Page 215 of Barinov

“Luca let me watch,” he admits. “Needed me to see so I could help with those damn poems.”

“Nice work wrecking Carlos’s dick,” I chuckle, shaking my head at the memory. “That line was you, wasn’t it?”

Zeke shrugs. He leans back and takes a slow, effortless sip of his coffee. “I can be poetic when the occasion calls for it.”

Laughter erupts from the table and bounces off the high ceilings.

“So anyway,” Tex continues, clearing his throat. “After the wrecking of Carlos’s dick incident, Sabine and I came up with a plan to get the rest of your revenge for you.”

“Vince?” Lex asks from Bella’s other side, his fork halfway to his mouth.

Tex nods.

“Wait, I thought Mortal Kombat got Vince’s ass for—”

Marisol’s sudden laugh cuts him off. “I still can’t believe you call him that.”

“His full name is Tattooed-Dragon-Dick Mortal Kombat, sweetheart,” Lex says with a wicked smirk. “I just shorten it from time to time.”

“Ooh, Lex!” Marisol shrieks. “Did you know that Laing actually has a tattoo on his d—”

“Babe!” Zeke grits out. His dark eyes go completely wide as he shoves his hand over her mouth to shut her up.

“Wait a damn minute,” Lex says, that feral, chaotic grin I love so much growing wider by the second. “Are you saying that you and Tattooed-Dragon—”

“Yep,” Bella interjects with a pop of the p. “But it’s clearly still a sore subject.”

“Oh please,” Zeke snaps, pulling his hand back. “Like you have any room to—”

“Jesus Christ,” Tex cuts in, shaking his head. “Can I please continue with my story?”

Marisol and Bella exchange laughing, conspiratorial looks, but they finally concede to Tex.

“Go ahead,” Bella giggles.

“Anyway,” Tex continues, his voice low. “Like I said, we worked together with Laing and other Black Books to capture Vince. Long story short, we bonded over our protectiveness and love for you and along the way real feelings started to grow.”

“That is adorable,” Bella beams, her eyes soft as she reaches under the table to squeeze my thigh. “I love this so much.”

“You should,” Nate smirks from down the table. “You’re the reason their entire relationship even exists. I mean if I had to hear one more time that—”

Ring. Ring.

All of our heads turn toward Zeke as he pulls his phone out of his pocket.

“Hello?” he says, his tone switching to business. “No, that’s fine.” He eyes Bella from across the table. “We can be there, that’s no problem… Alright, see you soon, bye.”

“What was that about?” Bella asks.

“Dr. Monroe needed to move our appointment up to noon today.”

“Oh, okay.” She nods, then stops and glances at me quickly. “Wait, don’t you have to be at the studio at noon?”

“Shit,” I mutter, rubbing the back of my neck. “Yeah I do, but that’s alright, sweetheart.” I peer around her and lock eyes with Lex. “Lex can drive you today.”

“A bike ride downtown with our girl on my lap?” Lex practically moans, leaning in to press a firm kiss to her temple. “Fuck yeah, baby.”

“What studio?” Nate asks, leaning back.