Page 44 of Impromptu Match

“Oh my lord, isn’t that precious?” Corey murmured to Larkin, nodding at our linked hands.

“Dude, the sexual tension in here has been thique all night.” Larkin rolled his eyes. “I’ve had a boner by proxy pretty much the whole time.”

“Shut up, Lark.” Holt opened the door and pulled me into the hall. “You’re off the clock. Go and relax.”

“Shweet. Want to go get a drink, Corey?”

“I have to do my meditation first.” The pair of them followed us out of the private box, but started heading the opposite way down the corridor. “But Biff and Gabe are already on it.”

“Noice.” Larkin’s voice got fainter as Holt led me away. “Gonna go make myself the filling in that prime beef sandwich.”

We didn’t speak as we walked back to Holt’s office. The hallway that led to it from the box seemed to be private, because we didn’t come across anyone else. When he opened the door to the room attached to his office, Seb was sitting on the couch with a book of crossword puzzles.

Well, I assumed it was Seb. Because it was a big werewolf.

I’d seen some of them down in the arena, but that had been when I thought they were wearing costumes. Now, I stared in utter shock at the fur sprouting under Seb’s suit. The black claws on his hands, curled around the stubby pencil in his thick fingers. He had an ankle crossed over the opposite knee, and his shoes were gone to make room for enormous arched paws. His tail was poking out from under him, draped along the side of his thigh. All furry and kind of cute, but… an actual tail.

Seb’s wolfy muzzle lifted at the sound of the door opening. The moment his brown eyes fixed on me, he tensed.

“Taylor knows everything, Seb.” Holt waved a hand and tugged me into the room. “You’re fine.”

His eyes slid from Holt back to me, lupine face somehow still completely expressionless. At length, he gave me a single nod and returned to his crossword.

Holt took us into his office and shut the door, then finally let go of my hand to turn and face me. He looked nervous again. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I croaked automatically. “I’m just… tired, I think, so it’s a lot to…”

“Yeah, I bet.” He fiddled anxiously with his cuffs, then sighed and rubbed his face. “Look, Taylor, I totally understand if this is… too much, and you’d rather not—”

“No,” I blurted, taking a step closer. “No, I… I want to see you again. If you want to. Tonight was really fun. I think I just need to… process.”

He nodded quickly. “Take your time. But…” His grey cheeks darkened with a flush as he fidgeted. “I’m sorry to ask, and I do trust you, but I have to say it—”

“I won’t tell anyone, Holt,” I interrupted with a tiny smile. “I promise.”

“Okay.” He exhaled. “Thank you.”

“I’m, like, mildly freaking out, but it’s also… really cool. To know that all this stuff exists.” I blinked and looked around. “Under my fucking office.”

Holt gave me a tentative smile, gaze darting to the closed door behind me. My belly tightened in anticipation, the exhaustion momentarily fleeing, but he turned and walked over to his desk to open the top drawer.

I watched him warily, then spotted my sad party hat sitting on his desk. It was a little dented from when we’d been playing catch with it while drunk, and I vaguely remembered Holt sitting on it by accident at one point too, but I could see he’d gone to the effort of shaping it back into a cone.

He’d kept it?

“So, um…” He was making his way back over, fiddling with a small rectangle of stiff black card in his hands. “It’ll probably hit you tomorrow when you wake up—you know… all of this—so if you want to talk it through…”

He held out the card. I took it and quickly realised it was his business card. The Goliaths of Wrestling logo was embossed beside his name, Holt Hector, as well as his email, office number and business cell.

“I keep my business cell on me all the time,” he said quickly. “So if you want to text…”

“Thanks.” I smiled at him and slid it into my jeans pocket, which made his eyes dart down to my crotch.

“Do you, um…” He licked his lips. “Want a drink or anything?”

I cringed. “Probably shouldn’t tonight.”

“No, yeah, might not be a great idea.” He winced. “I’m sorry you… you know, found out about all this in such a… shocking way. And um, sorry for—I probably didn’t help much if you were already feeling overwhelmed.”

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