Page 50 of Cohesion

Sebastian decided to take off his shirt first, unbuttoning it carefully and draping it over the top of his jacket, leaving him in his slacks and tie. The fabric teased his skin as he shifted, a strange sensation. He hadn’t been wearing an undershirt because it was hot. A miscalculation on his part, clearly. Should have added a couple extra layers.

Jericho took the coward’s way out and slipped off a shoe—then a second one, to be fair, he said. A pair counted as one. The ruleswere one at a time, and they made him discard his waist holster and weapon, letting him keep it in easy reach on the table.

Peyton took off his shirt, and Sebastian momentarily forgot how to breathe, almost swallowing his tongue. It didn’t matter how many times he saw it, that expanse of smooth, hard muscle was fucking mouthwatering. He wanted to get his mouth all over it. Too bad Peyton and Will weren’t sitting next to each other. Now, there would have been a distracting sight he wouldn’t have minded as a diversionary tactic.

It would even be worth losing for.

Quinn hooked his finger in his tie and worked it loose before sliding it off his shoulders. Sebastian snagged it, wrapping it around his fist. He kissed it, eyes locked onto Quinn’s. He loved that moment, where his pupils dilated, and that grey becamemolten. It was one of the sexiest fucking things in the entire world.

There it was.

Sebastian swallowed, gut tightening.

“Who gets the question?” Peyton asked.

Will tapped his lips thoughtfully. “Hmmm. I want to ask everyone a question.”

“That’s not—” Peyton sighed and then swept his arm out in a gesture that encompassed all of them. “All right, go ahead.”

No one argued about Will getting special treatment.

“What’s your favourite type of flower?”

“That’s your question?” Jericho asked.

“Why, does the question have to be agreed upon?” Will asked. “Do we vote? No one had to vote on Peyton’s.”

“That was deliberate on Peyton’s part.” Peyton didn’t argue with Jericho’s statement. “Mine is a black calla lily.”

“What is that?” Peyton asked. “That’s not a flower.”

“It is, actually. A dark-purple lily that looks almost black. There’s a florist in the city that’s a grumpy-ass motherfuckerwho grows a lot of dark flowers. They’re rare, but he’s just made of green thumb.”

Will pulled out his phone and—Sebastian assumed—searched the flower. He whistled low. “Whoa. It’s gorgeous. You can buy these in the city?”

“Sometimes. He doesn’t always have the really good ones in stock, and once he puts them up as ‘available’ in his store, they sell out pretty quick even though they’re worth a small fortune.”

“Frequent the place, do you?” Quinn asked.

“Am I not allowed to like flowers?” Jericho asked. “He and Hunter are friends; Hunter likes to garden, remember? We get seeds from him, and if I need to butter Hunter up, I buy him flowers.”

“You buy your brother flowers to butter him up?” Will asked, laughing.

“If it works,” Jericho said with a half shrug.

“I need to try that.”

“Does Aubrey like flowers?” Peyton asked curiously.

“Well, no. But Harry does. Fans give them to him all the time.”

“I don’t necessarily think that means he likes them, Will,” Quinn said. “That’s just a thing fans do. Even in unwanted situations.”

“Hunter likes to garden,” Sebastian repeated, not sure he’d heard right. Hegardened? They bought himflowers?

“You’re right,” Jericho drawled sarcastically. “We’re all robots that start and end at work, and we don’t have any hobbies outside of killing people.”

“Don’t forget body disposal,” Will said. “You do that too.”

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