Chapter Thirteen
Thirteen
Cyrus
“Are you sure everything’s all right?” I asked Reece as he ran his hands through his wet hair. He’d been a little off recently, avoiding eye contact with me and seeming slightly disinterested in training.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just tired, that’s all. Uh, I know we had coffee plans, but can I get a rain check on that? I want to get a nap in before my shift starts. I’d try while we’re on rounds, but Jimenez never shuts his damn mouth.”
I’d been riding such a high from lunch with him the other day that this felt like a major blow. We’d taken a huge step forward and now it felt like we were taking two steps back.
Maybe the flirting had been too much for him?
But he was the one who texted me about getting coffee…
My expression must have told him what I was thinking.
“Hey.” Reece reached out and grabbed my arm, his thumb brushing lightly over my tentacle. “I promise everything is fine. I didn’t sleep well. That’s all.” He gave me a soft smile before he pulled his hand away.
I expected him to wipe his hand on his shorts, like he’d done at the party after we shook hands, but there was none of that.
My mate had offered me a comforting touch and wasn’t repulsed by it after the fact.
I nodded, the tentacle he’d touched clenching and relaxing, almost like it was pleased with his attention. “Yeah, wouldn’t want you to be tired for your shift. And if you ever need to cancel swim practice, just shoot me a text.”
He looked down at his feet and shook his head, his cheeks reddening slightly. “Nah, I wouldn’t do that. I have a race to prepare for.”
He meant that he wouldn’t do that to me.
It was all starting to make sense now.
The way that Reece looked at me, the shy smiles and blushing cheeks, asking me out for coffee.
Was it possible Reece was interested in me?
As much as that thrilled me, I couldn’t help but wonder how that made him feel.
Yes, I wanted to be close to my mate, but if he needed space to process things, I was happy to provide him with that.
I’d waited centuries for him, and I’d give him as long as he needed to work through his feelings.
“You get some rest. And, uh, if you’re bored on rounds later, I always have my phone. If you want to chat.” My tentacles clenched my arms tight with anticipation.
“Yeah, I’ll shoot you a text for sure. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See ya then.”
He gave me a little wave before hefting his bag over his shoulder and walking out of the pool room, but not before Fallon slipped past him.
“Sup, man?” Fallon tipped his head at Reece as he trotted by, his tail flicking behind him. “Yo, Cy,” he said, and whistled at me. “How’s it going?”
The griffin’s feathers were slightly disheveled and his beady eyes were rimmed red.
“It’s going. Long night?” I asked as he came to a stop beside me.
He shook his head and clicked his beak. “It was wild, bro. I hooked up with this super hot chick.”
“Oh? Is she cuffing season material?” I raised my eyebrows at him, but I already knew what the womanizer was going to say.
“Nah, man. There’s no way. She was way out of my league. It was a one-night-stand type of deal.”
“Did you get her number?”
He looked away and tapped the concrete with his talon. “I, uh, I sort of left before she woke up.”
“Fallon, what the fuck? That’s low, even for you.”
“There’s no way a chick like her would be into me long term. It was a one-time-for-curiosity’s-sake type of thing.”
“You’re projecting. What Atlas and Tegan have isn’t a curiosity’s-sake type of thing.”
He laughed under his breath. “Yeah, but those two are fated mates. It’s different. Hot chicks like to fuck me out of curiosity. They want to see what I have going on down there, not spend the rest of their lives trying to kiss someone with a beak. I get it.”
Fallon’s anatomy was unique. With his talons and beak, there were certain parts of intimacy he couldn’t offer his partners. In the fourteen years I’d known him, he’d never had a long-term relationship. Just random hookups.
It was rare for him to be so vulnerable. Usually, he carried himself with unshakable confidence. He must have it bad for this girl.
I crossed my arms over my chest, giving him what I hoped was a disapproving look. “I think you should have been a gentleman and said goodbye. Maybe she would have given you her number.”
“Cy, I’ve been through this time and time again. It’s better this way.”
“If you say so,” I sighed, and we both stared at the calm water of the pool.
“How’s it been with Reece? Is Ranger Dick following your advice?”
Normally, I’d find a nickname like that funny.
However, hearing Fallon speak about my mate that way enraged me, but I did my best to control my anger.
Fallon didn’t know he was my mate, and he certainly didn’t know the real Reece Rollins.
“He isn’t a dick, Fal. The whole asshole facade is a front. He’s actually quite sensitive.”
“Just be careful about getting close to a guy like that. You know he’s trying to prove himself with Tegan. He could be using you to look good.”
I was fucking livid now.
My color darkened to a deep blue and my fins flared as I rose up on my tentacles until I towered over Fallon.
“Whatever theories you have about Reece, you’re wrong. I appreciate the fact that you care about me, but Reece and I are friends, and I won’t tolerate you speaking negatively about him.” My voice was a sharp hiss, the words slipping out through bared teeth.
“Noted,” Fallon said, holding his talons out defensively.
I took a deep breath to slow my heart rates and lowered down on my tentacles. It wasn’t often I lost my temper, but some primal part of me felt fiercely protective of my mate.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my shit. I just think there are a lot of misunderstandings when it comes to Reece. He’s created this persona of himself that isn’t who he actually is.”
“If that’s what you think, Cy, I believe you. Maybe we can have a boys’ night soon. Me, you, Atlas, Reece, maybe Kael. Oh, and Javier!”
Even with the disastrous results from their first meeting, Fallon had been dying to hang out with Javier again. And the idea of Reece coming over to our place, seeing my mate in my home, it would be a great opportunity to close some of the distance he’d been putting between us.
“We should. I think it would be good for Atlas and Reece to spend some time together. He might feel more relaxed without his sister around.”
“Consider it done. I’ll talk with wolf daddy and get it all set up.”
I snorted. “That reminds me, we have to have a talk about ‘tentacle daddy.’ ”
Fallon checked his phone and whistled. “Well, would you look at the time? I have to get to work!”
I laughed as he walked backward out the door.
“I’ll see you at home, tentacle daddy!” He chirped with laughter as he disappeared into the hallway.