Page 86 of Vegas Baby!

Luke closed his hand over Bryce’s mouth, grimacing. “Sorry. I bet him he couldn’t drink the hundred-ounce margarita, and he won.”

“Oh god. He’s gonna throw up, isn’t he?”

“He did that on the way home out the cab window, so hopefully he’s good the rest of the night.”

“How pissed was the driver?”

Luke shrugged. “Not very, considering Moneybags gave him a two-grand tip.”

Relief washed over me. I raised an eyebrow, watching them. Luke seemed relaxed, amused, totally unlike himself when it came to Bryce. Maybe all it had taken was liquor and adrenaline for them to come to terms with each other.

Bryce pried Luke’s hand down. “It was fucking delicious.”

“Happy to hear it,” I said with a laugh.

“Going down…not coming back up,” Bryce clarified.

“You had fun overall, though?”

“Somuch fun,” Bryce replied, dragging Luke into a hug. Apparently Bryce was an affectionate drunk. That was good to know. “Luke is way cooler when he’s being nice.”

“Imagine that.” I tapped Luke’s ass with the side of my foot on my way to the kitchen to get Bryce some water. “Ava’s asleep, so try to keep it down.”

Bryce frowned. “Imissher.”

“Of course you do.” I passed him a glass of water, entertained as hell by this version of him. “Drink this and then you can go climb in with her.”

“You guys are the best.” He swallowed the water down with almost terrifying speed, leading me to wonder if he had been a chugging champion in his university days. He was already stripping down on his way up the stairs, leaving a trail of clothing in his wake.

“You think he’ll be okay with her like this?” Luke asked.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. Jesse’s up there and I assume we’re not going to be down here for too much longer.”

“I guess that’s fair.”

“Did you get what you wanted out of tonight?”

“Mostly.” Luke shrugged. “He feels a lot more like an actual human now.”

“What the fuck was he before?”

“Gilded statue in a museum.”

“You’re gonna have to get over the fact that he has a lot more money than we do.” I patted Luke on the shoulder and got each of us some water as well to sip. “He’s not being a dick about his dollars. He’s using it to make our lives easier, to give Ava everything she deserves.”

“I know that. It’s just thatIwant to be able to give her what she deserves.”

“You’re doing that by making Bryce feel welcome here.”

Luke said nothing for a while but eventually nodded.

“We played with your favorite hole tonight,” I told him.

He froze, pupils dilating. “I…did not think Ava would be down for that.”

“It was her first time. Safe to say it won’t be her last.”

He ground his palm against his crotch. “Don’t say things like that to me. I can’t do anything about it.”

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