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“Is everything okay here?” Fig’s gruff timbre is aimed at Eun.

Eun quickly steps back, smooths down his shirt and smiles up at my bodyguard. “We were just introducing ourselves to Mr. D’Angelo.”

Fig’s eyes narrow on the man. “I bet you were. Now, please step back.”

Both Eun and Min Jun comply and move into the lobby. Fig and I follow. Inside, I see Lyric and Jay quietly arguing with each other. Another person, this time female, comes up to me as I watch Lyric.

“Hi. I’m Lina, also a friend of Lyric.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say with a smile, but my attention remains on Lyric. “I have to ask… That guy Jay, is he always like that?”

“Actually… Yes. But Jay’s harmless—I promise.” Lina glances over at her friends and shakes her head. “Most of the time.”

“And Eun?” My attention slides to him.

“Just territorial. He’s also harmless.”

“So you say,” I mutter.

Lyric breaks away and approaches me. “Why are you here, Rafe? How did you find me…” His eyes land on Fig and then he shakes his head. “You had the team track me down.”

“No. I didn’t,” I confess the truth. Though, it’s not the total truth.

Lyric folds his arms across his chest and glares at me in silence. God, why do I find his stubbornness so fucking hot?

The first time he gave me his silent glare treatment was when I asked him for a fuck. All he said was No and then got into the same crossed-arms-across-his-chest stance and stared at me like I was a worm. I didn’t know what to do. I had never had anyone say no to me—or even give me the silent treatment while glaring at me. It turned me the fuck on then—just like it is doing now. It makes me want to do anything for Lyric. Like if he asked me to get on my knees and blow him right here in the lobby, I would.

Instead, I break his glare and turn to Fig and then to Lina. “Please give us a moment.”

Fig grunts and moves back several feet, and Lina goes to Jay, giving Lyric and me the privacy we need.

“Okay. After you took off without a word, I was worried.”

“Why?”

My eyes widen in surprise. Doesn’t he know it’s rude to not to say goodbye to someone you are fucking? So I posed that exact question to him.

Lyric chuckles. “Are you serious?”

My mouth drops open at his tone. “Fuck yeah, I’m serious. Why didn’t you say goodbye to me?”

Lyric’s attention drops to the floor. “Because I didn’t think you cared one way or another.”

I hear his familiar somberness slide across his tongue, but I don’t believe him. Lyric always looks a person in the eyes when he talks to them… and right now? He is talking to the lobby floor.

“Where did you get that idea?” I ask incredulously, because from the moment we started hooking up, Lyric was the one who constantly spouted that our fucking around was just that. No emotional connection. I agreed in the beginning because that was what I had always wanted with guys I fucked—no strings. Then, even though I didn’t realize it, my feelings for him began to change. So when Lyric still said it was only sex, I agreed so I could keep him close.

Lyric’s eyes finally lift to me, then he opens and closes his mouth a few times before clamping his lips shut. He tilts his jaw slightly upward but I see the verity in his eyes before he turns away from me. “Go home, Rafe,” Lyric says as he walks over to his friends.

“I’m not going—not until you tell me why didn’t say goodbye to me,” I blurt out, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Unless you have feelings for me and can’t admit it.”

Lyric spins around and closes the gap between us. “Whatever you think this is, Mr. D’Angelo,” he motions back and forth between our chests with an angry index finger, “it is nothing.”

“You are wrong. But that’s beside the point. Tell me why you didn’t say goodbye to me.”

“Because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” Lyric hisses low.

“You’re lying.”