JT snapped his head back at Phoenix’s door, catching the curtain in the living room window fluttering. The kids had to be watching. And he wanted no one seeing his reaction to Alec’s words. His very weird, super convoluted reaction to Alec in general.

“Follow me,” he said, voice low and warning as he released Alec.

Rather than scurry from him with his freedom, Alec remained close, within arm’s length. The short step back didn’t protect him from JT hauling him back, pressing him near to his pounding heart, and testing his theory…because he was starting to get the sense that Alec was feeling him too.

Maybe a bit desperately as well, as he licked his bottom lip and tucked it under his teeth. His wide dark brown eyes ringed by fair lashes belying his real color, which had JT’s gaze wandering lower to his groin. Would the kid’s pubes also be natural blond?

Alec shifted in place, his arms rising, caging over his chest. The action forced JT to meet his eyes once more, which in turn saved him from salivating over the fantasy of dropping to his knees and drawing Alec’s cock out, giving him pleasure of the like he hasn’t witnessed yet. He was too young to really know what a good blowjob was like…right?

JT clenched his teeth, annoyed at the insinuation in that doubting thought. Just the idea of Alec being claimed by another alpha steamed his blood, so much that he couldn’t care less what the winter could do to him. And a cold knocking him out was the last thing he wanted while hunting for jobs.

Alec had been right there: JT needed more work. Because more work meant more money, and more money was good right now—particularly when a loan shark dropped by, asking for her loan plus exorbitant interest.

Not that he ever imagined a job would be coming from the omega he lusted for day and night; the omega that had him in a yo-yo rut since their first meeting three years earlier. Taking a job from Alec could only mean trouble, especially if he planned to keep his hands off the younger man. No need to add temptation to his full plate.

That’s why he has to go.

With that thought, JT jerked his head to the pickup, his hands squeezing into fists. “Up for a drive around the block? You’ll have plenty of time to explain yourself, kid.”

“It’s pretty clear, isn’t it?” Alec’s nose twitched, his chin lifting higher, his eyes narrowing. “Also, stop calling me that. I’m not a kid.”

“Yeah. You’re right. You’re no kid, that’s for sure,” JT drawled, his gaze dragging over Alec. No damn bulky coat could hide him from the alpha entirely. This close, JT inhaled a sharp breath and soaked in Alec’s spiced fruity essence intermingled with unexplained citrus and the roasted beans from the coffee. He must have taken it black.

Whatever it was, his mouth watered, and he angled for the truck, moving to hide the tent his steely erection had made of the front of his jeans.

He opened the driver’s door, glancing back at Alec. “If you want me to entertain this job offer, you’d get in the truck.”

“That’s what he said…before he killed me,” Alec muttered.

JT covered the twitching smile threatening to shine as the omega dropped his arms from his chest, cooled it with the pouting, and rounded the front of the pickup. Inside the cab once more, this time without an unwanted third party, Alec squirmed in his seat, the restless action not called on by JT until he had the car backed from Phoenix’s lot and on the road.

He drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel. “So?”

Alec sighed, shifted enough to brush his hand over JT’s thigh. He yanked it back, his eyes wide, his mouth parted slightly.

JT pretended he hadn’t felt the jolting spark from where Alec touched him. Not quite like static, but akin to it, as it fanned the flames of his desire, his cock stretching with need for the omega beside him.

Before he considered it a mistake to have Alec join him in the truck, just the two of them, JT asked, “What’s this about wanting me to mate with you?”

“It would be for the job,” Alec said. “Strictly professional, of course. We wouldn’t have to actually mate.”

JT gripped the wheel harder, jerking sharper to the right of the bend than he’d intended. Alec grasped the oh-shit bar above the passenger’s side. “Sorry,” was all JT mumbled. His head had been in the clouds, absorbing this supposed job details. Though still sparse, he had the gist of it. But not the ‘why’ yet…

“Why?” he asked, giving Alec a quick glance. “And why me?”

Alec held on tightly, stammering, “I just do. And I’m only asking you because I overheard you…outside.”

Well, his eavesdropping was obvious. The only thing JT regretted there was having lingered to accept the coffee, delicious or not.

JT scoffed. “We’re not doing this if you’re not going to be honest.” Was he honestly entertaining this though? The truth was “hell no”—it did fascinate him to no end. Alec was adorable. A good-looking omega, and a young one, who could probably have any alpha or beta he wanted.

