Page 78 of The Blood Witch

He was. Had been ever since that night in the stockroom when he’d lost control.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Alastair said, adding a notation to the ordering form.

“I’m not being ridiculous,” Jasper insisted. His voice was infuriatingly calm. “You’re avoiding me.”

“I’ve been busy, Jasper. I don’t always have time to swing by just to chat.”

“Oh, really?” Jasper snatched the paper out from under Alastair’s pen, ignoring his snarl and flipping it around to read it. “Busy annotating… the liquor orders from two quarters ago?” He raised an eyebrow at Alastair in challenge. “Yeah… I can see why such an important piece of work has been keeping you locked up here. And why you can’t even stop by the bar for one drink.”

Jasper’s gaze fell on the bottle on Alastair’s desk, and he curled his lip in disgust. “Blended whiskey, boss? You can’t stand blended whiskey.”

“I’ve developed a taste for it,” Alastair lied. Leaning back in his chair, he lifted the full glass to his lips and took a gulp.

It tasted so awful he almost couldn’t swallow it.

“Delicious,” Alastair purred.

Jasper rolled his eyes.

“Ferus says you’ve had him triple check the last month’s orders already. But here you are, doing it again. You don’t come down to the main bar anymore, you only go to the VIP bar andonlyif I’m not working it. Because you’re avoiding me. Just admit it.”

Alastair stood. He was only a fraction taller than Jasper, but he used every bit of that height to his advantage now, straightening his back and staring down at the Wolf across his desk.

“And why,” Alastair asked in a deadly voice, “would I be avoiding you?”

Jasper didn’t back down. “That’s what I’m hoping you’ll tell me,” Jasper said, staring back at him and crossing his arms over his thick chest. “And I don’t plan on leaving here until you do.”

“You’re being ridiculous, Jasper, and if this is all you came up here for?—”

“Is this about what happened?” Jasper interrupted. “Is this about what we did together? You, me, and Fey?”

The world tilted around Alastair, and something very dark was rising inside of him. It was getting harder to hold it back.

“Because that’s when this started,” Jasper continued, tapping the desk between them. “That’s when you started avoiding me. So, what is it, Alastair? Was it seeing me with Fey? Was it watching someone else touch her?”

Alastair snorted a laugh. “You know very well that wasn’t my first threesome, Jasper, and I doubt it will be my last, considering how much Fey enjoyed herself. You can take your paranoid fantasies somewhere else.”

“And it can be different when it’s someone you love,” Jasper insisted. He rounded the desk, coming around to Alastair’s side to face him. “I’ve known Shifters who won't let anyone touch their mate once they’ve found them. It bothered you, didn’t it? Is that why you freaked out in the stockroom?”

“Fey and I have discussed what happened that day, and I have apologized.”

“Not to me,” Jasper said. He held Alastair’s gaze, seemingly oblivious to the danger lurking there. Oblivious to the anger roiling through the Vamp standing in front of him. The hunger. “You never said one damned word to me about what happened.”

Alastair bared his fangs. “I didn’t realize I had to apologize to myemployee.” He spat the words at Jasper, pushing him to back down, but the Wolf refused.

“Don’t give me that shit. I wasn’t just your employee when you finger fucked her in front of me, was I? You did that to her to teach me a lesson,” Jasper continued. “So, if it wasn’t jealousy, then what was the lesson, boss? Because if the three of us are going to work, you need to?—”

“The three of us?” Alastair asked incredulously, temper flaring. “Let’s get one thing straight, puppy, there is no three of us. There is me and Fey.” He stalked closer. “And then there isyou. Off in a completely different stratosphere.”

Jasper blinked slowly. “I didn’t mean it like that. I didn’t?—”

“But youdid. That’s the fucking problem, Jasper. You did mean it that way. Because that’s how you’re starting to see it, isn’t it?The three of us.”

This time, Jasper didn’t deny it. “You can’t tell me that night didn’t mean anything to you, Alastair,” he said in a low voice.

Alastair’s answering laugh was nothing short of cruel. “Listen to me very closely when I tell you that’s exactly what it meant. We had fun. But you? You were there as a toy, never forget that. Hell, you were nothing more than a dildo with a pulse.”

“You’re lying,” Jasper told him, anger filling his voice. “You’re fucking lying.”

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