Control (Dark Romance)

Chapter 27

Picture of Ruben 😍

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Hagen's P.O.V

I remember the night I met Max.

Ruben had gotten us tickets for some event on the other side of town, and even though I'd been a dead man walking from the party he'd dragged me to the night before, I'd gone along. Max had been behind the bar when I'd gone to get us some drinks, not because he worked there but because he had a way of charming people out of their common sense.

The minute he'd seen me, he'd looked me up and down and asked if I'd "willingly chosen to wear that in public". I'd said, "yeah", he'd glared, then shrugged and said, "as long as you're happy or whatever" as he slid over the bartop with a bottle he hadn't paid for.

"Shots?" he'd asked as he lifted it over my head with a mischievous grin, and at that moment, I'd known we'd be good friends.

But now, that alleged 'good friend' of mine was cosying up to my mate, swinging from side to side on my fucking barstool like a kindergartener with a crush, while the two of them talked about...-- what? The fucking water in their hands?!? I doubted it because, for one, water wasn't fucking funny, and yet Max kept laughing.

Every other minute, he just kept laughing and laughing.

Because. Of. Nikola.

I knew Nikola was funny, but his humour wasn't that well received by other people, not that he looked like he was trying to charm the pants off Max or anything. Nik looked like he always did- bored and a second away from disappearing, but he hadn't left.

There he sat, at the kitchen counter... with Max. Nikola- who absolutely hated being around new people, talking to said new people or holding a conversation for more than 5 minutes- was talking up a fucking storm with Max as if they were long-lost friends or some shit.

And Max, the bastard, was eating it right up. His attention hadn't drifted from Nikola for a second- no, a milli-second. But of course it didn't, the son of a bitch wanted him. He wanted my fucking mate.

Scalp him! - Zyair growls like a devil on my shoulder that had long since killed the angel so it couldn't interfere. Hagen, scalp that fucking cunt or I'll do it myself, and then we'll have a real problem on our hands.

That's real tempting - I admit, because my talons were aching to come out and do just that, but- He's our friend.

Friends don't flirt with other friends' mates - Zyair snaps back and fuck, if that wasn't the truth, but Max didn't know that he was chatting up my mate because he didn't even know what a mate was. I couldn't blame him for that, but that didn't stop me from wanting to rip his head off his body.

I wanted to go over to them and pull Nikola away. No, that wasn't true. I wanted to go over, kick Max in the face and wrap myself around Nikola like a possessive mountain lion, but I couldn't do that either, so I try the next best thing.

Blocking out whatever nonsense Ruben was saying to Jasper and me, I tune my hearing to the conversation on the other side of the room.

"...new to the city, what're your initial thoughts on it?" Max asks, his tone casual but attentive.

"It's loud," Nikola replies plainly, and yet, Max grins as if he'd just heard the funniest thing in the world.

"Cities are loud," he replies with a twinge of satire that grates on my fucking nerves. Nik could handle sarcasm most times- I knew that, but sometimes he couldn't and I didn't want anyone throwing things over his head without him knowing it. "It's kind of part of the package deal. You have a whole bunch of people congested in one small space, and well," he shrugs, "noise happens."