His smile is broad and teasing, but it comes with a definiteoopsgrit of his teeth, too.“Reallybad timing, huh?” He flashes a single middle finger at the seething Archer, leads me through the bedroom door, and into the hall. “Sorry, Doc. I don’t have a great deal of time, since Christabelle is fed the fuck up with traveling coast to coast every three minutes. We’re herefor today only, then we’re gone again, so it’s important we soak up every second we’ve got.”
“Felix!” Archer stalks out of our bedroom and into the hall a full twenty feet behind us. “What are you even doing here? Fuck!”
“Just keep walking, Chief. You’re my bait. He’s my shark. I need him to follow us.”
“I don’t…” Bewildered, I allow him to lead me past guards, past Harrison, past an ugly painting on the wall I’ve never noticed until right this second. He brings me down a flight of stairs, then a second. Maybe even a third, though I’m not sure my brain knows how to count anymore. “Felix…?”
“You’re so cute when you’re fuzzy like this. You like my new shoes?” He juts one foot forward and shows off a shiny white Air Jordan high top with sharp red stitching and the famous tick on the side. Then, moving down another step, he shows off the other. “They’re not exactly like the pair I used to own, since they don’t sell those anymore. But they’re pretty damn close, and I swear,” he shakes his head. “I’m a sophisticated, high-end, high-baller motherfucker these days, but wearing these shoes feels damn good, too.” He leads me down the last flight of stairs and onto the tile at the bottom. Then swinging right, he risks a glance back up to make sure Archer is still following us.
He is.
“Wearing these makes me feel like I’m eighteen all over again, Doctor Cutie. Also, ZoZo’s smiling for you.” He bumps my shoulder with his. “Pay attention to her. She’s fuckin’ adorable.”
I glance down and study the spit bubbles she blows.
“Finally!” Cato struts through the doorway and sweeps Zora straight out of my arms. He slobbers all over her face, kissing and hugging and making the whole thing exceptionally noisy. But maybe that’s just my sex-starved brain existing within its overstimulated phase.
“Oh my gosh, Cato!” Mia stands on the kitchen counter, a goofy grin stretching her face, a puffy tutu taking up a whole bunch of space, and a chunky watch wrapped securely around her left wrist. “You act like she’s your favorite or somefin! I thought you loved me most?”
“I love both of my girls!” He scoops her smoothly off the counter and carries them both despite Mia’s giggles and wild flailing. “I don’t play favorites, silly. But it works out, ‘cos my heart is so freakin’ big, nobody ever complains I don’t have enough to go around.”
“Why are there so many people here?” Felix brought all of New York.Or, well, Micah and Tiia, as well as Christabelle and the baby. Fletch is here. Fifi is here. Aubree and Tim. Even Doctor Raquel sits on my counter in itty-bitty shorts and long, platinum blonde hair trailing all the way to her elbows. “What the hell is happening?”
“Justice. Nearly two decades after it was due.” Felix drags me straight through the kitchen, past a smiling Steve, a content Mary. Even Chloe sprawls on the cold tile, her tail flicking and her arctic blue eyes watching us all. “It’s time we put some shit to bed.”
“Felix!” Archer chases after us, through the kitchen with a stomp of his feet, then outside until we’re on the pool patio, the midday sun blaring from high above. “You can’t just come into my house and take over all the fuckin’ time. This was literally the first day Mayet and I had off in forever! We were gonna?—”
He skids to a stop and looks straight past me, past Felix, even past Tim, whoisn’twearing a flannel today. Instead, he stops on Detective Banks’ wary gaze and studies the man who wears a black ball cap pulled low over his eyes, a pair of loose basketball shorts sitting low on his hips, and a tank that shows off much of his ribs, kinda like the tanks Cato wears around the house half the time.
Just six feet to his right, a shy, red-faced Officer Clay wrings his hands.
Distrusting, Archer brings his eyes back to Felix, then to Cato as, behind me, he hands Zora off to Rory and helps her sit at the patio table.
Slowly, Tiia and Christabelle filter out of the house and join her. Then Aubree. Raquel. Fifi.
“What’s going on?” Archer’s stare is hard and mean. His chest and shoulders swell with adrenaline. Swinging back around, he repeats through gritted teeth, “What’s going on?”
“Five against one. Six, if Detective Fletcher wants to join in.” Smug, Felix drags his shirt off and suggestively—obnoxiously—drapes the fabric over my shoulder. Then he looks to Drake and grins. “You knew this was coming, Special Agent Fuckface.” He digs his hands into his pockets and pulls out a wallet. A phone. A pacifier.Very mafia of him. Dropping it all into my hands, and adding a lighter, though I know he no longer smokes, and a clip of money I don’t bother counting, he tilts his chin as though to dismiss me, then he saunters toward the wary detective and rubs his hands together. “Six against two, if Officer Clay wants a taste of this. If he’s injured, he can thank you for it. All ‘cos you hurt my baby brother’s feelings that one time. The game ends when I say it ends. Contact rules don’t exist, except with Cato.”
Suspicious, Drake’s eyes flicker across to Cato.
“He’s still smaller than the rest of us, and he has a pro career waiting for him.”
“So you’re saying you can elbow me in the face and I just have to deal with it. But if the kid wants to step up to the big dogs, I’m responsible for tucking my arms in and making damn sure we don’t accidentally tap him?”
“Yup.” Felix broadens his chest. “That’s what I’m saying.”
“No contact rules for Officer Clay, too,” Rory declares. “He’s the next youngest, and he doesn’t understand the beef here today. He’s an innocent.”
“Fine.” Felix nods. “‘Cos the brave one vouches, I’ll put my elbows away for Clay. But every time Icouldhave smashed him, and don’t…” He looks at Drake, “I’m gonna land twice as many on your face.”
“This sounds kinda dangerous.” Raquel perches her butt on the table, rather than sitting on a chair like a normal person. But she grins, wide and thrilled. “Take your shirts off, gentlemen. If you’re gonna do this, I demand you do it right.”
“You like chicks!” Aubree laughs. “Don’t be so damn greedy.”
“I like all sorts of human bodies.” She plays with a ball of gum and pulls a long strand between her teeth. “I like to observe. Except you.” She wrinkles her nose and looks Cato up and down. “You’re still a baby, so I’m not feeling it.”
“It should be two on two,” Drake grunts. “Me and Clay, versus two of you. Tim’s out, though, ‘cos he’s too angry. And not Cato, ‘cos he’s going pro. That’s not fair.”
