14. Kellan’s twin?
14
KELLAN’S TWIN?
Micah
“Wanna beer?” Ryder walked over to where I was sitting on the roof. It was a nice evening out and normally I’d have used it to run, but I wasn’t in the mood to do anything but sulk.
Fate sucked. Or was it even fate? Maybe that whole fate thing was just a bucket of bullshit fed to us as kids so we didn’t feel like shit when the only omega you want is a stupid wolf who you can never truly be with.
Being a unicorn sucked.
“That wasn’t a trick question.” Ryder sat across from me, holding out the beer.
“Thanks. Yeah, a beer would be great.” I took it and tried to twist off the lid. It was a pop top because of course it was.
I fished the keys out of my pocket and used my bottle opener keychain to pop it off and Ryder did his best to hold back his laughter.
He failed.
“Like you haven’t done that.” I took a long sip.
“I mean yeah, I have, but you know not when I was sitting across from someone who opened theirs with a bottle opener less than five seconds earlier.”
How the heck did I miss that? “You…I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”
“You’re too busy thinking about your sexy wolf?” He leaned back in his seat.
“He’s not mine. We just… he’s not mine.”
The door slammed shut down below and I couldn’t help go over and look. It wasn’t unusual for it to slam. It was one of the many things that needed some repairs, but I was nosey. I admit it. I wanted to see Archer.
I talked a good game, but it was all a facade. I missed him. And it sucked .
“Looks like they're heading out for the night.” I didn’t see who he meant until I glanced down to find Archer, Ivor, and Neil wearing their nice clothes and headed around the corner.
They were going out—without us. Why would we be invited though? Ryder was Ivor’s boss, and I was the one who pulled a fuck and go with Archer. And really being a boss shouldn’t matter, but Ivor was super weird about money so I got that. But Archer? He had every right.
Maybe I should’ve gone for a run.
“Ivor looks good,” Ryder started, which was great because I really didn’t want to return to the Archer convo. He went back to his seat, and I waited until I was sure Archer was truly gone before heading to mine.
I was such a loser.
“He does. I think he’s getting things back on track.” I wasn’t sure how true that was but I was rooting for him. He seemed a bit happier though and that meant a lot. “He doing well at the office?”
“Yeah. He acts weird around me at work, but he does a good job. It’s odd. Like he doesn’t realize I’m the same person in both places.” He drained the rest of his bottle and set it down.
“He’s probably worried because you were his friend first. It’ll get easier.” Probably. “Ivor’s harder on himself than I think anyone.”
“Truth. You want another beer?”
I looked at mine and saw it was mostly gone and downed it. “Sounds good.”
“I’ll get rid of the bottle and we can go.”
“Go?” I’d assumed he meant he’d grab some more from his apartment.
“Go. Burgers and beer at Snyders?”
I couldn’t argue with that and ten minutes later we were down the street aways ordering the greasiest burgers in town.
“I love this place.” I took a big bite of my burger, careful to lean over the plate so as not to have it drip on my jeans.
“As much as you love Archer.” And there we were right back to that. Well, not right back, I was two beers and part of a burger in now.
“It’s no biggie. We banged. It didn’t suck. We’ve moved on.” Gods I sounded like an asshat.
“Whoa—it didn’t suck isn’t quite gonna do it for me. You know all about Kellan and me.”
“And that’s because you over shared about that cheating scum.” I shoved the burger in my mouth before I said more. As much as I hated the guy for how he treated Ryder, it wasn’t my intention to pour salt in his wounds.
“Fair enough. But I think he’s grown.” Gods. Ryder needed a clue. Once a cheater always a cheater. That isn’t the kind of thing you grow out of. It’s a fucking personality flaw.
“Let’s not talk about him.” I drained the last of my beer. “Let’s discuss sports.”
“The kind neither of us pay any attention to?” He wasn’t wrong .
“Then I don’t know. Let’s just drink more beer and talk about the beer cause I don’t want to spend the night with my thoughts focusing on Archer and I’m sure you feel the same about Kellan.”
“I’m down for that, but let’s go to Lou’s instead because if our plan is beers then I don’t want to pay these prices for swill when I can pay less elsewhere.” I couldn’t argue with him there.
We finished eating and headed over to Lou’s. It wasn’t a high class joint, more of a student bar than anything, and it wasn’t overpriced like the burger place.
The music blared, greeting us as we turned the corner. I was getting too old for places like this. Oh well. More beer was in my future and with the volume of noise, I could easily pretend I didn’t hear anything I didn’t want to answer. My only concern was that we’d run into Kellan. Seemed like the kind of place he’d find someone to stick his dick into.
How wrong I was. We walked in looking for a table and what did we see?
Neil, Ivor, and Archer. “Look, the gang’s all here,” Ryder started to pull me toward them.
He wasn’t seeing what I was seeing. They weren’t happy to see us. At least not all of them were and that probably had something to do with the hotties scurrying away as we arrived.
Archer was out getting laid or at least scoping out a new guy.
It was a sock in the gut. Should I have expected it? Of course. How could I not? I fucked things up after all. But it still sucked.
“Come on,” he tugged at my shirt.
“Let them be.” I snapped.
“What the fuck?” He was not impressed and really I wasn’t either. I needed to rein it in.
“Fine.” By the time we got done with our tiff, Ryder had grabbed us a table near the door. Perfect. If Archer and company left before us, they’d walk right past. Seeing Archer leave with a hot young college kid who was almost young enough to be my son wasn’t what I’d planned for the night.
And his expression was anything but friendly. He and the others looked ready to head out. I wasn’t jealous though. Not at all. I wanted him to find someone. He was a nice guy and deserved better than being strapped to the likes of me.
I wondered about the three young guys, the ones they’d been dancing with, who’d melted away. Perhaps they were meeting up outside or at Sunshine Manor. Everyone knew how much I hated loud parties, but what about a noisy all-night sex session. I’d never put that on my list of hates.
“They’re going to stop and say hi, right?” Ryder finally said as the group was coming our way.
I wasn’t sure.
“Hey guys,” Ryder said as they reached our booth. “Having fun?”
“We were.” Ivor replied, as he glanced at Archer who had his head held high and stormed right past. No hello. No grin. No wave. His ass looked good in those jeans though. “Yeah. Thanks for asking.”
“We didn’t think we’d see you here.” Neil said. His arm was tucked into Ivor’s but his gaze followed Archer out the door. “We could’ve come later or something.” He didn’t sound like he meant it.
Shit, none of them looked comfortable about me being there.
“We went to get burgers.” I shrugged, the entire time a feeling of dread came over me, one I couldn’t quite decipher why.
“We gotta go. See you around?” Neil asked.
When Neil was the most comfortable person in a group setting, then something was up. Fucking great.
“Have a good night,” Ryder said.
Before either of us could say anything, a group of drunk kids pushed their way between Ivor and Neil. And the pair were gone.
“Why was that so awkward?” Ryder said as I peered out the door but with hordes of students blocking the way, I couldn’t catch a glimpse of Archer.
Gods, I was in a shit mood.
“Do you think Ivor hates me now that I’m his boss?” Ryder asked.
“No. I think none of that had anything to do with you.” I pressed the heel of my hand against my eye where a headache was now building. It was going to have a chance to build a lot more.
A server stood at our table and before he could say anything I ordered up two beers, the plan to keep them coming.
“If it wasn’t me then?—”
“I think I just became the new Kellan.”