Page 108 of Dangerous Men
“Okay, so… tomorrow’s a no-go,” Ash concedes, perking right back up. “Maybe… Monday, instead? We could get dinner after you finish work?”
I smile.
“Sure. Dinner on Monday sounds great,” I tell him. “Maybe takeout again?”
Jade is watching us, her eyebrow raised as she looks between Ash and me.
“Takeoutagain, huh?” she asks, smirking.
Double crap.
I haven’t exactly been keeping Jade abreast of this whole… situation.
“Jade, can you do me a massive favor?” I ask, putting on my best begging face. It’s nothing compared to the sad kitten eyes she’s capable of, but I do my best.
“Sure, anything,” Jade says, barely appreciating how well I can plead. She deftly pours milk over the espresso and passes the cup to a waiting customer.
“I need you to cover for me tomorrow afternoon, for a few hours,” I say.
“Alec taking you out again?” she asks, glancing at Ash as though ready to measure his reaction.
Ashton answers for me.
“Nah, he took her out a few nights ago,” he says, all smiles and confidence. “Now it’s my turn.”
I shoot him a look.
“It’s Katie,” I tell Jade. “She’s having another barbecue, or something, and totally guilt-tripped me into going.”
“Ah,” Jade sighs. “Katie’s back, huh? Can’t live with her, can’t change your entire identity and pretend you never met her. But sure, no problem. I’m sure the silent doctor and I can hold down the fort on our own.”
I laugh, but when I look over at Sebastian’s table, I’m surprised to find it empty. For the first time since he started showing up, he’s nowhere in sight.
“Wait… where is Seb?” I ask Ash, frowning.
Something flickers in his eyes before he answers, so fast I could almost convince myself I hadn’t seen it.
“Helping Alec with a work project,” he tells me, a little too quickly. “Nothing important.”
Ash spends the next hour trailing me around the store, chatting and flirting and helping me while I take stock of our inventory. I flirt back—it’s easy with him—but it doesn’t quell the apprehension I feel slowly growing in my gut.
Because, whatever his reasons, I’m pretty sure Ash just lied to me.
37
SEBASTIAN
Viper isin the lab cleaning his tools when I finally track him down.
He’s humming to himself while he works, deftly unpacking his case and laying his instruments out on the metal table, where they glisten under the bright lights.
Well, most of them do.
A few are so coated in dried, darkened blood they don’t reflect the light at all.
“Hey, Doc,” Viper greets me, not looking up. It’s not intuition or some preternatural acuity that has him correctly guessing it’s me when I enter our little sanctum.
I’m the only other one who comes down here. This isn’t a place for people like Alec and Ashton. This isn’t a part of our business they like to look too closely at.
