Page 63 of Nicolette

Nine snorted at that. “That’s one way to get them to show up, but I agree. I’ve been a shit alpha since the whole thing with Retto happened. The fact I don’t remember what I told them about the situation tells me I fucked up.”

“It happens to us all, but that’s when you’ve got to trust us to have your back,” Rambler pointed out as he slapped the man on the back a few times, hard enough to make Nine grimace. “That’s for being a fucking grade-A prick the past forty-eight hours. I’ve always got your back, man, but there’s only so much any of us will take from you when that side of your personality comes out.”

“I don’t know. Neko seemed to rather enjoy the challenge,” Circus interjected, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. “Shall we see how wet it made you to face down our alpha?”

“No,” all the men snapped just as Circus was about to slip his hand down the front of my jeans.

“You’re no fun.” He pouted, then nipped my ear before releasing me. “I thought a welcome-back-from-the-brink-of-death orgy was the perfect thing to do right now.”

“The problem with that is we’ll all get carried away, and it will be three days before we leave this room,” Marco reasoned. “We have to plan for that shit, so there isn’t someone knocking on the door needing us to act like leaders of this pride.”

“Yes, that would absolutely ruin the whole experience,” Circus mused. “Then I vote for helping Neko shower. I’m sure she’ll need some help.”

“I will, will I? What if I don’t need to take a shower? I’ve been sleeping for two days but in my shifted form, so these clothes only have a few hours of wear on them,” I countered.

Circus frowned at me, tapping his chin, then walked off as if he was put out about both ideas being kiboshed so quickly.

My stomach let out a growl that would have made any feline proud but caused my men to instantly move into action. Marco had his arm wrapped around my shoulders, leading me out of the apartment to the elevator. He bravely ignored the two males snarling at him for touching me, but I gave them a dirty look that seemed to snap them out of it.

Polo jogged after us, narrowly missing the ride down as the elevator doors started to close. “Oh, thank fuck we managed to pull that off.” Marco sighed with a laugh as he slumped against the wall. “Now the question is, do we keep you to ourselves for a bit or play nice and go to the bar?”

Chapter 25

Polo

Sometimes being a twin was a pain in the ass, especially when that twin was Marco. Here was another prime example of why I could never leave him to his own devices. Not only had we stolen Nicolette away from the others after the traumatic event of being in a coma for two days, but now he wanted to hide her away.

“Don’t you think doing something like that right now wouldn’t be the smartest choice?” I warned him.

He scowled at me. “Really, you’re going to say that after the fact we’ve been cool about not being able to spend time with her because it pissed the others off?”

That was a valid point, but I still didn’t think making them have even more reason to keep her from us was helpful.

“Couldn’t we go to the bar, get food, then hide out upstairs in Viking’s old place? No one ever goes in there, but we’ll be close by if they need us,” I suggested.

Our father used to tell me I was a fucking flower with the backbone I was given—a slight breeze, and I was knocked over. What he didn’t seem to understand about flowers is that they were rather resilient and could pick themselves up off the ground and stand tall once more. Not to mention they could grow and prosper given the slightest chance.

“Oh, that’s a rather brilliant idea,” Marco praised, punching me gently in the arm. “Way to use that noggin of yours.”

As much as the two of us fought, we also had the ability to make each other smile at the drop of a hat. Marco and I had been through hell growing up, and I felt it either bonds you closer together or shatters what little you had between each other. Sometimes I wondered if the whole twin thing was real or if it was our trauma response to look after each other, being tuned into the slightest sign of trouble between each other. Either way, there was no one in the world who knew me better than Marco, and the same was true for him.

So when the elevator doors opened and we stepped out, I took Nicolette’s left hand, and he took her right almost at the same moment, making her smile. It was late Monday afternoon, and the bar wasn’t busy at all. So I wasn’t surprised to see Trixi leaning on the bar flipping through a magazine.

She spotted us and smiled. “If it isn’t my favorite twins accompanying the baddest bitch up in this place.”

Trixi was a punk rock girl to the core with her neon yellow hair cut into a fashion mullet with piercings and gauges. She fit the vibe here effortlessly, plus the guys were respectful, knowing she didn’t take their shit, and they wanted their drinks without any surprises in them. Every time I thought of that damn cockroach floating in that asshole’s beer, it made me laugh.

“What up, Trixi-tricks,” Marco greeted. “Can we get a menu for our resident badass?”

She frowned at that. “A menu? Why the fuck would I give her a menu? That is not how this flies when I’m running the bar, and you know it. All three of you want food?” she asked, pointing a finger at each of us.

“Yeah, three Trixi surprises, please,” I answered.

She winked and blew a kiss at me but gave Nicolette a more appraising look that had our girl smirking. It was clear that she didn’t feel threatened by Trixi, or else I knew she’d have said something. We quickly learned that Nicolette didn’t shy away from marking her territory when it came to what was hers. That thought alone had me puffing up my chest as I took pride in the fact that a lioness had claimed my brother and me. A pair of lowly caracals that the previous president had taken pity on.

“She is going to be good people, I feel it,” Nicolette commented as we took our seats at the bar. “How did I miss this side of her the other night?”

“Oh, that’s because she was working with Merideth,” Marco answered. “They hate each other, but when it comes to tending bar, there are no finer bartenders than those two.”