the corner, where “Brenda’s Birthday Squad” still commandeered all of the rooms at forty-two minutes and counting. “The limit’s an hour, though, so it won’t be much longer.”
Shep let out a low whistle. “Damn, they’re fighting for their lives in there.”
“Well now, as we have time,” Theo said, his eyes full of wicked mischief, “I think it’s only fair that, since the rest of us had to spill dirty details about our love lives, we should get yours now too.”
