by AJ Merlin
“Are you sure? You seem uh…” he looked me over, as if searching for the right word.
“Yeah.” I forced myself to smile and shoved my clenched hands into the front pocket of my dress.
Thank god for pockets. Now he couldn’t see how tightly I clenched my fists as I scented the air around us and drew in a lungful of him.
It was time to go outside before I did something incredibly stupid like throw myself at him.
Hades tactfully cleared his throat, drawing my attention to his face and away from his perfect waist and the jeans that clung to his legs.
Get it together, Alek.
“I have to go,” I said, a polite smile on my face. “It was honestly really amazing to meet you in person today.”
His face lit up suddenly, a wicked smile curving over his full lips. “You subscribe to me on Prowl.”
It wasn’t a question.
Damn it.
“I–well…Who doesn’t?”
“A lot of people,” he chuckled. “But you do.”
“Y-yeah,” I tried to laugh it off, tried to find some way to make a conversation about watching him be sexy for a living somehow less awkward than it was. “Actually uh, got upgraded to premium status today. What a funny coincidence huh?”
The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and I would have given my right hand to stuff them back inside.
“Yeah?” he didn’t seem overly surprised, more interested than anything. Hades leaned towards me, angling his body at mine and sidling just a bit closer. “What a coincidence,” the panther shifter agreed quietly. “Have you gotten a chance to watch anything premium yet?”
Were we really having this conversation?
“Not yet,” I admitted, feeling bashful for probably the first time in my life. My fingers twisted together in my pocket and I fought the urge to blurt out, but I promise to do a full study as soon as I’m home and in bed.
“Well, we work together now.” He pulled away, thankfully taking some of his overwhelming presence with him. “Maybe you can give me your notes and your thoughts. I’d love to hear opinions from someone other than Rita for once.” He offered me a smile. “Maybe you’ll be able to appreciate the personal touches more than her.”
My mind quickly went white at the words personal touches.
“Y-yeah,” I agreed. “I mean-I can tell you what I think. Since we’ll probably see each other soon.” I cleared my throat and made a bid at pulling myself together. “But I really do have to go. Noah was pretty tired and wanted to leave early.”
“I totally get it.” Hades glanced back into the open door of the room we stood outside of. “My friends will start thinking I don’t care about them. Though, between you and me, I’d much rather talk to you than hear about their European fancy-career problems.”
A knot uncoiled inside of me like I had been worried all this time about the woman who’d sat on his lap being more than his friend.
As if I had any right to worry about that.
“I’m not that great to talk to,” I laughed offhandedly, going for the tried and true method of funny self-deprecation.
“Don’t sell yourself short. You still haven’t gotten to convince me how dangerous you are.” He winked, then blessedly disappeared back into the room his friends still occupied.
I bolted when his back was turned, glad at the chance to escape.
Thankfully, I met with no other obstacles on my flight from hallway to kitchen, and as soon as I was outside my eyes locked on the back of Noah’s head.
He was exactly where I’d left him.
Bless the trash panda and his predictable ways.
“Noah!” I hissed, wanting to make good on my silent plan of a drive by pick up.
My best friend glanced up, a smile on his mouth, and called. “Finally. Did you get lost in there–“ He broke off when he saw my face, his nostrils flaring. “Code pineapple?” he asked, our cue for time to fucking go.
“Code Pineapple,” I confirmed.
“Sorry guys,” Noah was so good at making the apologies to our friends. “If it’s Code Pineapple, then the cat sitter thinks Miss Murple has locked herself in the litter box again.”
Obviously that was a lie. While his giantess cat did get stuck in the litter box quite often, there was no cat sitter around to let us know.
“Exactly,” I laughed, a grin on my face. “We’re going to have to swing by and pick up the margarine.”
Tash tilted her face upward, scenting the air when I walked past. She gave me a quizzical, concerned look, but I just smiled and silently begged her to keep quiet.
She did.
“Thanks for inviting us, Emma,” Noah hugged the blonde woman, who returned the gesture in just as friendly of a way.
She waved at me, and that was perfectly fine. I didn’t need her in my personal space tonight.
“Thanks,” I added. “This was really fun.”
“You’ll have to come again,” Emma was saying, even as Noah fell into step with me. “Good luck with the cat.”
“Bye guys,” Tash called, and the rest of our friends murmured their own goodbyes or just waved.
At the gate, the woman from before still lounged against the wall. She took one look at me and her lips curved into a predatory smile.
“You smell better than you did when you arrived,” the woman complimented. “That blend of alphas suits you very well.”
Noah gave me a surprised glance that I ignored.
“Thanks for letting us in,” I only said, slowing at the gate. “We had a really great time.”
“You’ll have to come back. I hold parties every weekend, and smaller events on Wednesdays. Since you’ve both been here once with no issue, you can come again without invites.” She glanced at Noah with the same, intense smile.
I heard his breath stutter and wondered just how quickly he’d fall for this dominant, enticing woman.
