Three words that affected me more than I cared to admit. “Okay.”
Axel’s expression smoothed into one I did recognise, but it was just as unexpected because it was cool and indifferent. The kind of look he reserved for dealing with drunk customers when he tended bar.
What the fuck had I done to warrant that look?
Sitting back in my chair, arms crossed, I fixed him with a look of my own and waited for him to say his piece.
Axel stared at me a second longer, then swore under his breath. “I can’t do it.” He threw his hands up in the air.
“Do what, exactly?” I was so confused.
“I was going to give you thetalk, but you’re my friend and I can’t make it as menacing and serious as it needs to be.”
“I have no fucking clue what you’re on about.”
“Dathal is here to do the job Lady Sarhin and the high court asked him to do, and then he will return to the Fae Realm.”
I ignored the twinge of disappointment. It wasn’t as though I didn’t know that. “And?”
“He likes you,” Axel repeated. But when I still didn’t say anything, he blew out a breath, frustrated. “Dathal is a huge flirt with everyone he meets. It’s in his blood. He likes to fuck around as much as I do, but helikesyou.”
My heart stopped for one long beat as his words sank in, then set off at a gallop. I fought to keep my expression neutral. “I’m sensing that’s a bad thing?”
Axel nodded. “It is because you like him too.”
“I hardly know him.” I studied Axel. “I thought you and I were friends?”
Axel frowned. “We are.”
“Then why is Dathal and I liking each other such a problem?”
“Because I don’t want the two of you to get attached and then subsequently hurt when Dathal has to leave.”
I barked out a laugh because he couldn’t be serious. “We’ve met twice. And unless someone wiped my mind again, neither of those times involved sex, so I fail to see what the big deal is. So we find each other hot.” I held out my hands. “Working here, I see a lot of attractive people, but that doesn’t mean I act on it every fucking time.” I couldn’t decide what irritated me more, the fact that Axel assumed I jumped every guy that caught my eye or that he didn’t approve of me and Dathal.
I leant forward, forearms resting on my desk. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Dathal and I could fuck and keep it casual. You’re not the only one capable of that.”
He flinched, and I felt a tiny sliver of guilt, but it was the truth. Axel did it all the fucking time, so why was it inconceivable for me to do the same?
Mase had kept quiet for this whole conversation, so I swung my gaze his way. “As my best friend here, shouldn’t you be sticking up for me?”
“You seem to be doing just fine all on your own.”
I smirked but waited him out because he had to have an opinion on this.
Eventually he sighed and shot a glance at Axel. “I was trying to stay out of it. Dathal is Axel’s cousin, and he knows the Fae Realm way better than I ever will. If he says that getting involved with Dathal is a bad idea, then…” He shrugged, and I glared at him. “I know it wouldn’t matter if the two of you were just hooking up with no strings, but…”
“But what?” This whole conversation was starting to piss me off.
Mase fidgeted in his seat. “You’ve got to admit, things were kind of weird between the two of you at the station.”
“The fae are weird in general.” I grinned at Axel. “No offence.”
He raised one haughty eyebrow. “None taken.” I got the feeling offence had very much been taken and I’d be paying for that remark sometime in the future.
Whatever. I could deal with Axel.
What I couldn’t deal with was everyone suddenly having an interest in my business. Mase and Axel might be my friends, but even they didn’t know everything, and I wanted to keep it that way. All this attention, good intentioned or not, rattled me enough to put me on edge.
