A Girl Has Options
Information overload didn’t cover how overwhelmed I was by the notion other planes existed, where creatures beyond imagination reigned. But it wasn’t anything new. I studied the text carefully for as long as I could before reality came raining down like a monsoon out of fucking nowhere.
Eros, here. Great.
I’d gotten complacent, and that was often a Hunter’s first and last mistake. Luckily for me, I had two exceptionally good Hunters keeping tabs on things beyond my capabilities. Silver lining to the new dark cloud over our heads was it helped distract me from everything going on between Phil and I.
I spent what remained of the evening helping Phillip set up several area traps and preparing everything I needed for a quick escape.
My heart nearly pounded right out of my chest every second we spent getting ready for an attack that was likely to come at any moment.
It’d just be my fucking luck it happened while we prepared the house for invasion, so I did everything like I was on fire.
The distinct memory of poison seizing my lungs and the brutal shock of my mortality settled in and plagued my body as I worked quickly to ensure every exit was ready to go.
The gaze of the other two Hunters as I rushed from one place to the next didn’t help at all calm me down either.
If anything, it made me that much more anxious.
But I didn’t let it distract me. I’d make the most out of the time we had, and I used my unnatural speed to ensure I was the quickest about it.
When we finally finished, it was two in the morning.
Sloan followed me into the room we planned to share, but I barely noticed him at all.
Because by that time, I’d gone through every possible death scenario meeting Eros might lead to.
Every worst-case situation circled my thoughts like hungry vultures, eager to send me right into a panic attack.
The other Hunter’s eyes followed me as I paced a small path along the right side of the room, very close to going to Phillip and having it out before I regretted not doing anything.
But Sloan’s hands on my shoulders stopped me from getting far.
“Sit,” he commanded.
And I did.
He sighed a little to himself and sifted slender fingers through luscious dark hair. Sighing, Sloan took a seat next to me. “I know you have concerns, but you really shouldn’t. If anything, both Phillip and I owe you for giving us such a great head start.”
“Me?”
The Brit’s smile was dazzling. “Yes. If not for your comment, we may not have realized Eros was already on our trail. So, we have you to thank for that.”
It hadn’t occurred to me I’d been helpful, so the lift in my mouth wasn’t easy to conceal. “I helped?”
Sloan’s gentle smile really got to me, and I didn’t like how it made me go full teenage girl in seconds flat.
But here we were. “You’re still learning, but even I’m impressed by what you can do and the way your brain works.
You should be more confident in yourself.
Both Phillip and I know how hard you’re working to get to our level, and neither one of us is disappointed. ”
Something in his eyes said his speech was deeper than that, and I honed in on it like I was trained to do. “What’s this really about?”
The surprise visibly presented on the gorgeous Hunter’s face. “What do you mean?”
I scoffed, crossing my arms. “Don’t play stupid. It doesn’t fly with me.”
Over the course of our training, I’d gathered Sloan was more than just a gentle companion. At first, I was fooled. He totally came across as a sweet little kitty-cat. But really, the dude was all tiger.
There was a fire in the man that didn’t immediately ignite—not unless it was in the presence of the right person—and I’d seen the flash of a beastly Hunter far too many times during our training sessions to be unsure about it now.
The dude was hiding a seriously feisty side, and though considerate and genuine, it was easy to see he had more to say than just some generic compliment.
It may have taken a minute at first to adjust to what it meant for Sloan to be all predator, but after considering his job and level within the Organization, it made more sense for him to be more tiger than kitty-cat anyway.
So, in that moment, I knew he was holding back his fire.
“You really are something,” the Hunter mused softly, leaning back. “I picked up on the thing between you and Phillip, and I expect it’s still fairly unresolved whatever you two argued about?”
Called it.
Really, I shouldn’t be surprised Sloan figured it out.
The dude was perceptive as fuck, and it was really only a matter of time before he connected the dots.
Still, it hit me with the force of intense shame and shock, so it took a few seconds to get my thoughts together.
“I guess there’s no point to me saying otherwise, huh? ”
Sloan’s look was apologetic. “No, but it’s understandable if you don’t feel comfortable talking about it.”
“It’s not really that,” I started, biting my lower lip. “I’m just not sure what I can really say about it. I don’t even know where to start. It started complicated and all over the place, and now it’s all fucked up.”
