Page 22 of Broken Ice
He dressed in Emilio’s clothes—which were a little big on him, an annoying fact Beau refused to acknowledge—and then tidied up, putting his shit in the Ziplock bags and stuffing them into his suitcase so they would stop stinking up the room. He rewashed his hands once Emilio exited the shower, barely tolerating his sour mood.
“What’s gotten into you? Has your dumb Alpha brain been seeped of its instincts now that I’m not in heat and you’re going to treat me like shit again? Grow the fuck up,” Beau hissed.
Amazingly, Emilio’s glare dropped, eyes widening. “I’m not…”
“What? You’re not what?”
Emilio’s jaw ticked. “Sorry. I…have a headache.”
“Okay? Well, get some Advil. I don’t need you frowning at my every move just because I’m no longer begging for your knot.”
Emilio winced. “That’s not—fine. Sorry.”
What a sincere apology, Beau thought sarcastically. He didn’t say it out loud, though, because he was a mature, responsible adult.
Unlikesomepeople.
“Okay. I’ll see you at breakfast, yeah? And, like…if we could keep this between us, that’d be swell,” Beau said.
“Fine,” Emilio grunted. Apparently, a night of heat sex got him in touch with his Neanderthal side.
How charming.
Beau breathed a sigh of relief as Emilio finally left the room. He opened the only window, letting some of the cold air in.
He needed Emilio’s scent out of his nose or he’d go insane. Smelling the combination of their pheromones on everything was making him dizzy with want, which was the absolute last thing he needed right now.
***
Breakfast, of course, was a shit show.
Pavel, being the responsible captain he was, approached him first. “Hey. You okay?”
“Yep. Just another heat. I’m good to go, though.”
Pavel nodded slightly. His nostrils were flaring.
Beau waited for the inevitable question, but apparently, Pavel was tactful enough not to say anything about the scent of his clothes.
Tinny was not.
“Yo. Do you smell like Em?”
“I borrowed some of his clothes. I used mine for my nest,” Beau said primly.
Tinny’s mouth clicked shut. “Oh. Right. Uh…that go okay?”
From the other end of the table, Emilio was shovelling food into his mouth, not even glancing their way.
Beau raised his eyebrows at Tinny. “Do you want details?”
“Nope. No. Just—you know what? I’m gonna shut up.”
Besides Beau, Korpi snorted. “That’ll be a first.”
“Nobody likes you,” Tinny chirped.
Beau tuned them out, grateful to get the topic of conversation off his back.
