Page 39 of Soar

“No,” Gregori barked, cutting the man off as he came to stand so close to Salem that his chest bumped against his mate’s back. He straightened to his full height, which gave him an enjoyable couple of inches to tower over the interloper.

Blondie blinked at him, rising from his lean to take a step away from him and Salem. “I’m sorry. Who?—”

“I’m Salem’s mate. I’m guessing you haven’t gotten the memo going around the hospital. He’s not available. Shove off.”

“Gregori!” Salem hissed, and the point of his elbow landed in the middle of Gregori’s stomach, but he didn’t notice it because his full attention was on the other man flirting with his mate. “You’re being rude.”

“It’s not rude to apprise this man that he’s making an ass of himself in front of you and the nurses,” Gregori bit out. He narrowed his eyes. “Move along. He’s not for you.”

The man’s smile returned. “I think that’s for Salem to decide.”

The comment cut deeper than it should have and Gregori lost a bit of his steam. He was right, Salem should be the one deciding. He should be the one telling this asshole to fuck off, but he wasn’t.

“Doctor Kentrup, I think we should continue this discussion another time,” Salem interjected briskly, his tone shifting from warm and friendly to pure business.

The other doctor looked at Salem and gave a small nod before disappearing down the hall.

Salem whirled around and poked Gregori in the middle of his chest. “What the hell do you think you were doing? He was a colleague and this is my place of work. There’s no room for your caveman nonsense here.”

“He’s right, Salem,” Gregori snapped. Even as he spoke, he knew he should rein his anger in, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t. This felt horribly like the straw that broke the camel’s back and he couldn’t grasp his usual patience no matter how hard he tried. “You need to decide. Whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, I’m your mate. More obviously, I’m the man you’re living with. The man you’re sleeping with. The decision shouldn’t be too hard, but still you stood there flirting with him.”

Salem gasped, his mouth hanging open for a full second, while his face turned bright red. “I wasn’t flirting. We were just talking. Besides, I didn’t ask for any of this. You can go back to Brazil anytime you want.”

His mate spun around and marched down the hall.

“You might not have asked for this, but I’m still your mate,” Gregori growled at Salem’s retreating back.

Salem slammed into his office, shutting the door with force, and didn’t feel any better for either action. He dropped heavily into his chair and just sat there, fuming.

How fuckingdareGregori go off on him. They weren’t in a relationship, they were fuck buddies at best, so Gregori hadnoright to?—

Well, except they kinda were. Dammit. Gregori had made a very valid point earlier.Hewas the one Salem lived with.Hewas the one Salem had regular sex with. Even if they weren’t in a true relationship, they still had a mutual understanding, which made Salem the ass in this equation.

If he’d actually been flirting, which hehadn’t.

Goddammit.

His office door jerked open.

Salem sat upright immediately, a protest poised on the tip of his tongue. He expected Gregori, coming in for round two, but it wasn’t. It was Alexis.

Who, oddly, seemed mad at him.

“What?!” he snapped at her.

Alexis kicked the door closed behind her, hands on hips, and glared right back at him. “You aresuchan asshole.”

“How am I the asshole?! It’s Gregori who’s seriously overstepping boundaries!”

Alexis locked eyes with him, brows coming together in a frown. Ahe can’t be this stupidfrown. “You’ve got a doctorate, so supposedly you’re a smart person, but I swear to god, love is making you stupid.”

“Whoa, whoa, I’m not in love with him.”

Alexis ignored him and kept talking. “Salem. You were flirting with someone right in front of Gregori. Ofcoursehe’s upset with you. I’m upset with you and I’m not even part of this relationship!”

Everything in his head screeched to a halt. “Did it…really look like I was flirting?”

His best friend’s face suggested he was losing his few remaining IQ points quickly.

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