Page 4

I guessed there’d be a lot of good ol’ wrasslin’ in my future. Fan-fucking-tastic.

“I’ll have to watch every show,” I told Larkin, unable to put any enthusiasm in my voice. “Seeing as we’ll be streaming them online. Which is my job.”

He didn’t answer, side-eyeing me as we walked down a corridor lined with doors that displayed the wrestlers’ names. Their dressing rooms, I was guessing. I got the sense that Larkin hadn’t overly warmed to me, but I was used to that. I wasn’t going to pretend to be all perky and eager-to-please just because I was new. My job didn’t require me to be cheerful, or even all that friendly. I was just the IT guy.

When I heard the sound of music and loud voices and clanging weights coming from beyond the double doors up ahead, my nerves returned. I flexed my fingers in my pockets, but forced myself to maintain the same casual pose. I hated having all the attention on me, but I was going to have to deal with it for the next few minutes. After that, I could retreat to my office and only come out when absolutely necessary. I didn’t need to mingle with the rest of the team, especially not the wrestlers. I was just the guy in the background, with the job that meant if I was doing it right, no one would ever have a reason to bother me. Except I already kind of got the sense that Hector was the type to call me from his office and tell me his PC wasn’t working when he’d just accidentally muted the sound. Or insist that he’d been locked out of his emails, when he was really just typing his password in wrong.

There was at least one in every single company in existence.

Larkin shoved open one of the doors and sauntered through. I made sure my face was blank as I followed him and tried to take in the cavernous room as casually as possible. It smelled faintly of clean sweat, disinfectant, and the cloyingly sweet scent of protein powder that got into the back of your throat.

The kitchen area was littered with empty beakers and giant bags of protein powder. The huge sectional couch in front of a wall-mounted flatscreen TV had several people lounging on it. I spotted another ghoul, this one dressed only in a towel, as well as a banshee, a vampire and a faun, all with controllers in their hands and their eyes fixed on the TV.

A huge cyclops was perched on the end, wearing a monocle over his one enormous eye as he knitted. A gorgon was leaning against the counters, eating tuna tartare and feeding bits to the snakes that made up her hair.

In the big training ring dominating the centre of the room, a gargoyle and an incubus were practising moves. Well, kind of. Looked more like foreplay as they grunted around salacious grins and writhed together on the mat.

At the far end with all the gym equipment, there was a tall fae with long, shimmering gold hair tied back into a ponytail running on a treadmill. A redheaded Valkyrie in a sports bra and shorts was spotting someone on the bench, and my gaze lingered on her appreciatively for a few seconds before I glanced at the person she was spotting—someone doing chest presses with a scary amount of weight loaded onto the barbell.

My brows twitched up when I realised their head was missing. Dullahans were pretty rare, and I’d never actually met one before, but for some reason, it felt like I… recognised this one. Even though I couldn’t even see their face.

Where would I have seen a half-naked dude in a pair of tiny shorts before? I didn’t go to the gym. We weren’t anywhere near a beach. But something about that muscular chest with its smattering of dark blond hair was weirdly familiar.

Whoever they were lifted the barbell in a final rep, their biceps bulging and straining. A grunt came from somewhere below the bench, by the Valkyrie’s feet. She racked up the barbell for them, then stepped back and crouched to grab something off the ground as the headless body sat up, sweat glistening on their tanned skin.

And then I saw the long, dirty blond hair as the Valkyrie passed a severed head to the body. The cocky grin. The blue eyes.

The face that filled me with fucking rage.

He grabbed his head and rested it between his thighs as he swiped a towel over his chest. His eyes swept over the room. They locked with mine. And that infuriating grin made an appearance, slowly spreading his wide mouth.

My goddamn asshole neighbour.

Dan fucking Ewen.

Chapter Two

Karate Robot

Rafe

Was it too late for me to quit?

I’d gone rigid, my gaze still locked with Ewen’s as he stood from the bench and tucked his head under his arm. My nostrils flared, my hands clenching into fists in my pockets, and when he started sauntering over from the gym area, for a split second I wanted to turn and sprint from the room.

I despised being on the back foot, and coming into a small, close-knit workplace as the new guy was bad enough without my asshole neighbour being here to make me feel like even more of a fool.

“Yo, everyone.” Larkin’s voice from right beside me made me jump a little, and Dan saw it. His grin quirked even wider. I gritted my teeth. “This is Rafe. New IT guy.”

Several heads swivelled in our direction. The incubus and gargoyle stopped wrestling in the ring, their heads popping up as they looked over. Someone paused the game and the group on the couch perked up with interest. The cyclops paused his knitting to peer up at me over his monocle.

Of course, Ewen had to be the one to speak first.

“IT guy, huh?” he drawled, and I barely managed to stop my lip from curling. “Bet you feel right at home down here.”

Called it. Didn’t matter to Dan fucking Ewen that he also worked in a basement. He didn’t care that it was a self-diss, as long as he could tease me.

At least it seemed like he was going to pretend we weren’t already ‘acquainted,’ which sent relief thudding into the pit of my stomach. That suited me fine. That definitely suited me fine. I had no fucking interest in clinging to the person I already somewhat knew just because I was the new guy.