Page 25 of For the Night

“Scary,” Shay added.

“Downright twisted,” Nora supplied. “But also, we make cute things.”

“Cute in a terrifying way,” Lane finished.

Reese and I weren’t the only ones who cracked up at that. Oh, those sweet little brats. Colt and KC were quick to push their buttons, and Lucian assured the scary, twisted, badass primals that he was already petrified by their mere presence.

Camden seemed inspired. “Daddy, I wanna do crafts again!”

“You’ve been in the water two minutes,” Anthony chuckled.

I was looking forward to getting to know them better. Starting with August—he was helping us plan the next Game in a few minutes. So I rounded the pool and grabbed my bagel order, and Cam hurriedly joined me to pour me a cup of coffee from the thermos.

“Thank you, sugar. How are you today?” I accepted the cup.

“Great, thank you, Ma’am. Master told me to make sure you were well tended to, so please let me know if there’s anything I can do for you.”

Oh Christ. I offered Cam a smile and squeezed his hand briefly, then sought out Lucian, only to find him watching us already.

“Will you stop fussing?” I asked. “I’m fine.”

“When I’m damn good and ready, my dear.” He flipped the pages of his paper and then brought his own mug to his lips. “By the way, someone will be here on Monday to assemble your furniture for you.”

For the love of?—!

He behaved as if I was dying! So I’d gone through a breakup—four fucking months ago—and…sure, maybe I was struggling to find myself, but he was taking this too far.

I knew Lucian wouldn’t be reasoned with, though. He was still recovering from years of stress and burning himself out, so now he’d gotten the weird idea that if he had to rest, so did everybody else. Except his slave, I supposed. Although, that wasn’t entirely fair. Cam had been vocal about Lucian’s unwillingness to crank up their TPE structure. They were getting there, slowly, but Lucian was still in fussing mode.

I suppressed a sigh and turned back to Cam.

“I propose a compromise,” I told him. “I’ll let you wait on me so Lucian can calm his tits, and I’ll come by your house next week with baked goods and my famous chili. Even Colt approves of it.”

The boy lit up. “Deal. Thank you very much, Ma’am?—”

“I heard my name!” Colt called out.

Cam and I exchanged a smirk before I found Colt in the pool.

“Just bribing Cam here with my famous chili,” I told him.

That had his interest, and he swam over to the edge. “Oh yeah? Can you bribe me with it too? My future husband keeps puttin’ beans in his, so we might not make it.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Where is he anyway?”

“I have beans!” Noa yelled, grabbing his crotch. “Magic beans!”

One more headshake. This one from Colt too.

“Get your beans over here, boy,” KC ordered. “You can help me finish my workout.”

Colt and I looked at each other again, and he said, “Luke’s writin’ his vows in the cabin.”

Aw, that made me smile. “Have you finished yours?”

His forehead wrinkled. “I’m gonna wing it.”

O…kay.

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