Chapter Seven
I didn’t hear from Chris for the next few days and a part of me was relieved. I was not ready to address any part of the situation and I was hoping we could just go back to how things were. Even if he’s a great kisser, I thought to myself as I stood in front of my mirror, tying my tie. I closed my eyes at the memory of his lips on mine and shivered. Even if I have been dreaming about him since that night.
I hurried to the car before I could think about my dreams too much. I didn’t my pants to be too tight when I stepped into the office. When I got off the elevator, Hank instantly met me with a worried look. I raised my eyebrow in concern.
“We have a huge problem.” He told me. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes held worry, and it looked like he was frantic. “The lawyers from Baez Publishing has contacted us about one of our authors. Apparently we are now dealing with a breach of contract.”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes. “Which one of our exhausting authors has brought this headache to our company?
Hank paused and I opened my eyes to see him scrutinizing me. “I’m afraid it’s one of your favorite ones.”
My eyes grew wide. “Please tell me it wasn’t Stella.”
Hank gave me the saddest look. I brushed my fingers through my hair and pushed passed him so that I could enter my office. “Has my father been contacted about this, yet?” Hank shook his head. I sat down at my desk and opened up my laptop. “Good, let’s not get him involved. Have my brother come in for a meeting. Contact the editor in chief at Baez Publishing and have them bring their lawyers for an emergency meeting. And get Stella on the phone right fucking now.”
I began typing furiously as Hank hurried to his own desk to do what I had said. In only an hour, we were set up in the main conference room. My brother was sitting to my left, Hank was on my right. Next to Hank was a nervous Stella, crying in a wad of tissues. Across from us were the editor in chief of Baez publishing, the editor in charge of my wayward author, and the two lawyers representing our biggest rivals.
The rest of the day was spent putting out a huge fire that could have brought down all of Daniels Publishing. Once things had finally calmed down and I was back in my own office, I loosened my tie and leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes. It had been such a long day of dealing with that crisis that I hadn’t had enough time to think about Chris. I was glad that I had been distracted all day, even if my distraction almost cost the company.
I was about to close my laptop to finish for the day when I got a text. I looked at my phone and my heart fluttered when I saw it was a text from Chris:
Chris: Hey, man. Haven’t spoken to you in a bit. You busy tonight?
Me: Hey… yeah, it’s been a few days. I was just about to head home from work. What’s up?
Chris: A bunch of my college buddies and I were going to Lester Pool Hall, was wondering if you wanted to come along?
I thought about it for a minute. While I was tired from the horrible day I had, I also wanted to see Chris to figure out what was going on between us. I decided I wanted to let off some steam.
Me: That sounds like fun. I can head straight there once I’m off.
Chris: Nah, I’m on my way. I’ll pick you up right in front of your building.
I was smiling at my phone when Hank came into my office. “What has you so happy?” He asked me, curiously.
I cleared my throat and put my phone in my pocket after texting “ok” to Chris. “Oh, nothing. Just made some plans to shoot pool with some guys.”
Hank sighed. “Ah, the life of a bachelor. I’m not sure if I miss those days.”
I laughed. “Of course you don’t, you have a beautiful wife and two kids to go home to.” I walked around my desk and put my arm around his shoulders as we both walked out of my office and into the elevator. “Remember, we must live vicariously through each other. That’s how our relationship works.”
Hank laughed and shrugged off my arm. “You’re right. I’d rather go home and put my kids to bed and spend the evening with my wife.”
I nodded. “Please tell my rival that I said hello.”
We got to the bottom floor and Hank waved at me as he walked out of the building to get to his car. I followed him slowly, thinking. What I had told Hank was true. We did like to live vicariously through each other, but lately, I had been wanting more than just my bachelor life. I heard a honk and looked up to see my best friend in his car, waving at me. Yeah, I thought to myself as I got into the car and put my seatbelt on. I definitely want more than this lately.
We arrived at the pool hall to see that Chris’s friends had already started a game. There were four of them, all at ease with each other. They were all just like Chris: tall, handsome, with gorgeous smiles. It’s like hot men just flock together. The big surprise for me was that there was just one other alpha, two of them were betas, and one of them was an omega. They all happily came over to meet me when Chris introduced me, except for the omega. Chris said his name was Tristan and when I went to shake his hand, I received a huge glare and a cold handshake.
With a mental shrug, I tried to remember the rest of their names. The two betas were called Will and Noah, the alpha’s name was Lee. The look that the alpha gave me was very different from how the omega looked at me, he seemed to look me up and down and he held my hand for longer than he needed to when he shook my hand.
