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“Don’t even try denying that it wasn’t him Ty,” I cut in, smirking. “You and I both know you can’t fuck just anyone anymore. Not since Viktor entered the picture.”

His eyes twitch. He knows I’m right. We both know Viktor. My cousin doesn’t just get attached—he gets possessive. Obsessive. The kind of batshit crazy who doesn’t need to raise his voice to make a threat land. If Tyler so much as looked at someone else the wrong way, or even tried to entertain someone else now, that person would disappear from the face of the earth.

“Maksim,” Lucas says quietly, though there’s a warning in his tone that lacks any real force.

“What?” I ask innocently. “I’m having a conversation.”

“You’re interrogating him.”

“I’m helping him process his feelings.”

Tyler stares at me, horrified. “You are the worst person I know.”

“Thank you,” I say with a slight bow. “So the reason you’ve been acting especially bratty today is because Viktor fucked the daylight out of you the night before he flew back to Russia, and now you miss him so much you don’t know where to put all that anger.”

His face goes completely red.

“And,” I add cleanly, “you hate that you miss him.”

For a beat, Tyler says nothing.

Then he looks down at the kitten, glaring at her like she somehow betrayed him too.

“I hate all of you,” he mutters.

Lucas’s smile turns soft. “No, you don’t.”

Tyler narrows his eyes at me, still faintly pink around the neck, and fires back, “You’re only this annoying because Tristan’s been denying you sex for over a week.”

I open my mouth, then close it. Shit.

“That’s not true.”

“It is,” he says, looking far too pleased with himself. “You’ve been extra bitchy since Monday. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

I scowl. “He told me not to go to the Elite Circuit. I went anyway. Won, by the way. But I came home with a black eye, and now he’s being dramatic about it.”

“You mean he’s pissed you ignored him and got punched in the face,” Tyler corrects.

“I won.”

“You still got punched.”

I hate that he’s right. Tristan had been very clear: If you come back with a black eye, don’t expect me to be nice about it. I came back with a black eye. And a win. Unfortunately, he only seemed to care about the first part, which is why I’ve been stuck in our secret apartment for days with a very controlled, very withheld version of Tristan Sinclair.

The apartment was his idea. A fully furnished place no one knows about, somewhere we can meet without me sneaking into his building like I used to before everything changed. Three months of being exclusive, and he’s still careful. Smart, probably. Annoying, definitely.

Lucas clears his throat softly, trying to play peacemaker as usual.

“Maybe you two should just—”

Both Tyler and I turn on him at the same time.

“You don’t get an opinion,” I say.

Lucas looks offended for approximately half a second. “Why?”

“Because you disappeared for two months to go on holiday with Alex,” Tyler replies. “You and your rich-boyfriend European summer nonsense.”