GABRIEL
I leant backon the bar and watched Rys walk away. He didn’t look back once, but I got the feeling he knew I was watching him.
“You sure there’s nothing going on between you two?” Nick asked, setting a fresh beer down in front of me.
I shook my head. “Nope. And I’m supposed to be working, you know.” I took the beer anyway. My fae blood meant it didn’t affect me like it would a human, but I didn’t have the same tolerance to alcohol as Max.
“By the looks he was giving me, I’m pretty sure he was imagining disembowelling me with his claws.”
I choked on the sip I’d just taken. “Thanks for that visual.”
Nick leant on the bar. “I still say he’s jealous.”
“Who’s jealous?” Max said, taking the stool next to me but keeping an eye on the entrance still.
“No one.” I gave Nick a warning look. The last thing I needed was Max worrying about me and Rys.
“Mhmm.” Max didn’t look the least bit convinced. “Because for a minute there I was sure you were talking about Rys.”
Fucking shifter hearing.
He gave me a pointed look and I knew he’d heard every word.
With a sigh, I gave in. “Nick has the absurd theory that Rys is jealous of me talking to him.”
Max gave Nick a thorough once-over but said nothing, which made me fidget in my seat.
“Where’s he gone, anyway?”
“To get a drink,” Max said, expression giving nothing away.
I frowned. “But there’s literally a bar right here.”
“Yep.” Max left it at that and continued to watch the arch.
I caught Nick grinning out of the corner of my eye and wondered what the hell was going on.
Nick was wrong. So wrong. Rys had ignored me all fucking evening, asking Max everything as though I wasn’t even there.
Well, fuck him.
I settled further into my stool and focused on the door.
Just do your job and then go home.
Forget all about Rys Calder.
* * *
Maxand I watched the door for over an hour. We didn’t see Rys again in that time, but we didn’t see anyone from the photographs enter the club either. I yawned loud enough to make Max laugh.
“I think we’re about done.” He checked his phone. “No one new is coming in here now. Give it fifteen more minutes and we’ll call it a night.”
I stood and stretched out my aching muscles. I’d been sitting for way too long and my back and shoulders made a satisfying crack. “I’m just going to have a last walk around before we leave.”
Max glanced at me, a knowing look telling me I wasn’t at all subtle. And fine, so I wanted to see where Rys had got to. Curiosity wasn’t a crime.
I felt a pull towards the stairs, a tug behind my ribs that I couldn’t explain, and rubbed a hand over the centre of my chest. I didn’t want to go up there yet, though, not without taking a look around downstairs.
