Page 91 of Fall Into Me

“That’s the fucking bride, you jackass.”

“Hey! That fuckinghurt.”He started poking at my side, which eventually morphed into this slapping fight until I had him in a headlock, and he was trying to slide under the table to evade it.

“I tap out!” he choked out after the two other guys from work had gotten up and left in a hurry.

“You let me have that one,” I grumbled. As much as I could hold my own, I’d never been able to hold anything where Ash was concerned. The man was a different breed.

“Yeah, well, it seemed like bad karma to kick a man already down.” Ashton sat back in the booth, sliding over so that our arms were no longer touching, and took a big gulp of his beer before passing it over to me with a firm clap on my back.

“She’s—”

“I know.” I’d known exactly where Cali was the second I walked in. She was pretty much directly diagonal to where we were sitting, with a girl with hair almost as black as hers, but the ends were a bright royal blue.

“I got here about an hour ago. They seemed to have been settled for a while.”

I stared at her, watching the way she talked so animatedly with the woman across from her. Their hands were entangled inthe middle of the table. Heads bowed together one moment and tipped back in big, face-splitting laughter the next.

“There’s also that guy.” Ashton pointed to the door I walked in and the guy sitting in a chair right beside it. He could’ve looked like someone who was part of the contractor team that had come to town with us, with his black jeans, cargo boots, and black hoodie, but I would’ve known if he was.

“Is he—”

“Sleeping? No. I thought that too, but if Blue over there so much as breathes in a way that doesn’t seem remotely normal, dark and handsome overtheregets this look in his eyes that I’m pretty sure translates directly into,I’ll rip your dick off.”

“You need help.”

“He’s my eye twin.” Ash gave this little one-shoulder shrug that made it seem like this should be a huge deal, and he was downplaying it.

“Am I supposed to be impressed?”

The punch he gave my arm hurt it so bad I felt it in my balls. “God, you’re the fuckingworst.”

“Is it a big deal?” He repeated the words with a look of utter betrayal on his face while he mimicked stabbing a knife into his heart and twisting it. “Is the Pope Catholic? Fuckingyes, it’s a big deal, you wiener. He’s got icies too.” He gestured to his icy-blue eyes. “Makes us look like yin and yang. Me with the blond hair. Him with the black hair.” Ashton was staring at him with his chin propped in his hand and fucking hearts in his eyes. An exaggerated sigh deflated his body, and he slumped back in the booth, his head rolling to face me.

“So.” He reached out to poke my cheek, and I slapped his hand. “Want to talk about it?”

I leaned back, slumping next to him and taking the beer glass he offered me for another drink. “She hates me.”

“No, she doesn’t.” The thing about Ash was he could go from being alleye twinto the most dependable, unswayable guy.

“You didn’t hear what she said. The look on her face.” Everything I was telling him was broad, I knew that. But he knew I wasn’t going to give him details, not where Cali was concerned. He knew us both well enough to not need more.

“She doesn’t hate you, Fane. She probably wants to. What she likely hates more is that she doesn’t hate you at all.”

“You’re so wise for someone who refers to his own eyes as ‘icies.’”

“I appreciate that.” He took back his beer glass. “How’s your plan going?”

“You know, it was coming along.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep.” I held my hand out for his beer.

“And then you fucked it?”

“Big time.”

Ash reached over to clap me on the shoulder again in what I was sure was his way of softening his impendingI told you sowhen the girls stood up and our backs snapped to attention, eyes on them. With their hands clasped and faces completely determined, they made their way toward the dance floor.

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