Crush (Crash #3)(64)

India had already claimed her spot and was two Jell-O shots deep when I crawled in beside her.

When Anton stuck his head inside, I got all self-conscious again. Of course his eyes landed right on me, and a smile crept into position when he saw I was also looking at him.

"Room for one more?"

I was about to say no when LJ hushed him.

"The movie's starting," he said. "No talking unless you want to wind up in the time-out corner."

"India," I whispered, shaking her. She was almost asleep. "Indie. Trade spots."

No response.

India was sandwiched between me and Thomas, who had LJ and Holly on his other side, which left the space beside me empty.

Although it didn't stay empty for long.

"This spot taken?" Anton whispered, crawling beside me.

"Would you believe me if I said yes?"

"Okay. Now you're just hurting my feelings," he said, punching a couple of pillows into position.

"I didn't think you had any."

He chuckled. "Would you let me know once you're ready to move past this afternoon? You know, just so I'm not holding my breath."

My mood was lightening up, and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. "You start holding your breath now, and I'll say 'when' once I'm ready to forgive you."

"If I did that, I'm afraid I'd be dead before you'd even considered it," he whispered.

Apparently, even whispering wasn't allowed. LJ sat up and shushed us. "Aunt Luce," he said in that warning voice I'd used with him a half dozen times a day.

I mouthed, "Sorry," before zipping my mouth closed and throwing away the key. That seemed to satisfy LJ.

"Whose phone is that?" Holly said, looking down the row of bodies. 

"Mom," LJ whined before hopping up and pushing pause on the DVD player. As he scampered toward the bathroom, I checked my pockets for mine. Hold up, I didn't have pockets. In fact, I hadn't seen my phone in a couple hours, since I'd changed in the bathroom. It was late, so that meant it was a certain someone making his nightly call.

A Face Time call . . .

I muttered a curse right before LJ rounded the corner, phone in hand.

"Hey, Uncle Jude," he greeted with a wave.

I cursed again, when what I should have been doing was leaping up and getting as far away from Anton as the apartment would allow.

I didn't hear what Jude said, but I could guess from LJ's reply. "Yeah. She's right here." Flipping the phone around, LJ came toward me and handed it off.

Jude's face went from light to dark in the time it took his eyes to move from me to the space next to me.

"Luce," he said, the muscles of his jaw working. "Who the hell is that?"

"Jude," I said, feeling my temper fire to life. "Nice to see you, too."

Holly jumped up and stopped LJ from unpausing the movie. "Let's get your pajamas on, LJ," she said, steering him down the hall. One thing Holly had learned about Jude over the years: When he was pissed, he wouldn't take the time to spell out select words that weren't meant for little ears. Thomas rushed after them.

"It would be nice to see you, too, if you weren't horizontal next to another guy." Jude's glare didn't leave Anton once, like he was hoping he'd combust if he stared long enough.

"Let me guess who this chump is . . ." he said. "The man whose gravestone is about to read, 'Anton Xavier.'"

I knew I should be embarrassed that my fiancé was acting like this. I knew I should be mortified. But I was too angry for that.

"And you must be the very noncontrolling Jude Ryder," Anton replied, sitting up on his elbows.

If there was a silver lining to this testosterone showdown, it was that the jabs wouldn't leave bruises.

"Anton," Jude said, sitting up straighter. "You're shorter than I pictured you."

Kill me. Kill me right now. Why wasn't I hitting that end button? Why hadn't I hit it the instant LJ handed that sucker over to me?

Because I was an idiot, that's why.

I hopped up and headed for the kitchen, hoping Anton would stay where he was so I could start with the damage control. Of course Anton shot up and was only two steps behind me when I stopped in the kitchen.

"Jude," Anton said, moving in front of the screen. "Your head's smaller than I thought it would be."

"Cute. Real cute." The veins in Jude's neck looked ready to burst. "I hope you're gutsy enough to say something like that to me in person."

"I'm gutsy enough."

Jude grinned a tad manically for my liking. "Something to look forward to."

I was starting to wonder if their next display of manhood would include whipping their dicks out and comparing size. I elbowed Anton, hoping he'd take a clue. Not happening.