Page 27 of His Hungry Wolf

“What are you suggesting?” Cage asked.

Nero’s gaze bounced to me before he replied to Cage. “If only one of those things are an option, we could say that we’re doing a last minute thing for someone’s birthday? Who has a birthday coming up?”

“Mine was last month,” Cage volunteered.

“Perfect,” Nero declared. “We’ll say you wanted to get the guys together for a post-birthday pick-up game because you were feeling old and nostalgic for your glory days,” Nero said teasing his brother.

“I turned 25,” Cage protested.

“As I said, old,” Nero told him with a laugh.

“I’ll see you in two years,” Cage said to Nero.

“You better make that three,” Nero said proudly. “Don’t make me sound over-the-hill like you.”

Cage looked at everyone annoyed. As he did, Quin hugged him and kissed his cheek.

“Don’t worry, I’ll always love you.”

“Thank you,” he said looking at him with a smile.

“And I like being with an elderly man,” Quin joked.

“What?” Nero said delighted by Quin’s teasing. “Quin? Respect!”

“You too?” Cage protested.

“I’m joking.”

Cage changed the topic. “Anyway, we have our plan. I’ll go give Claude a call. And afterward, can we please get to playing games?” He said before leaving for a quiet room.

“Oh, now he’s mad,” Nero said to me. “Those two are gonna try to wipe the floor with us.”

Cali explained, “When Cage and Quin play together, they’re really hard to beat.”

Kendall added, “Anyone plus Quin is hard to beat. I call dibs on Quin as a partner.”

“You gonna abandon me just like that, boyfriend?” Nero protested hurt.

“After you riled Cage up like that? I don’t want to be a part of the bloodbath that you created. I wanna win.”

Everyone laughed.

“I’m supposed to be the competitive one in our relationship,” Nero explained. “You’re supposed to be the good person.”

“I am. But I’m also smart,” Kendall teased.

“I see how this goes. Don’t worry, Lou and I are gonna destroy the both of you,” Nero said wrapping his muscular arms around Quin’s roommate.

Lou hissed and removed Nero’s arm. “It looks like it’s going to be brains versus jocks.”

“Fine. You all can go to hell,” Nero proclaimed. “We’ll take you down just as easily,” he said putting his arms around Cali and me.

“Do we really have a shot?” I asked Cali.

“Not a chance,” he replied.

“Sorry, guys,” Nero whispered in our ears.

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