Page 16 of Elf

“Well, I shouldn’t have given him even one tiny part of my heart, useless block of nothing that it is. Fucker didn’t deserve it. And then I get nearly beaten to death, and neither my mother nor brother came to see if I was okay. Some family I have, eh? My mother’s out of the country, but she could have come back.”

He went to pour more alcohol, but Alaric stepped in and took the bottle away. “You’re already going to feel like shit tomorrow, Ezra.”

“Probably right,” he garbled. “I should go back to bed.” He started walking that way, and Alaric followed. And immediately felt bad for noticing how tight and round Ezra’s ass looked in the pajama pants.

At the door, Ezra leaned against the jamb facing away from Alaric. He was silent for a time before he whispered, “You’re wrong, you know. I do have ambition and focus. Somewhere in here” —he thumped a hand on his chest—“there’s something meaningful.” He looked back at Alaric. “There has to be, right?”

With that, he stumbled inside and shut the door. Alaric stood in the hall for a long time. Shame burned hot in his chest.

Ezra had heard him talking to Finn that morning. He’d hurt the man’s feelings—and from what he’d said about his childhood, nobody had ever made him feel good about himself. A twisted tangle of anger and regret made Alaric nauseous. Anger over that snowstorm story and regret that he’d reduced Ezra to nothing more than a spoiled child, and that Ezra had heard it all.

He’d have to apologize. And maybe, just maybe, he’d been wrong about the man. Because the ache he felt in his chest told him that he hated making Ezra feel bad. And that maybe…he wanted to do the opposite.

Thoroughly confused, he walked to the room he was using, then changed his mind and went into the living room. Even though he wouldn’t need it, he tugged on a jacket and let himself outside to patrol with Bain and Finn.

Chapter Ten

Ezra

One of the bodyguards knocked on his bedroom door. Ezra groaned and slowly rolled to his back before gingerly sitting up. “Come in,” he barked as he rubbed his temples. The whiskey had seemed like a great idea in the dead of night. Now? Not so much. Luckily, his curtains were closed, so the room was nice and dim.

Alaric pushed open the door, looking way too alert and hot in a pair of form-fitting jeans and a black linen button down. He had on those sexy boots again. Ezra was forming a real fetish for those.

“It’s one in the afternoon,” Alaric said, keeping his voice low. “I got tired of waiting for you to come out, so I’m here to apologize.”

Pain throbbed in his skull. “For what?”

“For what I said to Finn yesterday morning. For what you heard.” Alaric walked farther into the room.

It took Ezra a moment to remember because the hangover muddied his brain. “No need. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that.”

Alaric sighed heavily. “You shouldn’t have heard it from me. I shouldn’t have made you feel bad about yourself when your entire family does that, and I feel terrible about it. Please, accept my apology.”

Ezra frowned, then more memories of his drunken, loose tongue hit him, and he groaned again. “You gotta ignore me when I drink. I say stupid shit.” He slowly swung his legs to the side of the bed. “Give me a moment, okay? I’ll come out in a sec.”

Alaric tilted his head, then nodded and left the room. Ezra stumbled into the bathroom, and though his bladder was screaming, he scrubbed the horrible funk off his teeth first, then washed his face. He took care of his bladder, then looked in the mirror as he washed his hands. Outside of being pale, he looked fine, so he went into the living room to find Alaric leaning against the back of the couch.

“Hey, it really is fine,” he drawled, putting on his most confident persona. “I’m not sensitive, so your opinion of me doesn’t affect me.”

“But it’s not my opinion of you. Maybe it was at first, but after getting to know you better, I don’t think that anymore. Which is why I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I haven’t given you reason for a change of opinion other than my drunken confession of my shitty childhood.” He walked closer, narrowing his eyes against the brightness of the room. He had no idea where the others were. Didn’t much care at that point. All he wanted was to lie back down. The plan for the day was to see Ezekiel, and he wasn’t sure he was up to that. But he needed to be. He truly wanted for all of this to just be over, and for that to happen, he had to find out who was trying to kill him.

“Nevertheless, I’m sorry for what I said. It was wrong. There’s actually a lot more to you than you let people see.”

Ezra snorted. “Not really.” He reached up to rub his temples, finally closing his eyes against the sunlight streaming in throughway too many windows. “Look, we’re fine. You didn’t say anything I didn’t already know, and like I said, I’ve got thick skin. Comes from years of experience. Just chalk last night up to me being stupid, and we’ll let it go. I shouldn’t have been telling you about my childhood.”

“Thing is, Ezra,” Alaric said softly as he walked to stand in front of Ezra. “I’m finding that I want to know more about you. I want to hear those things.”

That stumped him, and he stared up at the tall elf knowing real surprise showed in his raised brows. Alaric was now blocking the light, so his eyes were open much wider. “Why?”

“I have no idea. I just…need to know about you.”

This was making Ezra all sorts of uncomfortable all of a sudden, so he did what he always did, push. “Well, I have no interest in sharing my private life with an employee?—”

The sudden kiss made him go very, very still. Alaric had gently grabbed his biceps, pulled him close and slanted his mouth over Ezra’s. Had he wondered what Alaric’s kiss would be like? Yes. Had he even come close to guessing? Hell no. Alaric’s lips were warm and softer than Ezra had expected, and when he licked over Ezra’s upper lip, Ezra moaned and opened his mouth. The first slide of that tongue went to his head, making him moan again, this one a little embarrassing because it was so obvious his reaction to the kiss was over-the-top. He couldn’t help it. Pure, raw lust had him hard immediately.

Ezra’s arms came up to wrap around Alaric’s neck while Alaric’s hands slid down his arms to move to his back. He pulled Ezra closer.

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