Harry pursed his lips. “I don’t understand.”
“You know it can’t end well,” Seyn said carefully. “He’s a human and you’re you. You know it’s hopeless. He has his own path to travel, Harry. You were never meant to cross it or change it. End it before it’s too late. He’s not for you. He’s not yours and he’ll never be yours.”
Harry dropped his gaze, his long dark eyelashes suspiciously moist against his pale cheeks. It made Seyn’s chest hurt, but he knew the words needed to be said. Harry was such a gentle soul. He tended to ignore the harsh reality, determined to believe in the best outcome, no matter how unrealistic it was.
“You think it’s so easy?” Harry whispered tightly. “To turn off your emotions? To end things when all you want is him?”
Seyn opened his mouth and closed it without saying a word. The truth was, he really had no idea what Harry was going through. He had no idea what wanting to be with someone felt like. And he was so, so curious.
Seyn nudged Harry’s knee. “What is it like?” he said, adopting a lighter tone. He’d done his duty and warned Harry; he was allowed to indulge his curiosity.
Harry blinked and then blushed when Seyn smirked.
“Come on, Harry,” he said. “Spill! Is sex as good as they say?”
“It’s very private, don’t you think?”
“Oh come on!” Seyn said, pouting. “It wasn’t very private when you were moaning and begging Adam to do you harder last night.”
Harry flushed and covered his face with a pillow. “Shut up!”
Seyn grinned. “What? I have ears! It’s not my fault you’re such a whore in bed!”
Harry kicked him. “I hate you,” he mumbled into his pillow. “And maybe you’re more of a whore in bed than me. You just don’t know it yet.” Harry lifted his pillow off his face and smiled innocently at Seyn. “I’ll ask Ksar after your wedding night.”
That little shit.
Harry started giggling at the look on Seyn’s face.
“Never going to happen,” Seyn bit off, lifting his chin.
Over his dead body.
CHAPTER 19
Harry genuinely tried to wait for Adam’s return from work, but he was a needy mess of emotions by eleven o’clock. Seyn’s earlier words—that Adam wasn’t really his and would never be his—formed a knot of anxiety in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to see Adam.
That was how he ended up in Adam’s office before lunch.
In the hindsight, it probably wasn’t his best idea.
Leaning against the desk in Adam’s office, Harry tried to ignore Jake and Adam’s conversation.
He tried.
Really.
But with his heightened senses, their hushed argument wasn’t hushed to him at all. He couldn’t help but overhear it.
“Are you fucking kidding me, man?” Jake hissed furiously, glaring at Harry over his shoulder before turning back to Adam. “You’re forgiving him? Just like that?”
Adam was leaning his shoulder against the far wall, his arms crossed over his chest. His posture was relaxed and confident, but his narrowed eyes betrayed that he was anything but relaxed.
His shoulders looked so amazing in that blue shirt, the fabric accentuating the width of them.
Harry squirmed. Since they’d had sex—or perhaps, since his bond had broken—he kept catching himself on those kinds of thoughts whenever he looked at Adam. It wasn’t that he saw Adam in a different way. It was just... in addition to wanting to be held in Adam’s arms, he also kept staring at those arms. He wanted to run his hands over those arms, slip his hands under Adam’s clothes and feel him up everywhere, feel his warm skin and hard muscles.
“Yes,” Adam said, his voice quiet but firm. “I know how it looks, but you don’t know Harry. I do.”
Jake raised his eyebrows. “Do you?” He huffed. “For fuck’s sake, Adam! I don’t get how you can be so blind about him! That little prick has been lying to you for ages, he disappears without warning and then reappears months later without explanation and you take him back? Just like that? Is he that good at sucking your cock?”
A muscle jumped in Adam’s clenched jaw. He leaned to Jake and gritted out something too quietly for Harry to hear.
Harry looked down, trying not to be offended by Jake’s accusations. He understood why Jake was angry. From Jake’s point of view, Harry looked... not good.
But he didn’t like that Jake was making Adam feel bad and angry.
“If you have a problem with me, you should talk about it to me,” Harry said amicably. “I’m here, you know.”
Jake turned to him with a scowl. “Look, don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I had nothing against you. But then you pulled a disappearing act, and my best friend was a right miserable asshole while you were gone—”
“Jake,” Adam said, a warning in his tone.
“Fine,” Jake said, lifting his hands with a huff. “I’m shutting up. But don’t you have a fiancée or something?”