Page 8 of The Reluctant Siren
“Can pay a full rate,” Luke agreed. “And hey, I heard all ofyour clients are either dudes or women who play here, so how much trouble can Iget into?”
One of those clients was Harlow. When she found out his gymwas two blocks from her office, both she and her partner Ruby had signed up.After that a bunch of the women from The Hideout joined. He made sure they hada safe environment to work out in. One of his personal trainers was a friend ofHarlow’s.
It struck him how comfortable he’d gotten here. How much hedepended on these people as his community.
Would he lose them all if they found out why he was here?
It wasn’t like he was with Harlow.
Guilt bubbled up. She didn’t belong to him. Of course shedidn’t belong to Jensen either. She had never once mentioned his name, but heknew she still thought about him. It was precisely why she hadn’t dated, but hecouldn’t figure out if it was because she was still tender over what hadhappened and didn’t want to get hurt again or if she still loved him.
And he wasn’t sure it mattered since it was so clear to himthat Harlow needed more than Jensen could give her. Jensen could give her thedominance she craved. He could be strong and handle the dark shit, but hewasn’t tender. She needed tenderness, too.
Lately, he’d started wondering if maybe she needed themboth.
“So much trouble.” Seth kept ragging on his cousin, but thatwas their love language.
“Like you’re any better,” Gabriel pointed out. “You’re everybit the man whore he is. You are seriously risking your futures, young men.What woman is going to have you when they find out you have a triple-digit bodycount?”
Seth’s hand came to his chest like he was deeply offended.“I thought we weren’t supposed to use words likewhoreandbodycountbecause we all know it doesn’t matter how many frogs you kiss. It’sabout settling down one day with the right one. At some point, the right one isgoing to stop running and everything will be fine. Now, while I’m waiting, Ihave more frogs to kiss. Someday my princess will come and all that.” Hegrinned salaciously. “She will, you know. Come that is.”
Gabe shot Seth his happy middle finger. “You are talkingabout my sister, you pervert.”
“I offered you mine.” Seth was completely unimpressed. “Youlost out on Tash. You escaped Kala. Only Kenz is left. If we were in the oldendays, I assure you my father would give you many goats if you would take heroff our hands.”
“Yeah, well, my dad probably has some things he would loveto give to you,” Gabe threatened.
“And yet, I still try,” Seth replied. “At least I’m not thisone. He’s not waiting for his true love. His true love is a perfectly cookedbranzino.”
“Hey, that is a hard fish to handle,” Luke shot back.
He walked to the lockers, his cousin still arguing with him.
Gabe sighed as he watched the Doms leave. “I’m afraid hisprincess is trying very hard to escape her fate.”
“We talking about Chloe?” Niall knew he should keep onmoving. He shouldn’t sit down and gossip with a dude who was rapidly becominghis friend.
It felt good to have friends. For so long there was only himand Jensen, and then he hadn’t even had Jensen. It felt right to be in thisplace, to help out the people around him. To be a good friend and a good Dom.
Gabe nodded. “Yeah, my sister is…I don’t even know. She’s indenial and trying so hard to please our parents, who don’t need to be pleased.I think she’s afraid. And she’s not the only one. I can’t fix anything with mysister. I honestly don’t even know if it could work between Seth and Chloe.Seth is a goofball, and I think she needs something else, but I might be ableto helpyouout.”
“I need help?”
A brow cocked over Gabe’s dark eyes. “You think no onenotices how you look at Harlow?”
Fuck. He slumped down on the sofa across from Gabe. He wasdeeply aware that Gabe was on the board. He made membership decisions. Had hefound out why Niall joined? Was he about to get kicked out?
Although he had said he wanted to help him. “She’s…special.”
“She is,” Gabe replied with no small amount of sympathy.“She’s a cousin to me. Oh, we don’t have blood between us, but she’s my family.I think you’ll find our parents all kind of bonded together. They were themisfits, the left behinds. My dad had all the money in the world but no one inhis family cared about him growing up. When he was older he found out hisfriends could become his family.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“I know. I read the background report on you,” Gabe replied,but there was no gotcha in his tone.
He knew what they would find. “I got kicked out when I wasin my teens. I lived with a friend, but that couldn’t last forever. Therewasn’t a lot in the small town I grew up in.”
“You went into the Army to get away?” Gabe asked.
