Maybe Blaze was just nervous over the loss of control? Perhaps Blaze was offended by the fact that Arik had jumped at something without negotiation or warning? Maybe Blaze was just letting himself get wound up over what he believed was going to happen if he didn’t “get on the case,” so to speak?
Or…Arik caught Blaze’s gaze and smiled, attempting to mask the way his heart lurched with his next thought. Maybe Blaze was caught up in musing over a certain lost boy and a “very badly” ended relationship. A relationship that Blaze wished had gone better. Did he still? When Blaze closed his eyes and groaned over contact, was he seeing somebody else’s smile?
Arik’s fists clenched. His jaw hardened. He told himself the emotion wasn’t jealousy. He insisted it was anger. One couldn’t be jealous of what had been. One had no right even to consider jealousy when the concepts had been explained, and the outcome already decided. So it had to be outrage—vengeful, spiteful, fury.