Chapter 2

This wasn’t Derek’s day.

Between the failed job interview, getting caught in a downpour without his coat, and running out of gas on the way home, he was just about ready to call it quits. He had waited three hours in his freezing car for a tow truck to bring him some gas. Now there was barely enough fuel in the tank to make the rest of the way back to Snowed Inn.

At least he hoped there was enough to make it back. The busted gas gauge on his crappy car made it difficult to tell just how much fuel was left in the tank. Plus, he was broke so topping the tank off wasn’t really an option right now. He silently prayed to whoever was listening to let him make it up the mountain and then began the climb.

As he navigated the narrow, switchbacked road up the mountainside he tried to figure out what he was going to tell Luke when he got back home. His cousin had been kind enough to let Derek crash on his couch over the last few months, but it didn’t take a genius to tell that he was quickly wearing out his welcome. If he didn’t find a job and a place of his own soon things were going to start getting uncomfortable.

Yet, every single interview he’d been to had ended in failure. This one at least had tried to give him hope by saying things like, “we’ll be sure to call and let you know if you got the position.” He’d heard that line before though. No one ever called back. It was getting to the point where he was starting to wonder why he even bothered anymore. If it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t sleep on Luke’s couch forever he would have given up by now.

Derek breathed a sigh of relief as his car rattled to the top of the hill where Snowed Inn was located. The parking lot was mostly empty at the moment, but he knew from experience that it would fill up quickly as soon as the snow fell. He parked in the very back where the Snow family kept their personal vehicles. Luke’s boyfriend, Peter, had insisted that Derek consider himself a member of the family as long as he was staying with them.

He chuckled to himself and wondered just how much longer that attitude was going to last.

Walking back across the parking lot towards the main lodge, Derek tried to ignore the overwhelming feeling of uncertainty that was welling within him. He would get through this, he knew he would. It might take some time, but he was like a cat in that he always landed on his feet.

A few minutes later, he was standing on the front porch to Luke and Peter’s condo.

He could hear them just inside laughing together in the living room. The baby was probably down for a nap and they were likely preparing to eat lunch together. For a brief moment, he considered backing away and coming back later. He could tell them about his failed expedition another time. But Derek was nothing if not stubborn. He wasn’t going to let himself be discouraged by the positive mood inside the condo. He was going to embrace it and do his best to stay upbeat despite the fact that it felt like the world was imploding around him.

In one smooth motion, he swung open the door and stepped inside with a smile on his face.

“Hey guys, I’m ba—” Derek froze mid-sentence.

“Goddammit, Derek!” Luke’s voice erupted from the sofa. The small, blonde haired, pixie of an omega was half-naked on the couch. Peter was leaning over him, the last remnants of a hungry grin fading from his lips as his hands fell away from Luke’s belt buckle.

“I’m sorry! I’ll go.” Derek backed away quickly and pulled the door closed behind him. Just as the door shut, he heard the unmistakable wail of Luke and Peter’s newborn son waking up from his nap.

He could hear Luke grumbling from within the condo. Peter sounded like he was trying to soothe his boyfriend’s ruffled feathers, but wasn’t making much headway.

“I’m guessing now’s not a good time, is it?” a somewhat familiar voice asked from behind him. Derek half turned to locate the speaker.

“Timothy?” Derek frowned in disbelief. “You’re that Timothy?” Somehow, despite the fact that he had known that Peter had a brother named Timothy he had never made the connection to the Timothy Snow that he had known in college.

“Derek D’angelus?” Timothy looked just as surprised to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” said Derek with a grin as he approached the dark-eyed, rusty-haired, omega. “I haven’t seen you in, what, three years?”

“I live here. I’m pretty sure I told you that once,” Timothy said with a light chuckle, backing away a few steps as Derek drew close. “And it’s only been two years. I was a sophomore when you left.”

“I would have remembered you saying you lived somewhere like this.” Derek’s mood had instantly shifted for the better. Timothy had always been the bright spot among their group of friends. He had also been the one omega that had always resisted Derek’s attempts at seduction. Seeing him again was like being transported back to better days. When things were simpler and all Derek had to worry about was who he was going to take to bed next.

“You didn’t answer my question,” said Timothy as he glanced past Derek towards the door to his brother’s condo. “I didn’t know you knew my brother.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, Luke’s my cousin. He and Peter are letting me crash on the couch for now. It’s kind of a long story and I don’t want to bore you with it.” Derek quickly tried to brush past the details. There were few things less attractive than his current status as a broke, jobless, prospectless, loser who was two steps away from being homeless.

Before either of them could speak Derek’s stomach growled. Loudly.

Timothy laughed. It was a clear, bright sound that instantly soothed some of the rough edges in Derek’s mood. He remembered telling all sorts of corny jokes when they were in school just to get Timothy to laugh.

“Look, I’m getting pretty hungry too and it’s just about lunchtime. Why don’t we go get something to eat?” Timothy suggested, gesturing back towards the lodge.

“Oh, well…” Derek hesitated. He hated this. He was supposed to be one of those high-rolling, top-dog, alphas. The kind that was always sweeping omegas off their feet, treating them to expensive meals and gifts. The fact that there were less than five dollars in his bank account right now made his cheeks flush red with embarrassment.

“To be honest, I kind of want to show off to someone,” continued Timothy. If he noticed Derek’s hesitation, he gave no indication of it. “I’m supposed to be heading up the restaurant department with Andrew. So in a way, the restaurants here are kind of like my own personal kitchens.”

Derek glanced sidelong at Timothy and noticed that the omega was blushing as he looked at his feet.

“So why don’t we grab something to eat and catch up for a little while?” Timothy finally looked up at Derek and smiled softly. “Unless you’re busy of course.”

