Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93267 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
“He’s right, Salem,” Gregori snapped. Even as he spoke, he knew he should rein his anger in, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. This felt horribly like the straw that broke the camel’s back and he couldn’t grasp his usual patience no matter how hard he tried. “You need to decide. Whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, I’m your mate. More obviously, I’m the man you’re living with. The man you’re sleeping with. The decision shouldn’t be too hard, but still you stood there flirting with him.”
Salem gasped, his mouth hanging open for a full second, while his face turned bright red. “I wasn’t flirting. We were just talking. Besides, I didn’t ask for any of this. You can go back to Brazil anytime you want.”
His mate spun around and marched down the hall.
“You might not have asked for this, but I’m still your mate,” Gregori growled at Salem’s retreating back.
Salem slammed into his office, shutting the door with force, and didn’t feel any better for either action. He dropped heavily into his chair and just sat there, fuming.
How fucking dare Gregori go off on him. They weren’t in a relationship, they were fuck buddies at best, so Gregori had no right to—
Well, except they kinda were. Dammit. Gregori had made a very valid point earlier. He was the one Salem lived with. He was the one Salem had regular sex with. Even if they weren’t in a true relationship, they still had a mutual understanding, which made Salem the ass in this equation.
If he’d actually been flirting, which he hadn’t.
Goddammit.
His office door jerked open.
Salem sat upright immediately, a protest poised on the tip of his tongue. He expected Gregori, coming in for round two, but it wasn’t. It was Alexis.
Who, oddly, seemed mad at him.
“What?!” he snapped at her.
Alexis kicked the door closed behind her, hands on hips, and glared right back at him. “You are such an asshole.”
“How am I the asshole?! It’s Gregori who’s seriously overstepping boundaries!”
Alexis locked eyes with him, brows coming together in a frown. A he can’t be this stupid frown. “You’ve got a doctorate, so supposedly you’re a smart person, but I swear to god, love is making you stupid.”
“Whoa, whoa, I’m not in love with him.”
Alexis ignored him and kept talking. “Salem. You were flirting with someone right in front of Gregori. Of course he’s upset with you. I’m upset with you and I’m not even part of this relationship!”
Everything in his head screeched to a halt. “Did it…really look like I was flirting?”
His best friend’s face suggested he was losing his few remaining IQ points quickly.
“Uh…duh? Because you were.”
“I wasn’t! It was only banter!”
Alexis kept staring, like a woman waiting for him to start making sense.
“No, seriously. I mean, I could tell he was attracted, but I wasn’t trying to flirt back. I’m not going to hook up with him. What would be the point? Um.” Looking back on it now, with hindsight doing the bulk of the work, it was obvious to see where he misstepped. “I guess I should have just shut him down.”
“Ya think?”
“Can you not hit me with sarcasm while I’m still processing the fact I was an idiot?”
“Let me think about it…no. No, I cannot. Sarcasm is how I’m currently coping.”
Yeah, okay, fair. He’d likely be doing the same in her shoes.
But if it had looked like he was flirting even though he really wasn’t, then…shit. Gregori had justifiably flown off the handle. Dragons were possessive even on the best of days, but with their current relationship limbo, naturally he was more sensitive than usual.
Salem flopped back in his chair, groaning. Okay, he’d fucked up.
“You need to fix this, Salem,” Alexis insisted. “I refuse to stand here and watch while you blow a good thing up.”
“How?” Salem didn’t lift his head, he just felt exhausted all of a sudden. Like he’d been carrying around a weight and it had finally gotten around to crushing him.
“What do you mean how?”
“I mean just that. How? How do you propose I fix this? He only wants to hear one thing, Lexy.”
Her outrage dwindled, concern coming more to the fore. “Are you guys not properly talking?”
“Heh. That’s a mild way of putting it.”
Salem felt a migraine coming on and felt the distinct need to put himself on a drip. This whole situation was giving him quite the headache.
Seeing she wasn’t budging or satisfied with his answer, Salem put more effort into framing this insanity into words.
“Look, Gregori is absolutely positive I’m his mate. He might be right. He’s explained to me how he’s so sure, how mates work, and I’m…inclined to think he might be right. But I don’t know if I want him to be.”
Alexis promptly drew out his visitor chair and plonked herself into it. “Why not?”