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“Something strong,” he found himself saying, setting aside his earlier concerns.
He hated it, but seeing Odin so chummy with those people had left a sour taste in his mouth. He needed something that could burn that taste away in one go.
“Someone’s feeling daring.” A man stepped up to the bar, propping an arm on the edge of it as he swiveled to face Hunter. He was in a black tank top and similarly dark pants. His multi-slate was attached to his wrist in a way that not many people on planet wore it., and he looked good, clearly done up for a night out. “Haven’t seen you here before.”
If he’d still been on the run, he might have entertained the idea of hooking up with this stranger, but as it were…He wasn’t interested. Still, not wanting to be rude, he opted not to rebuff the guy completely. A conversation wouldn’t hurt anyone, after all.
“I’ve been around.” Hunter thanked the bartender when he placed a shot glass filled with a dark green liquid in front of him and then downed it. It was a lot like what he’d imagined drinking gasoline would be like—at first. Then the aftertaste hit him, a pleasing sweet and sour flavor, like sugar-coated plums. He tapped the bar, silently requesting another, and glanced over to find the stranger still standing there watching him.
“Do you work here?” the man’s gaze wandered over his outfit, no doubt searching for one of those infamous pins.
Hunter snorted. “No.” Then, just because the question actually sort of irritated him, he returned with, “Do you?”
“I wish,” the man grinned, “now that I’ve met you. If you’re here looking for someone to—”
“He isn’t,” Odin Snow’s deep voice cut through the conversation like a solar flare. He’d abandoned the company at his table and walked up to Hunter, draping an arm possessively over his shoulders, settling some of his weight on his back.
The move pushed Hunter forward a bit so that his ribs dug uncomfortably into the edge of the counter, but when he turned to say as much to him, the breath ended up catching in his throat instead.
Odin was glaring down at the stranger, and the look in his eyes was terrifying. It was an actual wonder he hadn’t literally set the other man ablaze.
“That’s your cue to run,” he said, the dark expression still firmly in place even after the stranger had turned tail and vanished into the crowd.
“I had everything under control,” Hunter began, clamping his mouth shut when Odin’s hand slipped down the front of his shirt and his fingers splayed across his chest.
“Yes,” Odin drawled, “he was certainly under your control. He was ready to bed you.”
“That’s not what I meant at all,” he said. “Get off.” He tried to shake loose, but Odin held firm, unwilling to budge. Hunter blew out a breath. “I didn’t come down here to fuck some stranger.”
“No?” he didn’t sound convinced. “Then why did you come, Huntsman?”
“To find you!” he exclaimed, annoyed with the public manhandling.
Odin stilled but didn’t release him.
“It’s been days,” Hunter continued, exasperated that he had to. “Where have you been?”
“I wasn’t aware I needed to keep you updated on my itinerary,” Odin said, and though it was meant to come off sarcastically, it didn’t hit the mark, falling slightly flat. Almost as if he was surprised by Hunter’s statement. He took a look around and noticed that they were gaining attention from nearby customers. “Come.”
Odin pulled off of Hunter but reached down and took his hand, linking their fingers. He led them down the length of the bar, ignoring the other patrons as he went, dragging Hunter after him toward a side exit roped off with a string of red velvet.
There was a bouncer there guarding it who bowed his head and had the rope unchained before they’d even reached it, so Odin sailed right through without so much as a second glance.
Hunter felt his nerves begin to fray, even more so seeing how calm Snow was. The hallway was long with various doors on either side. The lighting was somehow dimmer here than in the main section, the pale red bathing everything in a cherry glow right down to the polished wooden floor.
They stopped at the second to last door on the right, and Odin reached up to the keypad and typed in a code, but Hunter resisted the second it swooshed open, and he tried to tug him past the threshold.
“I know what this is,” he said, planting his feet and using all of his strength to stay put.
Odin motioned over his shoulder at the empty room. “It’s a place where we can talk privately.”
“There’s nothing for us to talk about.”
“We don’t have to talk then.”
Hunter retreated a step, but that was the end of Odin’s limits. He was yanked through the doorway and practically shoved at the four-poster bed set in the center of the room, against the right wall. Behind him, the door clicked and chimed, indicating the lock had been set. He pushed off the bed and spun, backing around the bottom of the mattress to put more distance between them.
Odin watched him, amused. “Relax, Huntsman. If all I wanted was to fuck, I had plenty of options back there, did I not?”
