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Tearing my eyes away from Halo, I slammed the case shut and straightened.
“Viper. Come on, man,” Jagger said from behind his keyboards. “Kill didn’t mean anything by it. We all have off days.”
Yeah, we did. But mine were few and far between, and Killian knew it. For me to play like utter shit—which I was man enough to admit I’d been doing today—something was usually off.
“Don’t care. I’m out,” I said as I headed toward the door, not bothering with any other kind of back-and-forth. I was ready to get out of that room, to get away from Killian and the rest of the guys. I wanted to track down a goddamn drink, and try to block out the way Halo’s face had looked when he’d lain naked under me and told me he could watch me fuck all night. I also wanted to forget how cool and collected he’d been this morning telling me how he was saving me from an awkward morning after, because as far as I was concerned, this was feeling pretty fucking awkward.
As I slammed out of the studio, I stormed down the hall in the direction of the stairs, my goal and intention crystal clear. I was about halfway up them when I heard my name, and there was no mistaking the voice that had called it. After hearing Halo shout it, curse it, and moan it in my ear the night before, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get the sound out of my head. But as I came to a stop, three stairs from the top, I shut my eyes and shoved those thoughts aside.
“Viper? Wait up, would you?”
I told myself I should just keep going, but my annoyance only increased when I ignored my stupid self and turned around to see Halo coming up the stairs after me. He was wearing a pair of shorts and a tight-fitting shirt that showed off all his lean muscles, and with his hair tied back off his face, I could see the light stubble lining his angular jaw. I had the insane urge to take the couple of steps down, grab hold of his shirt, and yank him in close enough that I could scrape my teeth along his jaw. But with the mood that was riding me, I knew I couldn’t temper whatever would happen after that, and since I didn’t know what was going through the angel’s head today, I kept my distance.
“What’s the problem, Halo?” I wasn’t sure when I’d consciously decided to revert to using Halo’s name instead of the nickname I’d used from day one. But the change wasn’t lost on him, judging by the sting of dismissal that flashed through his eyes.
“Um, I…” Halo blinked as his words trailed off, then he glanced over his shoulder, and when he saw we were still alone, he seemed to find that good enough to move up the stairs closer to me. “Are you okay?”
Deciding to play this his way, I slipped my hands into my pockets and eyed him for a beat. “I’m just peachy. You?”
Halo swallowed, his tongue coming out to worry his lower lip as he nodded. “Yeah, I’m good. You just seem—”
“What?” I said, and took the final step down so Halo had to angle his head up to look me in the eye. “What do I seem to you, Halo?”
Halo’s lips parted, his eyes narrowing a fraction as though he were trying to work out what was going through my head. “Why do you keep calling me that?”
I knew exactly what he was talking about. But since he’d been the one to put me in this fabulous mood, the last thing I would do was make this easy on him. “What?”
“Halo.”
I chuckled, the sound strained even to my own ears. What the fuck was the matter with me? Oh, that’s right, I’m an asshole. But then I reminded myself that Halo had started this.
I shrugged. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah. But you never—”
The sound of the doorbell pealing through the mansion cut off Halo’s words, but it wasn’t hard to see where he’d been going with them. You never call me that—that was where he’d been going, and thank fuck for the doorbell, because if he’d actually said those words to me, I would’ve grabbed him, shoved him up against the wall of this staircase, and damn the consequences.
As it was, the sound of the bell had the others exiting the studio, judging by the slamming door and chatter that followed. I took a step back from Halo and said, “I’m gonna go see who’s here,” and before he could say another word, I turned and took the rest of the stairs away from him as though there was a fire burning my ass—and considering what I’d just been about to do, I’d say that was a pretty accurate description.
