“I guess you’re right,” he said, eating the piece of pepperoni.
“I am,” August said.
“I’m happy that he’s dead,” Dylan confessed, biting his cheek and glancing at August through his lashes. “He was such an asshole. Does that make me a bad person?”
“Not at all,” August said. “He was a douchebag.”
He remembered the look in John’s eyes when he’d wanted to fight Ryker. He’d known that he’d win, but he’d wanted to fight him anyway, for no other reason than reveling in the bloodshed.
“Do you want the last slice?” Dylan asked, very clearly changing the subject.
“You can have it.”
August’s stomach rumbled.
“I’m not hungry.” Dylan put the uneaten remains of his slice back in the box and pushed it toward him, the cardboard bumping into his thigh. “You can have it.”
“Thank you,” August said, taking both pieces and scarfing them down in just a few bites. He chewed, his mouth bulging, and grinned at the playfully judgmental look Dylan sent him.
Dylan got up and climbed over August’s legs, grabbing the now empty pizza box and folding it up and putting it into the trash along with his empty can of Diet Coke.
“What do you want to do now?” August asked. He tossed his empty can of Coke into the trashcan and wiped his hands clean on his shirt. A glance at his watch told him that they had a few hours before they should expect Ryker and Steve back at the hotel.
John’s body would be burned, as was traditional, and Steve would be expected to stick around until the flames went out.
Marcus had told everyone that John had died from carbon monoxide poisoning, which made burning him seem like something of a cruel irony.
“We could watch another movie?” Dylan suggested.
The night before, after their puppy pile and pizza party, the four of them had gathered on the bed and watched the first two Jurassic Park movies.
They were free on the hotel’s on-demand system.
“We can do that,” August agreed.
“And I was thinking…” Dylan bit his bottom lip and looked away, not finishing his sentence.
“Yes?”
“I was thinking that maybe you could change into your alpha shift?”
The question hung in the air between them, the request catching August off guard.
“Are you sure?” August studied Dylan’s expression carefully. He looked nervous, but determined.
Dylan nodded. “I know that I won’t be scared, because it’syou, but I think it would be better to see you change now than wait until later. Unless you think it’s a bad idea?”
August climbed off the bed and went to stand in front of Dylan. He cupped his shoulders, rubbing his thumbs over his clavicle.
“Are you worried that seeing our alpha shifts will remind you of John?” he asked carefully.
Dylan nodded.
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” August said. He took a step back, releasing Dylan’s shoulders. “Do you want me to change now?”
“If it’s okay?” he said. “And if it doesn’t make you too tired?”
August smiled. “I’ll be fine as long as I have a big lunch. How do you want me?” He looked around. “Do you want to sit on the bed, and I can stand here?”
