“They just aren’t used to folks dictating over what info they can and can’t be privy to.” Johari said. “Doesn’t feel so good, does it?” her tone was polite when she addressed her husband.
Moses tilted his head a fraction, jaw muscles dancing powerfully as he worked to quell his response. He failed. “You’re my wife, Twig. I’m privy to everything.”
Johari expelled a quick burst of air meant to be laughter. “So given that, right about now you should be giving up details on all those private chats you’ve been having with Caiphus.” She bristled when Moses laughed.
“You’re my wife, Twig. I’m privy to everything.”
Quiet curses filled the space then.
“Hold on…” Melina sighed. “The next thing you’ll be saying is we have to obey you.”
“Thanks for not makin’ us say it, Meli,” Yohan returned.
“Amen,” Taurus all but growled on his way to the bar where he splashed gin into a glass. He toasted Nile when he found her glaring his way.
“‘Obey’ may have been in my parent’s vows, Han.” Mel fixed Yohan with her slanting stare. “I don’t recall it in ours.”
“It was inferred,” Yohan tossed back.
“So you guys get to play things out however you see fit while we march to the tune you tell us?” Darby posed the question to Kraven when she caught him nodding.
He remained undaunted. “Pretty much, Lass.”
“You guys are too much. Belle’s right. You’re taking this too far now.” Mel flounced back against her side of the lounge.
“Meli, goddammit this isn’t about the perpetual bullshit that’s screwed with our families to hell and back, it’s a personal thing.” Yohan’s riveting features seemed more so in the wake of his uncharacteristic loss of temper.
“You guys will see that when you stop intentionally misunderstanding what we’re saying. I’m pretty sure we won’t have long to wait,” Yohan regarded Mel with a slow, devilishly suggestive sweep from his dark eyes. “It’s like De said, you’ll forget about all this later tonight when you’re on your back.”
Yohan left the lanai with the rest of the guys at his heels.
Silence followed their departure.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
“Y’all know the only ones on their backs tonight will be us after we’ve gotten our asses kicked for all that shit we talked,” Quay noted while browsing the menu he held.
“Damn straight. They’re gonna hurt us bad,” Kraven focused on a menu as well and sighed. “Though I’d wager it won’t be as bad as Yohan’s beating. My bet is Mel’s gonna shove his balls down his throat over those parting words of his.”
“Hell yeah, she will,” Fernando foreshadowed his little brother’s upcoming downfall. “She’ll shove ‘em down his throat and pull ‘em out through his ass.”
“Honestly, I know all this so please let me enjoy my last meal in peace,” Yohan frowned over the menu, fingers braced at his brow.
“Remember how women used to just...just cater to us?” Taurus queried, not even bothering to check his menu. His appetite had long since vanished.
“You’d call and they’d come cook you dinner…” Fernando reminisced amidst nods and murmurs of agreement.
Kraven set aside his menu then. “There were two who’d drop by at the same time and give massages- just like that. Anytime I called, they’d stay the weekend…”
“I could double book dates,” Quay shared. “No worries- I’d take ‘em both out and they wouldn’t even argue.”
“Or you could just cancel dates,” Quest studied the vodka drenched ice bumping the sides of his glass while he twirled it. “I could call right up until the time I was supposed to go pick them up. ‘That’s okay Quest’,” he softened his voice and smiled in memory. “Then I could call ‘em up the very next night and they’d be happy to go out. No problem…”
“I know, right?” Moses smoothed a hand across his shaved head while he shook it. “They’d forgive us for anything.”
“Hell, they’d apologize when it wasn’t even their fault,” Carlos mused, his laughter soft as he signaled the waiter for another whiskey.
“What the hell happened to those women?” Pike dragged all ten fingers through the jet crop crowning his head.
“We sure as hell didn’t marry ‘em,” Smoak groaned.
“Should I be listening to this conversation?” Caiphus’ question brought laughter to the moment.
“Does listening make you love Bill any less?” Moses asked.
“Hell no.”
“Damn right it doesn’t,” Quay slammed a fist to the table. “See Cai, there’s a certain allure to women who think everything you say is gospel and tend to your every whim. Trouble is, not everything you say is gospel and not every whim should be tended.”
“Are you drunk?” Quest asked his twin. “You’re actually making sense.”
“Thing is, Cai,” Quay continued once the laughter had eased. “Only a woman worth your time will call you on your bullshit and only a woman you really love will make you want to stop layin’ it on so thick.”
“That’s not to say you won’t still lay it on,” Taurus cautioned.
“Amen,” Yohan sighed and clinked glasses with Taurus.
“It’s a strange tug of war, lads,” Kraven leaned in to take part in the clinking of glasses.
