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He gives me his boyish grin. “What have you been doing here this whole time? Hiding upstairs?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
His smile drops. “Oh.” His fingers squeeze mine once before he nods in the direction of the open door. “Well, you’re in for a real treat then because Zeno will probably kick Matteo’s ass.”
“I can hear you.” Matteo’s voice carries upstairs.
Ash shakes his head. “I swear, that man is half vampire with his hearing.”
At that, I laugh. It’s not loud and doesn’t last very long, but it feels good. Now I’m also curious. “Well, let’s see this ass-kicking.”
“Yes, let’s.”
Ash nods eagerly and lets go of my hand so I can hold on to the rail that leads down the wooden staircase.
What awaits me below is nothing short of phenomenal.
The basement is huge and filled with more workout equipment than I’ve ever seen. I’m usually more of a yoga and Pilates person, but even I’m impressed.
My mouth falls open a little the instant I see what’s on the other side of the room. A freaking boxing ring. “Wow.”
“Pretty cool, huh?” Ash takes my hand once more, since I’m still standing here like an idiot. “Come on.”
He pulls me toward a set of couches that are placed around the ring at a safe distance, or at least I hope it’s a safe distance. The last thing I need today, or any day really, is to get blood spatter all over me.
Ash puts his bags down on one of the couches before turning to me. “Want to stay here or get some snacks with me? These two need to warm up.”
“Snacks?”
“Yes, everything’s better with snacks, am I right?”
I bite my lip to hide my grin. How on earth is Ash friends with these guys? The few times I’ve seen him, he’s always been friendly and happy, whereas Matteo is a grumpy ass almost nonstop. And Zeno? Well, I don’t know him, but on first impression, he makes Matteo look like a total sunshine. Nothing makes sense anymore.
Ash and I make our way back up into the kitchen, where he moves around like he’s done this a million times before. He opens cupboard after cupboard, getting things out so fast, I can’t even see what it is until he puts it all on the counter.
I wipe my hands on my shirt. “Can I help with anything?”
He turns around and gives me several bags of popcorn and a bag of white chocolate chips. Then he places two large silver bowls on the counter and a small ceramic one that he pushes toward me.
“Okay, let’s microwave the popcorn first, and once that’s in the bowls, we’ll melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave. Then we’ll pour that over the popcorn and toss it all together with the crumbled Oreos. Sound good?”
I stare at him and nod.
“You like Oreos?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Good. Let’s get going then, before the guys pummel each other while we’re gone.”
About a million questions pop into my head at the same time, and I ask the one that’s been on my mind the longest. “How do you guys know each other? You seem very . . . uhm.”
Ash regards me curiously. “Very what? Don’t mince words around me, Gemma. No need for that, I promise.”
I chuckle. “I wasn’t going to say anything bad. I just noticed that you guys are very different, I guess?”
“We are, even more so if you throw in the rest of the group. But I think our differences are the reason that we make such a good team. You know, diversity makes us stronger and all that.”
His gaze is on the Oreos in front of him and not me. For a moment, I only watch him as he puts a few cookies in the bag, then shoves one in his mouth, a few more in the bag, and another one in his mouth. A laugh bursts out of me at the sight, and he stops what he’s doing to glance up at me with a proud smile and a mischievous glimmer in his eyes.
