What. The. Actual. Fuck.
A vibration of awareness, Sam’s eyes hardening when they met. Even his beast had grown quiet, the audio dissonance that was a constant buzz lessening at the intense connection. Except Sam looked away, and Axel fought the urge to cross the room towards him, and force his attention back. Which was just fucking fabulous.
Axel finally tore his eyes away, jealousy an emotion he wasn’t used to. What the fuck was he even jealous of? Sam had worked on and off at the bar for a few years, and they had quickly become friends. Never once had there been anything sexual between them, because Axel wouldn’t allow it. Sam was the earth, people gravitating towards his friendly smile while Axel was a black hole. There had been attraction, but sex complicated things, and his life was already complicated enough.
The alley had been a mistake, an error in his judgment. The brimstone he had injected must have been laced with something else, because not once had he given into the urge to take Sam’s lips. And now he couldn’t get Sam’s taste out of his head.
Titus touched Axel’s shoulder. “You guys fallen out?”
Oh, I just corned him in a dark alley and stole a kiss,Axel thought, teeth clenched.And what’s worse is the fact I can’t stop thinking about doing it again.“No, we’re fine,” he said aloud, turning to smile at his cousin.
“Well, come on,” Sythe added, coming up the rear. “We playing, or what?”
He didn’t wait for a response, the crowd immediately moving out of their way, eyeing them warily as they both strode towards the door that stated,‘employees only.’
It wasn’t uncommon for the Guardians to part crowds, not just because of their sheer size but because they all had an aura of danger. They blamed their beasts, and even shifters knew something was different, something wrong and not to be messed with.
Yet when Axel moved towards the door he felt the air stir, had already moved out of the way as a woman tried to brush her fingers down his arm, clearly ignoring Axel’s ‘fuck off’ vibes.
“No, thank you,” he said, nudging past, once again hating his face, and hating his mother for giving it to him.
“I just want to buy you a drink,” the woman insisted with a magically enhanced pout. “Or if you prefer, we can go straight to the bathroom?”
For fuck’s sake.
“I don’t do girls.” Sex had always been served to him on a silver platter, ever since he’d came of age. Men and women had flocked like moths to a flame, and after quickly figuring out that sex was an empty, pointless exercise that resulted in nothing but disappointment, he had chosen celibacy.
Which was a majorfuck youto his mother, considering he was already a disappointment, having been born male. Not that she had been around in a while to remind him of it.
“Excuse me?” Surprise marked her pretty face. “But I was told –”
Axel carefully moved her to the side, not wanting to touch her any longer than he had to. The lack of sex had never bothered him, not when he numbed himself with pills anyway. It had been over seven years since he last took someone up on their offer, his cock not stirring once at the invitations. No, it seemed any carnal urges he had, had been locked away in a deep box somewhere in the recesses of his mind. Except when it came to a certain fucking cat who had no business being so desirable.
Laughter filtered from beneath the employees only door, and as Axel pushed it open all eyes turned to him.
“About time, we’ve been waiting.”” Jax said with a glare, arms crossed with his usual pissed-off expression. “You guys couldn’t have fucking changed?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry your Highness,” Sythe said, taking one of the seats at the large table. “We were out fighting crime while you were, what? Baking cakes or some shit?”
“Scones, actually,” Jax said, turning his icy stare towards Sythe. “And they were fucking delicious.”
“Chocolate chip,” Lucy added with a grin. “They had soggy bottoms. Apparently, that’s a bad thing?”
“Eva’s rubbing off on you,” Axel chuckled, taking the remaining seat at the end.
Jax grimaced. “Bloody hell, don’t say that in front of Kace.”
“Speaking of K, where is he?” Titus asked. “I thought we were all playing tonight?”
It was Riley who answered, his hands a blur as he expertly shuffled the cards. “He’s with Eva.”
The entire table groaned, not needing details on what they were doing.
“They better not be doing it in the kitchen again,” someone muttered.
“Or on the cars! I had to wash them all down only last week,” another added.
Everyone laughed, Lucifer the loudest as they waited for the cards to be dealt. Riley had recently renovated the room by knocking down two storage closets to create one, large room. The walls were still used for storage, metal shelving specifically created to fit the size perfectly, but the rest of the space was left for poker, with a table in the centre designed to fit ten. They were still shoulder to shoulder, but at least the room could host all the Guardians as well as a few guests.
