Gage hiccups and wipes his chin. “Eh. Doesn’ madder. ‘M nothing.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“‘M notjefeanymore. ‘M not your boss, not anyone’s boss. ‘M just … me.” Manic laughter bubbles out of him, interspersed with more hiccups. His hair is disheveled, as are his clothes, and his eyes are so red, I can’t tell if it’s from the alcohol or from crying. Maybe a bit of both.
I squat down to his level and tip his chin up. “You’ll always bemi jefe. Nothing’s going to change that.”
“Auryn’sjefenow. She’s the boss.”
Oh! So that’s what this is. Someone’s feeling usurped.
I suppose it makes sense. Em and I fell in line right away when we got here, but Auryn’s always pushed back. She doesn’t justsubmit, and that must be hard on Gage.
“I don’t know if she’s your boss, but she’s notmyboss. You are, Gage. Always have been, always will be.”
“It’s just gonna be us, then. This pack’s splitting apart. I can’t keep them. I don’t know how.” Gage tips back an empty bottle, then scowls. “Fuck. I need more.”
Taking the bottle from him, I slide his arm over my shoulder and help him to his feet. “You don’t need more, Gage. You need a cold shower. Ice cold. Then some food, because I suspect I’m looking at the remnants of your last ‘meal’ right here.”
“Huh? I didn’t eat anything.”
“Exactly. You need something solid in your stomach. Come on,hermano. To the showers.”
Gage’s head lolls onto my shoulder. I’m not quite as tall as he is, so the resulting angle looks quite uncomfortable. “I don’t wanna take a shower. Wanna drink more.”
“You are cut off, Gage.”
“You’re no fun.”
“Yeah, well,” I say as we stumble down the hall together, “I learned from the best.”
A huge, hulking alpha is hard to undress when he’s limp and uncooperative. After it takes ten full minutes to wrestle his shirt off, I toss him under the stream, pants and all. We don’t have time for messing around.
Gage sputters and flails, then collapses on his side. He doesn’t even reach for the soap and washcloth I toss at him, so I grit my teeth and dive in with him. The frigid waters don’t feel quite so refreshing when I’m neither drunk nor horny, but someone’s gotta make sure this man gets cleaned up.
The whole time I’m bathing his torso, Gage mutters nonsense about the pack splitting up, about losing his alpha status, about never amounting to anything in his life. Olly’s revelation that our Auryn is a hybrid seems to have gotten under his skin more than anyone could have predicted, and while I feel sorry for him, I’m also slightly annoyed that he’s not cooperating.
“Pants off,hermano. Strip.”
He fumbles with the fly for a few minutes before snarling and ripping the wet denim clean off.
Gage might not think he’s an alpha anymore, but he’s still got alpha strength.
I start cleaning his lower half, and he tries to kiss me. I dodge and deflect, mainly because I know he’s nowhere near sober yet, but also because he’s seeking validation, not love.
He’s not really after what I’d like to show him.
Once he’s clean, I turn off the water and grab some towels for us. Again, Gage makes advances, and again I do my best to let him down easy. “Gage, please. Let’s just get to the kitchen, hm? Get you some eggs.” I pull out two robes and give him one, taking the other for myself since my clothes got drenched.
“Huevos … huevos …”
“Sí, hermano, huevos.”
“I love your eggs,” he says, nuzzling my neck as we walk down the hall towards the kitchen.
Gage doesn’t let up the whole time I’m cooking his eggs. He keeps sliding his hands inside my robe, which makes his dinner take extra long. I’m patient with him for as long as I can stand it, until–
“Gage, stop!”
