Page 116 of Fire & Ice

“I completely forgot,” Leander admits honestly. When they planned this night over three months prior, Tripp insisted on betting that Leander couldn’t—wouldn’t—make it through the night without succumbing to fucking Tripp in the strip club bathroom. The prize? Body shots, which Leander would absolutelynotgive Tripp the satisfaction of doing (in public) before.

Man enough to admit when he’s been bested, Leander sighs and gestures for Tripp to head back out there. A man of his word, he’s already preparing to pay up by untucking his just-fixed shirt once again.

“Fuck yes,” Tripp hisses, pumping his fist and near-skipping out the bathroom door. Truly, Leander does not see the appeal of forcing the person you love to lie down on top of a sticky, gross bar so one can suck liquor from their various crevices. But a bet is a bet, and just between him and the moon, Leander wouldn’t have done anything differently, had he remembered. Hewillmaintain that it’s stupid, though—they could just as easily go home, where Tripp could lick whatever parts of Leander he wishes to his heart’s content.

Loving someone apparently means sacrifice, so Leander follows hisfartoo giddy fiancé across the room, climbing up onto the bar without so much as having to be told. Beau and Marley are already there, refreshing drinks for the table, and Leander doesn’t miss the way Beau wrinkles his nose when he sees the state (and maybe the smell) of both of them.

“I need to bewaydrunker for this,” Beau mutters, signaling the bartender for an extra shot before high-tailing it back to their table.

“You gonna judge me too?” Tripp asks Marley, shooting her an epic serving of faux-grumpy side-eye as Leander obediently lies down and rucks up his shirt.

“Hell, no!” Marley exclaims. “I’m here to aggressively cheer all public displays of ‘that gay shit’ on. Also, I got next with Lee! The body shots, not the—”

“You most certainly do not,” Leander replies flatly, shifting uncomfortably against the bartop before hollowing out his stomach in preparation for being a living cup.Stupid.“My hair is adhering to this surface. If I’m bald in our wedding photos, you cannot complain.”

Down near his knees, Marley laughs so hard she snorts, choking on the sip of Coke she was attempting to swallow as the bartender appears on Leander’s other side. In his hand, a tequila bottle is poised for action.

“We’ll just make sure they shoot you front-facing,” Tripp quips amiably, shaking some salt onto the bottom of Leander’s rib cage and shoving a slice of lime pulp-side out into his mouth before he can protest.

“Mmph,” Leander retorts.

“Now you sound like me,” Tripp says quietly, tossing Leander a wink before dipping down and licking the salt in a stripe off of his chest. He follows quickly by lowering his lips to Leander’s stomach and slurping out the liquor, taking the time to swirl his tongue around in a way that Leander isalmostable to appreciate—give him another ten minutes. He hopes Tripp will be ready to head out of here by then, anyway.

When he’s finished consuming the shot, Tripp leans up and pulls the lime slice from between Leander’s lips with his own mouth, sucking the juice out noisily before letting the rind drop to the floor.

Across the bar, the bartender sighs and rolls his eyes, but Leander barely notices because Tripp’s slipping a hand behind his head, pulling him close and kissing him with bothfire and tenderness. His mouth burns with alcohol and acid, and Leander’s a sucker for the way those things taste on Tripp. Unable to stop himself, Leander exhales his own little sigh and leans into the sweet display of affection, regretful when Tripp pulls away. His expression is soft when he does, though, and Leander just smiles dumbly up at him, truly in awe.

“Damn,” Marley says, followed by a whistle. “Maybe I’m only ninety-nine percent gay, not one hundred and ten like I thought. That wasdreamy.”

“Hmm,” Leander murmurs happily, still gazing dazedly up at Tripp and cupping his face.

“Get off my bar,” the bartender snaps. Leander quickly hops down.

Thankfully, his previous prayers are answered and Trippdoeswant to head out after that. Their whole entourage ends up leaving with them, which means that Leander and Tripp finally get to utilize the party bus they paid for, unlike the last time. The ride to drop everyone off at their various stops is fun at first, full of music and dancing (and more drinking). Bri and Autumn are a wild mess, continually trying to make out with each other, which Beau can’t seem to decide if he wants to stop or encourage.

After several failed attempts to either separate the girls or insert himself in the middle, Beau ends up washing his hands of it completely and falls into a rather serious-looking conversation with Tripp near the front of the bus.

That leaves Leander stuck sitting in the back, wedged between two people he never thought he’d successfully wrangle into the same room together, never mind onto apartybus leaving a strip joint.

His brothers.

As the bus jostles them lightly around, Leander feels emotionally torn between seizing the moment to talk things out, and hoping desperately that one of his and Tripp’s work friends picks that very moment to start vomiting violently. As a paramedic, it would be his sworn duty to tend to them and tonotcontinue forcing uncomfortable small talk.

No such luck. Theo and Mac both look like they could go ten more rounds with a bottle of Jack, and Ro—well, Ro was always going to drink them all under the table.

At least Chloe had the decency to decline the courtesy invite to the club—she’s an adult, of course, but as her uncle, Leander can’t help the fact that he still sees the tiny, curly-haired little girl he helped raise every time he looks her way. He’s grateful she didn’t make him cope with that at his own bachelor party.

Although—thereisanother possibility. Chloe pretty much lives to seize opportunities to make him uncomfortable, so in retrospect, he thinks it’s likely that her absence has more to do with the person currently sitting to his left. And perhaps, even, the one to his right.

“Great party, LeeLee!” Loki declares, slapping Leander’s shoulder casually with the arm he has draped around his back. “That guy really loosened you up, made youwaymore fun than I remember. Hell, I might’ve come back years ago if I’d known you had strip club potential. You too, Law-Man,” Loki adds, leaning over Leander’s lap so that he can poke Lawrence in the ribs, the lollipop stick he has hanging haphazardly from his mouth nearly taking out Leander’s eye.

“Yeah, well, I’m here for Lee,” Lawrence mumbles.

Despite himself, Leander eyes his twin with concern. The guy is wearing his Reverend’s collar and is almost completelysober. Still, he doesn’t lookentirelymiserable, which is better than anyone might have expected in these circumstances. He reaches out to squeeze his twin’s hand, hoping to convey his thanks.

“It wasn’t too terrible?” he asks quietly. Lawrence glances over at him and smiles.

“Nah,” he replies. “Everyone was very…welcoming. Friendly. And the dancers were very respectful.”

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