The Darkest Secret (Lords of the Underworld #7)(48)
Author: Gena Showalter

Paris had dumped a baggie of ambrosia in the new bottle and had just taken a swig. The liquid caught in his throat, choking him. After banging a fist into his sternum, he regained his breath and said, “You mean propose to him?

To grumpy ole Maddox? Shit, Wil ie, why didn’t you tel us you’re a masochist who swung that way?

You’re so delicate, he’l rip you to shreds the moment you climb into his bed. Plus, he’s hitched himself to Ashlyn. You try to lay a move on him, and that sweet thang wil rearrange your face.”

Rol ing his eyes, Wil iam withdrew Paris’s cel phone from the pocket of the swim trunks he’d borrowed.

“I mean cal him, you idiot. What’s with you tonight? Permanent brain damage? We’l breathe heavily and ask him what he’s wearing. I bet no one’s phone sexed him before.”

“Hey!” Paris frowned as he eyed the smal black device. “I had that stashed in my bedroom.”

“I know. That’s where I found it when I was snooping through your things.” As always, Wil iam was unrepentant about his sins. “So who has the titanium bal s to actual y do it, huh?”

Defeat raised his arm like a schoolboy, the only kid in class who knew the answer to the seemingly impossible mathematical equation on the board.

Enough from you already! You had your “more.”

“Why Maddox?” Strider asked. If anyone could kick his ass over the phone, it was the keeper of Violence. The warrior would probably find a way to reach through the line and strangle him the moment he started describing al the naughty things he supposedly planned to do to him.

Wil iam flashed his perfect white teeth. “Because he’l curse the most, and that’l make me laugh the hardest. Now, are you in or not?”

“Give me that effing phone,” Strider grumbled, opening his palm and waving his fingers.

“Effing?” Wil iam laughed with genuine amusement. “You ever realize how polite you get when you’re hammered?

And you know what they say. A man’s true character is revealed when he’s toasted. So you gotta face facts, man.

You’re a closet gentleman.” He shuddered. “Loser!”

“The heck I am!”

Even Paris laughed at that.

Strider snatched the phone out of Wil iam’s hand and started dialing. Yeah, Maddox—like every other warrior—was on speed dial, but Strider didn’t know the order Paris had them listed and he didn’t want to ask. If Strider wasn’t first, he didn’t want to chal enge the bastard to fix the mistake.

A few seconds later, Strider realized he’d dialed the wrong number because some dumb kid answered with a “What’s up, yo?”

Strider quickly hung up and tried again, careful y pecking at the keys. After the first ring, he switched to speaker.

Maddox answered a few seconds later, his voice raspy with the force of his panting. “Something wrong, Paris?”

Wil iam and Paris were on the edges of their seats, peering over at Strider with utter glee. He hadn’t seen either warrior that happy or relaxed in a long time, and he realized they had needed this vacation as much as he had.

Strider blew into the mouthpiece, then moaned as if he were buried deep inside a woman’s body. He tried not to grin.

“Paris?” Maddox asked, confused. “You there? You okay?”

Both warriors tried to cut off their laughs, smashing their knuckles into their mouths, but snorts managed to escape.

“You naked, big boy?” Strider asked in his best imitation of an aroused female. “Because I am.”

More snorting fol owed his words.

“Strider? And don’t try to deny it. I recognize your voice.

What the hel are you doing with Paris’s phone? I thought you were in Rome. And furthermore, what the hel does it matter if I’m naked or not? You have exactly two seconds to explain or I’m going to reach through the line, rip your tongue out of your mouth and—”

There was a pause, static, a muttered, “Give me that,” by an indignant female. Then the normal y quiet and reserved Ashlyn was demanding, “Did you just drunk dial my husband?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Strider said, and the other two final y burst into laughter, fal ing back in their chairs, their bodies shaking with the force of their mirth. “A guy’s gotta have some fun. Even if it’s the fun he puts in his own funeral. So is he? Naked, I mean.”

“No, for your information, he is not. He’s working out. I, uh, kind of incited him to rage so he’s beating the crap out of a brick wal .”

The laughter continued for several minutes, until even Ashlyn was chortling. “You boys are incorrigible.

This isn’t funny! He’l probably destroy the other wal when we hang up.”

“Good. He needed to get out of bed and final y do something besides—” Strider stopped himself before he said something else Maddox would rage over.

“Besides pleasuring me?” Ashlyn finished for him, anyway.

“You’l change your mind when you next see him. Lately, he’s a nervous wreck about the babies. He’s picking fights with everyone he meets and has even been arrested.

Twice. We’re going to make our way back to the fortress in the next week or so. He needs you guys.

Because, and please don’t laugh when I tel you this, if we’re alone much longer I’m going to murder him in his sleep.”

Strider chuckled. “Bet you’re wishing you hadn’t saved him from his death curse.” Once upon a time, Reyes had been forced to murder Maddox every night and Lucien had been forced to escort his soul to hel . Ashlyn managed to reverse the curse, sparing them al .

“A little peace and quiet isn’t too much to ask for, you know?” she said loudly. Then, in a softer tone, she added,

“So everyone’s good?”

“Don’t be nice to them,” Maddox barked in the background.

“You need your rest, and they interrupted.”

“Oh, hush,” she replied. “If you had your way, I’d be resting every minute of every day. And like I can real y rest while we’re outside, in the middle of town, while you destroy another building. Besides, I miss them and want to talk to them.”

That shut Maddox up. He could deny his precious Ashlyn nothing.

“We’re great. Me, Wil ie and Paris are on vacation.

Together,” Strider added. He relaxed against his lounge, his free hand anchored under his head, wondering if he’d ever have such an easy relationship with a woman. “You guys good? No trouble lately?”