Sloan hummed low in his throat and eyed the door. “If it helps, I doubt you’re the only one who feels that way.”
Sighing, I moistened my lips and finally relaxed. “The jerk has a funny way of showing it.”
The gorgeous Brit next to me chuckled lightly to himself. “He’s got his reasons. We all do.” Clearing his throat, Sloan tossed me a serious glance. “I didn’t come in here to preach to you. Doubt you’d listen if I did, anyway.”
“Hey—”
“You’re a clever girl. I’m not going to say anything you haven’t already thought about yourself. But maybe I could offer a little insight to who Phillip really is. If you’d let me.”
It felt a little wrong to hear about Phillip from Sloan. Unfortunately, I hadn’t gotten much out of the Austrian myself. And with Eros’s arrival imminent, I couldn’t help but want to know everything that could give me the edge in an argument with the other Hunter.
I stole a glance at Sloan. “Spill.”
With another soft smile, the Brit nodded. “I imagine you argued about the future of your relationship.”
“If you could call it that,” I remarked bitterly.
“Honestly, I haven’t a clue what Phillip wants.
He said he was starting to fall for me, but then he immediately followed it up with ‘But it’s a bad idea’ and I…
I just saw red,” I finished with a little huff.
“Who even says that? What the fuck does that even mean?”
Scratching along his jaw, Sloan took a minute to ponder what I divulged to him. “Phillip said he was falling for you?”
My eyes dropped to the floor, and it was suddenly difficult to speak. “He did.”
Sloan appeared the most taken aback by that notion.
I stared at him, hoping for some insight, but the beautiful bastard didn’t speak for several minutes.
Instead, Sloan stared at the door as if Phillip would materialize inside it at any moment.
We both knew he wouldn’t. The plan was to stay as far from him as possible because Eros would expect I’d be with Phillip and not Sloan.
Any detected barrier failure would give us the necessary time to fly into action, so it was just a matter of waiting.
Still, neither of us stopped looking at the door.
“That is pretty complicated,” he agreed after the uncomfortable pause. “And what do you want?”
Not expecting to be asked, I froze. “Me?”
“Yes, you. What do you want from him?”
Sloan’s look wasn’t accusatory. It came across more as curiosity, and I couldn’t be angry about it the way I wanted to be. It was a fair question.
And for a long pause, I struggled to form an answer to such a simple, straight-forward inquiry. “I…I don’t know,” I finally managed, albeit slowly. “I guess I’d like him to give everything a real chance instead of this hazy in between.”
Sloan nodded and grazed his fingers across my cheek, catching me totally off guard. “Have you said as much?”
“I think I might have?” I answered to his eternal amusement.
“And how did he react?”
I offered him a sardonic stare. “Like I’m a kid who doesn’t know what I want.”
“Ah, that does sound like him,” Sloan said with a laugh. “Does he often make you feel like a child?”
I sighed, put out by my own comments. “I mean, yes and no. He does when it comes to everything outside the bedroom.” I cleared my throat, uncomfortable for a second discussing such things with Sloan.
But it wasn’t like I was ashamed either.
“It’s like banging my head into a wall every time I talk to that man.
He thinks he knows better, and maybe he does, but he doesn’t have to be such a jerk about it. ”
“And you’d like to be treated more like the impressive woman you are than the child he sees you as,” Sloan summarized.
“Yes!” I nearly yelled.
Sloan had this way of getting to the heart of things and voicing my internal qualms better than I ever could.
I wanted to be eloquent and clever, but it always came across as sarcastic and half-assed—and one-hundred percent teenager.
It sucked to be worse about explaining yourself than someone else could, but I also appreciated that he understood what I wanted to say even before I knew what I wanted to say.
Chuckling, Sloan didn’t retract his hand from my face.
“Maybe you should explore a bit. You are young.” His smile was nothing but delighted when I glared at him pointedly.
“Young, as in you haven’t been given a real chance to ascertain what you want, V.
It’s not immaturity. I’m simply saying that your experiences are limited to Phillip and Nigel, I assume.
” My answering nod made the Hunter continue his thought.
“So, maybe he wants you to have the freedom to find what it is you want.”
“You think so?”