Craving Rose (The Aces' Sons 5)

Now, I was wondering if paying for new ones made me look like a lunatic.

I wished I could text Lily to get her opinion, but it was way past her bedtime. She’d be up at the ass crack of dawn with Gray, and she’d be working from home all day doing the accounting books for like five different companies. Yet another person who loved sitting at a desk all day, even if her desk was at home and she got to pick her hours.

I sighed and opened my book. Maybe if I stopped thinking about it, the perfect payback would come to me.

* * *

Cleaning off the door hadn’t been as bad as I’d expected, but it had taken forever, so I’d still bitched about it to anyone who could hear me. This wasn’t my first rodeo, after all. Smugly declaring that someone’s prank was weak was just asking for them to up their game, and I wasn’t about to egg Mack on. By Friday, I still hadn’t figured out what I was going to do to pay him back, but I wasn’t worried about it. I was known for taking my time before I struck, and the longer I waited, the more nervous my opponent usually got. It worked out perfectly.

When I showed up at the club, I was glad to see that they’d decided to barbecue. Sometimes it was strictly booze and whatever snacks you could pilfer from the kitchen, but usually during the summer, all the old ladies got together and made a huge meal. I was starving. I’d spent the afternoon cleaning my house from top to bottom, trying to ignore the nervous anticipation that I absolutely refused to acknowledge.

I’d partied with Mack a hundred times. We were cool. Friendly. Tonight wasn’t any different from any other party, even if we were in the middle of a prank war. Nothing had changed. Nothing was going to change.

I still took my time applying my makeup and ironing my hair, though, telling myself that I wanted to appear completely unconcerned with our new relationship. No, not relationship. Our new… shit, I didn’t even know the right word for it. Relationship implied something of a romantic nature, and that was not this. New friendship? No, that wasn’t right, either. We’d been friends before all of this started.

I was so busy arguing with myself that I walked straight into a muscular chest and almost fell flat on my ass.

“Whoa there, space cadet,” my cousin Cam joked, catching me before I fell.

“Sorry,” I said, returning his smile. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Clearly.” He laughed. “What’s up? Something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” I replied quickly, my voice coming out all high and shaky, like I was lying.

“Uh huh,” he murmured, unconvinced.

“No, really,” I said, shaking my head. God, what was wrong with me tonight? “Nothing is wrong. I was just thinking.”

“That’s never a good thing.”

“Ha-ha,” I said dryly.

“You planning out your next attack?” he asked curiously, lighting up a joint and offering it to me.

“No, thanks,” I said with a wave of my hand. “Attack?”

“Yeah,” he said, his voice raspy with smoke. “You know, that thing you’ve got going with Mack.”

“Does everyone know about it?” I asked in annoyance.

“Kind of hard to miss it when you’re comin’ into the club to put pudding in his boots,” he said with a laugh.

“I gave him a gift certificate to replace them,” I pointed out. It wasn’t like I was an asshole.

“He’ll never spend it,” Cam said easily.

“What? Why not?”

“A man’s not going to accept a gift like that.”

“My brothers do!”

“They’re your brothers,” he replied, like I was an idiot. “That’s different.”

“I don’t see how,” I argued, my voice going high again.

Now, I was kind of panicking. If Mack wasn’t going to use the gift certificate to replace those boots, then I really was an asshole. I’d ruined an expensive pair of boots. I mean, they were old, but they were still expensive.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cam replied with a wave of his hand. “Doesn’t seem like he’s pissed.”

“Shit,” I mumbled, reaching out and wiggling my fingers so he’d pass me the joint. I was going to need the calm it brought if I was going to face Mack.

* * *

Three hours later, I was feeling no pain. After a few shots with my brothers and a couple trips outside to smoke, all of my anxiety was gone. So what if Mack didn’t use the gift certificate? He could throw it away for all I cared. It was the intent of the gift that mattered, and I’d had nothing but good intentions.

“I’m glad you came out tonight,” I told Lily as we walked toward the small bonfire behind the building. “I barely see you anymore.”

“You see me all the time,” she replied, bumping me with her hip so I stumbled to the side.