Chapter 8

“Guys, I spend all day hanging out with someone who can’t talk and throws up on himself. I’m desperate for some actual conversation right now.” Luke was sitting at the table with an exasperated expression on his face. “I don’t think you guys realize just how bad it is. Last night when Peter and I went to bed I said ‘sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.’”

“He really did,” said Peter with an amused chuckle. “Then he pulled the covers up over me, kissed my forehead, and turned out the light. Then, about five minutes later, he swears, rolls over, and apologizes.”

Derek forced himself to laugh, but he kept his eyes fixed on the table in front of him. He’d barely managed to eat two bites of his food the entire time they’d been there. He glanced nervously at the clock on the wall. He was going to have to leave soon in order to meet up with Tony on time. To be entirely honest, he was looking forward to having an excuse to slip away.

“But really, you two haven’t said two words since we sat down,” Peter observed as he sat back in his chair. “Is something wrong?”

Derek fought the urge to look over at Timothy. The omega had arrived for lunch just after he did. Peter and Luke hadn’t let either of them escape.

“You know, I just realized, maybe they haven’t been introduced yet?” Luke chimed in. “Timothy hasn’t been back all that long after all.”

“Oh…” Peter sounded thoughtful. “Tim, this is—”

“Actually,” Timothy interrupted, sparing them both the embarrassment of having to fake their way through the introductions. “We met already. A long time ago.”

Derek glanced up, he wasn’t expecting Timothy to be so forthcoming with their shared past. Though there really wasn’t any reason to hide it. He just didn’t think the omega would have wanted to associate with him any more than was necessary.

“Really?” Luke looked shocked. He locked eyes with Derek. “You didn’t tell me you knew one of Peter’s brothers. When did this happen?”

“I didn’t know he was from the same family. It was a couple years ago before I started interning for Vince,” explained Derek. He exhaled and chanced a look over at Timothy. “We went to the same college.”

“That’s some coincidence,” said Peter. “So I take it you two were arch rivals or something?”

“What? No.” Timothy frowned at his brother.

“Wait, I know.” Luke sighed and pushed his plate away. “Derek broke your heart, didn’t he? He’s always been the ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em’ type.”

“No, he didn’t.” Timothy seemed uncomfortable with their interrogation. “He and I hung out with the same group of friends. Sure, he hit on me, but I’m not an idiot. I didn’t fall for it.”

“So you guys were friends then?” Peter seemed completely confused.

“Look it’s complicated. Do we really have to talk about this right now?” Timothy asked, shaking his head slowly.

“You’re being awful quiet, Derek. Don’t have anything to contribute?” prodded Luke.

“It’s not really any of your business,” Derek snapped a little more harshly than he had intended. He wasn’t trying to be combative, but he didn’t really feel like talking about any of this. Especially not to his cousin.

Luke had always lived a charmed life. Sure, he’d been estranged from his father but other than that things had been easy for him. He’d fallen into a career he loved. He’d grown famous without much effort. Then, somehow, he’d found the love of his life, had a kid and was on his way to getting married all in the space of a year. Meanwhile, he’d always seemed to resent Derek as nothing more than a rich, playboy, who had no goals in life.

While that might have been a correct assessment of him at one point, Derek was fairly certain that it was no longer accurate. Especially the rich part. He just wasn’t entirely sure what his goals actually were now.

Either way, Luke was the last person he was going to go to for life advice.

“I’m sorry, excuse me for being nosy.” Luke held up his hand apologetically. “Like I said, I’m desperate for conversation and you two really aren’t helping much.”

The room was silent for several long moments before Timothy finally spoke up. “Peter said he proposed to you last night.”

A broad smile spread across Luke’s lips and he immediately thrust out his left hand. A white-gold engagement band, glittered with dozens of tiny inset diamonds. “Have you ever seen anything so sparkly?”

“It’s beautiful.” Timothy sounded like he really was in awe of the ring’s design and flash. “You must be so happy.”

Derek sat back in his chair and watched the exchange. There was something in the way the two omegas interacted that stood out to him. One spoke with barely concealed gloating while the other complimented with thinly veiled jealousy. Yet, Timothy appeared to be genuinely happy for Luke. Then was he sad that he himself hadn’t found an alpha yet? There was a yearning look in Timothy’s eyes that made Derek’s chest tighten uncomfortably.

The sensation was baffling to him. He was fond of Timothy, yes. He had pined and chased after this particular omega longer than any other. Yet, in the end, he doubted that his feelings towards him went much deeper than physical desire. If he indulged them then there would be nothing left. He would burn that bridge completely. Despite that, there was part of him that wanted to be the alpha that eventually put a ring on Timothy’s finger. Those two conflicting desires were making it difficult for him to put his thoughts into words. Nothing he could think to say made the least bit of sense.

So he opted for silence.

He glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. Finally, he could escape. “I need to get going. Tony’ll be upset if I’m late.” He pushed back from the table and started to rise.

“I should get going as well,” blurted Timothy, who sprang out of his chair as quickly as possible. “Thank you for lunch. I’m sorry I wasn’t better company. I’ve just had a lot on my mind because of what’s going on with Andrew…” He apologized as he backed away towards the door. A moment later and he was gone.

