Well, that answer was sending mixed signals at best – he said he understood, but he was also still hurt about it, obviously.

And maybe this was supposed to assuage or apologise for that; or maybe Ishmael was using him like he used everyone, stringing Monty along for his own selfish motives, he didn’t know, hell – but he also couldn’t help his smirk at the chastisement.

It was hard to concentrate on the grounds or being on lookout, too, when Monty was this close, but that was fairly obvious too. “Good,” Ishmael only murmured, leaning in to press a long, slow kiss to his neck, happy to be even more distracting if that helped smooth things over between them.

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