Page 34 of Ravaged Devotion

Once the flesh beneath it was completely healed, it would fall off on its own.

“Never knew you were afraid of snakes,” Ryker teased.

“I’m not scared of it,” Ell corrected, “It’s just gross to look at while I’m trying to eat.”

“Doesn’t really seem like you’re having a problem there.” He motioned to his friend’s empty plate.

“Whatever. But, seriously, dude.” Ell leaned in closer, voice dropping to keep his next words between them. “It’s been, like, six months. Haven’t you punished Rue enough for leaving?”

Ryker stabbed his fork into a potato. “And what about the other thing?”

“What?” He tipped his head, as though he seriously needed to think before snapping his fingers. “Oh. Screwing Ryder?” His eyes rolled. “Man, who cares?”

“I do.”

“See, that’s your problem.”

“He’s right,” Uriel agreed, shrugging when Ryker set his cutlery down with a click.

They’d chosen the end of a table away from the rest, and the space was large enough that with everyone spread out the way they were, it was simple enough to keep conversations private, but that didn’t mean Ryker wanted to risk it.

If Rue or his dad overheard this…

Fuck.

He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled.

“Just fuck him again,” Ellery suggested bluntly.

“You’re a Black Hart,” Uriel added, as though this were the most sensical solution in the world. “Since you want him so badly, take him.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be Ryder’s best friend?” Ryker drawled. “And also, pretty sure I’ve never said I wanted him.”

“Didn’t have to.” Uriel sipped at his drink, something alcoholic and surprisingly fruity, then drummed his fingers on the table. “As far as my friendship with your brother goes, you try letting Illya kill you a few dozen times and see how you still feel about him after the fact.”

“No thanks.”

“Exactly.”

Whether or not that meant they were going to have a problem when—if—Ryder ever woke up was an issue for another day. For now, Ryker wanted to focus on the positives of having his friend back.

For the most part, Uriel was the same as he’d always been, but there were moments where Ryker caught him staring off into space, no doubt reliving something that happened to him in the game. He wanted to ask about it, but it never seemed like a good time, and since this whole trip was about helping him heal, Ryker’s questions could wait.

“Ryder was never serious about Rue,” Uriel said then. “Trust me.”

“Don’t,” Ellery pressed a finger to Ryker’s lips, chuckling when Ryker shoved him away, “say some bullshit about how you’re too good to settle for Ryd’s sloppy seconds. We all know you called dibs first. Hell, everyone on the gods damned planet knew you and Rue were fated from the get go.”

Apparently everyone except Ryder.

And Rue himself.

“What are you going to do about that?” Uriel motioned discreetly across the room to where the board members all shared a table, clearly indicating Rhys. “Dick move, getting married, knowing that you’d already claimed Eulalie’s son.”

“I didn’t—” Ryker began, only for Ellery to cut him off.

“Precisely our point,” he clarified. “You hesitated for years and look what that got you? Are you really going to give it another half a decade before you grow a pair and do what you should have done when we were sixteen and you fell for him?”

“It was just lust.” Ryker had wanted Rue then, sure, but it’d been a strange time. Suddenly, he was looking at his closest friend as something more than a friend. Anyone would need a minute to sort through that and be certain it wasn’t merely hormones messing around. “Maybe it still is.”