Chapter Twelve #2
“What do you want, Laken?” Isley asked instead of replying to his question, using a put upon tone that Laken was very familiar with. Isley slipped his hands into his trouser pockets and didn’t move from the vicinity of the door, as if readying himself to ask Laken to leave at any minute.
That wasn’t going to happen. Fuck, no!
Laken marched past Isley to the couch and sat uninvited, giving both men a look to suggest trying to get him to move would be a mistake.
He wasn’t going anywhere until he had answers.
This little pest had persecuted him for months.
He’d wrecked his head with his scent clinging onto him and then shifting so Laken had a lasting memory of a naked Isley.
Yes, he’d rejected him, but did that mean Isley had to rush off with any Tom, Dick, or Harry?
He scowled furiously at Isley, then glanced at the alpha, giving him a ‘fuck off’ glare when he hadn’t left the room, choosing instead to loiter by the counter separating the living space from the kitchen.
“Privacy. Do you know what the concept means?” Laken snarled, not sounding at all civilized.
“I do.” A wolfish grin spread slowly over the guy’s handsome face, upping the attractiveness and messing with Laken’s head. “However, mate, the anger coming from you right now—for no apparent reason—means I’m staying put.”
“Somme!” Isley snapped, his eyes rolling. “Please, can you just give us a minute?”
The pleading look that Isley gave Somme left a sour taste in Laken’s mouth and an odd ache in the center of his chest when both men shared something that spoke of love and affection. Of a deeper connection that left Laken bereft.
No.
No!
That’s not how I feel.
His animal side was decidedly quiet, sending chills down his spine. Was there a draught coming from somewhere?
“I’ll be right in the bedroom if you need me to turf his ass out.”
Somme aimed the threat directly at Laken, so he masked his thoughts, not wanting to show how the other man had gotten under his skin, making him itch to fight. Something he’d not felt in years.
He placed the tub on the couch next to him to give himself time to put back in place the armour he used to protect himself from doing something stupid. Yeah, like forget why he couldn’t claim Isley.
Once alone, Laken took a deep breath, then regretted it when all he could smell was the alpha.
Suddenly he found himself unable to get to the point of why he was there, to apologise.
Which was immaterial when his stomach hurt at the clawing need to know who this other man was to Isley.
He acknowledged the other alpha was correct; he was angry, in fact furious, at the possibility that Isley had a boyfriend.
Why hadn’t he mentioned it?
“Why did you get naked in front of me if you have a boyfriend? Offer yourself to me!” he accused, grimacing inside at how the words tumbled out of him and held an element of hurt he hadn’t been able to disguise. All his hard worn armour was useless at the moment.
Isley’s pretty peach lips parted, but nothing came out, and his eyes widened, making the blue more translucent than ever.
Behind a closed door, Laken heard muffled laughter.
Not quite the reaction he would expect from an alpha to such a situation.
He didn’t find anything funny about this situation.
In fact, he wouldn’t tolerate that kind of behavior if Isley belonged to him.
Not that he wanted Isley, or anyone for that matter. Most certainly not.
Give the fuck over! his animal hissed at him.
Shut up.
“You don’t have anything to say to that?” he pushed, because clearly, he’d lost all semblance of sanity upon entering Isley’s home.
A flush of dark red spread up Isley’s throat, and suddenly he was nearly on top of Laken. Standing over him, he was a head taller than Laken while seated. He came in close enough that Laken could smell wine on his breath, right before he drilled a finger into his chest.
“Listen here, mate, I’ve got plenty to say, but normally you have your head buried so far up your own ass you can’t hear for the shit clogging your ears,” Isley seethed, eyes spitting fire as Laken sat shocked into immobility.
“I shifted to make a point because you act like I’m invisible half of the time and the other half like I’m some sort of robot with no feelings.
I put myself out there for you. And let me tell you, I have plenty of feelings.
You can deny there is anything between us all you want, but we both know the truth. ”
At this point, the pain registered, and Laken tried to shrink back from the finger that was sure to leave a bruise. Without letting up on his chest, Isley squeezed in between Laken’s thighs, forcing him to open his legs.
The proximity, the scent of citrus and cinnamon, filled his senses as he inhaled. The slender legs, he’d noted, pressed into his inner thighs, and quivered. The warmth seeping through their clothing made it harder to concentrate as Isley pushed on with his tirade.
“You come here, unannounced, after leaving me all day to fight fires you created, giving no apology.” His voice went up two octaves.
“And then, you demand to know personal things when you have no right to those answers. None, when I’ve tried to be nice, even when you rejected me and all you’ve done is—”
Laken took hold of the delicate hand, falling back into the cushions and dragged Isley on top of him.
They were lying at an odd angle, one of Isley’s knees jammed against his hip, the other rammed between his thighs.
It didn’t stop Laken taking Isley’s mouth in a hungry, heated kiss, seeing it as the only way to shut him up.