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Lukus reached for another mug, filling a coffee for Bri and delivering both steaming cups to the ladies.
“Your coffee, Mrs. Lambert.” Lukus played it up with a playful bow as he served their beverage, planting a quick kiss to her cheek in the form of a welcome.
“Why thank you, kind sir.” Even from his distance, Markus could see the twinkle in his wife’s eyes as she bantered with Lukus. A twinge of jealousy hit him, but he immediately squashed it down as he replayed a vision of their time on the stage the night before. Had Bri flashed one of her flirty smiles at any other man, Markus would have dropped them on the spot, but if the last forty-eight hours had taught him anything, he’d learned his wife really did love him, and his best friend was loyal to a fault.
Still he couldn’t resist joining the fun. “Wow, Mitchell. I didn’t know you were moonlighting as a short-order cook and waiter. I’ll take a steak and eggs. Over easy.”
“Smart ass. Make yourself useful and mix me up a Bloody Mary.”
“Hey. You never offered me a Bloody Mary.” Tiff’s impish pout caught Lukus’s attention and having properly rescued the bacon, he moved back to stand close enough to Tiff for her to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him closer.
“I need to keep you sober, baby. I don’t want you to say I got you drunk and took advantage of you.” His roguish smile made it clear he was having fun.
Markus had to think back pretty far to recall the last time he’d seen his best friend looking this happy and relaxed. Granted, the last few years had been fraught with plenty of stress in their friendship. Between the whole Georgie debacle and the now settled lawsuit hanging over Lukus’s head, there’d been more bad than good shadowing their relationship. Markus wondered if Lukus was feeling the same lifting of the black cloud he was.
As if finding out Bri wants to explore a D/s relationship isn’t amazing enough, it feels damn good to have mybrotherback.
With that thought, a memory of a similarly happy Lukus came to mind. It had been years earlier on the day they’d taken a road-trip to Indiana to pay a visit to a mutual Dom friend of theirs who specialized in making top-notch punishment and restraint devices such as spanking benches, stocks, and St. Andrew’s crosses. Lukus had been outfitting his new club at the time and was on cloud nine, as he was about to realize a long-time dream. The fact Markus saw the same level of happiness on his friend’s face this morning told him maybe he’d been worrying about the wrong friend’s heart getting broken.
While Lukus, Tiffany, and Brianna bantered easily, Markus moved across the room to the bar, in part to mix up a pitcher of Bloody Marys, but more importantly, to give himself some time to think through the long-term implications of this weekend’s events. Without a doubt, he knew his life had changed at the most basic level. In a moment of clarity, he realized the four friends would forevermore view life asbefore that weekendandafter that weekend.
Having completed his bartending duties, Markus crossed back to the kitchen with a large pitcher of breakfast cocktails in tow. “So who wants a Bloody Mary?”
Three people answered in unison as if they’d practiced. “I do.”
Lukus had put Brianna to work chopping veggies for what looked like a planned omelet. Tiff jumped down from her perch to meet Markus at the cabinet housing the glassware.
“Let me help you with the glasses, Markus.”
Their fingers brushed as Tiffany handed him the first glass. Markus took the opportunity to hold her hand in his, forcing Tiff to turn her attention up to him. Her shining eyes told him what he needed to know, yet he still had to ask.
“Is everything okay this morning, Tiff?”
He could see the warmth in her expression deepen as she responded quietly. “Thanks for asking Markus, but everything is absolutely perfect this morning.”
He could feel the grin playing at his lips. “Perfect, you say?”
“Yep. Perfect.”
“Well, that’s a good thing because I’d hate to have to kick his ass if he hurt you.”
A mischievous smile he’d never seen there before adorned Tiff’s face, enhanced by her adorable pink blush. “Hurt me? Well, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”
Markus chuckled. “That wasn’t necessarily the only kind of hurt I was worried about, Tiff, but it’s good to know.”
Markus almost lost his grip on the pitcher as Lukus shoved him aside to pull Tiffany into his arms. “I don’t appreciate you trying to move in on my girl, Markus.”
Tiffany molded herself to Lukus as she replied. “I like the sound of that…my girl. Markus was just trying to make sure you were taking good care ofyour girl,is all.”
“Ah, so he doesn’t trust me, is that it?”
Markus grabbed the glass out of Tiff’s hand and started to pour.
“Give it a rest, Lukus.”
He handed the adult beverage to his best friend before reaching for the next glass and filling it for Tiff. Once all four of them had their drinks, Markus moved to Brianna to wrap his arm intimately around her waist before raising his glass to offer up a toast.
“To one hell of a weekend. I’m not sure about all of you, but I get the feeling life is never gonna be the same as it was when we all woke up Friday morning.”
