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“If they did, well, you know how the pride likes to gossip, so whispers might start. Obviously, no one will know it’s your brand. But they’ll speculate, and they might wonder if it was you—if only because you almost killed Austen on the spot when you heard what he’d done.”
He swiped his tongue over his bottom lip. “What do you plan to say if they ask who bit you?”
“I’ll tell them to mind their own biz. Except for Havana and Aspen, because I trust that they’d keep it to themselves. In other words, you don’t have to worry that all this will get back to Dayna. I just wanted to give you a heads-up so you won’t be taken off-guard if anyone mentions it to you.”
He crossed his arms over his broad chest, his expression pensive. “I doubt anyone else noticed the bite. They’d surely have asked about it. And as you said, their attention was locked on the human. It’ll be fine,” he decided with a nod. “There’ll be no gossip. You’re worrying for nothing.”
CHAPTER TEN
Carving her hands into her hair, Havana glared at Bailey. “There are times I really want to hurt you.”
Spooning some of her cereal, Bailey frowned. “Why?”
“Because you do things like share the bed of a guy you’ve been circling for ages and you don’t say shit about it to me.”
Hmm, see, it turned out that Deke was wrong. Someone else had noticed the bite on Bailey’s shoulder. Vera, in fact. And that woman was the worst gossiper in the entire pride, so you could bet your ass the news had traveled through the pride’s grapevine at top speed. Something Bailey had learned when she woke to countless missed calls and messages from people wanting to know if she cared to confirm or deny the rumor.
Bailey had ignored all of the aforementioned calls and texts, which resulted in Havana and Aspen turning up at her apartment before she’d even had the chance to finish her breakfast. Normally, all three of them would be at the center right now. But it was their day off work.
No sooner had Bailey opened the front door than they’d shoved their way inside and closed it behind them.
“It was Deke, wasn’t it?” had been Havana’s first words. “He’s the one who marked you.”
Sighing, Bailey had gestured for them to follow her into the kitchen as she’d admitted that, yes, Deke had bitten her. She’d also let it slip that they’d been sleeping together for the past five nights, at which point both her friends had turned red in the face. And now they stood at the opposite side of the island from her while she finished what was left of her cereal.
Havana released her hair and lowered her arms to her sides. “Didn’t we discuss that people don’t hide newsworthy stuff from their BFFs?”
“I wasn’t hiding it. I just didn’t mention it. And I wouldn’t call my sleeping with Deke ‘newsworthy.’” Bailey gave an aloof shrug, adding, “It’s no big deal.”
“It’s a huge deal,” Aspen insisted.
Bailey arched a brow at the bearcat. “That so? You didn’t seem to feel that way when you were oh so casually urging me to give him a helping hand with the touch-hunger.”
Aspen spluttered. “I didn’t think it would actually happen. You generally ignore my advice.”
Of course she did. “Because your advice usually includes suggestions that will spoil my fun. You’re always trying to sabotage my happiness.”
“Now you’re deflecting.”
“I know.”
Havana folded her arms, interjecting, “So is this thing between you and Deke a fling?”
“No.” Bailey scooped up more cereal with her spoon. “We’re just gonna be fuck-buddies until he’s no longer a walking hard-on.”
The devil shot her an incredulous look. “Fuck-buddies? Really?”
“Really.” Bailey shoved her spoon into her mouth and chewed the soggy flakes.
“Since when do fuck-buddies mark each other?” Havana challenged, still dubious.
“We haven’t been marking each other. He bit me, yes, but it was an accident.” She saw no need to elaborate on how he’d had to keep renewing the bite in order for his cat to allow him to touch her. That the feline was having “issues” was for Deke to share or not to share. “Things got out of hand.”
“Bullshit,” Aspen blurted out. “He staked a temporary claim on you.”
If her snake could have snorted in disbelief, she would have. “Deke is not possessive of me.”
“The brand you wear says differently,” said Havana.
Bailey felt her lips thin. “I told you, it was an accident.”
Havana’s face scrunched up. “Guys as ruthlessly controlled as Deke don’t do stuff like that by accident, Bailey. He might tell both himself and you that he didn’t mean to bite you, but that’s a load of cock and bull.”
Nu-uh. “Touch-hunger tends to send ‘ruthlessly controlled’ sailing out the window. Another guy I helped through it bit me as well. They get seriously primitive and animalistic.”
