Stubbornness made me want to refuse the offer out of hand. How the hell had we gotten from me trying to kill this man, to him offering to buy me stuff?
For now, I bit my tongue.
He seemed to take my silence for agreement.
“Good,” he said briskly, pushing away from the table.
He, at least, looked like less of a two-day-old corpse than he had when I’d come out of my heat. Maybe I’d slept longer than I thought? I should probably ask what day it was.
An electronic chiming noise echoed through the house. I tensed for a moment, before identifying the sound as a doorbell.
Knox frowned. “Are we expecting anybody this morning?”
Gage got up. “Yeah, maybe. I’ll get it.”
I sat in uncomfortable silence with my would-be victim, while Gage’s heavy footfalls retreated to the front door. Low voices filtered back to the kitchen, the words unintelligible. A few moments later, Gage reappeared. Behind him, a slender, dark-haired figure hovered in the doorway.
“Hi,” Tony said sheepishly. “Um... Jez... would it be okay if we talked for a bit? There’s some stuff I should probably tell you. About, uh... me and Heath.”
I blinked at him for a moment, trying to switch mental gears. What did he mean,him and Heath?
“Sure,” I said, painfully aware of the way I’d fucked up the friendship I used to have with this sweet and gentle beta. “We can talk.”
THIRTY-TWO
Jez
I FIGURED THAT AS LONGas I was talking to Tony, no one would try to guilt me into talking with Heath. I’d count that as a win, despite the fact that I’d screwed Tony over nearly as badly as I’d tried to screw over Heath’s pack.
The only difference was, before I’d run away and left Tony to deal with the corpse in his apartment, I’d saved him. Hopefully, that counted for something, since in my years-long history of fucking things up, the good deeds were relatively few and far between.
Tony glanced at the two alphas in the kitchen. “Can we have some privacy?”
Gage grunted. “Course. I expect you two have got a lot to talk about.”
Knox rose from the table. “There’s an office at the end of the hall on the left. It’s all yours.”
“Thanks,” Tony said. He seemed really nervous... picking at a seam on his sleeve and shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Jez?”
I tried not to let his nerves transmit themselves to me—and mostly failed. Instead of standing up from my chair like a normal person, I shoved it back with a high-pitched shriek of chair legson tile, wavering a little as my head protested the change in elevation.
“Okay,” I said, steadying myself against the table edge.
Gage took an abortive step toward me, before seeming to catch himself.
