Korbin
I’m alreadyin a mood when I walk through the door and see both Lincoln and Milton glued to their phones again. It’s been like this for days—my brother and my best friend walking around with the same dazed, stupid grin, like a couple of lovesick idiots.
I kick the door shut with my foot and toss my gear bag down hard enough that it echoes off the floorboards, the noise loud enough to make them both look up. I catch my reflection in the mirror by the door—dark hair curling with sweat at my temples, brown eyes restless, like they’re always looking for a fight.
“Christ,” I mutter, yanking off my jacket. “What the hell is wrong with you two?”
Milton doesn’t even look guilty anymore. He just tips his phone toward me like a kid showing off a trophy.
“Checking something.”
“Yeah? Checking your balls, maybe?” I drop onto the recliner opposite them, leaning forward. “You two’ve been glued to those things all week. Don’t tell me it’s about that girl again.”
Lincoln’s thumb stills on his screen, but he doesn’t bother hiding what he’s doing.
“Bayleigh,” he says flatly.
“Oh, pardon the hell out of me.” I snap, my laugh sharp as glass.
“Did you forget who her brother is? You seriously chasing a Lennox?”
He meets my stare head-on. No flinch. No guilt.
“She seems nice. Hell, she rushed onto the ice to take care of me. There’s something different about her. I think I could like her, if I got to know her more.” Milton says, blowing out a breath of air.
“Yeah, well, I like bourbon and pretty omegas, but at least one of those things doesn’t make me a goddamn traitor.”
Milton snorts into his drink. “You’re so dramatic.”
“Dramatic?” I bark. “We’ve been competing against those bastards for years, and now you two are ready to crawl into bed with one of ’em? You hear yourselves?”
Milton just smirks, returning to his scrolling. “I’m not talking to her right now. Just… looking at a picture. Learning a few things.”
“Right,” I say. “Because stalking someone’s totally normal.”
He shrugs unapologetically. “You’d be looking too if you saw what Lincoln does.”
I turn my glare towards my brother.
“Oh, really? What, she flashes you a smile, and now you’ve forgotten what side you’re on? She’s a packless omega, Linc. You know how that ends. The second she finds her scent match, you’re out.”
Lincoln doesn’t blink. “She met him,” he says quietly. “He rejected her.”
That kills the room for a solid ten seconds. Milton stops scrolling. I lean back, studying him.
“She told you that?” His brows furrow and his eyes widen.
He nods once, jaw tightening.
I drag a hand down my face, fighting a dozen things I don’t want to say out loud. Mostly because they make me sound like I might actually feel something. Which I don’t.
“So that’s why Lennox acts like a feral dog every time she’s near someone.”
“Probably,” Milton says. “Or maybe he just gives a shit about his sister.” He hands me a beer from the ice bucket on the coffee table.
“Or maybe he’s just a dick,” I shoot back, voice hard and bitter. “Pretty sure the guy was born with a stick up his ass.”
Milton grins faintly. “You would know. You’ve been obsessed with proving it for years.”
