Page 144 of Mayhem
“I could think of several things,” he responded.
She gave him that smile that could bring a man to his knees. “Kocham cie kochanie.”
“Ja tez cie kocham, Maly. Powinienes pozwolic mi pokazac ci dzis wieczorem. Mozemy cwiczyc dla mojej mamy i Julia.”
He’d been giving her Polish lessons since she’d asked, and she picked it up quickly. She’d even ask him and Paetyn to speak in nothing but Polish to her for an entire day once. Of the three of them, he kept forgetting that they were supposed to be.
“Pokazac? Cwiczyc?”
“Show. Practice,” he provided.
She laughed after a second. “I’d bet you’d like that.”
Paetyn joined them, handing her a plate. “That’s the last piece,” he told her.
“I’m not surprised,” Cruz responded. “She and Lawrence have been eating it like it’s a competition.”
Erin pursed her lips. “I like it. Besides, if he’d gotten the last piece, you’d make me more, wouldn’t you?” she asked Paetyn, lips pouting, and they laughed.
“Of course, Angel.”
At this point, Cruz had lost track of how often Paetyn had made the dessert for her. He couldn’t remember the name of it, but they’d had it while on vacation. To her credit, each time she asked him to make it, it was with a different fruit.
“How do you say ship in Polish?” Erin asked.
“Statek,” he and Paetyn supplied simultaneously.
“Czy ty tez masz zamiar dzis wieczorem wejsc na mój statek?” Erin asked Paetyn in Polish before taking a bite of the dessert. Cruz smirked before drinking from his glass.
“Kilka kurwa razy.”
“Well, it’s a good thing the shop’s closed tomorrow,” she responded, and Cruz couldn’t have agreed more.
It was a couple of hours later, and only nine of them were left in attendance. The five of them played poker as Cruz listened to the women and Lawrence plan a shopping route for the following day as if they were planning the best scenic route to take on a road trip. He wasn’t the only one who noticed.
“Are they planning a shopping route for tomorrow?” Nik asked.
“Yep,” Remy responded, raising Paetyn’s two thousand. “The most efficient way for them to navigate overly crowded stores with deals far from worth it.”
“They do realize they can shop anytime, right?” he asked.
“You do realize we can hear you, right?” Erin countered.
“I didn’t say you couldn’t, Maly,” Cruz responded, folding.
“Is there a reason you want to fight crowds for things you can buy on any given day?” Paetyn asked.
“Because they’ll be on sale,” Alijah replied.
“You know we’re rich, don’t you, baby?” Kieran asked, folding after a second.
“That’s not the point,” she countered. “It’s just what people do. They go Black Friday shopping.”
“Not all people, because I’ve never done that,” Kieran responded. “And you didn’t the past two years either.”
Cruz couldn’t recall ever going, now that he thought about it. He supposed it seemed a bit pointless and tedious when he could buy what he wanted whenever, but he knew that wasn’t the case for most people, and this time of year was when they got things they may not have otherwise gotten.
“Yes, well, I didn’t want to then, but I want art supplies on sale this year. So, I’m going to get them, and you are more than welcome to come and experience it for the first time,” Alijah replied.
