Chapter 5
AN EXCITING LUNCH brEAK
Aaren all but bounced through the back door of the Wine Shack. “I’m here! I’m early!”
Behind the bar, Olson raised his eyebrows. “Someone’s cheerful today. Did you dump that asshole?”
Aaren froze, his smile stuck on his face. “Uh.”
“No?” Olson squinted. “Why are you bouncing around like Christmas came early, then?”
“Um. No reason?” Aaren clutched his backpack, edging sideways to the employee locker room.
“Aaren.” Olson set down the glass he had been wiping. “Rex, watch the bar. Come get me if anyone places an order.”
“‘Kay.”
His alpha, Rex, was perched on the corner stool with their baby.
Aaren had envied them ever since Rex swept Olson off his feet and carried him off like a cave-alpha.
Rex was quite literally a cave-alpha; he was getting better at speaking in longer sentences.
These days, he watched their baby while Olson tended the bar, exchanging sappy smiles with Olson when there was a lull.
Right now, that was the furthest thing from Aaren’s mind.
He hurried to the locker room, praying that someone would place a drink order and call Olson away.
“Aaren.”
Oh, no.
“Yes?” he squeaked, stuffing his backpack into his locker.
He was not going to use the scent suppressant. Not when Hades’ marking was a gift.
Olson stopped in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb. He looked conflicted. “Did something happen that I should be aware of?”
“Um, no?”
Olson raised an eyebrow. “You’re being unusually happy and cagey about it, is all. The last time that happened, you had just gotten together with Ballus. And we all know how that’s going. So I’m worried about y—”
He stopped talking and sniffed. His eyes widened.
Here it comes, Aaren thought.
“That’s another alpha’s scent.”
Heat surged through Aaren’s face. “Um, yes?”
Olson scrunched up his forehead. “I don’t understand. You said you haven’t dumped Ballus.”
“I can’t. There’s a contract involved and everything.”
“So you just...” Olson opened and closed his mouth. Then he sighed heavily, rubbing his face. “Aaren, for your sake, I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Not really?”
Olson thumped his forehead against the doorjamb.
Aaren felt bad. He didn’t want his boss-friend to hurt himself! “He—The new alpha, he knows about Ballus.”
“And he... doesn’t care?” Olson asked carefully.
“He says he’s going to make me forget about Ballus.”
Dark eyebrows crawled up Olson’s forehead. “Huh.”
“He’s an ex-con, he’s big and scary. So I think we’ll be okay?” Aaren waved his hands, trying to convey just how big and scary Hades was.
“Ex-con, huh? Anyone I know?”
“His name is Hades.”
An odd look crossed Olson’s face. Then he pulled out his phone, tapped a few buttons, and held it to his ear.
Who was he calling?
“Hades,” Olson growled. “Aaren just told me about you. What the hell do you think you’re—” He paused for a long while, listening to whatever Hades had to say.
His scowl didn’t ease, though. “If you hurt a single hair on his head—” More listening.
Finally, he said, “Fine. But I’m keeping an eye on you. ”
Olson ended the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket.
“You just yelled at an ex-con alpha,” Aaren whispered, awestruck and a little intimidated. “I want to be you when I grow up.”
Olson huffed. “I have to be fierce, dealing with all the drunk alphas in this place.”
Aaren made a face. He didn’t envy Olson for his job. “So, uh. You’re okay with Hades and me...?”
His boss sighed. “Hades is a good person. He and his Brothers have been teaching Rex some self-defense. I just don’t want your whole...” He waved his hands around. “Your whole thing to come back and bite you in the ass. What are you going to do if Ballus finds out?”
Aaren grimaced. “I hope he never does.” Then he paused. “I didn’t just jinx myself, did I?”
Olson sighed. “I don’t know. Be careful. Ballus is a nasty piece of work.”
“Don’t I know it.” Aaren drooped. “Hades followed me here all the way from Mount Hood.”
Olson froze. Then he shook his head like he had given up. “What’s with these alphas? My best friend, Linus—his alpha Storm secretly squatted in his apartment for a while. Storm’s one of Hades’ Brothers from prison. I swear, they’re going to drive me insane.”
“Didn’t Rex also follow you around?” Aaren asked.
“I’ll give Rex a pass because he lost his humanity, and he was already my alpha in his previous life. But even he gave me bonding marks without my permission.”
“And yet we’re still with them anyway,” Aaren said.
“Yeah. We might be a little fucked up.”
“Just a little,” Aaren said.
Olson sighed loudly, heading out of the locker room. “Get your butt in the kitchen. The food isn’t going to cook itself.”
“Aye aye, Captain!” Aaren saluted.
He was in the middle of plating some entrees when Emmy sidled into the kitchen. “Aaren! My rolly, wriggly pumpkin bean!”
“Emmy! It’s been busy, you haven’t stopped by to chat in hours!”
