Page 39 of Sage Haven

Steady.

In and out.

I needed to get myself under control and then Castor strolled in, radiating that effortless confidence he wore like a tailored suit. His presence filled the room before he even spoke, walking in with that infuriating grin like he didn’t have a care in the world.

Like none of this mattered.

“I take it you had a pleasant night of debauchery,” I said dryly.

My voice was unimpressed and flat, but Castor thrived on that.

He smirked as he dropped onto one of the barstools, sprawling with the kind of easy arrogance that made people underestimate him.

“Pleasant?” he echoed, lips curling. “No, brother. It was fucking transcendent.” He stretched, his joints popping. “Sam and I’s time together? It borders on depravity. You ever see two mental patients fuck each other’s brains out to the point of temporary sanity?” He winked. “A lobotomy fuck?”

I scoffed as I rolled my eyes, grabbing the pitcher and refilling my glass. My throat was still parched but my patience was drier.

“Always such a poet, Cas.”

He chuckled low, the sound vibrating in his chest as he rested his elbows on the counter. “And you?” he asked, tilting his head as if he didn’t already know. “How was your night?”

I could have lied.

I should have but what came out was worse. “She wasn’t worth it.” I sharply said.

A reflex and Castor knew it.

He smiled. That slow, knowing smirk that meant he was about to fuck with me purely for sport. “Really?” He asked.

I turned away, setting my glass in the sink as if that would close the conversation, as if he’d ever make it that easy, but Castor was relentless.

He always had been.

“Since you’re not interested,” he drawled, “and she seems to be struggling to fit in… maybe she’d like to join Sam and me for a night.” He gave a thoughtful pause. “She’s easy on the eyes, isn’t she?”

The heat that surged through me was instant.

Hot. Irrational. All-consuming.

My hand flexed at my side, fingers curling into a fist so tight I felt the pull of the tendons in my wrist.

He wanted a reaction.

And fuck him, because he was getting one, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing it.

Not all of it.

I forced my voice into indifference. “She’s alright.”

Flat. Cold. Deceptive.

But it didn’t matter.

Castor wasn’t fooled.

I started to walk away, needing space.

Needing anything that wasn’t this conversation, but Castor wasn’t finished. “She was smitten with you, you know?”