“Well, you know how it is.” Derek pulled out his phone and pretended to open up his calendar. “I’ve got a ton of different people seeking my attention, but I think I can squeeze you in.” He looked back at Timothy and grinned.

“You haven’t changed at all.”

***

It wasn’t that all of his problems had disappeared or were suddenly eradicated by Timothy’s presence. They were still there, rattling around in the back of Derek’s mind giving him no end of trouble. But there was something in the way the Timothy looked at him, the tone in his voice, the slightly upturned corners of his mouth as he spoke, and the twinkle in his dark eyes, that made everything feel slightly less oppressive than it had before.

They had taken a small corner table in the sandwich shop that sat on the second floor of the main lobby. It was a cozy, deli-style setting that seemed extremely casual in nature. They offered a wide variety of hot and cold sandwiches and beverages that were popular with visitors to Snowed Inn.

“So then, you were going to tell me what you’re really doing here.” Timothy peered across the table at him as sipped a glass of soda through a straw.

“I was?” Derek chuckled and looked out the window at the lobby below. “I already told you, I’m visiting my cousin. Unless you don’t believe that Luke’s really my cousin because in that case, I don’t blame you.” He shifted his gaze back towards Timothy and grinned. “I am the better looking one after all.” He winked.

“You’re still just as full of yourself as you used to be.” Timothy smiled and shook his head. Derek couldn’t tell if he was amused or disappointed.

The truth was that Derek had pursued Timothy rather intently when they were in college. The omega had always played hard to get. Perhaps it was because he was aware of Derek’s reputation for bedding anything that moved, or maybe he just never thought of him like that. Either way, the desire to claim Timothy had become all-consuming for him. At least it had until Derek had graduated and forced himself to move on. Even the best hunter knows you can’t bag every trophy.

Seeing him again, here of all places, almost seemed like the universe was giving him a second chance. Then again, considering his current string of bad luck, it may have just been teasing him.

Derek exhaled forcefully and tried to focus on the conversation at hand. Just how much was he actually going to admit? If he told Timothy everything he might be able to get some pity sex out of it. He rejected that idea immediately. He still had some pride after all and to him, there was a definite line between seduction and manipulation. Of course, despite the sparks of attraction that Derek felt towards Timothy, the omega had never shown so much as an ounce of interest in him. So it probably didn’t matter either way.

“It’s not really something I like to talk about,” admitted Derek after a moment. He chanced a look at Timothy and found those dark eyes staring at him attentively. If Derek was really being honest with himself, he didn’t need to get laid right now. He needed a friend. Listening, being supportive, offering words of encouragement, those were all things that Timothy had always done well.

So, Derek did something he thought he’d never do and consciously forced himself to stop thinking with his dick for a moment.

“I know it’s been a while since we last talked like this,” said Timothy with a bright, reassuring, little smile, “but you and I were always on good terms. You can tell me what’s bothering you. It’s not like I’m going to judge you. I’ve seen you at your worst. Remember the pizza party that Louisa threw?”

Derek’s mouth reflexively curled into a sheepish grin. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, doing his best to try and feign innocence.

“Uh huh, right. You were so drunk. You stripped down to your underwear and were bouncing on the sofa with a lampshade on your head. I’ve still got the pictures!” Timothy whipped out his cell phone and began flipping through the image gallery.

“You don’t have to do that!” Derek protested, reaching out and pushing Timothy’s phone to the table. “I’ve seen those pictures more times than I’ve ever wanted. I paid everyone else to delete them. I didn’t realize you had taken some too.”

“Of course I did. I figured I could use them to blackmail you or something later on.” Timothy shrugged as he switched off his phone. “But then a week later you were gone. I looked for you at the graduation ceremony for your class, but you weren’t there. Louisa and Reggie didn’t know where you went. No one was able to get a hold of you.” Timothy’s expression had slowly shifted into something much more melancholy. “What happened to you, Derek?”

Derek looked away again. This was the conversation he had wanted to avoid.

“I left.” Derek shrugged. “I was done with school. I had learned everything I wanted to learn and there was no point in staying.”

“Yeah, but you changed your phone number. You completely dropped off the face of the planet and you didn’t tell anyone anything,” Timothy protested.

“I’d already been there for three years by the time I met you,” Derek explained. “I…my parents told me that if I didn’t make significant progress towards finishing my degree they were going to cut me off and drag me back home. So I had no choice but to actually focus on finishing. Two years later, degree is done and my parents wanted me back home looking for a job.”

“Okay, but—”

“I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to deal with it.” Derek forced himself to look up at Timothy. The omega’s expression was one of confusion. “I wanted to enjoy the last few weeks of freedom that I had before I had to go back home. I didn’t want to be constantly reminded of the fact that I was going to be leaving you all behind. Then, after I left, I didn’t want to constantly be reminded of what I’d lost. My parents…my parents are very strict. They were also gifted with an ambitionless layabout for a son. They’ve poured tons of money into trying to turn me into a productive member of society and I’ve taken great pleasure in thwarting them at almost every turn.”

Derek hated telling people about his family situation. His parents had made his life something akin to hell when he was growing up. Violin, ballet, drama, art classes, karate, fencing, horseback riding; the list of classes and activities they had enrolled him in stretched on into eternity. At no point had he ever felt like he had any freedom in the direction of his life.

“Except,” continued Derek, “college was different. They basically told me that if I didn’t turn this into something productive then I was cut off for good. I needed to get a job, make this work, and be useful. Or else, no inheritance, no allowance, no car, nothing. They would disown me in everything but name. So I made the selfish decision to choose my bank account over my friends.”