Page 200 of Challenge Me

“Absolutely not. But if he did, I hope he wrote it in a separate appendix.”

“Maybe all the stories are true in some way. Like, there might be overlap where they all converge, through different eyes and civilizations.”

“I like that idea,” I agreed. “You can give offerings to Odin, my parents can worship Allah, mortals can beg Zeus to stop screwing everything that moves, or whatever else anyone pleases.”

“And you can die on the hill that half the Old Testament reads like a UFO encounter.”

“If we all viewed life through that lens, maybe our beliefs wouldn’t make us all hate each other.”

He tucked my hair behind my ear with a soft smile. “Evil lies in the hearts of men. Their beliefs are just the excuse.”

“What’d Odin say about evil?”

“‘Where you recognize evil, call it evil, and give no truce to your enemies.’”

“Do you think we’ve given them no truce?”

He snorted. “Trav definitely didn’t.”

“Good. Fuck them.”

“Come on. Let’s have another drink.” He dragged me toward the bar, waving Oli out of the way. He poured us each a whiskey, then continued into the back.

“What are we doing?” I laughed.

“I want privacy.”

“Oh, yeah? What for?”

Looking over his shoulder, he lifted his brows in a silent taunt. Once we made it to the office door, I reached in front of him and pushed it open. He grunted when I shoved him inside. The door clicked shut as he backed up against it, and I boxed him in.

“Which base can we get to before the guys catch on?” he purred as he walked his fingers up my chest.

“I love a good home run.”

“Bring it on, baseball man.”

“You’ll need a new nickname pretty soon.”

He hummed as he thought about it. His fingers flicked open the button on my jeans, and he lowered the zipper slowly. As he grazed my dick, I tightened my grip on his waist. Arguably, I hadn’t gone that long without him, but it felt like an eternity.

I grunted when he pushed me backward. The desk rattled from how hard I collided with it. Remi’s hand dove into my briefs, and his fingers wrapped around my shaft.

“Alright,” he said with his lips against my neck. “Show me your probe, alien man.”

I laughed, but it was hard to feel amused when he touched me like this. “Mmm, I wouldn’t call it the sexiest endearment.”

“Everything is sexy coming from my mouth.”

Roughly, I unbuttoned his flannel and thrust it open. He shrugged it off, then pulled the t-shirt over his head. After yanking mine off, his fingers returned to my dick with a relentless grip.

“You’ll never catch me disagreeing.”

“What if I say the dumbest shit imaginable?” he asked.

“Baby, you do every day.”

“Well, if you’re going to be rude this soon . . .”