Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]
Chapter 32: Is this A Dark Romance? 2

Chapter 32: Is this A Dark Romance? 2

"I’m learning." Elias’s hand came up and rested lightly against the side of Kai’s neck, thumb brushing the hinge of his jaw.

"I know you get quiet when you’re overwhelmed. I know you don’t like me that much..." He was cut off.

"Wrong! I don’t like you at all!" Kai said.

"Maybe then, not now though.." Elias said with a sly smile

Kai rolled his eyes "get over yourself Dunce, it’s just one night and one mistake"

"What if i recreate last night over and over until you fall in love with me?" Elias said, his face getting closer to Kai’s personal space.

"Uhm..." Kai was short of words, the reality of hearing those sounds over and over again would make him genuinely run mad.

"What’s wrong, cat got your tounge?"

Kai’s eyes flicked down to those hands again before he could stop himself. Strong fingers, calloused, capable of both ruin and careful touch. He forced his gaze back up, using the anger to push the rest down.

"Stop analyzing me."

"Then stop giving me things to analyze." Elias’s hips shifted forward, deliberate, letting Kai feel the full thick weight of him again.

"You could have knocked on my door last night. I would have opened it, gave you a time of your life"

"It wasn’t about you."

"Wasn’t it?" Elias’s smile turned sharper. "Then why are you still standing here? Why does this," he pressed closer for a second, "make your breath change? Why haven’t you walked away yet?"

Kai had no good answer that did not feel like losing. The corridor felt too narrow. The air felt too warm. Every place Elias touched seemed to burn, and the hatred he clung to was the only thing keeping him from tipping into something worse.

"I hate you," Kai said, and this time the words came out solid, real.

"I know." Elias’s thumb stroked once along his jaw. "Hate me all you want. Just don’t pretend the rest isn’t there too."

A door opened somewhere down the hall. Footsteps approached, then faded. Neither of them moved for a long moment.

Elias spoke again,

"You could tell me to leave. You could push me away for real. You’re strong enough. We both know that. So why are you still here?"

Kai’s voice was almost a whisper, scraped raw with anger.

"Because if I push you right now I might do something I’ll regret more."

Elias’s eyes darkened.

"Something like what?"

Kai did not answer. His hand had somehow ended up resting against Elias’s side, fingers curled in the fabric of his shirt. He could feel the heat of skin underneath.

Elias’s free hand settled on Kai’s waist, thumb brushing the edge of his hip bone through the clothes. The contact sent another unwanted pulse of heat through him. Kai used the loathing to shove it down.

"You feel bigger than him," Kai heard himself say, the words escaping before he could catch them, bitter and reluctant.

Elias’s breath left him in a quiet, rough sound.

"I am. You already felt it. You can hate that too if it helps."

Kai’s fingers twitched. For one dangerous second the curiosity almost won. Then the anger slammed back into place harder than before. He shoved hard at Elias’s chest. This time Elias allowed himself to be moved, stepping back just enough to give space while still staying in reach.

Kai’s chest rose and fell fast. His voice came out low and cold.

"Stay away from me today."

"No."

"Elias—"

"I said no." Elias’s voice was calm again, but the heat in his eyes had not faded. "You don’t get to listen to me, get worked up, take care of it with someone else, and then pretend nothing happened. We are still partners. We still have a job. And I am still going to be right here every time you turn around."

Kai opened his mouth to argue, but the sound of approaching footsteps made them both look down the corridor. A Guild runner in official colors stopped a few paces away, clearly uncomfortable at the charged atmosphere.

"Message for Ren Arclight and Vesper Cain," the runner said, holding out a sealed letter. "From Senior Agent Seris Vane. Urgent."

Kai took it because it gave him something to do with his hands. He broke the seal and read quickly. Elias read over his shoulder without asking permission.

The letter was short and direct. The Guild had assembled a small support party for a controlled raid on the eastern warehouse exchange. Time and meeting point were listed. They were expected to join as the primary investigators. Refusal was not recommended.

Kai folded the letter and slipped it into his cloak. The interruption felt like cold water. He used it.

"We have work."

Elias watched him for a long moment, then smiled that same slow, knowing smile.

"We do. Try not to think about what you felt just now while we plan the raid."

Kai turned and walked toward the stairs without answering. His body still throbbed with leftover anger and the unwanted heat he refused to name. Every step reminded him of the thick shape he had felt, of the words Elias had poured into his ear, of the fact that the loathing had been the only thing that kept him from doing something even more stupid.

Behind him Elias followed, quiet for once, but Kai could feel the weight of his attention like a hand on the back of his neck.

The day had only just started, and already everything felt more complicated than it had any right to be. The investigation would continue. The artifacts were still moving. The disappearances were still unsolved.

But for the first time since arriving in Voltra, Kai wondered whether the real danger was outside in the city, or right here in the narrow space between him and the man he currently hated more than anyone else.

He did not look back.

He did not need to.

He already knew Elias was smiling.