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“Dec needs more friends! It’s sad!” he called out, taking off before I could whack him. He was in an evil mood today. Hopefully, Dante could distract him for a while and get him off my back.

Ben nodded in agreement, but he wasn’t smart enough to duck in time. I popped him in the back of his head with a mock scowl.

“Alright. Today isn’t going to be mock Declan day. Both of you have work to do. Get it done.”

The rest of the morning was pretty busy. I had clients right after we opened, and I realized I needed to pay the rent on the building and a few other bills were about to come due. Between those, I also texted Aziel to lethis friends know if they were still interested that they could either come in and talk to me or email to set things up. I made plans to call Manny and apologize, but I got distracted by a walk in before I could follow through, so I made a note to myself to get it done later.

Aziel showed up just before lunch with Dante and a box of pizza. He was in a better mood than when he showed up this morning, and Dante was practically bouncing off the walls. He and Ollie grabbed the box and darted off without a word to go upstairs and I shook my head at Aziel’s frown.

“They’ll be up there most of the day. Ollie said he’s teaching Dante how to play his favorite video game. They’re good up there. Did you get my message?”

He nodded. “I let them know. Hendrix said he’d do some research first, but Felix will be by later with his mate.” He made a face. “Prepare yourself for those two. They’re idiots. Luckily, they mostly mess with each other, but they’ll try to get you involved if they can. They’ve been in a prank war since they got together.”

Oh joy. Guys like that irritated the hell out of me. “I’ll be on the lookout. What about you? Got any ideas yet?”

Settling himself onto the couch, he shrugged. “Not yet.”

“You know, for someone who said they were interested in getting a tattoo, you don’t seem to be really invested,” I pointed out.

A slow smirk crossed his face. “Would you be pissed if I said I only asked to get your attention?”

I assumed that was the case, but that didn’t mean I didn't like hearing it. I huffed out a laugh, dropping my attention to the tattoo I was working on.

“Not pissed, no. Might take you upstairs later, though.”

“Oh, really?” Ben drawled, rolling back a little to look at us both. “Do I hear romance is in the air?”

I rolled my eyes so hard, it bordered on painful. Pointing at him, I shot him a dirty look. “Don’t start.”

A shit-eating grin overtook his face, and he opened his mouth to no doubt say something irritating, but Aziel’s growl made him hesitate. When we both turned to look at him, he was glaring at Ben.

“You heard him.”

Ben’s grin fell, and he immediately went back to work. I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. He looked like a scolded puppy just because my hookup got pissed at him. My shoulders were still shaking when I glanced back at Aziel.

“Might need to keep you around. You can put little shits back in line for me.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

AZIEL

I never openly flirted withsomeone before, and I may have overreacted to the teasing. I wanted to kick myself for it, but Declan’s overjoyed laugh settled me a little. And when he said he wanted to keep me around, a tendril of hope took root in my chest. I masked it, silently admonishing myself. I couldn’t get attached. I had no doubt this would go wrong eventually. Athena said I would suffer in both paths. I didn’t mind so much if it was just me, but if anything even threatened Declan, I’d walk away without regrets. I couldn’t make that harder on myself by getting attached.

Exhaustion from all the sex and staying up all night pulled at me, and I sank into the couch little by little. I needed to be listening to get any information I could while I was here. But I drifted off before I could catch anything useful, Declan’s smooth voice over the sound of the tattoo guns lulling me into a sense of ease.

I wasn’t sure how long I was out. Not long enough, given that I was still tired when I tuned back into the surrounding conversations.

“Don’t wake him. If he’s that tired that he’ll sleep in public, he’s gotta be beat. Az doesn’t ever relax enough in public to actually sleep,” Felixreported, his voice low, like he was trying not to wake me. He sounded serious for once, which I appreciated, but he had a point. It was stupid of me to fall asleep in public. If one of my cousins showed up, I wouldn’t be able to react fast enough to protect Declan.

“He’ll sleep better upstairs,” Declan argued. He was closer than Felix and I felt his hand on my shoulder, nudging me gently. “Hey. Go upstairs and rest.”

Blinking my eyes open, I looked around slowly. I really was wiped out. I never slept well in the first place, but since Dante showed up, that got worse. I was on alert all the time, thinking my family would show up and hurt him. I couldn’t relax. But I didn’t want to leave Declan unprotected. I frowned, willing myself to wake the hell up, when Felix tipped his head at me.

“Go, man. We’ll be here a while. Tyler wants to pick Declan’s brain for some ideas.” I heard the message underneath. He wouldn’t leave until I came back. He knew what I was afraid of.

Declan didn’t, so he was more demanding about it. “Go get some rest. Tell the boys to head to the park for a while so they don’t bug you. They shouldn’t be in front of a screen all day anyway.”

My instincts told me it wasn’t a good idea to walk away, but I trusted Felix to watch over Declan. He was an idiot, but he was a good friend. He wouldn’t dismiss my concerns for nothing.