18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Axel
“ W here are you going looking all spiffy?” Milly asked.
I knew popping down to the bar before heading out was a bad idea.
“Do I look like I’m trying too hard?”
“No, you look like a towny,” she replied unhelpfully, and I rolled my eyes. “This is so cute, you’re nervous!”
“I’m not nervous; I’m just nervous adjacent. This is mine and Dylan’s first date, and I feel like if I fuck it up, he’ll realise that crushing on me all this time was a real fucking waste.” I sighed.
“You look good. But also, Dylan liked you when you were in your awkward skater-boy phase, so I wouldn’t sweat it too much. I think you could pick him up wearing a toga, and he’d roll with it.”
“Hey, I rocked that skater-boy look.”
“Sure you did. Now, off you pop. Being late is not a good start to any date, so shoo.”
Milly gesticulated for me to get out from behind the bar, so I pulled on my big boy pants and headed out.
Despite my best efforts to clean her up, my banged-up work van was still, well, a banged-up work van. I’d popped out in the morning to the car wash, but it was a bit like putting lipstick on a pig.
Climbing into the driver’s seat, I cringed. Dylan had spent the last few years in a big uni city, probably being wined and dined by alphas who drove a Mercedes, and here I was, picking him up in a piece of crap.
Milly was right, though. Being late would definitely not earn me any favours, and I needed all of them I could get.
When I pulled up outside Dylan’s house, I took a deep breath to steel myself before knocking on the front door.
“Hey, Axel.” Miss B answered.
Somehow, in all of this I’d forgotten that I needed to face Miss B and the fact I was now dating her son. So I just stood there. On her doorstep. Mute.
Well done, Axel. Excellent impression you’re making.
“You okay, love?”
Form words, brain!
“Um. Can I date Dylan?”
FORM BETTER WORDS, brAIN.
“That very much seems like Dylan’s decision to make, and given he’s upstairs primping himself for said date, I’d imagine it’s a yes?” Her lips tilted up in amusement at my bumbling self. I couldn’t believe how much I was monumentally fucking this up already.
She stepped back from the doorway, and I walked inside and headed for the stairs but stopped myself in time. It was like muscle memory to come here and head straight up to Cooper’s bedroom.
“Dylan, Axel’s here,” Miss B shouted up the stairs.
A moment later, his head popped over the bannister at the top.
“Sorry, give me five minutes!” And then he disappeared again.
“Come join me in the living room,” Miss B said with a warm look on her face.
The sitting room was cosy with the fire lit. I’d never spent a huge amount of time in here because it had always been Miss B’s spot. They tended to gather in the kitchen/dining room as a family.
“I’m not going to lecture you, Axel. I’ve known you since you were four years old. I trust that if you’ve decided to be with Dylan, you know there’s no such thing as ‘casual’ for you two.”
“No, Miss B. It’s definitely not casual. I just… I don’t want to hold him back, you know?” I admitted.
“I know.” She paused for a second before continuing on, “I don’t talk about their omega mum much; I probably should. Dylan might have got my brains, but everything else is her. The thing is, I’m not sure there’s a force in this world that could hold him back. I don’t worry about that for him. But the Dylans of this world need an anchor, someone to keep them grounded and a safe place to land. There’s no one I would trust more for the job, Axel.” She smiled fondly, and her words slowly seeped into my skin, spreading their warmth like the sun’s morning rays.
“Thank you. That… that means a lot to me. Thank you.”
Loud footsteps on the stairs interrupted the moment.
“Axel?” Dylan called out.
“In here.”
Dylan abruptly burst through the door and… wow.
He was wearing a burgundy suit with a white shirt underneath. The top few buttons were left undone, exposing a smooth expanse of pale skin. The wine-red colour of the suit made Dylan’s already bright green eyes look like sparkling emeralds. He’d obviously had it tailored because it fit him like a glove; he didn’t need to turn around for me to know those trousers would be hugging his arse beautifully.
A pair of black loafers tied the look together and reminded me of how out of my fucking league Dylan Bailey was.
“Wow. You look… wow,” I stuttered, and he beamed at me. If his mum hadn’t been sitting there watching the entire interaction play out, I’d have pushed him up against the wall and kissed him silly.
