Ryan found himself back at the bar the next night. He hadn’t made plans to meet Dylan there, but he walked in and almost immediately picked up on that familiar scent despite all the other odors crowded into the small space. The omega had his face buried in what looked to be a cup of coffee, but Ryan suspected there might be a splash or two of whiskey in there as well.
Fetching his own dolled-up cup of coffee from the bar, he headed back to their booth and sat down opposite Dylan. “Hey,” he said. “You trying to party without me?”
“You know it,” Dylan muttered. “I don’t need an alpha to have a good time.”
Ryan studied his friend, feeling the same bite of worry as before tugging on his stomach from the inside. Dylan looked like hell. There were deep smudges under his eyes, which were unnaturally bloodshot. “Rough night?”
“Yeah. Woke up late. Really screwed up my entire day.”
“Me too.” Ryan took a sip of his coffee, feeling the warmth of the alcohol burn all the way down and settle deep in the pit of his stomach. Some of the worry lessened beneath that soft heat, but most of it was still there. He hadn’t been able to chase all of it away just yet. He took another sip of coffee, biding his time while thinking. “You ever think we work too much?”
“Sometimes I think I don’t work enough,” Dylan replied. “Too much spare time to have all these unwanted thoughts. You’d think with all the thinking I do, I’d be smart by now, but nope. Still as dumb as ever.”
“Must be dumb thoughts, then.”
“Eh, probably.”
“You ever think about getting away from here?”
Dylan frowned, his expression more bitter than the coffee. “You mean permanently? I’ve got a son in the area. Leaving isn’t an option. Or are you asking me to go on a romantic getaway with you?”
“Neither one,” Ryan said and laughed a little, even though he wasn’t amused. There was something in the back of his mind that said he’d rather go on a romantic getaway with Dylan over anyone else, but that wasn’t exactly the reason he’d said it. “It’s just that I’ve got something that I think needs checking out and I was wondering if you’d come along with me. You know how much I value your opinion.”
“Brown-noser.” Dylan sank deep into his cup again, eyes half-closed. His eyelids were semi-transparent and a little swollen, covered with threads of red and blue vein as if he’d been rubbing at them a lot lately. “I can’t afford to make time right now to go chasing a wild daydream with you. Maybe when we were back in college, but we’re adults now. ”
“Where’s the fun in that if we can’t do what we want?” Ryan countered.
Dylan lifted his head and looked at him, river-blue eyes cloudy as if reflecting an overcast sky. Suddenly, he laughed and it was warm, affectionate. Ryan grinned back, relieved, knowing he’d broken through whatever wall had been between them. “What’s this all about, anyway?”
Ryan leaned forward. If there was anyone who would believe him on this, it was going to be Dylan. Still, he had to be careful with his wording to minimize the risk of sounding insane. “You know Joshua Silver, right?”
Dylan frowned a little before his gaze cleared. “The baker. Nice kid. Married now to that punk. Am I right?”
“You’re right.”
“What about him?”
“Did it ever seem a little weird to you how fast he found his mate?”
Dylan didn’t even need to give that any thought. He shook his head right away. “It can happen fast. You know that. I’d guess they just ran across each other out on the street and the rest was history.”
“Yeah, that’s probably what everyone thinks.” Ryan drank more of his coffee, searching for the next batch of words. “Dylan, I’m the reason Joshua found his mate.”
“Oh. Well. Good for you?”
Ryan growled at himself a little, frustration starting to get the best of him. How was he going to do this if he couldn’t even tell the story right? “No. Listen. I told Josh about something that you’re supposed to be able to do to figure out who your mate is, and he did it. Now I’m kind of thinking that I shouldn’t have done that. It’s like meddling with the laws of the universe. I was going to go check on it, and I thought maybe you’d like to come with me.”
There. In a vague way, it was now out. Depending on how Dylan felt about all that, he might add more detail.
He hadn’t been looking at Dylan as he spoke. He did so now, intending to examine his friend to judge his belief in what was suggested; much to his astonishment, no examination was needed. Though Dylan could occasionally be difficult to read, he now seemed to be wearing his heart on his sleeve. His mouth was open and his eyes were equally wide, filled with shock. He looked like a man who had just been slapped across the face, right down to the blush forming on his stubbly cheeks. The hand holding up the coffee cup trembled dangerously, sloshing sludgy brown liquid over the rim. Dylan set the cup down with excruciating deliberateness and then pulled in a deep breath, which rattled in his lungs.
“Dilly?” Ryan couldn’t tell if this reaction was good or bad.
Dylan’s throat worked for a moment and then his mouth moved, as if chewing over the words he wanted to say. Then, he swallowed hard. “Let’s go right now.”