Page 39 of Gladiator's Bite
“I’m trying very hard not to give a very technical answer here, mate,” I said, putting my hands on his shoulder. “I know that’s not what you’re looking for but it’s probably the truth. He’s sucking Teddy’s dick because sex feels good.”
“Out of all the dragons on world Teddy has to hook up with him? He’s a jackass! He’s not good—” I put my hand over his mouth.
“Maybe not but he’s a flight member and we don’t solve this by degrading each other. We do not sink to the level of others in search of justice and equity,” I reminded him.
“Fucking hell. Frost’s jizz on a biscuit. Don’t give me that crap right now. He’s---”
“Sucking on your friend. On the friend that up until a few weeks ago you thought maybe you were in love with?” I hit him with the tough question.
“But I’m not. I just--- I’m not,” Sunny sighed. “Laken, I’m not in love with him. If you want me to get all up in my feelings, yeah, I love him. He’s my best friend and he deserves better than---”
“Than what?” Teddy appeared behind Sunny.
Thankfully, he’d taken the time to put on his pants before joining us in the living room.
“You met him on a bad day. You met him when the universe played on every insecurity he had. He met me on a bad day too. He met me on the day you’d run away after we screwed around and I wasn’t sure we’d be friends again. After I heard you met Laken I was pretty sure, we wouldn’t. So we grated each other like sandpaper. Don’t get me wrong, Sunny. The fucker has an attitude problem. He needs more therapy than even Marcus could hand out. We’re not in this for the long haul. We’re in this because we’re both in limbo and it feels good. Life is hell. Living will rip you the fuck apart and we both know it. So sometimes – forgive the fuck out of me – I want something that feels good.”
Sunny crossed his arms and stared Teddy down. I moved out of the way. I was the one carrying eggs. I wouldn’t let Selt get involved but if those two wanted to beat the crap out of each other in their own shared living room, I wasn’t getting involved.
“Why him?” Sunny groaned and the tension left my shoulders.
“Why not? He was there.”
“Is he still here?” Sunny asked.
“Sit down and no, he’s not. I sent him home for a while. You’re mine to deal with, not his,” Teddy said. “And I figured there was a good chance he was carrying,” he nodded in my direction. “I wasn’t sure where either of you stood with him. Ifyou called or texted first, I wouldn’t have been balls deep in his throat.”
“Can we not talk about that?” Sunny groaned.
“Sorry. You really pissed off my dragon by saying that. There’s so much I could say but it’s not mine to tell. He’s not horrible. He’s an asshole but so are a lot of people.”
“He called my mate a cock tease!”
“And I took care of that. I took care of it twice but I’m going to spare you the details of how I did so the second time. We’re not end game. We know that! His mate isn’t here and neither is mine. So, we’re fucking around and I found that altar by the way!”
“Was it at the club?” I asked him.
“Did you tell him about that?” Sunny asked me.
“I figure he must’ve picked it up over the flight link,” I shrugged, putting my hand on Sunny’s knee. “It’s going to be alright. We’re not fucking Selt. You and I aren’t fucking him.”
“I’d seen the altar once before but had forgotten about it. Tails Up, Scales Down is the name of the club,” Teddy said, ignoring my comments about not fucking Selt.
“Oh!” I grinned.
“We can talk about that in a minute,” Teddy shook his head. “What’s this about you being a daddy?” he turned his attention to Sunny. “I heard that right, huh?”
“Yes!” Sunny lit up. “I haven’t even told my parents or Cade yet. Came over here because I thought we’d have to track down Selt and convince him to help. Does he even know we need his help?”
“Yes, he does. We talked about it the same day the mental image of the altar arrived inside my head,” Teddy said.
“How did that happen? Not the altar. You and Selt? How in the pits did that happen? Did you hit your head?” Sunny groaned again.
“No, I didn’t. He offered. It’s complicated, I guess. It was either fight or fuck, Sunny. We were going to do one or the other and I didn’t want to fight him, not really. I didn’t want to be my dad about it. The tension was there and he just offered and I accepted. Then it just sorta kept happening. I’ve found some stuff out too. He has an elf somewhere in his family. He doesn’t know which clan or whatever but it’s there. He’s down to be tied up for the ritual as long as I’m there. He really wants his mate to the point his dragon is irate about it and at the risk of TMI he now knows the damn definition of a cock tease.”
A laugh escaped my throat. I couldn’t help it.
“And that’s all I’m going to say about it.”