Page 60 of Silas's Sweetheart

A gut punch of guilt came with how sad Booker sounded and Silas pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing before he rose, coming face to face with Booker. “It’s not you.”

“Then what is it? Talk to me.”

He sucked in a breath and held Booker’s gaze. “The night of the attack, Jason was the one who set me up. ”

“He what? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me… that fucking weasel! I never liked him.”

“I said nothing to anyone, ‘cause I was hurting, mortified. Fuck, the person I thought I was in love with… was in love with as much as a teenager can be, betrayed me. I told no one… but Dad found out.”

“How?” Booker ground out.

“He had the boys who attacked me investigated.”

Booker snarled and crossed his arms, biceps flexing. “Investigated? Is that why they all left? The fuckers needed—”

“We don’t need to waste energy on them.”

He stabbed a finger at Silas. “Isn’t that what you’ve done by keeping quiet about what Jason did to you? Wasted your energy blaming yourself for allowing a dick to use you? You were a fucking teenager, Silas, just learning what love was all about.”

Silas jerked at the direct hit to the sensitive spot inside him that had never healed. “I suppose I did.”

He released a shuddery breath and, for the first time in the longest time, admitted aloud how he felt about another person. “I’ve got all the feels for Ziggy.”

Booker’s lips thinned as he nodded slowly. “I suspected something was up after you lost your shit with me. Knew it had to do with Ziggy. How serious are you about him?”

Silas came around his desk to pace. It was easier than facing Booker’s direct stare. “Very. My thoughts stray to him all the fucking time. I crave…”Everything.He shook that off for now. “Him. Like it makes me fucking itch when I can’t be near him.”

“Isn’t it all… a little sudden?”

The skepticism didn’t deter Silas. He did not know how to answer that, because who could determine how much time it took for someone to develop feelings? He just knew what he felt for Ziggy.

“After the meeting with Dad about the retirement bombshell, I needed to let off some steam. I went to a heat club to find an omega.”

“You mean you went to Hidden Desires, the place you part own but never talk about?”

Silas stopped pacing for a second to glance at Booker. “If I don’t talk ‘bout it, then how do you know?” he questioned, unsure whether to be pissed.

“’Cause I’m not fucking stupid, and Iknow you.”

Silas went back to pacing, not thinking about what Booker did or didn’t know. “Yes, I went there and the omega I got paired with was Ziggy.”

“Mother fucker! Then you got landed with him. What are the fucking odds of that?”

Stomping harder, Silas’s arms swung at his sides. “Not long enough ‘cause Ziggy ended up as my PA and…”

“You got snaked.”

“I suppose you could say that.” There was no way on any planet he was going to explain exactly how snaked he’d gotten with Ziggy in that very office.

“That’s why you lost it when I said they were fucking. You were dating him and you thought he was cheating?”

Silas got hot under the collar as he shook his head, not looking directly at Booker with what he was going to confess. “Not dating… we had an agreement. It was just fucking, some fun, nothing more. I wasn’t looking for more.”

“How did that work out for you?”

Ignoring Booker’s amusement and question, Silas continued to stomp. “He put in two ground rules… if we fuck anyone else, then we have to be honest about it.”

“And the other one?”