I shook my head at the image. “Ready to go, love?” I asked.
“Wine me and dine me.” He grinned, reaching his hand out for me to take.
We said goodbye to his mum, and Dylan practically vibrated with energy all the way to the van.
Before he could climb in the passenger seat, I asked him, “You okay? You seem like you might burst out of your own skin.”
He blushed, and I reached for his face, brushing my thumb along his crimson cheekbone.
“Sorry. I’m just like a weird combination of really excited and also nervous and also like, worried I might wake up and discover I’ve been in a coma for the last week, and my imagination has been running rampant, you know? Because this is not beyond what my imagination is capable of. I’m nothing if not cerebrally creative.”
I cut off Dylan’s rambling with a kiss. Not a heated one, merely a press of my lips against his, slightly ruined by the way I was fighting a smile.
“You aren’t in a coma, love,” I said between kisses.
“Okay, good. That’s good. A coma would be a real bummer.”
I chuckled at him. “Come on, let’s go.” Attempting and failing to be a gentleman, I opened the passenger door and watched as Dylan hopped in. I’d been correct; his trousers made his arse look like a fucking snack. I would definitely be taking a bite out of that later.
I drove us to a nearby town about thirty minutes away that was a little bigger than Foxwood Hollow. Our reservation was at a restaurant that had been opened by a Michelin Star chef. The website said it served hearty food, though. I wasn’t spending a small fortune on a few mouthfuls of grub.
“Welcome to the Den Inn. Can I take your name?” The host asked when we stepped inside. He was an older gentleman with salt and pepper hair and a slightly snobby air to him.
“It’s ‘King’, table for two,” I replied.
I looked down to see Dylan’s gaze bouncing around the restaurant. With it being late November, the place was already kitted out with Christmas decorations, and there was a giant, beautifully decorated tree in the far corner. Classic gold and red ornaments with warm white lights glittered on its branches and cast a glow around the room.
“Right this way, Sirs.”
We followed him to a table in the far corner, and I pulled out Dylan’s seat for him, which seemed to make him blush.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
Taking my seat opposite, the host handed us each a menu before returning to his station.
“Wow, Axel. I wasn’t expecting this.”
“Good surprise?”
“A lovely surprise. But—“ my stomach dropped. I’d fucked this up. ”—I hope you know that as nice as this is, I don’t need it?”
I reached across the table to take his hand, interlacing our fingers and squeezing.
“I know. But I wanted you to know that we can do stuff like this. Like I don’t want us to miss out on the dating part of a relationship just because we already know each other. The truth is, we’ve been out of each other’s lives for the past few years, and before that, we only really knew one side of each other. I want to know all the sides, and frankly, taking you anywhere that will have you dressed like that is a win in my book.“ I smiled at him.
“I’m excited to get to know all of you, too.” His fingers squeezed back.
When a waiter came over, I ordered a beer, and Dylan ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Once we were alone again, Dylan chewed on his bottom lip in thought. “Can I ask you something?”
“Ask me anything,” I replied without a thought.
“Um… why did you and Lauren break up? You two always seemed so happy. Vexingly so.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “A few things, really, it was a gradual thing. She didn’t want to live in Foxwood Hollow, and I did. And then there was the whole… rut thing.” I fiddled with the corner of the tablecloth.
“You really never spent your rut with her?”
“No. Never. She… well, eventually, she saw that for what it was. Honestly, it wasn’t fair to her that she had to be the one to end things. I should have done it a long time ago and let her go find the right alpha for her.”
“What stopped you?”
“I think a weird mix of love and loyalty plus a large helping of denial, probably. I kept thinking one day I’d wake up and realise I did want to settle down with her. It was comfortable, I guess.“ Guilt swirled in my stomach like it always did when I thought about Lauren and how things ended between us.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be such a buzz kill,” Dylan said.
“It’s okay. This is part of it, right? Filling in the gaps even if they’re not all sunshine and rainbows.”
Dylan still had a thoughtful expression on his face when the waiter returned with our drinks and to take our food order.
