Hearts the Last Beat (Angel Fire #6) - Ellie Masters Page 0,37

trust Forest to keep his word, at least as long as Angel and I adhere to his terms. The issue is Mitzy’s connected to the chick brigade and they can get chatty.

With my senses alerted, I keep a wide berth and go about stirring my morning concoction of caffeine, sugar, and way more cream than coffee deserves. Finally, I can’t handle her stare and turn in a huff.

“What gives?” Sharper than I intend, she flinches.

Mitzy can be a ballbuster, but my tone gives her pause. I return a slow blink and remind myself not to be a jerk. “Sorry, give me a second to get this caffeine in.”

“No worries.” Mitzy waltzes around the kitchen island and plops down right beside me.

“Damn, girl, you got something to say, spit it out.” I’m not playing mind games with Forest’s tech guru, but I brace for reality. Forest probably blabbed to Mitzy the first chance he got.

Fucking Forest.

“I want you to tell me.”

I pause, cup lifted to my mouth, while my heart bangs away inside my chest.

“Um, tell you what?” I don’t want to dance around this too much. If I’m going up against the firing squad, let’s make it quick and as painless as possible.

Holly wanders in, rubbing at her eyes and yawning. “Coffee. Now.” Her springy red curls bounce around her shoulders as she takes a seat beside me.

Great, I’m sandwiched by the two women I don’t need to be around. Not after what I did to Angel last night.

“Am I too late for fresh coffee?” Holly blinks and scrubs at her eyes again. “It’s decaf, right?”

I look at my coffee and sigh when I realize all the caffeine has been stripped from it.

“It is. Just made a pot. I’ll get you a cup.” Mitzy flounces off her stool and grabs a cup for Holly.

“You’re a light saber,” Holly says with a yawn.

“You mean life saver,” I correct.

“Do I?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s Bash and his damn ComicCon obsession slipping out. I’ve been around geeks wielding light sabers all weekend.”

“I thought you were on a couple’s retreat.”

“We were.” She regards me through a blurry eye. “Or, at least that’s the lie he told me. He wanted to stay until tomorrow, but I put my foot down. I played the pregnancy card. I think we dragged ourselves in a little after one in the morning.”

One?

That’s less than half an hour after Angel and I had our stand-down with Forest in the kitchen. I rub at my face, realizing how incredibly close we’d been to imminent destruction.

“Well, it’s good to have you back.” Mitzy sets a steamy cup of coffee down in front of Holly. “Spike was just going to tell me how Noodles got his nickname.”

“Huh?” My brows scrunch, not following Mitzy.

“It’s what I want to ask you. Noodles won’t tell me. Absolutely refuses. I’ve asked Ash, and he won’t spill. Bent ignores me. Bash…”

Holly laughs. “Bash doesn’t know. Noodles had the nickname before the guys met him.”

“That’s true, so don’t ask me.” I shrug and play along. The thing is, I’m the only one who does know. Not that I’m saying a word, and I kind of like how Noodles is making Mitzy crazy by not telling her.

“Come on. You and him are best buddies.” Mitzy hops up and sits on the kitchen counter. She glares at me. “Tell me!”

“Tell you, what?” Noodles waltzes in, alert, refreshed and looking like he just stepped out of a spa. Unlike the rest of us who are desperately injecting decaffeinated coffee into our bodies, one sip at a time. He wears board shorts, no shirt, and flings his shoulder-length blond hair out of his eyes.

“Your girl is trying to get me to spill about your nickname.” I take a sip. “Nobody asks how I got mine.”

Mitzy gives a flap of her hand. “You’re easy. It’s because you’ve got all those piercings spiking your body.”

“I’m not that easy.” And the nickname came from one piercing in particular spiking through my body. Not that I share. Not that it’s a secret. The guys have all seen me naked back in the day of post-concert orgy sessions.

Again, it’s unbelievable how things have changed.

“Well, isn’t that where yours comes from?” Mitzy demands an answer.

“Yeah, but…”

“But nothing.” Mitzy pouts. “Why do people call you Noodles?” She directs her comment to Noodles rather than me. “I’m your wife. We’re supposed to share everything.”

Noodles goes to his wife and pulls her into a hug. “But where would the magic be if I spilled all