Smoke & Mirrors (THIRDS 7) - Page 57

“Here.” Ash tossed some blankets and pillows onto the couch. He was about to turn away when he let out a sigh. Instead, he took a seat on the coffee table facing Sloane. “You need to ask yourself why you’re sabotaging your relationship.”

Sloane frowned. “You think I’m doing this on purpose? I love him, Ash. More than anything.”

“I don’t doubt that. But it’s pretty obvious a pattern is emerging here, Sloane. Everything was going smooth. You told him you loved him, suggested you move in with him, marked him, and you’ve been genuinely happy for the first time in your life, and then out of the blue, bam, you do something to royally fuck things up. You take one step forward only to take five steps back. Each time you do it, it’s worse than the last. Why? The second you’re comfortable and really happy, you do something to push him away and hurt him. What are you scared of? The other night you were talking about kids, for fuck’s sake, and now this.”

Sloane opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. He had nothing. Was he really sabotaging his own relationship? “Do you really think that’s what I’m doing?”

Ash didn’t reply, but his expression said it all. If the shoe fits. Fuck. It was worse than he thought. “Thanks,” Sloane murmured, taking one of the pillows. “Thanks for letting me stay too.”

“No problem. And I say this in the most loving way possible. Work out your shit and go home to your boyfriend.”

Sloane nodded. He set up his makeshift bed on Ash’s couch and lay down. He doubted he’d be getting any sleep. After tossing and turning, he grabbed his phone. Tapping the screen brought it out of sleep mode. A selfie Dex had taken with him greeted him. They were squished together, Dex kissing Sloane on the cheek, Sloane laughing. Ash had teased him about the picture, telling him he was turning into a teenage girl. Sloane hadn’t cared. He loved the impromptu photograph. Loved the sweetness of it. Sloane had been happy.

Sloane lost count of how many times he almost called or texted Dex that night. Instead he turned off his phone and tried to sleep. Tomorrow he could lose himself in work.

Chapter 8

SLOANE HADN’T slept a wink the night before, and when he got to work, he was surprised by the looks he got from his fellow Therian agents. A few wouldn’t meet his gaze, while others shook their heads at him. What the hell was going on? Heading for Ash’s office, he opened his mouth to say something when Letty glared

at him, purposefully bumping into him as she swept by.

“What the hell is up with everyone? What did I do?” Sloane asked, walking into the office.

Ash typed away at his desk’s interface. “What’s going on is that Daley showed up to work this morning looking like shit and without your scent all over him. We can sense shit, Sloane. Everyone likes Dex. You marked him, and now you’re not with him. They’re wondering if you were just fucking with him and now abandoning him.”

“What? Since when is my relationship everyone’s business? And what about what I feel? That doesn’t matter?”

“Nope.”

Sloane threw his arms up. “Seriously? Why am I the fucking bad guy here?”

“Because you were the one who walked out, broke his heart, and left him with your mark.” Ash looked up at him. “Taylor’s been sniffing around him, just so you know.”

Sloane’s fur bristled. Or at least it would have if he’d been in his Therian form. “I didn’t leave him. Dex is still mine.”

“From where they’re sitting,” Ash said, pointing out at the bull pen, “it doesn’t look that way.” Ash sat back, his expression concerned.

“What?”

“I don’t know. It’s weird. It’s like you can smell the hurt on him, Sloane. It reminds me of the night in the club, when his scent changed. Like he’s giving off these pheromones, this need for comfort. Taylor’s not the only one who’s been hovering. Hobbs, Seb, Hudson, hell, even fucking Zach has been up here. He brought Dex Cheesy Doodles.”

Sloane gaped at him. “Zach came up here from Unit Beta to give Dex cheese snacks?”

“Yep. I don’t think it’s a sexual thing. Well, maybe for Taylor, but you know he’s been all up in Dex’s ass from day one. Hobbs wouldn’t do that to Cal. It’s like our feral halves know he’s wounded and want to comfort, which is weird because Dex isn’t a Therian, so why would our Therian halves give a fuck? I mean, as Humans we do, because emotions and all that shit, but our feral halves?”

“Wait…. Our? You said ‘our,’ not ‘their.’”

Ash cleared his throat and turned back to his desk.

“You too?” Sloane couldn’t believe it. “You want to comfort him?”

Ash frowned down at his desk, his face flushed.

“You already did?” Sloane’s eyebrows shot up. “You comforted him?”

“Like I said, it’s some pheromone or some shit.”

“Humans don’t give off pheromones,” Sloane explained through gritted teeth. Again. Frustrated. This wasn’t possible. It was debatable, sure, but not scientifically proven.

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