Emmy propped his hands on his hips. He was a scrappy, cheerful omega with a manic gleam in his eyes. Even after he had bonded with his alpha and birthed a baby, he was still as quirky as before. “I’ve been teaching Rex more pickup lines.”
Aaren perked up. “Can I have a few? I... I want to use them, but I forgot to bring some with me.”
Emmy tilted his head, confused. “You want to use them now? Here? Is your horrible alpha coming?”
“Um. I... kind of have a new alpha.”
Happiness exploded across Emmy’s face. “You kicked the old one?”
“Uh, not exactly.” Aaren squirmed. “He’s just... still there.”
It took Emmy a moment. Then he gasped loudly. “Aaren,” he whispered. “Are you being an asshole back at him?”
His stomach twisting with nerves, Aaren whispered back, “Yes?”
“YES!” Emmy cried, coming closer to pull Aaren into a huge hug. “That’s wonderful! You win a prize!”
“For being an asshole?”
“He was an asshole first. And he’s still an asshole.” Emmy huffed indignantly. “He should love you for who you are, but all he does is make you feel like crap.”
Aaren released the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “What prize?”
“I’ll give you a few pickup lines to use with your new alpha.” Emmy fished out his order pad from his apron pocket. “These are from 699 Pickup Lines For Your Wriggly Heart Muffin. I read some to my husband muffin every day.”
“That book is going to make you famous,” Aaren said sincerely.
Emmy beamed. “Aww, Aarey! You’re the best!”
He scribbled a few lines on his order pad, then tore off the page and handed it to Aaren. “I promise these will land you the good alpha. You’ll have to look him in the eye and wriggle both your tentacle and his tentacle when you say it.”
“Wriggle? Do our... tentacles... have to be soft?”
Emmy nodded solemnly. “They have to flop around like limp fish. It’s how you stir the butt blessing energy so the dick gods will take pity on you and make you hard.”
Aaren nodded just as solemnly. Emmy was the only one who spoke about dick gods and butt blessings, but Aaren would take all the help he could get.
He tucked the pickup lines safely into his pocket. “Thanks. I’ll make sure I say a few lines to him.”
“Good! And you should kick the awful alpha far away. Kick him in the balls,” Emmy growled. “He doesn’t deserve you.”
Aaren cheered up.
Closer to his lunch break, he texted Hades. Like he had predicted, the scent of food was now heavy on his clothes, drowning out the cherrywood that Hades had so carefully layered onto him in the car.
He snacked between cooking just in case there wasn’t time to eat. Who knew what Hades was planning?
Aaren squirmed, his insides fluttering.
This still felt like a dream.
Then it was time for his lunch break, and Aaren sent off a quick text.
“I’m taking my break now,” he told Olson.
Olson eyed him. “You look too excited for someone who’s just going to have lunch.”
Aaren blushed. “I don’t know what I’ll be eating.”
“Ugh!” Olson made a face. “I don’t want to know!”
Aaren’s phone buzzed, which saved him from having to reply.
ESC: Meet me at the back door.
“Back door. Hades,” Aaren said.
Olson pushed him away. “I really don’t want to know.”
Aaren hurried to the back door, almost tripping over his own feet. Then he pushed open the door and actually tripped.
With a swoop of his stomach, he went down, arms flailing.
Strong arms caught him. His hand smacked against a bulge. His face landed against a solid chest, and his lungs filled with cherrywood.
“You smell good,” Aaren said into Hades’ chest. “I like your chest. It’s like muscly pillows for my face.”
Hades huffed. “Is that a pickup line?”
“It’s nowhere near as good as Emmy’s,” Aaren admitted. He pushed himself upright, only to hear Hades grunt.
“That’s not for... support, emotional or otherwise,” Hades said awkwardly.
Aaren looked down and found his fist wrapped around Hades’ bulge.
“Oh,” he said breathlessly. I’m holding his cock. “Is it going to cry if I hold it too hard?”
He still hadn’t let go. That bulge was very big and heavy in his hand.
Hades cleared his throat. “It may cry in its... own way. As much as I like you holding me there, we should move this... somewhere else.”
He carefully tried to pry Aaren’s hand off his bulge, even as it grew bigger.
Aaren moaned. “Oh gods. I can’t stop looking. Or thinking about you.”
“I can’t stop thinking about you, either.” Hades led Aaren to his car—parked away from the bar, and away from the streetlamps. Instead of bundling Aaren into the passenger seat, Hades nudged him into the backseat, and crowded in after him.
“Oh gods,” Aaren whispered as Hades shut the door, sealing them into this dark, tiny space. “I’ve never come so many times in a 24-hour period.”
Hades grinned. “Who says there’s going to be any coming?”
“Are you saying we’re just in here to make out?” Aaren kicked off his shoes just in case, his hole already wet.
“You may be right,” Hades murmured. He pressed Aaren back so he was lying down on the backseat. Then he grasped Aaren’s knees and spread his legs, fitting himself between them.