What he wouldn’t give to have her again, to take the time to make love to her instead of rutting like beasts in heat. He wanted a do-over. A chance to show her how much she meant to him. To revere her the way she deserved, wake up every nerve ending slowly with his fingers, his tongue. He wanted to spend hours worshiping every inch of her toned, lithe body.
Fuck.
Mace had every right to be angry, didn’t he? Blade had been yearning for Scotty, and of course, Mace knew. Begrudgingly, he could admit that he got it now. He really got it.
What had happened between Blade and Scotty had saved Blade’s life, and Mace could probably get past that. Eventually. But he—rightly so—wouldn’t be able to shrug off Blade’s obvious piningfor Scotty.
Fuck, fuck,fuck.
He swung around to Mace. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” He gestured at the door to the backyard. “Alone?”
Scotty blocked them, fists on her hips, her freckles standing out angrily against her pale skin. “You arenottaking Mace outside to beat him.”
“It’s okay, Scotty.” Mace shot Blade a warning stare as he scooted around her. “I’ll be fine.”
“If I see one drop of blood,” she shouted at their retreating backs, “I’m making a lot more of it!”
Blade would have chuckled if his mind wasn’t swirling with images of his two best friends fucking each other’s brains out. Ruthlessly, he shoved his jealousy down into the empty cavern of his chest. It could hang out with the acid reflux that was currently burning a hole in his esophagus.
Once they were out on the patio, Mace took up a watchful position next to a steel-plated pillar, folded his arms across his chest as he waited for Blade to talk. Or deck him. Which was tempting.
Blade didn’t know where to start. This was a situation he couldn’t have prepared for, and he hated navigating unknowns. Frustrated, he shoved his hand through his hair and let out a growl.
“Look,” he said gruffly. “I think you sleeping with Scotty is a bad idea.”
“No shit?”
Blade ignored that. “But I’m not going to stand in the way.”
“Okay…” Skepticism gleamed in Mace’s narrowed eyes. “Let’s assume you actually mean that. You didn’t bring me out here to say it. So where, exactly, is this going?”
Good question. This was so fucking uncomfortable.
“When I was with Scotty,” he began, pausing as he gathered his thoughts, “you know, in the cave…” He drew in a long breath. “Things were…frantic. I’d waited for as long as I could, so…I mean, you know how it is.” It was pain and lust and desperation all scorched around the edges by the danger of knowing you’d stepped too close to the fiery edge of death. “What I’m saying is, I wasn’t in the right mindset to…to make it, um, you know…good. For her.” Dammit, he sounded like an idiot. “It was Scotty’s first time, and it wasn’t what she deserved.” He scrubbed his hand over his face and looked down at the stamped concrete pad, letting out a curse after a few pounding heartbeats. “You need to make it right.”
Mace stared in disbelief, and when he spoke, his low voice dripped with doubt. “Are you saying that you want me to—”
“Show her how it should be.” Jealousy made Blade’s words sharper than they should have been, but Mace didn’t seem to notice.
“Damn,” Mace breathed. “I don’t know what to say.”
Blade jabbed a finger at him. “Nothing freaky.”
“Freaky?”
“Come on,” Blade said. “You know how you are.”
“I’m not sure if I should be offended or not.” Mace’s voice was both droll and amused, almost like he was back to his usual self.
“There’s nothing wrong with your assortment of toys and…tools, but they have a time and place.”
“And you don’t think Scotty strapped into my sex swing is the right time or place?”
“Don’t.” The sudden vision created by Mace’s words made Blade growl with a combination of lust and anger. “I’m not in the mood.”
“Hey, man.” A rare note of contrition bled into Mace’s voice. “I would never hurt or disrespect her. You know that, right?”
They locked gazes, and as lit up as Blade was at the situation, he trusted Mace. Trusted him with his life. And with Scotty.
