What the fuck?

Trying to figure out what Kaden was thinking or feeling was starting to make me dizzy. One minute, he seemed totally into me. The next, he was running away from me like I had a communicable disease.

It was getting old.

If I wasn’t so fucking obsessed with him, I would have forgotten about him the minute he was out of sight. But that wasn’t gonna happen. Not after spending time with him outside of the bar. No, I wasn’t going to give up, but I needed to give him some space. Kaden was a big boy, and he knew what he wanted. I hoped he wanted me… But he obviously needed to decide that on his own.

I went looking for him once. If he wanted to see me, he’d have to make the next move.

It’s not like he didn’t know where to find me.

As frustrating as it was, I drove back to the bar. For the rest of the day, I unpacked boxes, scanned labels, and organized shelves just to keep my mind off Kaden. It worked for the most part. But as soon as all that busy work was done, my mind immediately drifted back to those hazel eyes and that sweet smile.

We were closed on Mondays, so when there wasn’t anything else I could do at the bar, I grabbed my gym bag and went to work out. Nothing could distract me like stressing my muscles to the edge of exhaustion, then taking a hot shower to release all the tension. The gym I went to was just a few doors down from The Fallen Nut so it was a quick walk whenever I needed to take a break from life. Gabe, the guy who owned the place, gave me and Justin a lifetime membership in exchange for free beers. And since Gabe usually came in with a crowd of guys, it was a win win situation for everyone.

Gabe held up his fist to me as as I walked past the reception desk. “Mitch, how’s it going?”

“Good.” I bumped his fist and noticed some hickeys on his neck. “What’s going on with you?”

He gave me a smirk then nodded toward a pair of omegas on treadmills. “Got a couple twinks keeping me busy.”

I checked out the guys and nodded approvingly. “Nice.”

“Yeah, they are.” He chuckled under his breath and reached for his crotch. “But my knot is fucking sore. Those two are insatiable.”

I just shook my head as I grabbed a towel from the stack on the counter. “Sorry, dude, but I have no sympathy for you.”

So much for a distraction. Now all I could think about was how deliciously fulfilled my knot felt after fucking Kaden. Dammit, I couldn’t even get on a treadmill because the pheromones coming off those omegas would have been too strong. Instead, I headed straight to the free weights, settling in for an intense workout.

When I got into the bar the next night, Justin was standing behind the counter with a shit-eating grin.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He shrugged and smiled even wider. “What’s going on with you?”

I glanced around the bar, but it was still pretty empty and nothing stood out as significant to me. “Nothing. Why are you looking at me like that?”

He raised an eyebrow toward the office. “There were a few voicemails for you last night.”

“There were?” At first I was confused because most of the business calls went to Justin. Then I realized why my brother was teasing me. “Oh, okay. Thanks.”

He laughed and filled a glass with beer. “Looks like someone has an admirer.”

“Yeah?” The grumpy mood I’d been in for the past twenty-four hours instantly lifted and a renewed hope filled me. Whatever was in the voice messages must not have been bad if Justin was looking at me like that. “I’ve got some stuff to do back there anyway. Shout if you need me.”

He just shook his head with a knowing grin as I disappeared into the office, shutting the door behind me.

I hit the button for the messages and typed in the code before I dropped into the chair behind the desk. There were three saved messages. The first one came in at 6:15 Monday night. That’s when I realized Kaden didn’t know how to reach me outside of the bar, and since we were closed on Monday, he probably thought I wasn’t interested. I held my breath as I listened to his nervous voice over the line.

“Hi, um, this is Kaden. I’m calling for Tapped. I mean, I’m calling for Mitch about getting tapped. Fuck, never mind.” Click.

I bit my lip to hold back the stupid grin as I pictured Kaden’s cheeks pinking up at his freudian slips. He must not have heard the part about deleting the message and rerecording it. Unless that wasn’t his first attempt. That thought made me relax back into the chair as the second message began playing.

“Hello, this is Kaden Foster. I spoke to Mitch earlier today about our beer, uh, Tapped, winning the Nut Bowl. I didn’t get all the details, so I just wanted to find out what you needed and when. Um, thanks.”

He didn’t leave his number, but the number recorded in the voice mail system was the same for both messages, so I assumed it was Kaden’s cell phone. I plugged it into my phone while the third message started to play.

“Hey, Mitch. It’s Kaden. I stopped by The Fallen Nut but it’s closed today. You probably know it’s closed since it’s your bar. Anyway, I was thinking maybe you could call me some time? Like, maybe tomorrow. I mean, Tuesday not Wednesday since you’re probably hearing this message on Tuesday. Which is tomorrow for me. Fuck, I’m babbling. Just call me. Or don’t. Whatev. Fuck…”

I actually laughed out loud and hit the key to replay that message. Kaden’s downward spiral of awkward nonsense was fucking adorable. And I couldn’t wait to see him again. With his sweetly frustrated voice playing quietly in the background, I typed out a text message to him.

Got your messages. I’m at the bar tonight. Stop by if you can.

The thought bubbles to indicate he was typing appeared almost immediately after the Read indicator under my message. Then they disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing on my screen. I stared at my phone for almost five minutes before actual words appeared on the screen.

Yeah, okay. I might stop by a little later.

It wasn’t exactly the enthusiastic reply I was hoping to get from Kaden, but it still made my belly flutter. It had only been twenty-four hours since I last saw him, but I was desperate to see him again. Maybe this time, I’d get more than a rushed kiss out of that hot little nerdy omega.