Page 68 of Vicious Arrangement
I bite down on a giggle.Asher.
And I think they’d be perfect for each other.
“TV?” Josh asks. “And cake? Please Daddy? Ara?”
“I’m good with that,” I say.
“I’ll set up the projector,” Asher says. “And a place for Josh.” He mouths, ‘he’ll fall asleep.’
And so we settle in, with cake, the rest of the wine, and a milk for Josh. He’s tucked up with a Spiderman pillow and throw that must be hidden away here for when they visit, because Asher didn’t drag those over.
We pick a silly movie that Josh loves, and he demolishes more cake than can be good for him.
“C’mon,” Asher whispers, “he’ll fall asleep if we clear up.”
So we take the plates and glasses out, and we have another whiskey in the open kitchen, the lights all golden-hued and dimmed.
“Did Noah tell you the time he got us suspended? No one told us we couldn’t wear principal Anna’s best two dresses she kept in her office. Which was bad enough, but then Noah decided to wear a tuba as a hat as he played the bongos in the middle of a visit from the mayor…”
“He did not,” I say.
He nods. “He did. And when they grabbed him, he yelled, ‘Viva the Revolution!’ and ‘Crush the System!’” He pauses. “He was seven. Fuck knows what he was reading.”
I start laughing, and he does too. Somehow it gets funnier by the second until we’re falling all over the place, trying to breathe as laughter takes over. We lean on each other just as someone clears their throat.
It kills the laughter.
And the temperature drops.
Asher straightens, and I turn, staring straight into the pissed off face of Noah as he glares at us both like he wants to crush us and not the system.
Viva the revolution, indeed.
Chapter Eighteen
NOAH
Fury rages inside me,eating at my stomach and my common sense. I’ve heard people talk about seeing red, but this is the first time my vision swims and my ears clang as red-hot flames consume me.
They were… I don’t even want to know what the fuck they were doing.
I march up to them, my gaze locked on the paleness of Aria’s face. Her startled blue eyes, pretty hair, and a dress on and not for me, because I’m not here. I read guilt in every swallow she takes as she steps away from me as I storm in.
“What the fuck did I tell you?” I ask in a low, lethal voice. “You’re married to me, so you’ll act like it and not a whore.”
“Dude.”
I ignore Asher and reach for Aria. “I don’t appreciate you letting other men throw themselves at you, or you at them.”
Suddenly, it’s no longer Aria in my line of vision, but Asher, right up close. He plants a hand on my chest, pushing me back and into the hidden fridge.
“Get the fuck out of my way, man,” I growl.
My friend isn’t smiling. “Calm the hell down. You can’t talk to Aria like that. You can’t talk to women like that.”
His words just push those flames that burn and eat at me higher, hotter. I want to punch him. I want?—
“Noah!” Joshy cries with such pure excitement and pleasure it pulls me back from the brink.
