Page 155 of Mad As Hell

He chuckled, his eyes glittering with mischief. “What about your mouth?”

I lifted my brows. “You really want my teeth near your junk when I’m in pain?”

He hissed a breath and moved back a step. “Fair point. The guys are here. They brought breakfast.”

I glanced at the clock on my bedside table. We still had almost an hour before classes started. “Why exactly are the guys here?” Excitement thrummed in my blood. “Did Ash find out something about the key?”

“No,” he answered with a shake of his head, “but we need to come up with a plan moving forward. This is the safest place we can talk without being overheard, and we have practice tonight.”

“What about Bex?”

“On her way up as we speak,” he assured me.

“Awesome. Do I have time to shower?” I asked, shooting a wistful look at the bathroom.

The corner of his mouth hooked up. “Depends. Am I joining you?”

“Depends,” I countered with a saccharine smile as I propped a hand on my hip. “Do you feel like ever having children?”

He eyed me. “I’ll tell the guys you’ll be out in a few minutes,” he replied, turning for the door. “Take your time, Mads.”

“Good call,” I said to his retreating back.

I hurried through my shower routine and made a mental note to use the giant soaker tub tonight with some of the insanely expensive bubble bath.

When I came out of the bedroom, dressed and starving, my stomach growled at the smell of bacon, pancakes, and orange juice.

The guys and Bex were using most of the living room, but I loaded up a plate and sat in the empty space between Ryan and Ash on the couch.

“What did I miss?” I asked, popping a piece of greasy bacon into my mouth. I almost moaned in appreciation because it had the perfect chewy-to-crispy ratio.

“Ash filled us in on last night,” Bex replied, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the armchair Court had taken. “The air vent worked, huh?”

“You’re a freaking genius,” I replied with a smile.

Ash made a small noise in his throat. “Seriously, what you did was take a big risk, Maddie.” He eyed Bex. “And you helped her.”

Bex scowled at him even as Court tugged a lock of her hair. “I make no apologies for helping my bestie.”

“Helping is fine, but you two need to try and stay out of the way where our fathers are involved,” Court reminded her.

She tilted her head to look up at him. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

When he glared at her and opened his mouth to say more, I cut him off. “I can’t stay out of it now. Gary expects me to give him info on whatever the Cains are planning.”

“Not the worst position for us to be in,” Ash added. “We can lead him right into whatever trap we’re planning.”

“See? I did good.” I shot Ryan a smug smirk.

He frowned at me. “No, you did reckless. Good just happened to be a lucky as hell byproduct.”

“Fun sucker,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.

“Aw, baby, you like it when I suck,” he reminded me in a deeply decadent tone that made my insides a little melty and my cheeks heat with embarrassment.

Linc set his plate on the coffee table with a groan. “Seriously, I can’t handle you two being this fucking cute in the morning. It's nauseating. Can we please stay on topic?”

“Agreed,” Ash grumbled.

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