Desire Me If You Can Chapter 31

The colleagues gazed blankly at his back as he exited the bar quickly. Only when Dane had completely disappeared did they finally begin to speak.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen that guy date anyone.”

“Well, let’s just assume that’s how those ‘Peak Alpha’ types are, but isn’t Dane actually the bigger jerk? He’s just being debauched for no reason.”

“It must mean he doesn’t want to take any responsibility.”

“That’s the same thing, you idiot.”

“Does it really boil down to that?”

Amidst their rambling conversation, Ezra tilted his head.

“Why does Dane refuse to date? Even though he has sex.”

The chatter continued back and forth.

“Maybe he was burned badly in the past?”

“Are you saying Dane had his heart broken? By whom?”

“Who knows? That’s just a guess.”

Naturally, no conclusion was reached, and the conversation drifted aimlessly. The atmosphere was heated, and by the time they left the bar, everyone was stumbling and drunk.

Damn it. To hell with this.

Grayson sat leaning against a fire engine, staring into thin air with a fierce expression. A month had already passed since he became a firefighter. In that time, he had slept with every woman in the fire station. He had even been intimate with an employee from a company where he had gone to provide fire safety training, but it was all for naught. None of them had a butterfly-shaped birthmark on their pelvis.

What on earth is going on?

Grayson rubbed his face with both hands, feeling annoyed. Did I think wrong? Was it not because of pheromones, but just a faint? Then again, it’s hard enough to meet one in a lifetime—is it even plausible to be hit by a “Peak Omega” twice? If that were true, they would definitely be someone around me, so it makes no sense that I can’t find them.

In the first place, I don’t even know why they triggered a pheromone shock in me.

Because I was so excited by the belief that I had found my destiny, I hadn’t thought about that part deeply, but now that things had come to this, regret and reflection followed.

Why, exactly? And twice, at that?

If I can’t find an answer to this, I can’t rule out the conclusion that I was barking up the wrong tree from the start. To think I was fooled by the words of that quack fortune teller and wasted my time again.

Up until now, I’ve just run away, but I can’t do that this time. Thinking of the promise he made to Ashley, a groan escaped from deep in his throat. Because of one mistake, he was stuck wasting a whole year. Could there be anything more frustrating than this?

“Damn it.”

It was just as he spat out the curse like a groan again. He paused at the sound of a familiar ringtone, pulled his cell phone from his pocket, and checked the caller ID. As soon as he realized who it was, Grayson scowled sharply, but he didn’t hang up.

“Hey, Stacey. What’s up? Why the call?”

He greeted his twin sibling, who was born five minutes apart, with a smooth voice, and the reply came from the other end.

— How is it going? Is everything going well? Were there any special events?

Grayson answered lightly, responding to her unusually excited tone, which sounded as if she were anticipating an interesting incident.

“No, unfortunately, nothing happened. Everyone says it’s the first time things have been this peaceful, without even a minor brush fire.”

— Oh, what a shame. How boring.

Stacey grumbled as if she were genuinely disappointed. She quickly changed her tone and asked Grayson, who had no reaction.

— So what are you going to do? Have you already found the next target?

Stacey’s voice brightened, as if she had regained her interest. Of course, she only wanted one thing: to see Grayson fail again and witness his disappointment. She was also looking forward to the abandoned party throwing a tantrum, but Grayson’s answer was different from what she expected.

“No, not yet.”

— You aren’t giving up, are you?

Grayson answered slowly to her voice, which was full of doubt.

“No way, absolutely not.”

Repeating her words, he added calmly:

“I won’t give up. No matter how long it takes, I will find them.”

A faint smile appeared on the corner of Grayson’s mouth.

“My one and only love.”

— I hope you meet them soon, and tell me first.

If it were anyone else, they might have taken it as warm encouragement and interest wishing a sibling the best for their future. But the person on the other end was Stacey. Knowing full well that her real motive was simply to wait with excitement for the mess that would ensue if her twin failed again, Grayson replied calmly.

“Of course, you’re my other half.”

Since they are fraternal twins, calling her his “other half” wasn’t technically accurate. Yet, he shamelessly spewed words he didn’t mean, and Stacey, knowing it, took the bait with a suggestive laugh.

— I love you, Grayson.

“I love you, Stacey.”

They finished the call saying words that neither of them truly meant, but their inner thoughts were completely different. After confirming the call had ended, Grayson muttered with a face frozen in a blank expression.

“What a lunatic.”

He spat out the insult, but his mood didn’t improve at all. He violently ruffled his hair, then let out a sigh.

What should I do now?

I’m stuck here for the next year with no way to move. There must be a way to get out of this jam. Something, anything.

“Should I set fire to the fire station?”

It was when he muttered this seriously. Clatter, a loud noise was heard, and when he turned his head, he saw Ezra looking at him with a deathly pale face. When their eyes met, Ezra was startled, didn’t know what to do, then quickly picked up the can he had dropped on the floor and left as if fleeing. Watching his back, Grayson muttered a short curse and turned his head again.

As he stroked his chin, thinking it wasn’t a bad idea, Ezra—who had been hiding behind the building and eavesdropping—ran urgently toward the exercise room.

∞ ∞ ∞

“That guy, he’s dangerous.”

As soon as Ezra, who had returned to the exercise room in a hurry, opened the door, he shouted. The colleagues, who had been focused on their gym equipment building muscle, looked at him, puzzled by the sudden outburst. Ezra pointed backward with a pale face and continued.

“I was just getting a drink, and I saw Miller. But do you know what that guy was mumbling to himself? He said he’s going to set fire to the fire station!”

“What?”

“Are you serious? That crazy bastard actually said that?”

Everyone stood up from their equipment and turned toward him with serious expressions. Ezra nodded with a pale complexion and looked around.

“I’m serious. He looked like he was thinking about something with a grave face, and then he said that. I was so shocked that I couldn’t even ask him what he meant before I came back.”

The colleagues looked at each other with bewildered faces.

“What is this sudden nonsense?”

Someone asked, but no one could answer. Another guy ran his hands through his hair roughly and spat out irritably.

“Why would he out of the blue set fire to the fire station? Is he really crazy?”

“They say that when pheromones build up, you lose your mind—at least that’s what happens to ‘Peak Alphas’.”

“He’s slept with all the women here day in and day out, and he says his pheromones have built up? If that’s the case, shouldn’t he just cut his dick off?”

They were highly agitated and traded vicious words. What on earth was the problem with that guy? Since then, no one at the fire station had touched Miller. Of course, they hadn’t talked to him either, but Grayson probably wouldn’t care. In short, they had been strictly drawing lines and ignoring each other as if they existed in different worlds.

However, what Grayson had just said was a clear provocation that crossed the line. They couldn’t overlook this. Daring to say he would set fire to a fire station that was supposed to prevent fires? Not a chance!