“Okay. Well, have a good night.” Grayson swung his legs out of the car and headed off across the parking lot.
Keld watched him go for another second or so before picking up the call.
“Yes,jiei?” he said in Loaish.
“Real nice. Not even a hello, huh?” Her rasping voice was a talon against his eardrums.
Keld squeezed his eyes shut. “Hello. How are you?”
“Pretty piss-poor. I got no food and my ungratefulbiyaugof a son hasn’t bothered to check in for weeks.”
“Jiei, you know you can leave the house and get your own groceries, right?”
“You know damn well I got no fucking money. Kids are supposed to take care of their parents after they grow up. That’sthe whole point of having them.” Hisjieibroke off in a coughing fit. “You want me to starve,biyaug?”
“You know that’s not—”
“Then get your ass up here and help me.”
The phone line went dead.
∞∞∞
“You took him todinner?” Zasia was once again perched on the edge of Keld’s cubicle, spring green arms folded under her chin. “That sounds like a date, my friend.”
“It wasn’t,” Keld grunted. “He’s not interested in dating. It’s purely physical.”
“Uh huh.” Zasia leaned in. “Do you know how many subs I’ve taken out to dinner? None.”
“That’s not a fair comparison,” Keld argued, “because if you took one of them out, you’d have to take all of them, and then you’d never financially recover.”
Zasia’s claws glanced harmlessly off the scales of Keld’s arm. “I don’t havethatmany!”
“Oh yeah? Do you even know how many?”
Zasia opened her mouth, then closed it. “Fine, you’ve made your point. But still, when was the last time you played with someone else? I saw Dakota with Uvas yesterday, and he used to only have eyes for you.”
Keld waited for a flare of jealousy at the thought of the dark-haired Omega with the hulking, sapphire-scaled Alpha, but none came.
“Dakota isn’tmysub,” Keld said. “He’s free to play with whoever he wants.”
“That’s not the point—”
“Zas, don’t you have work to do? Like, I don’t know, accounting?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re evading.”
“I’mworking.”
Zasia heaved a beleaguered sigh and returned to her desk, vanishing behind the gray cubicle wall.
Keld slumped back into his chair.
Maybe she has a point… I haven’t seen my usual partners in months. It’s not like Grayson would care if I spent time at Siren without him…
Keld groaned and buried his face into his hands.WouldGrayson care? Did he want Grayson to care?
“You could try adding a third.”
