he was going to be working with being interested in that kind of thing. He didn’t need to know these details. He wanted to think of Cora as a sexless entity. A bot who would be working on their computers. Just like he was trying to think of Ren as a sexless best friend.
“You said she was freaked out by what she saw. So she’s not kinky?” Hayes’s words came out like a prayer.
Ren set his coffee aside and tilted back in his chair, making the springs groan again. “She says no. She wouldn’t tell me who she is in the game. She said she just likes video games and is an observer in Hayven.”
“There are lots of those. That’s half our subscriber base.” Hayes should know. He used to be one of those lurkers up until a few months ago when he’d met Lenore. But, of course, Ren didn’t know any of that. Ren didn’t know he played at all.
“Yeah. But I know what I saw last night, and I see how she reacts to me—how she reacted to you. Maybe she does just observe, but she’s lying to herself if she thinks she’s unaffected. She’s wound up tighter than a ball of rubber bands and dying of curiosity. A voyeur at the very least. I saw it all over her face last night. She’s freaked out by the urge, but it’s there. You know what that does to me, Hayes.”
Hayes groaned. “Stop.”
Ren had always had a fetish for the newbies. He liked teaching and opening up people’s world, that process of discovery. He’d prepare them for the lifestyle and then let them go so they could find a long-term relationship. That’s how Ren’s brain operated—new, new, new. He always wanted a new challenge, a new rush. But no one who would expect him to stick around.
He sipped his drink. “What does it matter to you anyway? You’re doing your thing. I’m doing mine. If something happens between me and Cora, that doesn’t have to affect you.”
Hayes’s jaw clenched.
Ren’s eyes narrowed, gaze shrewd. “Unless you want it to.”
“No.” The word was like a thunderclap. Final. Definite. A lie.
He had no idea why the thought of Ren and Cora hooking up bothered the hell out of him. He didn’t know Cora, and he was used to Ren’s escapades. And it wasn’t like Hayes was going to make some move on her. Even if the way she looked at him today had made his instincts prickle with awareness. For a brief moment in the hallway, he’d had a flash of Ren stepping behind her, whispering commands in her ear, telling her exactly what to do and what the two of them were going to do to her.
Hayes had gotten used to missing sex. But he hadn’t been prepared for the deep ache for more that had hit him, that thrill of playing on the edge, that connection of sharing a woman with his best friend, that satisfaction of being in charge and making sure everyone found their version of bliss. His body had physically hurt with the rush of need and the grief that had been hot on its heels. He’d never have that again. Instead, Ren would pursue Cora, and Hayes would continue exactly as he was now. The thought was damn depressing.
“You know,” Ren said, voice deceivingly casual, “when she first saw you in the hallway this afternoon, she made this little breathy sound. I don’t even think she realized she did it, but it was obvious what she thought of the view. Not that I blame her. I mean, you’re not as hot as me, but you’re pretty close.”
Hayes’s head lifted at that, sending Ren a warning look.
Ren grinned. “Okay, maybe equally as hot. But the point is, she isn’t repulsed by us. Always a good start.”
Hayes shook his head. “There is no start.”
“Come on, Fox. I know you’re in monk mode, but a little harmless flirting never hurt anyone. This could be good for you. I think you’re going to like Cora. And I have a feeling she’d like us.”
“I don’t need to like her. I just need her to get this breach fixed.”
Ren tipped his head back and groaned. “Yeah, yeah. All work and no play. The Hayes who could crack a smile is gone. He will not try to make a friend at work. He will not enjoy the company of a smart, interesting woman just for the hell of it. He will not take up his very hot best friend on his very generous sexual offers. Broody dude will brood in his office all day long and be broody. I get it.”
Hayes stared at him, the words said lightly but landing heavy. Every word was the truth. He didn’t like the picture it painted. At all. He could remember a time when he and Ren had joked around, when they gave each other a hard time on a daily basis and made each other laugh. When being at work was like play—an adventure with his best friend by his side. They made video games, for God’s sake, not nuclear bombs. Everything felt so life and death lately. How Ren had even tolerated being around Hayes since he’d gotten out was a freaking wonder. Hayes released a breath and scraped a hand through his hair. “Goddamn, I am a miserable fuck to be around, aren’t I?”
Ren lifted his head, surprise on his face.
“And broody, Ren? Who uses that word? I’m not a eighteenth-century English lord.”
Ren’s lips curved. “You could totally pull that shit off, though. Lord of the manor? You’d be all over that. Wearing cravats. Bossing people around. The mansion would have to be named something super dark and creepy. Raven House or Blackwood Manor.”
“And Lord Hayes never comes out of his room,” Hayes said.
“And the drawing room is haunted.”
“And there’s a room in the east wing that always remains locked,” Hayes added.
“Because that’s where the bodies of the former servants are kept. They all killed themselves because the lord was so damn broody that they could bear it no longer.”
“Ha. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so close to the truth.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, feeling ten kinds of exhausted. “I’m sorry, man. I get so trapped in my own head sometimes that I don’t realize how shitty it must be to be around me.”
Ren sat forward, bracing his arms on his thighs. “I’m not looking for an apology. You know I’d put up with your broody ass for as long as it takes. You have the right to be angry and depressed and paranoid. You come by that stuff honestly. You’ve been through hell.”