“Before you go…” Luke called out to Derek as he tried to replicate Timothy’s escape. “I want an explanation for what happened there. Why were you both so quiet?”

“We’re both caught up in our own stuff, I guess.” Derek shrugged and looked away from his cousin’s withering gaze. “Besides, it’s not really your problem, is it?”

“I swear, Derek, if you break his heart—”

“Damn, Luke, back off. You’re not my parent and you’re not his parent.” Derek was done putting up with his cousin. “Honestly, just leave it alone. Everything you’re going to say I already know. I’m not going to get involved with him. You’ve got nothing to worry about.” He turned away and had to force himself to walk to the front door. Every muscle in his body wanted to run away.

But as an alpha, he had a certain image he wanted to maintain. An image of calm confidence that didn’t get ruffled by nosy cousins and difficult emotional conflicts. He could feel Luke and Peter staring at him as he put his shoes on and grabbed his jacket. It wasn’t until he was safely outside once more that he realized he was holding his breath. The tension drained out of his body and he gave himself a moment to calm down before heading out to meet up with Tony.

***

The rest of the afternoon passed easily. By the time they made the last trip up the mountain, Derek felt relatively confident in his ability to shuttle people back and forth. He was still a little nervous about what would happen when it started to snow, but he had enough on his plate without worrying about something he had no control over.

“You did good today,” admitted Tony once the van was safely parked back at Snowed Inn. “Do you think you’ve got it under control for tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Derek fell into step beside Tony as they walked back across the parking lot towards the lodge. It was well after dark by this point. The temperature had dropped significantly and their breath emerged in clouds of steam.

“I just…” Tony seemed to be struggling to say something. “I know it’s probably awkward for you to live with Peter and Luke right now.”

Derek frowned as they came to a stop just outside the front doors of the lodge. “What brought this up all of a sudden?” he asked. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate Tony’s concern, but after not talking about much of anything all afternoon it was kind of out of the blue.

“You just seemed a little off ever since coming back from lunch earlier. I saw you coming out of Peter’s condo so I thought that might be part of it.” Tony shrugged as he pulled open the door to the lodge.

Derek followed him inside but didn’t answer. Tony wasn’t entirely wrong in his assessment of the situation. He had felt awkward and out of place throughout lunch. Part of him regretted the things he had said to his cousin. However, it was only a symptom of the larger problem. A problem that Derek was still struggling to completely pin down.

He shuddered as the warmth of the lodge wrapped around him. The lobby was deserted, the shops and other amenities were closed. Snowed Inn was closing down for the night. Soon, he would have to slink back to Peter and Luke’s condo and try to make up with them. He knew Luke would want an explanation for that afternoon’s uncomfortable lunch and he really wasn’t prepared to give one.

“Anyway,” continued Tony as the stopped in the middle of the lobby, “since I don’t want to risk you running late and missing your first shuttle in the morning, I figured I’d offer you the empty bedroom in my condo.”

Derek did a double take. He glanced sidelong at Tony and tried to carefully assess the situation. Tony was an omega and, as far as Derek could tell, he didn’t have a boyfriend. Was he…?

“Look, Tony…I…” Derek tried to put his thoughts into words. Every time he tried, however, he could only imagine making the situation progressively worse.

“Geez, you don’t have to make it weird.” Tony shook his head and rolled his eyes. “I’m not interested in you and you don’t seem to be interested in me. I’ve got an empty bedroom, with a real bed in it, that you can have if you want. If you’re more comfortable sleeping on my brother’s couch and getting woken up by a newborn then that’s your choice.” He shrugged, shoved his hands in his pockets, and started walking away.

“Wait!” Derek called out. He knew he was being an idiot. Turning down an actual bed was ridiculous. At least this way he wouldn’t run the risk of walking in on Luke and Peter again. “I’m sorry I just…my head’s a bit of a mess right now. I appreciate the offer and I would love to take you up on it.”

Tony paused and looked back at him. “You should probably go get your things from Peter’s place before they put the baby to bed then.”

Derek nodded in agreement. “You’ve helped me out again. Thank you.”

***

Derek’s new bedroom was just across the hall from Tony’s room. All of the condos had two bedrooms on the second floor while the living, dining, and kitchen were on the first floor.

It had been weeks since Derek had slept in a real bed. He collapsed onto the mattress and groaned as the kinks in his back slowly began to unwind. As he stared up at the ceiling, his thoughts drifted back to lunch that afternoon.

Timothy hadn’t even really been able to look at him. It was clear that the omega regretted everything that had happened between them the previous night. It hadn’t been much, but it had been all of the reassurance that Derek needed to not pursue the relationship any further.

Still, he regretted that their friendship seemed to have been damaged by the interaction. The time he had spent with his friends in college had resulted in some of his fondest memories. The person he had been with Timothy, Reggie, and Louisa was who he wanted to be once more. However, those days were a distant memory now. Time had marched on and there was no going back.

The only thing he could do now was try to find a place to call his own and a version of himself that he didn’t hate. He would give up on his friendship with Timothy and try to move forward. Maybe someday they would be able to start again, but that day was a long, long way off.