Page 21 of The Heart

“Screw you, Jace,” Ryan mumbles. When the doors open, they stumble out, followed by Ava whose room is next to theirs.

“Night!” Ava calls back to us.

“Night!” I chuckle, watching the three of them make their way down the hall, staggering and laughing as they do.

We’re on a different floor, since Luke got the three of us a presidential suite so we could use it to store equipment and prep for this op. And Colton bought his own suite because… well, he can.

The doors close, leaving us alone with Colton in the elevator.

It’s quiet for a long moment.

“Okay, so hear me out,” Colton says.

“No,” Sebastian immediately responds.

“What’s better than two dicks?”

“Stop.” Sebastian growls.

“Three dicks!” Colton smiles. “Although, not sure where mine willfit,if you know what I mean. But we can get creative.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Fisher,” Luke says, running a hand over his face in an exasperated sort of way to hide his chuckle.

“Out!” Sebastian says just as the doors open, shoving a laughing Colton through them.

“I’m just sayin’... three’s company, but four’s a good time!” Colton shrugs, flipping a room key between his fingers as he backs toward his door.

“Goodnight, Colton.” I chuckle, and he gives us one last pointed look before disappearing inside.

I turn toward Sebastian and Luke. “He’s joking when he says things like that, right?” I ask. “Right?”

They both stare at me.

They blink.

Then they stare at each other, their faces giving nothing away, before heading toward our room.

“Guys?”I ask again.

No response.

I sigh, giving up.

Maybe I don’t want to know.

“Race ya!” Luke says, handing me my shoes, shoving Sebastian to the side and taking off down the hall. Sebastian chases after him, and I laugh at how ridiculous they are when they’ve had a few drinks.

More than a few, in fact.

When they make it to our door at nearly the same time, they both scramble for the handle, pushing and shoving as they each try to reach it.

Both of them grumbling when they realize it’s locked.

Luke looks back down the hall toward me just as I find the key in his jacket pocket. I hold it up for him to see and he lets out a breath, realizing he’s going to have to wait for me to catch up.

Then his attention is drawn back to Sebastian.

They’re both out of breath from the sprint over there and the little wrestling match over the door handle. I watch as they stare at each other for a long moment, catching their breath and just looking at each other in the way I know they’ve wanted to all night. Sure, they’re still friends, so it’s natural for them to be that in public, but I love seeing them like this.

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