Page 182 of Masters of Pleasure
Examining his distance from the target Connor had built, so they could throw axes during the Renn Fair off-season, Law nodded in satisfaction.He lifted the axe above his head, both hands wrapped around the base.Sometimes, they used the smaller one-handed ones, but Asad had wanted to practice with the larger ones today.Taking a deep breath, Law exhaled as he stepped forward, his arms swinging forward, carrying the weight of the axe with them.
“Heard you have a date with Iris on Friday.”
He stumbled.The axe rotated twice and hit with a muted thunk, the head half-buried in the ground.
Growling under his breath, he turned and glared at Asad, planting his hands on his hips.Not that Asad cared.He and Connor were howling with laughter.
“Seriously?”Law asked, moving his glare back and forth between them.“That was cheap.I get a do-over on that one.”
“Honestly, I didn’t think it was true until you grounded the axe,” Asad replied, holding one hand against his stomach, laughing through his answer.“Guess I was wrong, thinking maybe you meant it when you said you weren’t interested in her.”
“I’m not.It’s not a date.It’s a scene.”Shaking his head in disgust, Law dropped his hands and went to retrieve the axe.
“Uh-huh.”Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Asad and Connor exchange a glance, both still laughing, although it was finally dwindling.Despite the stark contrast in their appearances, they had the same annoying grin on their faces.“A scene you didn’t tell either ofusabout.”
“I knew you’d try to make more of it than it was.”Law yanked the axe from the ground and made a face at the dirt covering its edge.He tapped it against his leg, knocking the worst of it off.“How did you find out, anyway?”
“Iris was at Marquis last night with Rae, Domi, and Avery, and they were talking about it.I also heard about it from Freddy, who got it from Luke, who heard it from Olivia, who had been talking to Shane, who was their bartender.”Asad’s grin widened even more.“So, you can understand why I was skeptical.I really thought it was a case of telephone gone wrong.”
“Scening with her means nothing, huh?”Connor asked, raising an eyebrow.He might be the quietest out of them, but he had a talent for latching on to the thing his friends least wanted to talk about and choosing it as the topic for conversation.
Law scowled at him.
“She mentioned that no one scenes with her because of her brother.I figured I could scene with her.You’re the ones who were pushing me to do something with her.”
“Which is why it’s so interesting that you decided not to tell us about this scene… since it meansnothing,” Asad teased, leaning his hip against the table and grinning.
In hindsight, Law could see how not telling them made it seem like a bigger deal than it was, but he’d wanted to put off the teasing.
Shaking his head, he turned back to the target.Took a step.The axe flew.He frowned as it thunked into the target but not right in the center.
“Hmm, a little off your game there, are we?”Asad asked, taking another sip of his beer.
“Like you’re one to talk,” Law muttered.He picked up the second axe and let it fly.This time it hit dead center, filling him with satisfaction.Heading to the target, he yanked them both out and returned to the other end, where Connor was already waiting.
In Connor’s hands, the axe looked more like a one-handed throwing axe, but the big man still chose to use both hands.
“Why not Stronghold?”Connor asked, loosely holding the first axe by his side, apparently more interested in questioning Law than in taking his turn.“Why Marquis?”
“That’s where she wanted to go.I assume because she didn’t want to risk running into her brother.”
“Don’t they usually go to the club on different nights?I mean, when she wasn’t serving out her punishment.”Asad tilted his head at Law, giving him a significant look.“Are you suresheknows this isn’t a date?”
“I’m sure.”He said it a lot more firmly than he felt, but giving it a moment’s thought, he was pretty sure she did.He’d only offered after she’d told him about her trouble finding someone to scene with and was pretty sure she’d chosen Marquis for the privacy from her brother and his friends, not because she wanted to be alone with him.
If he felt a little disappointed about that, that was his problem and absolutely not something he would be sharing with Asad and Connor.
Asad and Connor exchanged another look, then the big man shrugged and lifted the axe over his head to throw it.Back to business.
Law wondered what Iris was up to today… what she had told her friends… what she might think about next week.If Asad and Connor weren’t watching him so closely, he would have texted her.
ChapterEight
Iris
“What else do you need, Dad?”Iris dusted off her hands as she walked back inside.Even though it was hot as balls, she’d worn jeans because she knew she’d been kneeling in the dirt.Her dad loved his garden, but he was having more and more trouble keeping up with it and with the house, so she and Andrew made a point to spend at least one Saturday a month helping with the things he couldn’t do so well on his own.
“You to take a break.”Grinning, he turned and put a glass of cold water on the counter.“Here, hydrate.”
