Kyle carefully lined up his ball, looking down the lane as if picturing the geometry involved to pick up the spare. I waited until his arm was lined up with precision and just before he released it, I spoke.

“You and I both know that you were scoping my ass when I took my last shot. I don’t care what you said. I felt your eyes burning a second hole in my ass.”

His bowling ball dropped with a thunk and rolled to the gutter. Kyle turned around, his eyes flashing as both hands went to his hips. “That was a dirty trick.” He tried but couldn’t play off being pissed for too long before he started cracking up.

“Hey, when you’re losing as badly as I am, you do whatever it takes to win.” I held my hands out as I pled my case.

Kyle threw his head back to laugh, revealing the long line of his throat. It was so good to see him with his guard down, laughing and carefree. He came over and bumped me with his hip, hinting for me to scoot over on the bench and flashing me a playful glare as his numbers updated on our scoreboard.

“It doesn’t matter, you know. I still totally kicked your ass.” He smiled smugly, his eyes sparkling with pride.

I couldn’t resist, I darted in and stole a kiss. I loved seeing a cocky Kyle. It was a good look on him. “That’s okay, if I have to suck at something then I can think of far worse things than bowling.”

He tipped his head thoughtfully to one side. “But does cheating at bowling make you a sucky date? Because if you wanted a second one, you might not want to blow this one completely.”

Cracking up, I reached over to boop his nose with the tip of my finger. “You make a good point. But can I just say how impressive it is that you can bowl with one hand in a cast?”

He shrugged. “I suppose it could be considered impressive if it were my dominant hand. But since I’m right-handed, I’m pretty sure a damaged left one doesn’t count. I mean, I’ll take the props. But, yeah. It totally doesn’t count.”

“Did we really finish bowling all of our games?” I looked around, suddenly noticing that the people who’d been playing around us when we arrived were long gone. “Shoot, how long have we been here?”

“I don’t know, but I guess it’s true when they say that time flies when you’re having fun because I had a blast kicking your pitiful butt today. I vote we turn our shoes in and leave. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for dinner.” Kyle smiled shyly as he stood and stretched his back. Aside from the cast, he seemed to be good as new.

Taking one last look at my awful score, I rose and reached for his hand. “Dinner sounds fantastic right about now. Since you chose our activity, can I choose the restaurant?”

Kyle looked down at our joined hands then glanced back up with a teasing smile. “I’m pretty sure that since I’m the one who did the asking, I’m supposed to do all of the date planning, right?”

“Fair point. Does that mean that I get to do all the choosing next time we go on a date?” I swung our hands back and forth as we walked toward the shoe counter.

“Nice try, buddy. I see you angling for a second date before we’ve even finished this one.” He gave my hand a squeeze then pulled free so he could sit down and remove his rental shoes.

“Hey,” I said while shrugging. “You can’t blame a guy for trying. Hell, I waited over two years for this date. I figure while I’ve got you here and you’re all hopped up from your big win, I can probably convince you to give me another shot.”

He pulled his shoes off and flashed me a wink. “You’ll just have to wait until the end of the night and see how everything turns out. Isn’t that how things usually go for first dates?”

I reached for his rentals and leaned over his chair to whisper in his ear. “Maybe for most people. But since we’re already past the first kiss stage, I figure we can probably just make the rules up as we go.”

Before he could answer, I dropped a quick kiss on his cheek and went over to the counter to turn in our shoes. After we had our own back on and were ready to go, we headed on foot for the new sushi place a half-block over.

“Thank you for trying this with me,” Kyle said happily as we approached the restaurant. “I’ve heard great things about this place, and I’ve been craving sushi, you know?”

I shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a hardship to ask me to enjoy good food and even better company.” He beamed as I opened the door. As we walked in, Kyle froze and turned visibly green before spinning on his heel and rushing back outside.

