“I think you’re bothered because you like him,” Frost whispered.
Aiden rolled his eyes. “I’m not some middle school kid with a crush. The man is hot, I’ll give him that. But I’m not interested in him in that way. Besides, my only concern right now is working with someone who can help me with this situation in the Playground, and I don’t think he’s the best man for the job.”
“Mmmm-hmmm.”
“Whatever. Why don’t you go make sure everyone has enough ice for their drinks?”
Frost’s smile widened into a full grin. “I see I touched a nerve.”
Aiden allowed the teasing since his friend’s eyes—normally glacier cold—were warm and sparkling with amusement. Keeping his voice low, Aiden teased the icy hero right back, clasping his hands together and pressing them over his heart. “Please don’t tell Zielinski that Ilikehim! I’ll besoembarrassed.”
Frost laughed and knocked their shoulders together, a rare move since they didn’t normally initiate physical contact.
“Give him a chance. He’s new, feeling all this out. And from what he said, he wasn’t born enhanced. His powers came about like mine. And you befriended me.”
That was true. Frost was his opposite, quiet and reserved while he liked to dance and play and fight. They meshed well, balancing each other as friends. But for some reason, Zielinski set Aiden on edge. He wanted to poke and poke until he got a reaction from the other man. Like the night at the Fox when he’d practically dared him to accept the lap dance. Yeah, he’d wanted to know more about Strong’s recruit, but he could have just as easily sat his ass down in his own chair and talked to him.
The lap dance had been a way of getting a reaction out of him. Unfortunately, Zielinski hadn’t really given him one. He’d gotten hard, but that was a standard response when you had a stripper grinding on your lap. He wanted a reaction that let him know who Zielinski was a person. It was the wondering what that reaction was going to be that had him on edge.
Aiden drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Fine. I’ll consider being nicer to him,” he said with a covert glance at the big Army man across the room.
It was as if Zielinski realized they were talking about him. He looked up at that exact moment and locked eyes with Aiden. After a moment, he stepped away from Strong and made a beeline straight to where he stood with Frost.
“Hello,” he greeted them both politely.
Frost nodded at Zielinski then immediately said excuse me and stepped away, the air where they’d been standing warming slightly after they walked off.
Aiden glared at his friend’s retreating back. Anything Zielinski had to say to him he could say in front of Frost. There was no reason for them to leave them alone together other than being a little shit in their own quiet way.
“I thought I’d report in and see if there’d been any more suspicious activity in the Playground.”
Aiden was playing nice, so he held back on the sarcastic salute he wanted to snap out in response to Zielinski’s very military sounding request for information. “Nope. Guess the mugger took the night off.” He paused for a moment, tilting his head to the side before he asked a question of his own. “Why do you even care?”
Aiden was legitimately curious. It’s not like Zielinski knew anyone in the red-light district. As a newcomer, he should be more curious about the big-time villains that popped up to be a nuisance in the rest of the Metropolitan area. That’s where the media and public interest usually focused.
“Why are you resistant to me working on this operation?” Mike asked instead of answering the question.
“Because I can take care of it by myself.”
“You didn’t seem to mind having a partner when you thought you’d be working with Blaze. Is he your lover?”
Aiden’s mouth dropped open in surprise at the audacity of Zielinski’s question. “Oh, that’s rich. Jump right to accusing the sex worker of wanting to work with somebody he fucks. Do you think we’ll sneak off into an alley for a quickie while we’re hunting bad guys?”
Zielinski did that thing where his already perfectly straight posture somehow got even straighter.
“I don’t think anything of the sort. I simply thought you’d feel more comfortable working with your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. And don’t let him catch you saying that. He’s got a partner that he’s very much in love with. So much so that he dove off the St. Louis Arch to catch him even though he had no way to stop his fall.”
Emerald green eyes went wide with surprise.
“You’re kidding.”
“I’m not. So, trust me when I say I have no designs on that man. He’d probably zap me for even thinking I had a chance at taking him away from Danny.”
“Then what is your problem working with me?”
Aiden looked him up and down, taking in the rigid military posture, hard jawline, and precise haircut. “You’re the Riley.”
