As I suspect, he asks, “Why are you here?”
I answer his question with one of my own. “How do you feel?”
“Fine.” I raise an eyebrow as my gaze roams his face, taking in his clenched jaw and narrowed eyes. “Why are you here?”
“Hungover?”
He grunts. “No.”
Yawning, I sit up and stretch, trying to work the kinks out of my spine. “Your couch is fucking uncomfortable. Have you thought about getting a new one? One that isn’t made of fucking concrete?”
Declan huffs. “Why are you here, Nico?”
I stand, stretching once more. Fuck, I’m gonna need a foam roller to work the soreness out of my muscles.
“Where’s your bathroom?” I ask.
His eyes turn stormy as he stands up, his hands fisted at his sides. “Answer me, dammit.”
“Through here, I think,” I say, pointing down the hallway. I walk in the direction of his room, but instead of entering his personal space, I turn and open the first door on the left. “Ah,” I say, grateful that I picked the correct room on the first go. Declan is ordinarily prickly, but he seems to be really irritated this morning. Entering where I don’t belong would probably have him pointing a gun at me.
Declan follows closely behind, and his angry gaze searing the back of my head. He’s so predictable.
I knew ignoring him would rile him up and he’s doing exactly what I thought he would.
I turn around to ask him a question and he’s standing so close that I can count the freckles on his nose.
“Nico, what are you doing in my house?”
“Do you have an extra toothbrush?” He opens his mouth and I slap my hand over it, not wanting to hear the same question for the fiftieth time. Declan pushes me off, his face red with irritation. “Look, if we’re going to talk, I’d rather itnotbe while I have fucking morning breath. Unless you’re into that.”
He storms away and I shut the door to take a piss. While I’m washing my hands, he pushes the door open and slams anunopened toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter. “Don’t steal my toothpaste.”
“Who the fuck steals toothpaste?” I ask, incredulous.
He huffs and leaves while I clean my teeth.
Once done, I toss the toothbrush in the garbage and take the toothpaste back to its owner. “Here you are, your majesty.” I bow with a flourish, the tube poised at the tips of my fingers
“You’re fucking annoying,” he says, snatching the tube from my hands.
“I’m here because I didn’t want you to choke on your vomit in your sleep. You were pretty fucked up last night.”
“I know. That was the point.”
“Why?” I want more information than he gave me last night.
He waves me off. “I’m home safe. You can leave now.”
“I don’t think I will. What kind of breakfast foods do you have?”
I start to walk to the kitchen, but Declan grabs my arm and pushes me against the wall. He gets in my space until we’re almost nose to nose. If I lean forward a few more inches, I could capture his mouth in a hard kiss. “Don’t fucking turn your back on me. Why thefuckare you still here? I can take care of myself. You can go.”
Smirking at him, I push against his chest hard, making him stumble backward. “Yeah, I’m sure you can take care of yourself. That why someone is blackmailing you?”
His eyes grow wide and his mouth drops open. Declan is silent for a few beats, then he asks, “How do you know about that?”
“Do you have anything to cook or do you want to order breakfast?”
