Grabbing the glasses quickly, I walked behind the bar.
“Ugh! I’ve been waiting so long to see that,” Charlie said as I squeezed past her.
“Yes. Quite the display, Scott.” Gray’s expression was still blank, but his voice had an edge to it.
I shrugged. “I’m not opposed to PDA.”
That was a lie. Ethan had never been the most openly affectionate, and I’d never batted an eyelid. It meant that displays like Matt had just cornered me into left me red and feeling off balance.
“No. I can see that.”
The intensity of Gray’s gaze made my knees buckle. Disapproval and vexation coated his features, but I reminded myself that I shouldn’t care what he or any of the Gods thought about how I conducted my life.
“Excuse me.” I moved past him to put the glasses down and went to serve a customer.
Most of the night passed without event. Gray kept himself away from me and we served the rush of people. Matt left just before closing, telling me he’d see me on Monday at work.
Ty eventually rang the bell, and we finished up the last orders.
“Well, I would say we could head back to mine.” Gray’s voice was clear. “But my roommate is a little hostile.”
From across the bar, I watched as Gray leaned over the counter and chatted up a petite blonde woman.
“So, how about we head back to yours?” he suggested.
The woman let out a giggle and nodded her head.
The ferric tang of blood filled my mouth as I bit on my cheeks.
The woman got off the stool, and Gray turned to leave the bar, catching my eye.“Don’t wait up, Scott,” he told me spitefully.
Balling up his apron, he threw it at me before joining the blonde, and I tried to dampen the feeling of disappointment and anger that spread through my gut.
This was never more than a one-time thing. Mindless want and satisfied curiosity.
Then why did envy pull me under for the rest of the night?
Three weeks.
For three weeks, we’d fallen into a pattern.
My presence wasn’t needed at the institute, and I’d only seen Scott at home. Most nights she brought work home and took it to her room, barely saying two words to me.
The nights she didn’t work, Scott spent them with Holden. Last week, she’d brought him home afterwards, and I almost smashed every glass object in the house. And I would have brought the house down to its foundations when I saw Holden’s smug face the next morning, had it not been for Scott’s unsatisfied thoughts.
Unsurprisingly, he’d been unable to please her. Mediocre sex wasn’t enough to gratify her. Scott required a connection. She demanded an adversary in the bedroom who could make her bend, who could serve her as she relinquished control.
To avoid the pseudo-couple, I busied myself by visiting Erik and Sloan. She was close to her due date, and many of us stopped in on her. When I wasn’t with them, I picked up women fromMurphy’s, taking them home as long as the others weren’t around. My solace was always in the depths of chaos.
The problem was that every woman I chose was timid. None of them had the brash confidence and inflated ego that Scott possessed, and it irritated me she’d left a lasting impression and then decided her time and effort was better wasted on Holden.
We wouldn’t be able to avoid each other today. Gareth had invited the entire institute to Brighton to celebrate his birthday and that meant a mixture of Gods and mortals littered around the beach.
If we ever made it.
“Hurry up, Scott!” I called through the house. “Otherwise, I’m using my aura to get us there.”
“I’m coming,” she yelled back. “Stop being so impatient.”