He could have gone to Parrot with this.

JT frowned at that thought, immediately countering with a strong affirmation that Parrot and Alec would get with each other over the death of his friendship with the former. That was the only way it’d go down.

Pushing out any thought for Parrot, he concentrated on steering the truck around another bend around this piece of suburbia. “I do need a job.”

Alec shifted in his seat, the leather bench squeaking under him. “And I have a job. I’d pay well, too, if that’s the issue.”

“But I have no interest in being mated to anyone, even for money.”

“Why am I in your truck then?” Alec asked, sounding waspish now he wasn’t getting his way.

“Why are you?” JT countered. He rounded another bend, almost through with ringing the few blocks. “You hopped in, remember? I didn’t force you in here.”

“You were interested though. You are still.” Alec’s determination impressed JT. Not enough to agree to the craziness he offered. And he had no doubt that Alec would pay well. He was loaded, that much was clear from the get-go.

But JT wasn’t for sale.

He wasn’t pimping himself out to this omega, no matter how hard his cock throbbed for the kid. JT drove in silence, rounding one final bend and slowing the truck, parking and regarding Alec. “Need me to walk you to the door, kid?”

Alec scowled, his hand already pulling open the door.

It took all of JT’s strength to remain seated. He hadn’t been kidding about walking Alec to the door. He wanted these precious few seconds to last. So he was a bit irked the omega hadn’t taken him up on the offer.

Alec didn’t shut the door though. He pulled a studded wallet from his pocket. Guess he hadn’t left behind the rebellious teen JT had first met three years ago.

Digging out a receipt, he looked to JT and asked, “Do you have a pen?”

Curious, and willing to toss him a bone, the alpha opened his glove compartment and rooted out a nubby pencil. Although blunt, Alec was able to scrawl down his number.

JT stared at the piece of paper on the seat, frowning. “I’m not going to call you.”

“Just in case you change your mind.” Alec nodded shortly, his lips thin. He closed the door.

In the quietude, JT said, “I won’t.” The argument was moot without Alec here to counter it. Driving back to Phoenix’s place, JT nearly missed his turn into the drive of the two-story house, his mind left behind with Alec.

He kept the truck running long enough to drop in on Phoenix and his four children, to tell his friend and former president of The Strix MC’s west chapter that he had something important come up.

Phoenix didn’t hassle him about who Alec was, and what he wanted. That was good as JT wouldn’t have had answers for him.

Driving with half his heart, half his mind, JT managed to get home in one piece. He remained in the truck in the parking garage, the keys in one hand, the other holding the oddly weighty fast food receipt with Alec’s number scrawled on the back. At least next time he’d know that Alec liked Hawaiian pizza.

Crumpling the receipt, JT stilled his hand from junking it. Instead, he shoved it into his jacket pocket. It remained heavy in there, too.

But there won’t be a next time… Will there?

JT exited the truck, chased by his predicament up from the garage to their fourteenth-floor two-bedroom flat.

Judging by his shoes on the boot tray, water coalescing under the soles, Parrot was home and not too soon before JT. But since the road conditions from the snowfall the past few days had made the streets unsuitable for their motorcycles, how had Parrot gotten out? And, since he had something else to think about besides Alec, where had Parrot gone exactly?

JT walked to his room, spying Parrot’s closed door and figuring he’d gone to sleep…or he was still avoiding him after he discovered the twelve thousand he owed a loan shark.

Leaving him be, and unable to deal with Parrot on top of Alec, JT closed his door and shrugged off his jacket, tossing it on his bed. He stepped out onto the balcony and soaked in the white afternoon. It was a winter wonderland paradise, and some people had already strung up Christmas lights.

He wished he could steal some of that festive mood.

Sighing, he turned back in, stirring from his objective to throw down and try to catch his breath from the unplanned, crazy parts of his day thus far. But he stopped shy of his goal, his head snapping to the door, ears straining to make out the thud he’d heard.

When it sounded again, followed by Parrot’s loud curse, JT moved into action.

His roommate wasn’t in his bedroom; Parrot was in the bathroom. And he snapped, “I’m fine,” when JT knocked for an answer. It wasn’t a convincing reply. Undeterred, JT returned to the door with a butter knife. It did the trick, twisting open the lock, and giving JT access to Parrot.

