“I agree, love. We should do it. I think it’s…”
“Important,” he says, again stealing the word from my mouth.
I kiss him once more, and we get lost in it for a moment, until we hear a grumbling, “I don’t have all day, niños. If you want to suck face, do it on your own time.”
We look at the ceilings again. Prying away from Byron, I pick things up, peering into appliances to check for tiny hidden cameras.
Byron unmutes the call. “How do you keep doing that?!”
Ivory chuckles. “So, do we have a deal?”
Byron smiles at me. “Yea. We’ll do it.”
“Excellent! This is exciting. I can’t wait.” Ivory says jubilantly. “I’ll have Yari send over the research that I have. Also, we are planning to come out to New York soon. Hopefully, we can get together then. It would be great to catch up.”
We exchange another look. “Okay… sure,” Byron hums.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you guys!” Angel chirps from the background.
“You too, love!” I swoon. “Miss you, little bird!”
Angel and Ivory both rumble an adorable laugh, reminding me that Ivory ishuman, and smitten enough that he’s nowhere near as scary as he used to be.
Just a big softie… Who still runs a criminal enterprise.
But, like, shmoopily.
“It was great catching up, you two,” Ivory hums.
“Not so fast, Señor Blanco,” I grunt. “I believe you mentioned something aboutpaymentfor this job…”
Byron scoffs, shaking his head. I wink at him.
Ivory laughs out loud. It’s a sound that tickles your insides. “Oh, Trevel, my dear boy… I will be forever grateful for the mix-up that sent you my way.” I grin, listening to Angel giggle. “Now… name your price.”
“That’s crazy. Can you pass the pepperoni?”
I hand Dascha the box of pepperoni pizza, while Dog jumps all over him.
“Babe!” He shouts for his husband. “Get control of this menace, please! I simplycannot.”
Kellan gets up with a grunt. “Alright, child. Time to go outside.”
Dog sits and whines, finally behaving. But I’m afraid it’s too little too late.
“Nope. You blew it,” Kemper scolds, fastening the leash to his collar. “I told you all you had to do was act right while other Daddy was trying to eat, and you couldn’t even dothat. So it’s out to the terrace you go.”
The rest of us chuckle, watching as he drags a whimpering Sobaka out to join his cousin, Parker on our terrace.
“Does watching the dogs being disciplined give you your own version of Vietnam flashbacks?” Ren is aiming a purely devious smirk at Velle, whose slice of pizza pauses mid-air before it can reach his mouth.
We’re all giggling, and he’s scowling.
“Does the way your dog is burying his nose in his cousin’s ass right now remind you of how much of a raging skank you used to be?” Velle quips, tilting his face smugly.
“Oh, snap,” Byron chuckles.
Ren’s glare, disguising his own snickers, moves from Velle to Byron. “Be careful, B. Icouldbe talking about how Parker is just imitating his Uncle Byron, that time he slurped on Sobaka’s other Daddy’s bussy like a four-course meal.”
