“I have no intention of unblocking him, ever,” Rebel said.
“Good,” I replied, hugging him tighter, as Kit’s arms wrapped around him and pressed against my sides.
“If you’re ever tempted, you’d better tell us so we can remind you of all the reasons that would be a bad idea,” Kit said.
“I will.”
“You’d better,” I told him, “or you will find your way over my knee.”
“And a good time will be had by all,” Rebel declared.
Chuckling, I leaned in to growl in his ear. “Don’t count on it.”
Chapter 30
(Kit)
“I’m done, tap out time,” I declared, pushing the half-finished bowl away from me. “If I shove another spoonful of ice cream in my mouth, my stomach will explode.”
“And now it’s down to two!” Ozzy announced as I groaned and leaned back in my chair.
Johnny and Rebel were seated across from each other, each with the melting remains of Rocky Road ice cream in front of them. The rules had been simple. Each band member had started with three scoops of the ice cream of their choice. Small scoops, we weren’t complete heathens, and besides, large scoops would have necessitated more ice cream than the lodge freezer could accommodate.
After those first three scoops, someone else selected your next flavor. I’d quickly learned that the history the rest of them had with one another put me at a distinct advantage. While they knew each other’s preferences, they didn’t know mine, so they hadn’t jumped straight to the flavors I wasn’t a fan of the way they’d done to each other. All in the name of seeing who could eat the most in the end.
I hated Rocky Road and had known it would be my downfallthe moment Johnny suggested it, but there was no way I could let them see that I found nuts in my ice cream revolting, so I dived in. The fact that Rebel had chosen it for Johnny twice now had clued me in that I wasn’t alone in my distaste for the flavor, but Johnny had groaned and shaken his head at me when I’d chosen it for Rebel, hoping he hated it too, only to discover that it was his favorite.
Now I watched him grin at Johnny over his spoon before shoveling it in past his lips, while Johnny shot a miserable look at the scoop in his bowl, sighed, and picked up the spoon.
“I’d love to meet the person who decided to put nuts in ice cream,” Johnny groaned before he ate the next bite.
“Same!” I moaned. “Peanut butter is fine; it’s smooth; I like smooth. I just don’t like nuts.”
“What about smooth nuts?” Dash asked, causing Johnny to cough and almost choke on his ice cream.
Rebel just snorted, shot me a smoldering look, and kept eating while my face heated up.
Steel’s chuckle sounded absolutely filthy when he spoke up from where he leaned against the counter, having come in halfway through this little fiasco. “He likes those just fine.”
I shot him the bird as laughter erupted around the table to the point that Rebel missed his mouth and got ice cream on his nose.
I loved that Steel came and found us as soon as he’d gotten off duty and changed, but damn, these guys didn’t need any encouragement to give me shit. Snark was a love language in this band, which fortunately meant I fit right in. Keeping up was another story. Steel handing them ammunition would just mean it would take me longer to win a battle of the smartasses with one of them.
When Steel had given us his schedule, Rebel had tried to tell him that it wasn’t necessary, that he’d learned his lesson about hunting for Steel at the end of a show.
This way you know when you’ll get to see me…and be prepared.
Threat? Promise? Either way you took it, Rebel’s eyelids haddropped, and he’d let out a low groan that was almost a purr.
Then Steel turned his head my way, looked me dead in the eyes, and said,That goes for you, too.It was a good thing there was a chair behind me when my knees gave out, or I’d have wound up on the floor.
Were we together?
I was still trying to figure that part out when Rebel wiped the ice cream off his nose before polishing off the rest of the bowl, while Johnny still had half a scoop left.
“I concede,” Johnny declared, shoving it away. “Even if I finish that one, he’s just going to choose Rocky Road for me again.”
“And again, and again, until the carton is empty,” Rebel replied, waving his spoon in triumph.