Page 53 of High Stakes and Soulmates
“It’s okay. I was getting out of the shower and listening to you two talk about spooning. Did you have fun?” he asks as I slam the door in his face. I can still hear his cackles through the door.
“So you cuddle me all night and are already moving on to other men?” Ezio asks.
“No! Just… face that way, I’m going to change. You better have your eyes closed.”
“Yes, of course. Completely closed.”
I grab my clothes and check to see if Ezio’s eyes are closed, which they dutifully are, so I whip my pants and shirt off just as the bathroom door flings open. “It’s all yours. Oh my…”
“Why do you get to see him naked before I do?” Ezio cries.
“I’m not naked! I have underwear on. All of you are the worst.”
“I’m just saying that I like what I see,” Yorick says. “You got to see mine, I got to see yours. How fun.”
I hurriedly pull my clothes on and slip into the bathroom where I slam and lock the door, leaving Yorick in the room with Ezio. And then once my teeth are brushed and I’m ready for the day, I escape from having to face either of them by leaving through Yorick’s room.
“Somehow, I survived,” I declare to Julian, who is opening a delivery bag.
“Yeah? You know you didn’t evenhaveto stay here? Since you’re human, you could have stayed at your house and driven in this morning since it’s like ten minutes from here,” Julian says as I stare daggers at him, especially because that’s the moment Ezio chooses to walk out.
“I… didn’t… want to miss anything,” I decide on.
Julian grins. “That’s understandable. Sounds like there was a lot to miss out on while you slept.”
“You can wipe that grin off your face. Nothing happened.”
“Nope. I was very good. I tried so hard,” Ezio says.
“Was something else hard?” Yorick asks.
“No, no, no. I was a perfect gentleman. I pulled upon my two hundred and so years of training,” Ezio assures everyone.
Julian is all smiles as he hands me a donut.
“Did you look the delivery lady in the eyes when she handed this to you?” I ask, positive that we should talk about him instead of me.
“I sure did not,” Julian says. “I made sure to tick the ‘leave at the door’ option.”
That makes the rest of us laugh. As soon as we’re done eating, we head downstairs as a group with Casimir proudly leading Gustov.
There are dogs everywhere, and Gustov is positive that every one of them wants to be his friend. He’s over there in heaven and, judging by the grin on Casimir’s face every time Gustov gets a compliment, Casimir is too. He hurries over to the booth to sign up as Julian shakes his head.
“He is far too excited about this,” he says. “Like… these dogs look ready for business, and Gustov looks the part but isn’t acting the part.”
“What do you mean he’s not acting the part?” Ezio asks as Gustov bounds toward us, hair flying, legs going everywhere. He’s far too excited.
Casimir is all smiles when he returns. “There were no ‘best dog alive’ competitions, so I signed Gustov up for Rally.”
“What is Rally?”
“No fucking idea but he’s going to win it. I wanted to be able to watch, so Julian, you’ll take him in since he listens to youbetter than anyone else in the group. But you can’t dally too long because I signed you up for agility right after.”
“You think Gustov is going to do agility?” Julian asks with a laugh. “This will be entertaining.”
“No, not Gustov. I signedyouup. Ezio will be your handler,” he says. “I will be recording and sending it to your father, of course. Oh, I can’t wait to see his reaction. He’s going to love it.”
Julian gives him a look of disbelief. “Casimir! I can’t just go… run some freaking agility course!”
