Page 72 of High Achiever
Ash stabbed at his omelet with his fork. “Well, let’s fucking eat, then.”
Ash had barely finishedhis last bite when there was a knock on the apartment door. He glared in Spencer’s direction, but the alpha was avoiding his gaze yet again as he cleared the dishes.
It was so different from how things had been just a few hours before, the three of them all wrapped together, skin pressed and limbs tangled, taking and receiving comfort from one another’s bodies. Ash had the cowardly urge to drag them all back to thenest and hide under the filthy covers until the rest of the world went away and they could square things between each other.
But that was how Ash had brought this situation on himself in the first place: by delaying over and over. He needed to suck it up and take care of it. No more steamrolling or avoiding.
Another knock, louder this time. Ash shared a look with Ryder. There was sympathy in Ryder’s dark eyes, but also something that said,Take care of it, bright eyes.
Ash sighed. “I’ve got it.”
And yes, there was Noah at the front door, tall and broad and—Ash sniffed the air—smelling like salt and sea air.
Ash had never smelled his brother’s pheromones before. Not once. Ash had been scent marked plenty as a kid, sure, by his brothers and his parents both, but he’d never known what the scents actually were. He blinked, his eyes suddenly dry and hot, whatever he’d been about to say lost. “You smell like the ocean.”
The deep frown Noah had been wearing dissolved into a dazed sort of smile. “Yeah.” He stepped closer and breathed in. “And you smell sweet. Like …”
“Like an omega,” Ash finished.
“Yeah.”
Ash shrugged, suddenly awkward again. “Guilty.”
He stepped back into the apartment, and Noah followed. Ash shut the door behind them. Noah ran a hand through his blond curls, fidgety in a way that meant he was just as uncomfortable as Ash was. “I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me.”
Well, straight to the fucking point, then. Ash shrugged again. “I needed time.”
“But I would’ve—” Noah stopped mid-sentence, glaring at something past Ash’s shoulder. Ash turned to find Spencer in the kitchen doorway. “I’m not talking to you,” Noah growled.
Spencer couldn’t have looked more like a kicked puppy if he tried. “Noah, I?—”
“I’m notfuckingtalking to you.”
Ash had never heard his brother sound so harsh. He whirled on him. “Hey?—”
But the damage was done, and Spencer was already heading out the front door before Ash could stop him, Ash’s grasping fingers clutching only air.
“Spencer, stay!” Ash called. “Please.” But it was too late.
Ash growled in frustration. Goddamn it. Maybe it was better that Spencer wasn’t going to be there for the sibling face-off—he was too sensitive to handle all the yelling—but still. They’d never had a chance to talk it all through.
“What thefuck, Noah?”
Noah frowned back at Ash. “I can’t deal with him right now. Of all the— My littlebrother? And while you were vulnerable and?—”
“That’s not what happened.”
“I’m gonna kill him.’
“Hey.” Ash grabbed Noah’s shirt, tugging him the few inches down to get him to Ash’s level. “Spenceris the one who told me to talk to you. Who texted you without my say-so. I would have put it off, you know I would’ve. But he couldn’t, because he loves you. He loves you so fucking much, and you didn’t give him the benefit of the doubt, and I’m pissed at you for it.”
Noah’s eyes widened in disbelief. “You’re pissed? The secrecy and the—my best friend behind my back, andyou’repissed?”
“Yeah. I am.”
To his credit, Noah didn’t try to fight Ash’s hold or shove him away. He only scanned Ash’s face, as if searching for answers. “Why didn’t you tell me? The real reason.”
“Because you and Reese are my perfect older alpha brothers, and I’m … something else, and I wanted time and space to figure it out. Do you get that?”