He walked just past the restaurant before bending over and gripping his knees as he gasped for air. I rubbed his shoulder. “Take a deep breath, it’ll pass. What happened?”

“I don’t know, but when we walked in there and I smelled the fish?” He made a gagging sound and started panting again.

“Never mind, let’s not talk about it. Just catch your breath and let the nausea pass,” I advised. I was a little concerned by how nauseous he’d been lately, but I hadn’t wanted to address it yet.

“Look what we have here, Henri. A big, old, blubbering baby. What’s wrong, did they run out of salmon?” I looked over to see Fred with some snotty-looking omega twink clinging to his arm.

I heard a hitch in Kyle’s breath and protectively stepped in front of him. “Keep on walking, dickhead. I think you’ve hurt Kyle enough for one lifetime.”

Fred raised a brow and sneered up at me. “Oh, so that’s how it is, huh? Mr. Goody Two-Shoes is fucking the boss? Shit, I bet you two were fucking around the whole time that we were together. I knew that Kyle was a worthless fucking loser, but I can’t believe he had the nerve to call me a cheater while he was doing it himself.”

The snotty little shit clinging to him tittered with amusement, which only pissed me off more. I could picture my fist plowing into Fred’s ugly face, but it wasn’t worth it. Kyle had been through enough without seeing yet another alpha resort to violence.

“You’re wrong, dickless. What you need to do is shut up and get the fuck out of our faces. You lost the right to speak to Kyle the moment that you laid hands on him.”

Fred’s eyes narrowed as he craned his neck to try and see around me to where Kyle was still bent over double. “What’s wrong, Kyle? You can’t speak for yourself now? And yet, I’ve heard through the grapevine that I’m the one you’re calling abusive. Which, by the way, is libelous when there’s no proof about who caused your purported injuries.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I took a step forward but Kyle put a hand on my shoulder and gave his head a slight shake as he stepped up beside me, drawing himself to his full height as he looked down at Fred.

“I can speak for myself, Frederick, I just chose not to. Dallas said it best, you lost any right you may have had to speak to me when you did what you did. You can sell your lies to anybody you want, but you and I—and Henri, should he choose to admit it—know the truth.”

Fred glared up at Kyle for several tense moments until Henri broke the silence. He tugged on Fred’s arm and began whining. “I’m bored, Freddikins. You promised me sushi, remember? Forget the blob, let’s go have our dinner.”

Without further comment, Fred turned and walked away with Henri. I turned to Kyle, my heart tugging at how broken he looked after that little run-in.

“I’m sorry that you had to see him with that little shit. Does it still hurt?” I reached out tentatively to cradle his cheek, relieved when he nuzzled into my palm.

He looked at me curiously. “Does what still hurt? My bruises are all healed. Except for this cast on my arm, I’m fine—but you know that.”

I shook my head. “No, I meant does your heart still hurt. Do you still care about him? I mean, was it hard to see him with the guy he cheated on you with? I’m sorry he did that to you, hon.”

Kyle shook his head with a sad smile. “Looking back, I think I fell out of love with him the first time he laid hands on me—which, incidentally, wasn’t the day that you found me in the hospital. I was just too busy making excuses for his awful behavior to realize how I felt. I’m relieved to be free of him, although I do feel sorry for Henri. No matter how shitty that little asshole is, he doesn’t deserve what’s coming his way when Fred shows his real face.”

“Babe, he saw you get beaten to a pulp by Fred and still chose to stay with him. Trust me, he knows what he’s getting into. He’s just stupid enough to think he can control him.” I shrugged and shook my head at the ridiculousness of it all.

Kyle put his arm around my waist. “You know what? We’ve wasted too much time on our date talking about them. Let’s go home; I’ve got the makings for an orange chicken stir fry. Hmm, I’m pretty sure I’ve even got some of those almond slivers left.”

I kissed his temple before guiding him back in the direction we’d come from. “I like the sound of that, Kyle. Let’s go home.”