“It won’t,” Mace insisted.
Lore arched an eyebrow. “If you believe that, then what’s bothering you?”
“Things are weird now.” Mace toyed with the label on his empty beer bottle. “And I know Blade’s in love with Scotty. He has been for a while. He sucks at hiding shit.”
“What about you?” Wraith asked.
“I’m great at hiding shit.”
Lore tossed him another beer and took the empty. “You know what Wraith meant. Do you love her?”
As Mace set the new bottle on the table, he focused on the tightness in his chest. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I love her like a friend. I always have.”
“But?” This time, it was Lore coaxing more information from Mace.
“But…it just…I don’t know. It seems like things have changed. We did that mission to Stryke’s oil rig, and after that, everything felt different. I knew Blade had a thing for Scotty, but it didn’t really bother me because of our pact.” He threw his head back and focused on a lone cloud in the night sky, its wispy extensions forming arms and legs. Looked like a damned wendigo. “And then that fucking Alaska assignment. I wish we’d never gone.”
“Have you guys talked about it?”
“Yeah. And I thought I was fine. I thought we were all cool.” He took a swig of his beer, relishing the cold liquid soothing his raw throat. “But I guess not. Blade acts like I’m a dumbass for letting it bother me, but I can’t help it. Everything was cool between us, and now it’s all broken. It’s affecting our job too. We fucked up a huge mission, so Kynan is making us train with Ares until we get past this.”
“What about Kynan and Ares?” Wraith asked. “Do they know what happened between Scotty and Blade?”
“Gods, I hope not.” Mace tried not to think about the possibility. “But Ares will eventually beat it out of us. We need to get our shit together before that happens.”
“Sounds like you guys need to talk it out,” Lore said, but Wraith scoffed.
“Talk? Fuck that. You need to fight it out.”
“Don’t listen to him.” Lore kicked his booted feet up onto the brick planter holding Idess’s prized lemon tree. She babied that sucker, spritzing the leaves and bringing it inside during storms. “Pummeling each other won’t help anything.”
“Hey,” Wraith said, “you parent your way, and I’ll parent mine.Talon turned out great.”
Lore laughed. “Only because of Serena.”
Wraith tossed his empty bottle into the bin next to the door. “You’re probably not wrong.”
“Come on,” Mace said tiredly. “I need real advice. No one is pummeling anyone, and talking hasn’t gotten us anywhere.”
“Maybe you guys need a break from each other. Let things cool down,” Lore suggested. “Give it some time and perspective.”
Not a terrible idea. “How long of a break?” They’d not been apart for more than a couple of days, and even then, they’d kept in near constant contact.
Lore shrugged. “A month or two, maybe?”
Months?They were a work team. There was no way they could avoid each other for that long.
Wraith looked up at a moth circling overhead. “Or you could do the obvious.”
“I know you’re not going to tell him to eliminate the competition,” Lore drawled.
“What?” Wraith looked scandalized. “Blade’s family. A broken nose and fractured jaw?” He shrugged. “No big. But killing him? That’s a little extreme.”
“Then what’s the obvious thing?” Mace asked.
Wraith looked at him like he was an idiot. “Sleep with Scotty.”
Mace nearly choked on his beer.
