Page 40 of Reforging Onyx

“Perfect timing,” Dominic said mildly, looking up from his laptop. But where his tone and words might be mild, his expression was not.

“Can I go?” Onyx asked, feeling like a child asking a parent for permission to go play. “I promise, Dominic, I’ll behave.”

Dominic’s expression softened as his gaze went from Shane to Onyx, and his lips twitched. “Yes, you may go.”

Onyx shot to his feet, already on his way to the door.

Behind him, Dominic said in that same mild tone, “I expect today will go well.”

Shane nodded.

“Let’s go,” Onyx told Shane impatiently. “Games aren’t gonna play themselves.”

Shane stepped back through the doorway, clearing the way for Onyx to pass in front of him. “Yeah,” he said awkwardly, closing the office door behind them. “I guess they won’t.”

Onyx led the way to the rec room. He had to wait for the werewolf to unlock the door, but then he bounded inside, heading straight for the controllers for the gaming system.

Shane slowly followed Onyx into the rec room, closing the door securely behind them before making his way over to the couch and sitting down.

It was like nothing had happened, except it had. So much had changed.

Like having Dominic’s fingers inside of him, which had been the whole reason he’d been allowed this freedom to begin with.

Onyx navigated to a game and away from his own thoughts “So, how fucked are you, anyway?”

Shane glanced sidelong at Onyx. “I’m still alive,” he said cautiously. “I still have all of my fingers and toes, for now.” He licked his lips. “Are… Are you okay?”

The question caught him off guard. Onyx remembered the last time he’d seen Shane, right after the party, when he had not been okay at all. He scowled, but he guessed he’d sort of brought the counter question on to himself.

Onyx hesitated, torn between the truth and a lie. “I don’t know. He wants everything. I’m giving him some of it, I guess. So it’s… fine. I’m just doing what I have to.” And if he sounded a little defensive, who could blame him?

Shane nodded. “Good. What did you want to play?"

“Anything,” Onyx said, but he went back to the racing game they’d been playing before…

Before.

“I’m still mad at you,” he said as he started it up. “I get why you did it. But I’m still pissed.”

Shane reached for the controller and went through the car options once Onyx had pulled up the menu for them to select the different parts of the vehicle they wanted. “I know. I get why you are, and it’s fair.”

“You’d want the same thing in my position,” Onyx said, focusing on building his own car with the ease that came from playing the game many, many times. But always alone.

“Yeah,” Shane replied slowly. “I can imagine I probably would.”

He wanted to talk to Shane about some of it, to get advice, to try to puzzle out what Dominic was actually up to. But he didn’t have the nerve.

Onyx nodded. He didn’t chase the subject down. Not then. Not yet. Maybe he never would.

He wanted to talk about the game and pizza and mundane things, but he didn’t know what else to say. This was turning out to be awkward, and he wasn’t sure why he hadn’t expected that. Maybe they should’ve gone to spar instead.

“Did you get snacks?” Shane asked when the silence stretched out between them.

“Oh, yeah. By the coffee table,” Onyx said. “And… next time, I’ll talk Dominic into that pizza place.”

“It’s good pizza,” Shane offered.

“I haven’t had good pizza since… before the takeover,” Onyx said softly. “I don’t even remember what it’s like.”