“Shit,” I muttered as I shoved my fingers through my hair. This was so unlike me. I wasn’t the kind of guy who cared whether someone liked me. I wasn’t some starry-eyed virgin expecting proclamations of love, or dinner dates, or walks on the fucking beach. But when Halo had turned his body toward Vanessa and brushed his fingers over her cheek, making her blush like a damn schoolgirl, all I could think about was the way he’d blushed when I traced my finger along his—and I saw red.
Yeah, I thought, as I kicked a stone off the path I was walking along. Fuck this night too.
I had just about made it to the guesthouse when the sound of gravel crunching underfoot behind me caught my attention.
Jesus, don’t let that be Ansel, I thought, because while I’d been ready to let him distract me at the beginning of dinner, by the end of it, I hadn’t wanted anyone’s attention but Halo’s. And since that was out, I was thinking that locking myself in the guesthouse and getting off to the idea of the way he’d looked on his hands and knees last night would just have to do.
Not bothering to stop and acknowledge whoever it was behind me, I kept going, determined to get the hell away from anyone I might offend more than I already had tonight. I wasn’t exactly in the socializing kind of mood. I was more in a fuck-the-angel-out-of-my-head kind of mood, even if it was only me and my fist doing the trick.
As I reached the door to the guesthouse, I pulled out a key and unlocked it, but it wasn’t until I turned the knob and shoved open the door that I heard, “Viper.”
There, standing in the exact same spot he’d stood the night before, was Halo. But unlike last night, the expression on his face wasn’t one full of amped-up lust and arousal. No, currently stamped across the angel’s face was confusion tinged with an underlying hint of…irritation.
Yeah, well, join the fuckin’ club. I’d been irritated since I woke up at three in the morning and found him gone. I shoved my hands into my pockets and took a step toward him, and as I drew near, Halo glanced over his shoulder, no doubt to check we were alone. We were.
“There a problem?” I asked, which was a fucking laugh, because of course there was a problem. He was standing right in front of me, right within touching distance, and for the first time in my life, I had no idea if I was allowed to touch—or if he wanted me to.
This was why I didn’t do relationships. Why I didn’t play games. I sucked at trying to work out what another person was thinking. When it was just a fuck, it was clear, obvious—he got his, I got mine, everyone felt fucking amazing. There were no uncomfortable moments, no feelings to navigate. But this second-guessing shit? I failed every single time.
Halo’s eyes flashed at my glib question; clearly he was coming to the limit of his tolerance when it came to my bullshit, but I wasn’t in the mood to censor myself tonight.
“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” Halo said, taking a step toward me, and I had to give the angel points for bravery. He was very brave to come closer with the way I was feeling right now.
He stopped when there were only a couple of inches separating us, close enough that I could smell the fresh scent of his soap on the night breeze. The same scent that was still clinging to my sheets.
I clenched my fists inside my pockets. “No problem. It’s just like I said, I’m goin’ out.”
Halo eyed me for a beat, his gaze roving over me in a way that seemed to see straight through me, to the outright lie I’d just told. “Where are you going?”
“Why do you care?”
Halo shook his head. “Jesus. You can be a real dick.”
My lip curled, the annoyance and frustration from the day bubbling up inside me and finally coming out in the argument I’d been spoiling for. “Well if anyone would know, it would be you. Right, Halo? If I remember correctly, you like that about me, a whole fucking lot.”
I wasn’t sure if it was what I said or the fact I called him Halo again that pissed him off more. But before I knew it, Halo was taking a step toward me.
“What the hell is your problem?” he said, his eyes glittering with a warning I was too far gone to heed. “You’ve been an asshole from the moment you set foot in the studio this morning. Did something happen? And if it did, do you want to, oh, I don’t know, talk about it instead of biting everyone’s head off?”