Closer didn’t show. I won’t make it to Omega Night.

Killian and I had finally exchanged numbers, which was awesome, but I hadn’t seen him since he’d dropped me off at home a couple days ago. I loved Lola, I really did, but I wasn’t impressed by her calling in sick to go to some stupid concert. Sick is sick, not adventure time. She didn’t even pretend to hide the reason and made the mistake of leaving the message with Bethany who broadcast it to the entire staff, including me—the guy stuck taking her place. I was so not impressed.

Double shift?

He accentuated it with a little sad face and I could picture him making a fake little pouty face. I still wasn’t sure where we stood, not really, but when you get covered in each other’s cum and still text, chances are it’s going somewhere. So I hoped.

Pretty much. You mad?

Hardly. I’m okay with alphas not ogling you.

To my relief, he had answered quickly. I knew the are you mad? thing ticked off a lot of alphas, but in this case, it wasn’t a needy trick to garner affirmation, I really wanted to know. I could conceivably make it there before last call, dressed in my fabulous polyester uniform and smelling like floor cleaner—which was going to inevitably spill on me—but after such a long day, I would be a dead man walking and that was not the impression I wanted to give Killian.

It made my heart pitter patter that he didn’t want other alphas staring at me. His possessive claim boosted my confidence and solidified my belief that he was wanting more than just a quick slap and tickle.

You ogle me.

Of course, I worked really hard to encourage said ogling.

Damn straight I do. We still on for Monday?

Monday. Our first date. Killian’s schedule shifted a couple of days from the normal work week due to the type of business it was. His weekend was Sunday and Monday, with Sunday being family day—which was all kinds of aww. That left Monday for our date. I had to promise Bethany I owed her if she rearranged the schedule. Even though that had meant I was left closing tonight, I had a feeling come Monday I wouldn’t regret it.

I glanced at the clock—only fifteen minutes left in my break. I grabbed a salad from the prep fridge and poured on some dressing for my dinner. It wasn’t my first choice, but it was that or a carrot muffin.

Try and keep me away. How should I dress?

I sat down and took the first bite of my dinner, grateful we were texting so I could multitask. And to be honest, if I heard his voice, there was no way I wouldn’t show up there a smelly hot mess, no matter how late I worked.

Killian’s reply came lighting fast. Manties?

And now I had a boner at work. Brilliant.

That is pretty much a given. Jeans? Club clothes? Suit?

When Killian had asked me on the date, he was all it’s a surprise! I had assumed he just hadn’t thought that far ahead, but I’d asked him three times since and each time received noncommittal answer, telling me he had plans. It was killing me not to know.

Jeans are fine. I have a plan.

Of course. I shoved another forkful of salad in my mouth, willing my cock to pipe down. I had to be out on the floor serving the public in a short while, and a raging erection felt a bit inappropriate.

It’s like that is it?

It is. Hey, I got a box of cat toys I didn’t order that showed up at my house today. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?

I bit my lip, pleased it had arrived. Not a clue.

Uh huh. Gotta go. Decker’s on my ass tonight about keeping people out of VIP. And by “out,” he means keeping them out of his line of sight.

Decker was a grade-A asshole. Part of me wanted to buy his sorry butt out of his share of Club Royale so Killian didn’t have to deal with him anymore, but I remember how controlling my parents were, using their money to fix everything, and I came back to reality. It was still fun to fantasize about.

Have fun with that. Night. Here’s a picture of Blubby saying hi.

I sent him a picture I’d taken that morning while I was getting dressed: I was bending over and talking to Blubby, wearing my red manties. The delayed photo feature on my phone was my new favorite thing.

You’re killing me, Blondie.

Death by erection?

You know it. Talk soon.

I slipped my phone into my pocket and ate a couple more bites of my salad before heading back to work. It was going to be a long night.

Forty-two thousand pretentious coffee drinks later and I was mopping the floor, thankful that the night was finally almost over when my phone began to ring. Like a love sick puppy, I answered it on the first ring, neglecting to look at the name.

“Hello, Killer.” I crossed my fingers and toes that he was getting off of work early and just had to see me. A guy could dream.

“If by ‘killer’ you mean Parker, hello to you too.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. I needed to take the time to add personalized rings for those two.

“It’s kind of late,” I barked. It wasn’t really, but even though we had cleared the air a bit, some of the residual hurt slammed into me from time to time. It looked like this was one of those times.

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

Awkward silence filled the space between us. I was just about to say something, anything when he added, “I was just getting off work and thought maybe we could chat.”

“About what?” My stomach was whirling, my brain creating all kinds of chats he might have in mind, my heart thumping. I didn’t want to be like this, I really didn’t, but I just wasn’t ready to be all buddy brothers again. He still had contact with them, and the tinge of doubt that he was back in my life as a means to one of their ends still lingered in the back of my mind.

“Nothing in particular. I just wanted to hear your voice.” And just like that, Parker all vulnerable and honest, his alpha I’m the boss tone completely absent, my doubt vanished. I knew it would appear again. It always did, but for now, for this conversation, it was gone and it was just my brother and me.

“I can do that as long as you don’t mind me multitasking. I have to finish up the floors.” I was so going to give Lola words over this, although if she hadn’t pulled that bullshit, I might have missed this call, a call that somehow felt like it might be the first page in a new chapter for us. In the grand scheme of things, it was just two brothers chatting. But Parker and I hadn’t done that in a long time. Maybe Lola deserved hugs instead.

Parker wandered through a few topics before going on and on about the pain in the ass that was unpacking after a move, but I didn’t mind. It was good to have my brother back, even if not fully.