AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Had his voice deepened a fraction, or was Sebastian imagining it? Was he alone in the way his stomach was fluttering, the way his hands felt clammy and his skin tight? Based on the light flush on Jericho’s cheeks, Sebastian didn’t think so.
“Just get out,” Sebastian said, swallowing hard and pushing it all down. He didn’t know what was going on. All he knew was that— “I don’t want anything to do with you, and neither does Peyton.”
Hunter tilted his head with an all-too-knowing smile. “That’s the real problem here, isn’t it? You’re worried that he’s going to take my job offer?”
“He’s not.” Sebastian wished that he were as sure of it as he sounded. He wasn’t. Peyton had looked intrigued. More than intrigued. He’d lookedinterested, like Hunter had held the answers to all his questions. Sebastian didn’t know what the questions were, and he doubted that Hunter could provide anything but more nightmares.
“The choice is his to make. Just like it was yours, once upon a time.”
“That was different.”
“Well, do share with the class,” Jericho drawled. “How is it different?”
“You don’t know anything about the man that you’re sleeping with,” Hunter said, not giving Sebastian a chance to respond.
“I know what he can do with his tongue and what he sounds like when I make him come,” Sebastian said bluntly. He was willing to say whatever he needed to get them to leave. “What else do I need to know?”
Jericho’s eyes heated, a vein in his neck visibly throbbing. It made Sebastian’s stomach flip. “Seems like that’s all I’d want to know,” he said in a roughened whisper.
Sebastian almost swallowed his tongue as heat flared in his chest.Jesus.Why was he reacting like this? Who the fuck was this man?
“The demons that he carries aren’t ones that will so easily let go,” Hunter said. He unfurled his long limbs and stood. “Sometimes they need to be nurtured, not purged.” He straightened his jacket. “Not ignored.”
“Thanks for your sage advice,” Sebastian said sarcastically. “Was that all? You can leave now.”
“If he continues to ignore them, they will consume him. Take it from someone who knows personally.”
Sebastian needed something stronger to put in his coffee. Alcohol. Or acid.
“Not all demons should be exorcised,” Jericho said, taking a step closer. Sebastian resisted the urge to move backward. He would not give this man an inch of weakness.
“No?” Sebastian asked, the word dripping with disdain and hopefully masking the wild thumping of his heartbeat. If they stopped to listen, he was sure they would be able to hear it in the quiet room.
Jericho ran his fingers across the edge of Sebastian’s desk. Sebastian wished he weren’t so enticed by it, but he couldn’t look away. Jericho had long fingers with prominent veins across the top of his hand.
“When dangerous criminals roam,” Jericho said, “when serial killers are looking for their next victim, you don’t send the puppies to hunt them, Sebastian. You send the wolves.”
Hearing his name on Jericho’s lips was strange, like a caress that travelled up his spine in the form of a lover’s touch. Fuck, he hated today.
Sebastian moved around his desk to put distance between them. “Let me guess; you’re the wolves.”
Jericho leaned his hip against Sebastian’s desk with a crooked smile and didn’t answer. Sebastian forced himself to look away and focus on Hunter.
“Are you two done? I have work to do.”
“Your detective was called out to investigate a murder this morning,” Hunter said.
“How do you know that?” Sebastian hadn’t heard from Quinn all morning, but that wasn’t unusual; radio silence during the day happened when they were knee-deep in big cases.
“The name George Brice mean anything to you?” Jericho asked.
“Should it?” He wished this conversation would end already.
“Not if self-preservation isn’t your thing,” Jericho replied.
“Haven’t you been watching?” Sebastian asked sarcastically. “It clearly isn’t.”
“He worked for the men that tried to kill you and your guy; I’d say the name is of interest to you.”
