“The usual incompetence,” Ivan muttered, jerking his gaze away from Nix’s silken skin. He was feeling irritable again, although he had no one to blame but himself. He’d slept off the drunkenness from that morning with an extended nap, one full of half-remembered dreams and distorted memories, and it had been dark when he’d woken up. A fact that made him pissy in and of itself—there was an entire day wasted. That compounded with the persistent headache he had from his overindulgence, and he was just about ready to snap.
Maybe Nix was right and Ivan needed to cut off drinkingentirely, at least until this mess was sorted and he was feeling less…jagged. There was something too tempting about liquor these days, about the way it made him just a touch looser. The way it made it easier to let go.
He’d said foolish things that morning, admitted to hurts he was always better off ignoring, but he couldn’t even regret it fully.
Nix would keep his secrets close. Even Ivan—mistrustful as he was by nature—knew that much.
The way he felt when drinking was similar to the way he felt around Nix in any state, tempted by the notion that it was okay to lower his defenses just a smidge. That Ivan could be soft for a moment and not regret it later.
But was that feeling truth or a trick? There was Kai’s warning to consider.
Desperate desires lead to desperate acts.
But between the two of them, Ivan and Nix…which of them was the desperate one? It was impossible to answer. Maybe it was both of them.
“Is the incompetence the only thing that has you scowling?” Nix asked, his chin propped on one hand.
“I’m not scowling,” Ivan told him. He wasn’t either. His looseness from the morning was nowhere to be found, and he had a firm rein back on his facial expressions. So Nix was just being a little shit.
“You’re scowling on the inside.” Now Ivan did glare, which Nix met with a grin. “And now your outside matches your insides. Isn’t that lovely?”
Ivan stalked over to him across the porch. “I’m more than a little irritable and annoyed at the moment, incubus. And you’re not nearly as charming as you think.”
“Is that so?” Nix swung his legs off from the side of the chair and widened them invitingly. “Because a little birdie told me you like to fuck when you’re annoyed.”
“Mm.” Ivan leaned over the ridiculous chair, resting his hands on its arms, inhaling Nix’s smoky scent. “Give me your mouth, then.”
“With pleasure,” Nix murmured, closing the distance between them.
His mouth was hot, and his tongue was eager, and Ivan groaned, pressing a knee onto the chair’s seat for stability and fisting a hand in Nix’s hair.
He could give up liquor easily, ifthiswas always available to him.
His demon drug.
Nix pulled away to mouth at Ivan’s jaw. “Wanna see how far we can get before the neighbors call the cops?”
Ivan tugged him back, cocking a brow. “I generally try to steer clear of law enforcement.”
Nix smirked. “What a pity.”
Ivan hesitated, his hand in Nix’s hair, studying his incubus. There was no point in saying anything, was there? Whatever came out of Nix’s mouth could be a lie anyway, so why bring it up? Still, he found himself asking, “Are you like this with all your contracts?”
“Like what?” Nix quipped. “Horny?”
When Ivan didn’t respond, Nix’s smile dropped slowly. He sighed. “Did Kai happen to say something to you?”
Ivan stiffened, his stomach dropping. That was as good as an admission, wasn’t it? That Kai had something to say. He dropped his hand out of Nix’s hair. “And what would Kai have said to me?”
“Listen, Ivan—”
Nix stopped midsentence, his gaze darting out over Ivan’s shoulder. There was a black car pulling up, a quietly expensive model. Not one Ivan recognized. He reached for his gun as the car pulled in to the drive, only to remember Sascha had made him leave it in his room.
Why the fuck had Ivan listened?
Nix was in front of him before he knew it, somehow out of the chair and blocking Ivan in the blink of an eye. “Inside,” he barked, like Ivan was supposed to follow his orders.
“Not until we know who it is.”