“I’m Noah,” my roommate introduced, completely out of the blue. “I just…if you didn’t see my ID earlier. Wednesday, you say? I’d love to come back. You’ll be here too?”
“It’s her house, Noah,” I reminded him dryly.
She couldn’t hide her amused chuckle. “I’ll text you,” the shifter offered. “I have your number, after all.”
While he stammered over a response, I had to practically drag Noah out of the yard and down the driveway.
Finally we were at his car, and when I slammed the passenger door, a sense of safety fell over me.
“You want to tell me why we had to leave before I even got to do anything?” My roommate griped, starting the car. “And why you smell like…” he took a deep breath. “A lot of stranger and a little bit of Hades?” His voice rose at the end, shocked.
“Drive,” I said, my eyes on the very familiar blue-eyed alpha that had just left the gate.
I shrunk down in my seat, praying he wouldn’t see me.
“No, wait. Wait. I have to know–“
“Drive. Or I tell Beatrice about what you had delivered last week.”
Instantly the car was thrown into gear and Noah was peeling out of the small neighborhood, mumbling about overly religious sisters and his kinks being used against him.
Chapter Eight
“Are you going to get that?” Noah walked through the kitchen, toast hanging out of his mouth as he ran a comb through his unruly hair.
“Umm…” I checked the caller ID one more time.
Manager Larry still flashed there in big white letters.
Though at this point he was ex manager Larry.
“I’d rather not,” I admitted.
But I grabbed the phone anyway, hitting the accept button.
After all, he did control my last paycheck from the coffeeshop, and I couldn’t just proclaim that I didn’t need it.
“Hello?” I asked, answering with a carefully blank voice.
“Took you long enough to answer,” Larry muttered in way of greeting.
“Did you need something?” I wouldn’t simper or be more polite than I had to be, but I wanted my money from the last two weeks of my employment. “I’m assuming my money is on its way to my account–“
“It’s not,” my ex-manager interrupted. Was that a touch of glee in his voice? “We had trouble with depositing your check, so you need to come pick it up in person.”
I looked down, scratching my fingers along the laminate of our counters as my stomach twisted in knots.
I did not want to step foot in there again. Especially when anyone could see that this was just an attempt to berate me before I vanished out of his shop for good.
“My roommate can come pick it up for me,” I said instead of agreeing. “He’ll be out in that direction this afternoon.” He wouldn’t, but I also knew he wouldn’t mind going in to get it for me.
“No can do, Alek.” Larry didn’t even attempt to sound apologetic. “Your check means you pick it up in person. Otherwise, you won’t get paid for the past two weeks.”
Frustration rose like bile in my throat, but what was I supposed to do? I had a feeling Larry was completely within his rights to tell me to come get my check.
And I wasn’t going to let him know how much it bothered me.
“You still there, Alek?”
“Yeah. Sorry. Just checking my schedule. It sounds like you’d like to get this off your hands, so I’ll go on and come in now.”
“Works for me. You can come to my office when you get here.”
He hung up without waiting for my answer.
Noah appeared in the kitchen again, toast gone and hair combed. “Who was that?”
“Larry,” I growled, arms crossing over my chest. “According to him, there’s some problem with my account and he can’t deposit my check.”
Noah bristled, his eyes bright in sudden irritation. “That’s crap,” he informed me. “And you know it too. He’s just trying to get you in there so he can treat you like shit one last time. Just don’t go. Don’t give him the satisfaction.”
“And survive on what money?” I pointed out, pushing my phone in the pocket of my black leggings. “I don’t exactly have a savings I can dip into. I need this money to survive until I get paid at Prowl.”
“Then let me go with you. We can go tonight after my shift.”
That would’ve been the reasonable plan, I realized belatedly.
“I…told him I’d come in now.” Still frowning, I didn’t need to look up to know how Noah felt about that. “It’s fine. I’m not afraid of him, Noah.”
“He’s a piece of shit,” my best friend reiterated. “He’ll do something to remind you of that. I don’t think you should go alone.”
“I’ve been working there alone for months,” I pointed out, going to the door and slipping my feet into my black and white sneakers. “One more time won’t kill me.”
“Can you get to Prowl after? Since I was going to drive you, I mean?”
“I can get there before my shift,” I assured him, grabbing my keys. I’d been ready to walk out the door already, and now I’d just leave a little earlier. Lucky for me, the bus that I’d need to take to the coffee shop ran frequently and even if I missed one, I wouldn’t have to wait long for the next one.
“If you say so. But call me if you need me. Or tell me now and I’ll drive you. Rita won’t mind if I’m a little late–“
“Noah it’s fine,” I laughed, tone apologetic. “I’ll be fine. And I’d mind if you were late. Just get to work, okay? I’ll see you in less than an hour.”
It had better be less than an hour, since my own shift started in just a little more than that.
“Text me!” He requested, following me to the door of the apartment and out onto the landing. “Seriously. If anything goes wrong, just text me.”