Before opening the door, he gave his friend a quick warning, “Hope you’re decent.” Not that it mattered. They’d seen each other at their most vulnerable. Their three-year-long dry spell didn’t count for anything.

Parrot sat hunched on the edge of the bathtub, a first aid kit open over the toilet lid. He lifted his head, giving JT a view of the bloodied bruises decorating his face. The swelling suggested he’d been beaten not too long ago, but before he’d returned home.

“Shit,” JT hissed.

He crouched in front of Parrot who leaned back, holding out a hand. “I’m cool,” he said, sounding like the opposite. It didn’t help that he winced when he spoke, or that his lips had ballooned to double their usual size.

“What the hell—” JT stopped short. Now wasn’t the time to argue. Patching up Parrot would have to be his first priority. Later, he could berate and browbeat the idiot for getting himself to this position.

The blood droplets by Parrot’s boot focused JT’s attention to the blood sticking his long-sleeved shirt to his arm. When he began rolling up the shirt, Parrot grimaced. “Easy,” he puffed, baring his teeth as JT worked the material up slowly, revealing the clean slice on his arm.

JT noted a upended bottle of naproxen. Good. Parrot would need it.

Holding in the shitstorm of emotions whirling away inside of him, JT worked to clean the area first, and then he found thread and a needle in the first aid box. “For the suture,” he explained at Parrot’s wide-eyed terror, his fear of needles coming to the fore.

He should have thought about that before seeking a loan shark.

Without a doubt in his mind, JT was sure this was the work of that blond creditor and her thugs. Namely, her goons, but she called the shots clearly. But since he didn’t want to shout and rave while he fixed Parrot’s wound, he concentrated on the task before him. Working swiftly, but diligently, JT sealed the open wound together, and cleaned the area again. He finished it off by smoothing on a bandage and nodding curtly. “All done.”

Closing the first aid box, he stood and stepped to the side, his back leaning on the sink counter, his arms crossed over his chest. “Wait for me outside. I’ll clean up in here.”

“No,” Parrot said, standing, his teeth clenched. He breathed through his nose, hard and fast, his nostrils flaring. “Nah, I’ll do it. My mess.”

“Since when do you ever clean up around here?” JT’s bitterness peeked out from each word. He set his jaw, digging in his feet, not backing down. Parrot was in the wrong here. And once again, it looked like JT would be cleaning up after him.

Silently, Parrot passed him, leaving the bathroom. His footfalls padded in the direction of their bedrooms, his door slamming a few seconds later. His anger only fueling JT’s wrath. It helped to clean, whittle the sharp, sour edges of his rage, so when it came time to have their little chat, JT appeared cool and collected, sensible in his approach.

Once he’d cleaned thoroughly, he answered his grumbling stomach. In the kitchen, JT fixed a sandwich. And despite the blown threshold of his annoyance, he made an extra plate for Parrot, in case he’d worked up an appetite from his fight.

He grabbed sodas for them instead. The alcohol wasn’t going to help chill their fraught tension. Before walking over his peace offering, JT moved to his room for his jacket on his bed. He fished out Alec’s number from the pocket, walking it back to the kitchen.

After giving a long hard stare, JT pulled his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and texted Alec.

job still open kid??

He barely sent the message before Alec winged back with a response.

mayb

JT rolled his eyes. He called him. Alec answered on the third ring—the little tease.

“Is it or not?” JT gripped the counter, suddenly plagued with the sickening thought of Alec having found someone else for this strange job of his, of which he still knew little details and zero reasoning for it.

“Hello to you, too.” Alec was apparently bolder on the phone. He sniffed loudly. “It’s like I said, maybe. Why? I thought you said you weren’t interested.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I am. And maybe if it’s still open, you’d tell me what I’d need to do to maybe apply.”

There was a long pause on Alec’s end after that. Long enough that JT moved the phone from his ear to ensure the omega hadn’t hung up on him. “You there, kid?”

Alec hummed as way of answer. Then he said, “Fine. Do you know where the L’Oiseau Inn is?”

“I’ll manage,” JT said. He wanted to hang up before he changed his mind. “What time?”

“Tomorrow afternoon. Say, around noon?” Alec didn’t say goodbye when he clicked off. JT preferred it that way. As he said, if they did this—if he agreed to be the omega’s mate, it’d be only a professional relationship.