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"So, psychology, hmmm?" It wasn't the most exciting conversation starter, but it was a start. I was making an effort at least.
Ares barely glanced up at me and grunted. He looked back down at his laptop.
Okay then.
I took the opportunity to study him, since he was trying so hard to avoid looking at me. Or interacting with me in any way.
He wore a tight-fitting black T-shirt that moulded to his muscles like a second skin. His biceps looked like they were going to burst out of his sleeves. A tattoo of a snake slithered down his arm, ending just before his wrist. His torn black jeans were equally tight, showing off muscular thighs. Long, pale lashes lay across the top of his cheeks. What was it with guys having lashes like that? Mine were almost nonexistent.
"Like something you see?" he said without looking up. "Didn't your mother teach you it's rude to stare?"
"Didn't yours teach you to use your words and not caveman sounds?" I retorted.
"There's no such thing as cavemen," he said. "They never really existed."
"Neanderthal sounds then," I conceded. "Either way, it's not real, modern speech."
"Neither are emojis, but I bet you use them when you text your little friends." He tapped at his keyboard.
Little friends? I couldn't deny using emojis. Didn't everyone?
"Are you saying you don't use emojis?" I asked in disbelief. "I bet you do. Your favourite ones are probably the doughnut, and the hot face."
He glanced up long enough to shake his head at me, before looking back down. "Your favourite one is probably the eggplant. You don't seem to be able to get enough of Mannix and Ice's."
I'd had sex all of once in my life and he was trying to slutshame me?
"First of all, I'm pretty sure the eggplant emoji is everyone's favourite. Second of all, are you jealous because I've been spending time with them and not you? Or are you just pissed off that you're on guard duty?"
A frown flickered across his brow. "I'm just studying. Trying to anyway. When Mannix suggested I stay here, I didn't realise I'd be subjected to constant interruption."
"You're denying you're my guard today?" I asked. I wasn't fooled. Was anyone?
"Is that why you're being annoying?" he snapped. "Because you don't like the idea of being watched over? Let me tell you something." He fixed his gorgeous blue eyes on mine. "I have better things to do than babysit a spoilt brat like you." He raised the pitch of his voice and said, "Buy me a new car. Make it as expensive as fuck and I'll spread my legs for you."
Rather than showing him how offensive his words were, I just smiled.
"Is that what it takes to get you into bed?"
He snorted. "You fucking wish. You have the other two eating out of your hands and wrapped around your pussy. Not me. I see right through people like you."
Okay, now I let my irritation show. "People like me? What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means you saw how much money Mannix has and moved straight on in. How many days were you here before you fell on your back and spread your legs?" He looked disgusted.
"Fuck. You." I returned his look. "I don't care about his money. Or Ice's. Or yours, for that matter. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm studying so I can get a good job and make my own money. I don't need, or want, anyone else's. He didn't have to buy me a car. He sure as hell didn't need to buy me an expensive one. You might not have noticed, but Mannix is headstrong and makes up his own mind about the things he does. And people he does.”
I hesitated for a moment, then added, “Are you that threatened by me?"
He barked a laugh. "Why would I be threatened by you? One little car driving behind you and you're ready to jump out of your skin." He raised his voice again. "Mannix! Ice! There's a car behind me! O! M! G!"
I stared at him. "You saw the tape. You saw the way the car stopped outside the gate. You don't think that was fucking weird? I bet anything if that happened to you, you'd wet your pants."
"Not a chance," he said immediately. "I would have put the car into reverse and smashed the shit out of the other one. Or made the asshole get the fuck out of there. Or I would have led him to one of the dozens of places in Dusk Bay where I could have gotten behind him, boxed him in and beat the shit out of him. I wouldn't have run away."
"Me trying to beat the shit out of someone wouldn't end well for me," I said. "For one thing, we don't know if there was one person in the car or five." A woman alone with five men would definitely be bad news for me. I'd take running and hiding over that any day.
He shrugged. "Next time, call for help and we'll beat the shit out of him. Or them. Or whatever."