“I’ll text you,” I promised. “Now go. Get.” With one last flick of my hand I turned the corner, eyes on the bus stop on the other side of the street as I silently prayed I was going to get lucky and hop on a bus within the next couple of minutes.
I was lucky, and the ride to Uptown Grounds was quick and relatively painless. The bus had been surprisingly empty for this time of morning, and the driver was the definition of haste. At least, in my experience with Atlanta public transportation.
What I wouldn’t give for a car. Nothing fancy, just something that ran and would get me from point A to point B.
Something other than the damn bus.
I hesitated outside my former place of employment, unable to hide my colossal frown. I’d always hated working here, but this was it. My one last trial to get away from this place forever.
You aren’t going to kill him, I promised myself. Really, Alek. You aren’t.
Probably.
The bells on the door jingled when I entered, and the smell of burnt coffee and machines that needed to be cleaned hit me squarely in the face.
I wouldn’t miss that smell. Not ever.
Uptown Grounds was small, but Larry had tables packed to the bursting point in a grab for more business. Half of them were empty, as per usual, and thankfully there were only people in line.
Any more than a few and they’d be blocking my way past them and behind the large counter and glass pastry case.
“Hey Alek!” A familiar voice called from the far corner.
I turned, a small smile on my face to make eye contact with Mr. Brown. The little old man sat in a corner with his newspaper, and was one of the few customers I’d never had a problem with.
“Good morning,” I greeted politely, already striding across the coffee-colored tile so I could get this over with.
Justin, a twenty-four year old beta, stood at the glass case with two scones in one hand so he could realign them. “Oh, hey Alek,” he said when he saw me. “Larry said to ask you for some help with this when you got here.” He looked me over and frowned. “He won’t like what you’re wearing, though. What’s with the outfit?”
“Larry didn’t tell you?” I paused, confused. “Justin, I am not going to help you, because I don’t work here anymore.”
His face barely registered any surprise. “Oh. Really? That’s not what he said.”
“What did he say?”
“Just that you were acting out and wanted attention, so you threatened to quit. He said he talked to you this morning and you got over it and were coming in.”
I stared at him, at a loss for what to say. Anger made my fingers itch, and I wondered if I might spontaneously combust on the spot.
Acting out and wanted attention?
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I hissed, not realizing I’d spoken until Justin’s face fell in shock.
“Hey, it’s no big deal, just–“ He reached out and I took a step back.
“It is a big deal.” Without another word to my ex-coworker, I stormed towards Larry’s office, not caring that the door was mostly shut when I got there.
Instead I barged inside, hitting the door so hard that it smacked against the wall.
I hoped it left a dent.
Larry looked up, always slow to register any kind of emotion. Today he didn’t even bother looking surprised.
Not for the first time, I wondered how in the world Larry had gotten to the management position of Uptown Grounds. He was a big man, and whether or not his stories of playing quarterback in college were true, that bulk now came from too many beers.
I’d always been able to smell liquor seeping out of his pores, and today was no exception.
Larry looked me over in a way he hadn’t done since my interview.
I’d allowed it then, because I was desperate for a job and his stare that felt like spiders crawling along my limbs and up my thighs was something that I had to put up with.
But circumstances were different now.
Angrily, I slammed my hands against the cheap wood of his desk so hard I thought it would break.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I hissed, feeling my canines lengthening slightly. I was sur
e my cider-colored gaze was practically glowing, and I was very close to shifting into my maned wolf shape and using him as a chew toy. “How dare you tell the others that I was acting out? How dare you sit here and pretend I was coming back?”
Larry sat back with a sigh, barely registering my outburst. “Oh please,” he said in a flat tone. “Why would I think anything different? You omegas are all the same. If you didn’t really want your job back, why come in here at all? Why not just insist I send you your check? You came in here because you want to keep this job, you just want a little praise for your efforts.”
“I have another job already. I want my paycheck and I’m going to leave.”
Surprise flitted across his expression. He leaned back further, causing the chair to squeak in protest. “Where?” He demanded, like it was any of his business.
“Doesn’t matter,” I laughed.
“No one called me to get a reference on you.”
“Didn’t need one.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re just upset–“
“I’m just upset?” I repeated. “I’m just acting out? How about I’m just done with everything about this place? That ever occur to you?”
“No,” he shrugged. “There’s no reason for you to be upset. I’m a good boss, and you like our customers.”
Both of those statements were absolutely untrue. He was an awful boss, for one, and his customers were terrible. Most of them, anyway.
Before working here, I’d never felt in any way ashamed of my own biology. I’d never wanted so badly to be a beta, just so alphas would leave me the hell alone.
Before working here, I’d never broken a man’s nose because he wouldn’t get his hands off of me.
“My. Check,” I said, unwilling to put words to anything else I was feeling, even as my arms shook.
He didn’t deserve for me to stick around and throw a fit. Not when it would be proving him right.
Larry sighed and opened a drawer, producing an envelope as if the motions physically hurt him.
“When you’re done with whatever this is, I’ll rehire you,” he informed me, signing the bottom of the check before sliding it back into its envelope.
