Page 29 of Just a Bit Guarded

Will glowered at him. “Yes. It’s about your bright idea to not tell him that we’re related. I told him the truth, and now he’s pissed. But not at you. Me.”

Well.

While it was a relief to know that Gadiel wasn’t angry with him for their little deception, it was perplexing that he was angry with Will.

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” Gadiel hissed, scowling at Will before flushing and averting his gaze. “Go away.”

“You’re the one who wanted me here,” Will said tersely.

“That was before I found out that you were a lying asshole with an agenda!”

“That’s rich coming from a—”

“Um, guys?”

“Stay out of it,” Will bit off, barely glancing at Scott before going back to boring a hole in Gadiel’s face with his eyes. “You are being ridiculous, and you know it.”

“I know no such thing.”

“You’ve barely looked at me for three days,” Will said.

Gadiel glared at him. “And that matters to you why exactly? You’ve been just pretending to be my bodyguard so that your cousin could get laid.”

A muscle jumped in Will’s jaw. He pushed his plate away and got to his feet. “I’ll be on the lower deck if you decide to finally stop acting like a big baby.” And he stalked away.

“Screw you!”

As Will disappeared out of sight, Gadiel’s scowl transformed into something dejected and unhappy.He stabbed his fork into a piece of salad on his plate.

Scott cleared his throat. “Well, that was uncomfortable,” he said, trying not to show that he was more than a little peeved. Frankly, he wasn’t used to not being the center of attention. He and Gadiel had barely talked tonight, with Gadiel distracted and uncharacteristically moody.The whole thing was irritating as hell, considering the fact that Will’s entire purpose here was to help him get together with Gadiel instead of distracting and frustrating him—or whatever the hell this tension between them was.

“It’s his fault,” Gadiel said. “How can he expect that I’ll be fine with him lying to me?”

Scott almost rolled his eyes. Why couldn’t he just let it go? “Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m very glad you aren’t angry at me, but don’t you think you’re overreacting a little? Will only lied because I asked him to.”

Gadiel’s lips thinned. “You don’t understand. I trusted him. I thought he was—my bodyguard, but he isn’t! He’s my bodyguard becauseyouasked him to become one.”

“So?” Scott said, feeling beyond confused and exasperated. He really didn’t understand what difference it made.

Gadiel scowled again andstabbed something on his plate with his fork, the noise so loud that Scott flinched. “Enough about Will.” His lips opened, wobbled, and then pressed together tightly before he put on a smile that didn’t look sincere in the slightest.

He still managed to look like the prettiest thing Scott had ever seen.He could never look at the curve of Gadiel’s lush mouth without imagining it wrapped around a cock, and his lips looked even sexier when he was pouting like this. And fuck, those half-lidded blue eyes always looked kind of sleepy. It wassexy as hell, making Scott think of fucking for hours until they both were tired and spent. Damn, he truly couldn’t wait to get his dick inside the guy. His whining over Will’s lies was a tad annoying, but Scott could ignore it. Gadiel would get over it as soon as Scott got him wailing on his cock.

“Frankly, I’m surprised you’re cousins,” Gadiel said, scoffing. “You’re so lively and personable while he’s so—so rigid and unemotional! It drives me crazy that he can make me feel like a stupid kid with one look.”

Scott snorted. “Yeah, tell me about it. We’re nearly the same age, but Will has always had a way about him that made me feel about two inches tall.”

“I know, right?” Gadiel said, leaning forward and suddenly becoming very animated, his eyes burning with fervor. “He’s just so—so damn exasperating!” He jumped to his feet and walked to the railing. He huffed, looking down. “Even the way he stands there is so—ugh. So damn self-assured and superior I sometimes wanna scratch him—or slap him or—” He cut himself off, flushing.

Raising his eyebrows, Scott got to his feet too and joined him by the railing. The lights from the skyscrapers cast vibrant reflections across the water and were bright enough to let them see clearly.

Will was leaning against the railing on the lower deck, his tall form erect and tense. As if feeling their gazes, he looked up.

Scott could see Will stiffen when he saw them, but they were far enough to be able to talk without being overheard—except Gadiel made no effort to keep their conversation private, raising his voice as he continued criticizing Will for every little thing.

The longer it went on, the more bothered Scott felt. He felt almost like the third wheel, despite standing right beside Gadiel. It was kind of humiliating that his cousin managed to remain the focus of Gadiel’s attention even while he was twenty feet away.Granted, Gadiel’s attention was hardly positive, but still.

Something wasn’t right.

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