By Zephyria 
twenty eight
Tap, tap, tap, tap tap tap.
The sound of something hitting the floor continued. Dane was shaking one leg at an incredible speed. Sitting on the bed, unable to look straight ahead, arms crossed and thighs spread wide, he rolled his eyes to the side and just shook his leg. Terribly conscious of the unwavering green eyes fixed on his face.
Meanwhile, Joshua Bailey, sitting in the only old chair in the room, was glaring at Dane with menacing eyes. He didn’t shake his leg or let his gaze wander. His eyes, fixed on Dane’s face, were so fierce they seemed ready to cut him in half.
Since Joshua had entered the room, the two had been sitting like that without saying a word. One glaring, and the other trying desperately to avoid that gaze.
Haa, in the end, Dane was the first to give in.
“…I’m sorry.”
Joshua twitched an eyebrow at the sudden apology. Dane was briefly afraid he would be grilled about what he was sorry for, but fortunately, Joshua didn’t do that.
“What the hell happened?”
He opened his mouth with a very angry face.
“I told you to kidnap Grayson, why did you fall in love?”
Dane jumped up and denied it at the sharp rebuke.
“I admit the request failed. But falling in love is wrong.”
He denied it with a straight face, but Joshua’s face was full of disbelief. Dane braced himself and waited for his next words. Whatever he said, Dane had his answer ready. Because whatever Joshua imagined would be wrong anyway.
“You slept with Laura, too, didn’t you?”
Joshua suddenly threw out an unexpected word. Dane, who had only blinked at the sudden remark, frowned a beat later and asked.
“Who?”
Joshua clenched the hand he had casually placed on his thigh. Soon, he darkened his green eyes and spat out through gritted teeth.
“Secretary Chase, at my wedding!”
“Ah…”
Only then did Dane recall. Right, that happened. He didn’t remember if her name was Laura, but it was probably right. Dane shrugged and defended himself.
“I was bored to death, so I needed some kind of event.”
He spoke as nonchalantly as usual, but belatedly came to his senses and quickly added.
“I’m not saying your wedding was boring, I’m saying the singer you hired was boring…”
“Chase hired him, not me.”
Joshua cut off his desperate excuse. Then he incisively hit the nail on the head.
“And frankly, if that singer was your type, you wouldn’t have been bored at all, would you? You would have slept with that singer instead of Laura!”
No, Dane might have slept with both of them. He was more than capable of it. Joshua had experienced this man’s promiscuity firsthand.
While desperately ignoring the fact that he himself had been present at that promiscuous occasion.
Of course, Dane wanted to point that out as well, but the atmosphere wasn’t right. In any case, there was no excuse for committing such an act at someone else’s wedding.
“Okay, I’m sorry.”
Dane, who readily apologized, scratched the back of his head.
“I didn’t know you noticed. You seemed busy.”
Of course, Joshua had noticed for a different reason. He had been constantly monitoring Dane, just in case his younger sister, Emma, might fall for Dane. But unexpectedly, he disappeared with Chase’s secretary. Only then did Joshua breathe a sigh of relief. How fortunate that Emma’s tastes differed from those of most women. Otherwise, she would have definitely fallen for this promiscuous man.
To think he would be relieved by her pathetic taste for weaklings.
“So, what are you going to do?”
Joshua asked again. He added with cold eyes, as if he knew everything.
“You slept with Grayson, didn’t you? What are you going to do now?”
“Ahem, ahem.”
As expected, Joshua knew Dane too well. Well, it was only natural, since they had been stuck together from their time in the military until a certain period after becoming civilians, living a promiscuous life that was too terrible to put into words.
Does this guy think I topped Grayson?
Dane suddenly wondered. Joshua knew that Dane was an Omega. Because he was an Omega with a more promiscuous lower body than a Dominant Alpha, the two had become even more united.
He doesn’t know I’m a Dominant Omega, though…
Joshua was a deeply rooted heterosexual who had only been with women. On the other hand, Dane didn’t discriminate between women and men even back then, and Joshua had seen him hunt down and bottom many delicious-looking Alphas, so he wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Grayson had been bottomed.
But the important thing wasn’t who topped and who bottomed. Right now, the only thing that mattered to Joshua was the fact that they had slept together. Dane couldn’t hide his embarrassment and averted his gaze from him again.
“There were unavoidable circumstances.”
“So what are you going to do?”
It was an excessively concise statement, but in fact, that was all there was to it. If he could control his Heat cycle at will, Dane would never have been born in the first place.
“Hey…”
At Joshua’s continued prodding, he opened his mouth in a dejected voice.
“You know I don’t have serious relationships with anyone.”
“You just slept with him? With Grayson Miller of all people?”
“It’s hard to believe, but that’s the truth.”
Dane said, looking at Joshua’s face, which was still full of disbelief.
“And I won’t be seeing him again.”
Desire Me if you can
A cold night breeze brushed past their cheeks. They stared at each other in silence, frozen in place.
“Ugh, kk, kkeuek…”
The man being strangled by Grayson stopped struggling, as if he was losing consciousness. Seeing him gasp and make choking sounds, the man who was pointing a gun at Ezra’s head pressed the barrel against his temple as a threat.
“Let him go now! I’m not kidding, I’ll really shoot!”
“Ah, no, no… Save me, Miller, please…”
Eventually, Ezra burst into tears. The man smiled with satisfaction at his terrified, trembling appearance. It was a smile that confirmed his victory, but Grayson’s reaction was lukewarm. Still expressionless, as if he was bored to death, he opened his mouth.
“What does it have to do with me, you dumb bastard…”
Everyone froze at that moment. Ezra with his face still wet with tears, and the guys surrounding him and threatening Grayson with their mouths open in embarrassment.
But it was true. To dare threaten Grayson Miller. Besides, he wouldn’t obey the orders of a man he didn’t even know who he was. There were only two people on Earth to whom he obediently bowed his head. His father, Ashley Miller, and Dane Striker. They were neither of them. So what? Let him go? Grayson smirked and sneered at him.
“Shoot, he’s not someone I care about.”
“Millerrrrr!”
Ezra trembled and burst into tears. A grown man crying so pathetically, could there be a more unsightly sight? But Grayson neither laughed at him nor pitied him. He literally felt nothing. To him, Ezra’s existence was no different from the trash can lying on the ground behind him.
Grayson turned his head again. Looking up at the man who was struggling to hold on, he thought. Should I just break his neck like this?
That was as far as he got.
Taang, a loud noise rang out. Uh. Grayson blinked at the unfamiliar sensation. Somehow his cheek was burning. Feeling something flowing down, he raised his remaining hand and wiped it off, then looked down and saw a clear red color. A bullet had grazed his cheek.
Grayson slowly turned around and saw the man pointing a gun at him. Ezra, who had been crying and clinging to him until just now, was pale next to him and shouted.
“Wh, what are you doing? Stop it!”
“Get out of the way, that bastard is trying to kill my son.”
Ezra, who had tried to stop him, read the man’s firm will and turned pale. He looked back and forth between Grayson and the man, then shouted at Grayson this time.
“Grayson, let that man go! Now!”
What is that bastard saying…
He frowned in annoyance, but Ezra continued to beg him.
“Please, I don’t want to see you get hurt. These people promised, they won’t harm you. So please…”
Then he apologized with tears welling up in his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Sandra will die if I don’t do this. I’m sorry, please just do what these people say…”