Desire Me If You Can [Novel] - Chapter 31

Dane’s colleagues, who had been staring blankly at his retreating figure as he quickly left the bar, only started talking amongst themselves once he was completely out of sight.
“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen that guy with a girlfriend.”
“Well, Extreme Alphas are known for being like that, but honestly, isn’t Dane even worse? He’s promiscuous for no reason.”
“He just doesn’t want the responsibility.”
“That’s the same thing, idiot.”
“Is it, though?”
As they rambled on, Ezra tilted his head.
“Why doesn’t Dane want a relationship? Although he’s fine with sex.”
More comments then followed.
“Maybe he got burned badly in the past?”
“You mean Dane got dumped? By who?”
“No idea, it’s just a guess.”
Naturally, they reached no conclusion, and the conversation drifted aimlessly. The atmosphere grew lively, and by the time they left the bar, they were all stumbling drunk.
5
Damn it, fuck.
Grayson leaned against a firetruck, staring into space with a grim expression. It had already been a month since he became a firefighter. In that time, he’d slept with every woman in the fire station.
He had even slept with staff members from the companies they visited for fire safety training, but it had all been in vain. None of them had a butterfly-shaped mark above their hips.
What the hell is going on?
Grayson rubbed his face with both hands in frustration.
Could he have gotten it wrong? Had he simply fainted, not from pheromone shock? Then again, it was hard to believe he’d experience a pheromone shock twice, caused by an Extreme Omega, an incredibly rare occurrence. If it was true, it had to be someone around him, so it didn’t make sense that he couldn’t find her.
To begin with, he didn’t even know why she would use her pheromones on him.
Up until now, blinded by the belief that he had found his destined one, he hadn’t thought about it deeply, but now that things had reached this point, regret and self-reproach crept in.
Why? Twice, no less?
If he couldn’t find an answer to that, he couldn’t dismiss the possibility that he had been on the wrong track from the start. To think he’d fallen for that quack fortune-teller’s nonsense and struck out again…
He’d always run awayimmediately before, but this time he couldn’t. Recalling his promise to Ashley, a groan rumbled deep in his throat. One mistake, and now he was stuck here wasting a whole year. Could there be a shittier situation?
“Damn it.”
He spat out another curse under his breath when a familiar ringtone made him pause. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he checked the caller ID. The moment he saw who it was, Grayson’s brow furrowed sharply, but he didn’t hang up.
“Hey, Stacey. What’s up? You’re actually calling me?”
Greeting his twin, born just five minutes apart, with a smooth voice, she responded from the other end.
-How’s it going? Any progress? Any exciting developments?
Her voice, unusually chipper as if expecting some dramatic incident, prompted a casual reply from Grayson.
“Nope, no luck, and nothing’s happened. Everyone says it’s the first time it’s been this peaceful without even a small forest fire.”
-Aw, what a shame. How boring.
Stacey grumbled, sounding genuinely disappointed. When Grayson didn’t react, she quickly changed her tone and asked,
-So what’s your plan? Found your next target yet?
Stacy’s voice brightened as if she had regained interest. Of course, she only wanted one thing: to see Grayson fail again and wallow in disappointment. She was also hoping to see the abandoned lover cause a scene, but Grayson’s answer was different from what she’d expected.
“Nah, not yet.”
-Don’t tell me you’re giving up?
Her voice was laced with suspicion, and Grayson replied slowly,
“No way. Never.”
Echoing her words, he added casually,
“I’m not giving up. I’ll find them, no matter how long it takes.”
A faint smile appeared on Grayson’s lips.
“The one and only love of my life.”
-Hope you find them soon. Tell me first, okay?
To anyone else, it might’ve sounded like warm encouragement and concern for a sibling’s future. But this was Stacey. Grayson wasn’t naive enough to miss her true intent-eagerly awaiting for the inevitable chaos that would ensue from his next rejection, yet he replied casually,
“Of course. You’re my other half, after all.”
Technically, since they were fraternal twins, calling her his “other half” wasn’t accurate. But he shamelessly spouted the insincere words, and Stacey, fully aware, let out a sly laugh as she played along.
-Love you, Grayson.
“Love you, Stacey.”
They exchanged the same hollow words and ended the call, though their true feelings couldn’t have been more different. Confirming the call was over, Grayson muttered with a face now devoid of expression,
“Crazy bitch.”
He cursed, but it didn’t improve his mood. He roughly tousled his hair, then let out a sigh.
Now what?
He was stuck here for a full year with no way out. There had to be some way to escape this mess. Something, anything…
“Should I set the fire station on fire?”
He muttered seriously. A loud clatter made him turn his head, and there was Ezra, pale as a ghost, staring
at him. As their eyes met, Ezra flinched, flustered, panicking as he fumbled to pick up a can he’d dropped before bolting away.
Grayson watched his retreating figure, muttered a curse under his breath, and turned his head again.
Stroking his chin, he thought it wasn’t a bad idea.
Meanwhile, Ezra, who’d been peeking from behind the building, eavesdropping, hurriedly ran to the gym
room.
“That bastard, I think he’s dangerous.”
Bursting into the training room, Ezra shouted as soon as he flung the door open. His colleagues, who’d been working out on various exercise equipment, looked at him in confusion at the sudden outburst.
Ezra, his face pale, pointed behind him and continued,
“I was just getting a drink from the vending machine, and I saw Miller. And you know what that bastard was muttering to himself? He said he was going to set the fire station on fire!”
“What?!”
“Really? That crazy bastard actually said that?”
They all stopped their workouts, their faces serious, and turned to face him. Ezra nodded, his face still
ashen, and glanced around nervously.
“I’m serious. He had this dead-serious expression, like he was deep in thought, and then he said it. I was
so shocked I couldn’t even ask what he meant and just ran here.”
His colleagues looked at each other, bewildered.
“What the hell is this all of a sudden?”
Someone asked, but no one could answer. Another ran a hand roughly through his hair and said irritably,
“Why would he set the fire station on fire out of nowhere? Is he actually insane?”
“They say Extreme Alphas lose their minds when their pheromones build up.”
“He’s sleeping with every woman here every other day, and his pheromones are still building up?
Shouldn’t we just chop his dick off then?”
They exchanged heated, vicious words, their frustration mounting.
What was wrong with that bastard?
Ever since then, no one at the station had messed with him. They didn’t talk to him either, but Grayson
wouldn’t have cared anyway. In short, they’d drawn a firm line between them, living as if they existed in separate worlds, ignoring each other completely.
But what Grayson had just said was a blatant provocation that crossed that line. They couldn’t let it slide.
He was threatening to set fire to the fire station, the very place meant to prevent fires?
No way!