Page 75 of Ruthless Beasts

Ace got up first, offering his hand to pull me up. I took it, his palm warm as he gripped my fingers tight. When I was stable, he let me go before he walked toward the kitchen, and I couldn’t help letting my eyes fall to his ass in the perfectly tailored pants. When Ace was far enough ahead of me, Hannah whistled low. “You bagged yourself a house of deliciousness.”

“I-“ I couldn’t dispute that, actually. Everyone here, my guys included, was strangely attractive. “If I’m honest, they bagged me.”

My admission had her eyes going wide, but by then we were already in the dining room and Adam was walking toward uswith plates in hand. She leaned over. “That’s a story for another day? Don’t fucking hold out on me, bitch.”

“Excuse me,” Adam growled.

“Sorry. Sir. It’s a… term of endearment.” Her eyes were as big as saucers, as if the man before us actually scared her.

“Not in this house,” Adam supplied.

“It’s fine.” I laughed. “Really, Adam.”

He placed a plate on the table before he pulled out a chair for me to sit. “It may be said jokingly, but I’ll have you only be addressed respectfully. I understand how females conversate. I’m just informing Hannah in the future that I don’t like the term to be used in this setting.”

Adam turned away and Hannah sat across from me, her mouth forming the silent word,conversate, as he walked away, mocking him.

Ace growled, “We’re going to have our hands full with these two.”

“Whatever do you mean?” We both looked at him, our eyes as innocent as we could force them to be.

"I think you know.” Ace reached forward, placing pizza on my plate, then his.

I looked around, noticing for the first time that Mercer wasn’t here. He was here a few hours ago. I knew because I swore I could still catch whiffs of his scent coating my skin. Adam came back into the room, an arm full of various drink options that he placed in the center of the table. Hannah grabbed a bottle of water before observing. “I feel like I should serve you guys.”

Adam’s hand waved away her statement. “We don’t like to be served. It wasn’t how we grew up. We don’t even have a personal chef on call, like most people of our status do. We’d rather cook ourselves. It gives us time to hang out and talk.”

“Where is Mercer?” I finally blurted out when he was done explaining to Hannah about the need to not have servants.

I saw the sparkle in Adam’s eye. The slight curve of his lips. The heat he tried to hide in his gaze. “Miss him already?”

“I… I was just curious, is all.”

“Yes. Curious.” He laughed. “He is on a job tonight.”

“Is it—“ I didn’t finish what I was about to say. The warning in Adam’s eyes told me all I needed to know. He trusted me. I was his wife, after all, but he didn’t know Hannah, and he didn’t trust her with information that could implicate our team if anything ever went wrong.

“Yes.”

“Oh.” Disappointment flooded me.

“You can always send him a… text.” I knew exactly what type of text Adam was hinting at. The joy on his face said it all. He watched us earlier. He knew what had happened between Mercer and me. He wasn’t mad at it, clearly.

“I’ll wait. Thanks.” There was no way Mercer was getting a text or any sort of picture from me after leaving me unsatisfied with his cum all over my skin.

“She doesn’t text,” Ace, who clearly was out of the loop, reminded him.

Adam’s gaze was scorching. “I’d like a text, Belle.”

“I bet you would.” I sighed before taking a massive bite of pizza, ignoring any further hints. With my mouth full of cheesy, saucy goodness, I repeated, “I bet you would.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

ADAM

“How are you so relaxed?” I gritted out, speaking low to Mercer.

“How are you not?”

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