Taking a large gulp of my drink for courage, I asked, “What about you? Any notable relationships the last few years?”
He sipped his white wine before answering. “You already know about Bennett. Nothing too serious since then.”
I’m more relieved to hear that than I have any right to be.
“What about the guy your friend mentioned at dinner?”
Dylan snorted. “That was very casual.”
“You didn’t want anything more serious?”
He shook his head. “No. After Bennett… well, I realised if I wasn’t prepared to spend my heat or his rut with him, then I probably wouldn’t be willing to spend them with anyone else either. Casual seemed like the best way for nobody to get too attached and their feelings hurt.”
I cocked my head to one side and scrutinised him as he twizzled the thin stem of his wineglass between his thumb and forefinger. “But you spent my rut with me?”
“I did,” he replied, smirking.
“Why?”
Dylan rolled his eyes at me dramatically. “You know why.”
“I know you had a crush on me as a kid, but that hardly seems like enough of a reason when you’ve held out for so long,” I replied.
He narrowed his eyes at me, and if looks could kill… I’d clearly said something very wrong.
“Are you,” he looked from side to side as if to assess how well the people sitting near us could overhear, “fucking kidding me?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out.
“You think I decided to spend your rut with you, build a nest for you off the back of some childish crush? Fuck you.“ Dylan stood from the table, but I grabbed his wrist before he could get very far.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t even know why I said that. Please sit down,” I pleaded.
He returned to his seat but with no less venom in his expression.
“What about you, Axel? You were with Lauren for years and didn’t spend a single rut with her. Did you spend it with me on a whim?” he spat.
“No. Fuck. I’m really fucking this all up.” I scrubbed a hand over my face, and Dylan gave me a ‘Ya think?’ look. Which… fair.
It was at that moment the waiter returned with our food, placing a poussin with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans in front of Dylan and a large slice of pheasant pie for me. We both thanked him and after he left, we sat staring at our plates of food in painfully awkward silence.
“I think I’m ruining this because I’m scared that the real me, not the guy you put on a pedestal when we were kids, is going to be a super fucking disappointment once the newness of all this wears off,” I said quietly, using my fork to lift the lid on the pie, a plume of steam escaped and I watched it like the vapour would magically form words and explain to me how to fix this.
When I eventually looked up from my plate, Dylan didn’t look angry anymore. His expression was thoughtful again, and he sipped on his wine while he processed what I’d said.
“I must have been about eight years old when you saw me snot-crying on a school bench. You were in the middle of playing football with all your friends, but the second you spotted me, you stopped mid-game and ran over.”
“I remember; that little shit Ricky Henshaw had stolen your Pokemon cards and flushed them down the toilet,” I interjected.
“That’s right. You wiped my face with your sleeve and told me you’d handle it. Two days later, Ricky came into class and handed me a full pack of replacement cards, double the amount he ruined, and he never picked on me again,” Dylan explained.
“I’m not sure pointing out that at ten years old, I threatened an eight-year-old kid is making the argument you think it is.” I smiled.
“You were kind, Ax. You are kind. When your dad lost his hand, you stepped up to help him continue his business even though you were still a kid yourself, and you never complained. I know you spent god knows how many hours trying to help Coop revise for his exams when he was struggling. I know that you were the best first boyfriend Lauren could have asked for because you’d never offer someone anything less. I know you.”
I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat and was surprised to find my eyes stinging a little, too.
“I’m sorry for being a dick,” I said sheepishly.
“I’ll forgive you.” Dylan smiled and began tucking into his meal. Taking a deep breath, I did the same.
I really needed to get it through my head that Dylan was a grown man and an insanely intelligent and capable one at that.
The pie was fucking incredible and made all the more delicious by the view of the stunning man sitting opposite me.
“You really are beautiful, Dylan. I hope you know that I’m the luckiest guy in the world right now,” I told him between bites of food.
His cheeks blushed furiously and I wanted to feel the heat of them under my fingers.
Once he swallowed his mouthful, he said, “You will be in…” he looked at his watch, “a couple of hours.” Smirking sinfully, he took another bite of food.
It was safe to say that I would never be bored dating Dylan Bailey.