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Tallak took a swig from the bottle and narrowed his eyes.
“Look,” Rhun said, “a dog humping someone’s leg is more subtle than you lusting after Hazel. And the same goes for her, by the way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s been delightfully entertaining watching you pine for each other while you think no one else knows, but it’s starting to get on our nerves.”
“Our?”
Rhun made an encompassing gesture. “Pretty much everyone who’s ever been in a room with both of you.”
“Bite me.”
“No, thanks. I just fed.”
Tallak thumped his head against the seat’s backrest. “You’re the most aggravating person I’ve ever met.”
“Can I get that on a ribbon? I’ll add it to my collection.”
“Is there a point to you breathing the same air as me right now? Because if not, I’ll absolutely help you take yourself out of that equation.”
“My point,” Rhun said, tilting his head, “is that the way you’ve been barking at Hazel, and especially the kind of rude remarks you made after you’d just met her, have very likely ruined any chance you ever had at getting horizontal with her.” He waved a hand. “Or vertical, depending on your preferences, you know.”
“That’s your brilliant advice? Why don’t you shove it up your—”
“Listen, you one-track moron. This snarky banter thing may work for some couples—it certainly did for Merle and me—but there’s a reason Hazel would never get with a guy who snarks at her that way.”
That gave Tallak pause, and a tendril of interest wormed its way through his general irritation. He picked at the label on the bottle, feigning nonchalance. “What do you mean?”
Rhun took a deep breath and put both arms on the backrest. “It’s not actually my place to tell, but I owe you one, and this is important enough to let you know so you can adjust your behavior toward her. But before I get into that, what do you know about Hazel’s late husband?”
Tallak shrugged. “According to Basil, he was a jerk to him.” And the knowledge of what a crappy father figure his son had had growing up—not knowing that his real father, Tallak, had been locked in a fae dungeon wanting nothing more than to get a chance at being a dad—soured his stomach, made his blood boil. All the things that could have been, all those years wasted, time he’d never get back…
“Well,” Rhun said, “if Basil hasn’t told you yet—Robert was more than a jerk to Hazel, too. From what I’ve heard from Merle, who has it on good authority from Lily, he was an emotionally manipulative and abusive ass who controlled Hazel and kept her feeling small and at fault for pretty much everything. So, I’d say you don’t need a psych degree to guess how she feels about men who snap at her.”
Tallak frowned.
“Really?” Rhun drummed his fingers on the backrest. “You need me to spell it out?” He sighed dramatically. “You’ve been growling at her more than you talk, and when you do say something remotely resembling actual language, it’s a direct insult or a thinly veiled jab. You also criticize her at every chance and look at her with this strange mix of horny and appalled.” He grimaced and shook his head. “Honestly, man, given where she’s coming from, it’s no wonder she wouldn’t admit she’s thirsting for you. The way you’ve been treating her, it only makes sense for her to suspect you’d be the same kind of abusive jerk to her as Robert was.”
Tallak slammed the bottle on the table and bared his teeth. “I’d never abuse her.”
“Hm.” Rhun’s smirk kicked Tallak’s white-hot rage up a notch. “I’m not the one you’ll need to convince here.”
Tallak bit back the insult sitting on the tip of his tongue and leaned back in his seat, his eyes on the crowd in the bar—though he didn’t see any of the patrons. He was too busy replaying every interaction he’d ever had with Hazel, only now through the lens of the new information Rhun had revealed.
Sure, Basil had told him his adoptive father was an asshole, but he’d never once mentioned how the dipshit had treated Hazel. Basil probably kept that under wraps out of loyalty to Hazel, likely figuring it was too personal a thing to share. Well, it sure was one hell of an insight.
And it rather explained a few things.
He sucked on his teeth, his gaze still on the usual commotion of the bar. “You’re not quite the annoying moron I made you out to be.”
“Come now,” Rhun said. “I insist on the annoying part. Really, it’s what I live for. Ask my lovely mate.”
Tallak cut him a look. “How’d you manage to get with her, anyway? I’m surprised she let you live long enough to work whatever magic you had on her.”
“Well, lucky for me, she had to feed me while I helped her search for the fucker who held Maeve, and my irresistible hotness combined with my charming personality made her inexplicably fall in love with me.”
“Right.”
“Just kidding,” Rhun said. “It was all in Rhun’s Magic Fingers.” He wiggled his brows—and said fingers.
“You’re such a fartface.” Tallak scoffed and took a swig from the bottle, hiding his smile. “So,” he said after a moment, his attention studiously on peeling off the label, “hypothetically speaking, if I proposed a night of fucking to Hazel, and she—hypothetically speaking—slapped me in the face with it and told me to go to hell, how could I change her mind?” He emptied the scotch and relished the burn down his throat. “Hypothetically speaking, of course.”
