Page 21 of Ace of Spades

Chapter5

Levi

Itake a sip of the coffee my best friend offers me and nearly spit it out right into his face.

"Brody, what is this shit?"

He laughs, his shoulders bouncing as he fills his own mug.

"If there's anything I took away from the service it was how to make shitty coffee," he admits, walking over to me, cane in one hand, his coffee mug in the other.

"What happened to that French press I gave you three Christmases ago?"

I attempt another sip but it's a lost cause.

"That was for making coffee?"

He pulls the chair out next to me at his kitchen table, leaning the cane against it.

His service dog, Milo, dutifully follows his every move. He huffs out a sigh as he takes his usual place at my friend’s feet.

Brody’s maid is busily cleaning cabinets behind us.

"I gave it to Maggie, who gave it to her grandson, who I think uses it to press the water out of mud. Ain't that right, Mags?"

The woman in her sixties turns to give Brody a smirk.

"Remind me never to gift you anything ever again," I say, grabbing a cookie off the plate before giving it another thought and setting it back down. I push the plate of baked goods away from my reach.

"Still watching your figure?" Brody asks, picking up the cookie I had put down and popping it into his mouth, shamelessly.

"It's about the only thing I can control these days."

"Ah, the ever cool, calm and collected Levi "TheAce"Steele."

Brody's the only one still left that would know about that nickname. The only one who still uses it in private.

The only one, until Sienna Riley, that is.

"I need to ask you something."

"Yes," he says with a kurt nod. "Youarean asshole. I've been meaning to have this talk with you."

I punch him in the shoulder and he pretends it hurts, rubbing it and making a pouty face at Maggie who has no sympathy for his antics anymore.

He may be hobbling from his old injury, but that doesn’t mean the man can’t take a hit. He’s just as brawny as he was back when we joined the service. Maybe even fitter now that he does mostly upper body workouts.

"No. I met this woman last night."

Brody instantly regains his composure.

"A wo-man?" He stretches out the word as if trying to remember how the word is supposed to sound.

"A woman," I say again.

"And this woman," Brody lowers his voice so that Maggie can't hear, though she obviously can. "You slept with her?"

"No." Although, I might have if I didn't stop things. It definitely was going in that direction. We both wanted it.

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