"Always an afterthought when I'm with you," Owen grumbled as they waited for the elevator.
"Can I help it that I'm cooler than you are?" Shade teased.
"Apparently you're also hotter than I am."
"Ah . . . well, hot gets you burned. And everyone actually likes lukewarm; lukewarm is comfortable." Shade hadn't meant it as an insult-Owen was easy to like-but the guy apparently took it the wrong way.
"Fuck you," he said before pushing his way past Shade to get on the elevator.
"So how was your weekend?" Shade asked Owen as he followed. Though still sleep deprived, he was feeling slightly more personable now that he was back in his element. And he really did care about Owen's problems. Somewhat.
"It sucked giant monkey balls," he said.
"I saw giant monkey balls this weekend," Shade said.
"Huh?"
He grinned at Owen's flabbergasted expression. "Took Julie to the zoo."
Owen smiled. He loved kids-especially Julie-and dogs, of course. "I bet she enjoyed that. Did you see Amanda?"
"Not really," he lied. He didn't want to talk about Amanda. Not now, not ever. Fuck her.
"That would explain why you're so cranky."
Adam answered their summons at his suite door with a dark expression and an even darker disposition. Shade hadn't seen this side of Adam in over a year. He couldn't help but wonder if he was using drugs again. Because that was what Adam did when his life turned to shit. He wrote deep, soulful metal music and got high out of his fucking mind.
"You okay?" Shade asked him.
"Never better," Adam said flatly. He handed Owen a keycard and another to Shade. "Gabe's woman took your spare key last night. So you might not want to barge in there without calling first."
"Why are they in my room?"
"Like I give a fuck." He closed the door in Shade's face.
"What was that all about?" Shade asked Owen. And why the fuck would Gabe and Melanie be in his room? Maybe it had something to do with Nikki inviting herself along for their romantic weekend. Perhaps they'd needed a little privacy from the mistress of cling.
"No clue. Maybe he had a weekend that sucked giant monkey balls too."
"Some monkeys have all the luck."
Owen snorted and then laughed. "It's good to be back."
"You never did say why your weekend sucked," Shade said as he fished his phone out of his pocket so he could call Gabe and alert him to his arrival. He tried not to let his heart sink when he found Amanda hadn't called to tell him she'd made a terrible mistake, but the stupid organ was apparently still hung up on the woman. Apparently his heart was just as dumb as his brain was.
"Not all of it," Owen said and slapped Shade on the back. "I'm gonna catch a nap. Didn't get much sleep last night."
And before Shade could ask why Owen had missed out on sleep, the guy had opened his suite door and disappeared inside.
Gabe sounded mostly asleep himself when he answered Shade's call. Shade could only think of one reason why Gabe would still be in bed with Melanie at noon.
"Can you vacate my room now?" Shade asked. "Adam said he gave my spare key to your girlfriend. Why are you guys in my room? Did you break another set of box springs?" At least someone was having a great morning.
"I'm not with her," Gabe said flatly. "She's in your room, and I'm in my room."
"Oh," Shade said, rubbing the side of his nose. "What's going on?"
"Shit. Lots of fucked-up shit."
That monkey with the giant pair must have the cleanest, most delighted pair of nuts ever conceived.
"Sounds like the morning I'm having." Or rather, the life he was having.
They agreed to approach the suite together-safety in numbers-and a moment later Gabe entered the corridor from his suite. He'd never looked worse. Both eyes were bloodshot and encircled by dark bruises. His crimson mohawk was flat and drooping. Hell, even the dragons tattooed on his scalp looked weary.
"What the hell happened to your face?" Shade asked, wincing at a pair of what had to be painful shiners.
"I bounced it off some guy's knuckles a couple dozen times," Gabe grumbled. "Good times."
Gabe pointed at Shade's forehead. "And what happened to you?"
Shade hadn't even noticed the dull pain of the bruise on his head until Gabe pointed it out. The ache in his chest had been a far greater distraction. "Ex-wife," Shade said vaguely.
Gabe sneered. He'd never been a fan of Tina. "Bitch."
"Ball-buster."
Gabe's sour expression brightened as he poked Shade's bruise and sent a sharp pain through his skull. "Head-buster."
Gabe grinned, and Shade couldn't help but smile back. Gabe was one of the few people who saw through Shade's façade and yet didn't give him grief about the softness hidden beneath his hardened outer shell. He wasn't exactly vulnerable around Gabe-not the way he had been with Amanda-but he was more genuine. He let his guard down. But Gabe had never betrayed him.