Page 88 of Pin My Alpha
“I’m on the second floor.”
“Then you’re staying.”
Milo sets the pot on my desk, moves my cold brew, and starts ladling soup into a bowl like he lives here. Which, to be fair, he kind of does. We all do. The apartment runs on whoever needs something most at any given moment. Milo needs the kitchen. Jude needs an audience. Benji needs someone to insult. Soren needs quiet corners.
Apparently, I need a full-scale home invasion.
Jude drops onto my desk chair backward, arms folded over the backrest. “Okay. We’re doing this.”
“We are not.”
“You left Declan.”
“I left a situation.”
“You left your mate.”
“Same thing.”
Jude just stares at me. “No, it literally isn’t.”
“Actually, it is. The situation involved an older alpha with money, a business, and a terrifying inability to understand that offering someone access to your bank account isn’t romantic.”
Milo sets the soup in front of me. Steam curls between us, smelling of garlic and tomato and enough butter to soothe a small nation.
“Eat,” he says.
“I’m making a point.”
“You can make it while eating.”
“I’m not hungry.”
Benji reaches over, picks up my spoon, and holds it out. “Don’t make Milo use his mom voice. It’s upsetting for everyone.”
Milo doesn’t even look offended. He just keeps watching me.
I take the spoon.
This isn’t surrender. It’s avoiding a prolonged argument about soup.
The first bite is warm and humiliating. My stomach twists around it like it’s been waiting. Which it has. I hate that, too.
Jude sees it on my face and pounces.
“You’re being an idiot,” he says.
“Wow. I’m cured.”
“No, listen to me.” His voice cuts through mine, all the joking gone. “Letting someone love you isn’t a weakness, you moron. It’s the whole point. You think I’m weaker because I let Rhys take care of me?”
I look away.
“Shay.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t have to. You’ve been saying it with your whole stupid face since the first time I showed up in Rhys’s hoodie.”
