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Rowan blinks at me. "Your date?"

The words come out quieter the second time, like he's testing them in his mouth, and the flush creeping into his cheeks deepens almost instantly when he realizes I've been serious this whole time.

I lean closer and brush a loose strand of golden hair behind his ear, enjoying the way he freezes beneath my hand. "What? You are my date tonight, aren't you? I bled for you out there."

Rowan snorts, disbelieving, finally looking away from me long enough to shake his head. "You're unbelievable."

"Mm. And yet you're still here."

A waitress appears beside the booth and places fresh drinks onto the table. Rowan reaches for his too quickly, fingers brushing the glass before pulling back again like he remembered I'm watching everything he does.

Neither of us speaks. Somewhere below us, the crowd erupts again.

"Tell me something about Düren."

"Düren?"

"That's where you're from, right? I read it's a dust planet." I lean back against the booth and stretch one arm along the seat behind me.

He blinks again, and I wonder what surprises him most. My question or the fact that I know where he's from. "You read about Düren?"

"Why, yes. I did some research on you, little mouse." I grin and tap open my multi-slate, turning the screen toward him. "That where you're from?"

A satellite image fills the display. Endless rust-colored land stretches across the screen, broken up by old industrial sectors, tightly packed residential blocks, and massive walls cutting through the city like borders. Even from above, the place looks worn down by dust and time.

Rowan nods, still staring at the image on my multi-slate.

"Nice place." If you like half-dead.

Rowan scoffs as if he's heard my thoughts. "It's not that bad if you live in it."

"No?" I point at the huge wall. "What am I looking at exactly?"

His fingers tighten around the glass, long and elegant in a way that makes it far too easy to imagine them wrapped around the neck of a Noctis. Or around my cock.

"That's the Ward," he murmurs, and I watch his throat bob when he swallows, slender and vulnerable enough that all I can think about is what sound he'd make if I pressed my mouth against it.

"The Ward?"

He nods again. "We… protect ourselves from what's on the other side."

"What's on the other side?" Now that's interesting. I like a bit of mystery, and Rowan's giving me plenty with the way his lashes flutter as he stares at the screen.

He shrugs and looks away, but I recognize fear when I see it. And I don't like seeing it in his eyes.

"From the things outside the walls," he murmurs.

"Monsters?" I chuckle softly at my own joke.

Rowan doesn't laugh. He just stares at his glass, then moves his finger back to the photo. I follow the trail it makes and picture it once again on my dick. I'm such a heartless man, I love it.

"We don't know," he says, then points at the tall buildings sitting at the edge of the city. "Those are the factories. Most people work there processing salvage, running refinery lines, or loading freight shipments moving off-planet." His grip tightens on the glass. "My pa works there too."

I study him while he talks. I didn't understand why Dad wanted me watching Rowan before, and now that I understand where he's from, I understand it even less.

The guy's from a working-class family. From Düren. Of all the places Dad could have pointed me toward, he picked the kid from the worst dust hole in the Reach.

"Did you already work in the refinery with your dad?" I hear myself ask, because fuck it, why not ask some more? After all, I'm the one who initiated this date. And color me blind, but Rowan truly fascinates me. And I'm not just talking about his delicious, plush lips or that permanent innocent wonder in those large eyes. There's something else there, something I haven't quite unwrapped.