Chapter Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
LUKE
I manage to retrieve Leena’s swimsuit from the now turbulent pool. I toss it to Sebastian so he can help her back into it, then quickly grab a towel, wrapping it around my waist as I make my way over to the gate, unlocking it for whenever Colton decides to join us.
My cock aches from what he just interrupted. Sebastian’s probably does too, but as I walk back his way, I notice he’s not even bothering to cover up. He’s making his way around to the backside of the bar, standing behind a counter that’s just barely tall enough to cover his junk. Leaving a pretty clear view of the muscled lines pointing to it.
My eyes linger.
Then I notice he’s already drinking straight from the bottle of tequila. I take a deep breath, settling onto the barstool next to Leena. We’re going to have to work on this. Because if he thinks he can just get drunk when he’s around Colton instead of telling him the goddamn truth about us, then all he’s earned himself is a lot of fucking miserable hangovers… that Leena and I will have to deal with in the morning.
I was fine with him not telling the team in the beginning, but now?
Colton isn’t stupid. He’s going to figure it out eventually, if he hasn’t already, and this is getting fucking ridiculous.
I’ve tried talking to Sebastian about it, several times in fact, and the conversation always ends the same. A lot of him not listening and us getting nowhere, followed by him finding a way to distract me from the conversation.
Always something involving our dicks, and Leena that I can’t say no to.
Maybe I’ve only been fine with it up until now because I didn’t know what this was either. Now, I do.
I have to tell him. I just… don’t know how. Or how he’ll react.
“Oh, hey, guys!” Colton says with that chipper disposition he always seems to have, then he walks right past me and Leena.
We both tense.
Because he walks straight behind the bar to stand next to Sebastian.
Colton takes the tequila out of his hand, and just stands there. Their eyes lock for several seconds; amusement in Colton’s, utter disdain in Sebastian’s.
And then Colton looks down.
He looks down for a long time before dragging his eyes back up to continue their staring contest. I have to run a hand over my mouth to hide my smile, because I’m about to lose my shit laughing. Mostly because of Sebastian’s face and Colton’s fucking smirk, but also because of how big Leena’s eyes get when she realizes what’s happening.
Colton looks down again, then back up before breaking the silence.
“I knew you’d be happy to see me.” He smiles at Sebastian, then leans past him to grab the shot glasses, sliding them slowly across the counter in front of the man, his smirk only growing wider as this plays out.
Sebastian glares at him as he does. “You’ve seen it before. Don’t make this fucking awkward,” he scolds. I can’t help the chuckle that escapes me, which earns me a glare as well.
“What?!” Leena exclaims, looking between the two of them. I laugh louder.
Sometimes I forget just how much we haven’t told her yet.
“Oh, you don’t know where we met?” Colton smiles. He smiles really big.
The bastard is enjoying this.
Fuck, no we haven’t told her yet. That’s not the kind of conversation that we’re eager to bring up. To be honest, we weren’t quite sure how she would feel about it. And we left that life before we met her, so it’s a non-issue anyway.
“No, they haven’t.” She looks between Sebastian and I, wide-eyed.
“Colton, why the fuck are you here?” Sebastian changes the subject, and I’m grateful for it. That’s not a conversation we want to have with Leena when Colton is here.
Or while Sebastian’s dick is out.
And especially not when Colton is standing next to Sebastian while his dick is out.
“Oh, yeah. Here,” Colton says, pouring us each a shot. “You’re going to need it.”
I don’t know what he has to say, but I already fucking need it.
“So, the Cards are going after each other.” He’s already pouring us more drinks the second we finish the first.
“That’s not fucking news. Every Card in the Deck is always at each other’s throats,” Sebastian says, and he’s right. Every gang that has named themselves after a playing Card makes a point to never get along. One petty squabble turns into a decades long war. It always has.
“Which Cards?” I ask, because clearly Colton found this important enough to land a helicopter on our fucking roof.
Although, now that I think about it, he might have just done that because he was bored.
“From what I can tell,” Colton says, leaning on the counter. “The biggest players are the King of Hearts, of course.” He tips his glass to Leena and she doesn’t look one bit surprised. “The Queen of Diamonds, and… the Jack of Spades. They’re the ones riling everyone up. Their numbers nearly tripled overnight, and they’re still adding new members, some of which are coming from the other Cards.”
Sebastian straightens at that, so do I.
I glance at Leena and she’s holding perfectly still, her petrified face telling me she knows how bad this is.
You don’t switch Cards. It just doesn’t happen.
It’s fucking suicide.
And after we took out most of the Jacks and Leena killed their leader, the last thing any of us expected was for them to be growing in numbers, let alone so quickly.
No wonder the entire Deck is getting riled up over this.
“So they found someone to take over. That was fast,” I muse.
“Yeah,” Colton says, looking down at the shot glass he’s twirling in his hands. And I don’t like the look on his face. Or, the lack of looking he’s doing at us.
“What?” Sebastian asks, picking up on it as well. “Who is it?”
Colton stands up straight, setting the glass down on the counter carefully, as if he’s afraid to break it. He takes a deep breath before turning to me.
My jaw tightens when I meet his gaze.
“Who. Is. It?” I repeat the question.
He looks back at me with a sort of apology, and I don’t fucking like it. I don’t fucking like it at all.
“I’m sorry, Lu. It’s Asher.”