Page 95 of The Chameleon

Patrick let out a snort-chuckle.

“I get to go to bed with that sex god every night,” Patrick teased.

Further up the stage, a man wearing a black biker’s cap began to rise from the floor, posing with one arm raised above his head and the other resting gently on his waist as he met his audience.

Light sparkled off the strings of diamonds draped across Levi’s bare chest, creating an almost mystical aura—fitting for another sex goddess.

Resting a few inches below his exposed belly button was a silver G-string matching the one worn by Skyler. Leave it to Levi to dress in the most fabulous yet sexy-as-fuck outfit ever.

All around them, the stage came to life as Skyler and Levi gave into their inner burlesque. Other dancers joined the duo on stage. Grinding and humping and giving sin and debauchery a sexy new name.

Fire raged, and music blared. It appeared that Patrick forgot to mention that his husband was a goddamn fire starter.In between flips on stage, Skyler danced with fire, throwing fireballs into the air to the adoring cheers of the crowd around him.

The crowd lost it. They whistled, they clapped, they threw money on stage.

“Damn, you need to keep your boy locked up,” Chase whispered to Patrick.

Matteo swore he heard Patrick growl under his breath.

“A beauty like that can’t be controlled or contained. The first time I met my little fire starter, he had me on my back with a gun to my head. I fell for that crazy boy that very same day.”

Seeing the love in Patrick’s eyes, Matteo couldn’t help but steal a glance in Ares’s direction.

Damn. Of course, the fucker was staring at him with heated eyes.

To be honest, there wasn’t a time when Ares didn’t look at Matteo with those loving, adoring eyes. Even when they were elbows deep in a heated argument, Ares never once stopped looking at him like he hung the fucking moon.

That was love right there.

Struggling to swallow the lump in his throat, Matteo’s brain started to realize that it had lost the battle against hating Ares forever. His brain was beginning to join his heart and dick in the “Team Ares” camp, where all they wanted was to get pounded by the sexy brute and spend each morning staring into each other’s eyes.

God, when did being in love get so…cheesy?

Eyes locked with Ares, Matteo grabbed an unopened bottle of champagne from the ice bucket and two champagne flutes, then nodded over his shoulder.

Ares’s eyes went wide once he caught on to what Matteo was insinuating. Ares quickly gave an excited nod, inadvertently grabbing Chase and Patrick's attention.

Jesus, the man has no tact.

Chase and Patrick exchanged glances, trying their best not to laugh and draw more attention to the love-struck man-brute.

“Jesus,” Matteo whispered under his breath. He ignored the two while leading the excited pit bull out of the theatre.

No one else seemed to notice their exit—at least, Matteo didn’t think so.

32

MATTEO

They walked in silence, Ares using his crutch to help him walk on his injured foot. The man was stubborn and refused to look like an invalid. Instead of using the crutch to take most of the weight off his broken… sure, let’s call it broken… foot, he used the crutch only when walking on his foot became too painful.

Still, Matteo understood the man’s sense of pride and allowed him to do it his way. If the stubborn ass tripped and fell, Matteo would be there to pick his injured ass up and pretend like nothing happened. Because that was what you did for the people you loved. Ew, gross. Fuck, damn it. Yes, he loved the fuckin’ guy.

Matteo led them through the grand hallway and out the back doors, which opened onto the luscious gardens. Well, they were luscious in the spring and summer. In the winter, it was a winter wonderland in which patrons could walk the snow-covered paths and admire the evening stars that lit their way.

No matter which season, the view in the gardens was always stunning.

“Of all the ways I imagined you murdering me, death by frostbite was not one of them,” Ares choked out through chattering teeth.

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