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“Sod off.” Dave laughs. “You’re welcome to check who else wants to take a go at you, but—”
He cuts himself off when the door opens. I twist in my seat to see who made him fall silent. Wolf and Kaz stride in like they were invited, which I know they didn’t need to be, but still. Kaz moves like he owns the place, and Wolf isn’t much better.
“Here you are,” he says, pulling up a seat and dropping into it. “What happened to meeting in my room?”
“I needed a break,” I mutter, annoyance clear in my strained voice. “What are you doing here?”
Kaz inclines his head at the others before he pulls up another chair and slides it in beside mine. “We came to check on you. Wolf tells me he found you someplace you shouldn’t have been earlier.”
“He didn’tfindme,” I snap. “I told him where I was and asked him to come there. There’s a marked difference between the two.”
“You boys playing or what?” Turner asks, treating them the same as he does me, which is the same as everyone else.
My pack have been here with me at times. Although these men don’t know them as well as they know me, they’ve grown used to them. Kaz bristles a bit at his lack of formality, but Wolf grins at Dave.
“Deal us in, mate. I hope you’re prepared to lose.”
I sigh but nod at Dave when he looks at me to check. “Deal them in.”
While he’s shuffling the deck, Kaz turns on his chair to face me and his head lowers to one side, dark eyes intent on mine. “Want to tell me what you were doing there? After hours?”
“After hours?” I scoff. “Please. I caught a whiff of a very familiar scent when I left my chambers this morning. I know it wasn’t Wolf. Let’s not get into anyone being in chambers they shouldn’t be when they’re not supposed to be there.”
It’s a pathetic attempt at discretion. Even though I trust my poker group, Kaz doesn’t. I also know that if they’ll get the general idea of what we’re saying, they won’t have any specifics that could get us in trouble if the conversation does somehow leak.
Kaz’s eyes narrow, but then he gives his head a small shake. “It was for business, not pleasure.”
So, she was in his chambers last night because of their deal.Figures. “Regardless. You could’ve given us a heads-up. Might’ve been nice if we were all present.”
He’s got his guards up, but I feel his faint guilt along with something a lot more interesting. Intense lust. Okay, so maybe that’s not so interesting since I know how much he wants her. What’s interesting is that he feels it now while at the same time, he’s telling me that she was there for business.
Now, obviously, he can want her even while she’s reporting back to him. It’s not that. It’s the sudden suspicion I have that something happened between them. Or almost happened, at least.
Wolf groans softly at my side, so I know he felt it too. Searching Kaz’s gaze for clues, I inhale deeply and wonder when we started hiding things like this from each other.
“Business, of course,” I say as I nod at him. “It couldn’tpossiblybe anything else. Not like you’d dip the royal wick in muddied water.”
The veiled barb lands with a tightening of Kaz’s sharp features. “I’ve never been afraid of a little mud.”
Wolf winces on my other side. “Could we stop talking about mud? I understand the analogy—I know, shocking—but do either of you realize how fucking insensitive and offensive that is?”
I know he’s right and something grimy coats my stomach. Why did I even say that?
“Just…go home and we’ll talk about this later.”
“We’ve been dealt in,” Kaz says as if that decides it. Then he picks up his cards and gives Dave a stoic look once he’s checked them. “What’s the buy-in?”
“A quid.”
His brow furrows. “One?”
“Yes, Kaspian. One. We’re not here to bankrupt anyone.” I cut an exasperated look at him before turning my attention back to the game.
In the end, though, Kaz cleans almost everyone out, and to me, it’s symbolic of the way the royal family controls everything. He gets up after the last hand and leaves the money on the table as he nods at the men, turns, and walks out.
Wolf flashes them an apologetic smile. “Sorry, mates. Looks like we’re off.”
All round, eyes roll and they huff, clearly offended, and I understand why.
