Page 70 of Brooklyn Cupid

JACE

“Jace is mine.”

I smile like a fool, even though I feel miserable with a black coffee in my hand as Roey and I take a cab to JFK.

Sobering up after being yanked out of a great party sucks.

Even more so when we stand in line through the security check-in for the red-eye flight, and I can’t focus on anything Roey says about our current case because I get a message from Lu.

Lu: Your work sucks! Tito is drunk. He’s staying over. I’m cleaning. Pushkin is sleeping by the door to your room.

A sad emoji follows. Then a picture of her and Tito on the couch, heads hanging low, pouting.

Laughter escapes me, but my heart clenches with so much disappointment that I feel like quitting my job.

It’s booze, I know, the abrupt cut off of the dopamine and serotonin.

Me: I’ll be back soon.

Lu: Can’t wait.

Lu: Hurry up!

Me: Tito owes you breakfast in bed. Remind him.

Unknown: Your buddy, Mr. I’m-Rambo-with-fuck-me-eyes, didn’t take our Miss Becky home. So technically, you lost the bet.

I laugh. So, Lu gave Tito my number.

Me: He was ready, trust me. Her loss. And yours. You owe Lu breakfast.

I follow the message with a devil emoji.

Tito: I’ll wait for you to come back. We’ll have it together. The three of us.

A winking emoji follows.

The guy never gives up. I laugh and forward the message to Lu.

Lu: Ignore him. You are mine, Jace Reed. Can you just come home soon? Pleeeeease?

Boom!

My heart slams in my chest, and I drink half a cup of my third coffee in one gulp to make sure I’m almost sober and I didn’t just dream it up.

Lu is drunk. Tomorrow, it’ll be forgotten. Yet I can’t stop staring at the messages and start typing the response,Miss you already.

Then correct it.

Me: Miss you guys already.

I wishIcould serve her breakfast in bed, and other things…

Inevitably, a scene fromBeautiful Vicecomes to mind.

“I love breakfast in bed,” Konstantin grunts, slowly pulling the sheet off my naked body. “Spread your legs for me, wife.”

Bro…