“Hm, Kevin, it’s really nice to meet you.” He said to me, flirtatiously.
I had the good grace to blush. “Likewise.” I had never met so many alphas that were into other alphas. First Chris, now his friend Lee… Maybe they know my secret… I thought, but quickly dashed that thought away. That’s impossible. I don’t have pheromones, and no one knows my secret.
After those introductions, they all went back to their game. Chris bought two beers and brought them over. I was leaning against a table next to the game, watching as Tristan took his turn. He put three balls into sockets and then missed. It then became Noah’s turn.
Chris elbowed me slightly to catch my attention. He handed me my beer and asked, “Do you play pool?”
I took a sip from the mug that was handed to me and shook my head. “No, I’ve never played. I get the general concept, but I might be bad at it.”
Chris laughed. “That’s fine, I’ll show you how to play.”
We continued watching until Tristan and Lee finally won the match. Chris and I approached the pool table to play.
“Go easy on us, boys.” Chris told his friends. “Looks like we have a newbie amongst us.”
Lee handed me a stick. “I can always teach you, if you would like.”
Tristan took this chance to chime in. “What a great idea, Lee. You can team up with Kevin, and I can team up with Chris.” He walked over to stand next to Chris and put his arm around him. I felt heat in my chest as an unfamiliar feeling raged within me.
Chris pulled away from Tristan and walked over to me. “No, thanks, y’all. I promised Kevin I would teach him. So, let’s get this game started.”
Tristan made a sour face, but took his place at the head of the pool table. Lee had just finished wracking the balls, so Tristan took the first shot. None of the balls made it into a socket so it became my turn next.
Chris stood behind me and helped get me into the right position, whispering instructions into my ear. “Alright, you’ll want to bend over slightly and position the stick like this.” He started guiding my hands with his own. His body was flushed against mine and I felt every muscle of his on my body. A different kind of heat filled up my insides and my heart began to beat wildly. The smell of his cologne filled my nose and made my brain lose focus. I got nervous and my hand slipped, pushing the white ball into a socket without hitting any other balls. My turn was over, but my torture was only beginning.
Tristan took this opportunity to gloatingly say, “Ouch, a scratch on your first try. That sucks.”
When my next turn came around, Chris had me in the same position, but this time he squeezed my ass and I ended up hitting the ball too hard, making it fly off the table.
“Wow, you really suck at this game, don’t you.” Tristan said sourly.
That was how the rest of the night went. When it was my turn, Chris would guide my shot by either placing his hands on mine, or putting his hands on my waist, and sometimes squeezing my ass. He made me so nervous that I could never get a good shot in.
And, each time Chris touched me, Tristan would send a foul look over at me. Something told me that they weren’t “just friends” in college. When I would miss, he had something kind of nice, but kind of mean to say to me. He seemed to want to put me in my place all night.
After a few rounds of pool, and a few rounds of beer, we all decided to finally call it a night. The two betas were singing raunchy songs to each other, Lee was asking for my number, and Tristan had pulled Chris into a corner for a talk. I was distracted by watching Chris and Tristan, so I made the mistake of giving Lee my number. He gave me a lascivious smile and promised to call me, but then noticed that I wasn’t paying attention to him. He followed my gaze and chuckled. This made me look at him.
“You seem to be worried about Chris and Tristan.”
I blushed. “Oh, no. I’m not worried. I was just curious.”
Lee nodded. “Well, you know they used to be fuck buddies in college. But, Tristan always wanted more. He thought that when Chris finally felt like settling down that he would choose to be with Tristan.” He shrugged. “Now, it seems like someone else has caught ole Chris’s heart which has Tristan upset.”
This surprised me. “Who do you think has caught Chris’s heart?”
Lee looked at me as if I had grown another head. “You’re not very bright, are you?”
I frowned. “Is it one of those two over there?”
I pointed at the betas who were now dancing to a tune that was only in their heads. “He did seem to talk to them a lot tonight.”
Lee laughed outright. “He did talk to all of us quite a lot, but he only touched one of us all night.” He winked at me and then called over to Chris and Tristan, “Yo, Tristan, stop trying to whore yourself to Chris and help me get these two back home.”
Tristan looked at us with what looked like disgust. He said one more thing to Chris pleadingly, placing his hand on Chris’s chest. Chris pushed the hand off of him, shook his head, and then walked toward us. I saw the hard look in his eyes soften as he came to stand in front of me. “Are you ready to go home, now?”
I nodded. “Yes, I am. It’s been a long day and I’m tired. Are you sleeping over today?” I said that last part as Tristan was walking by us. He stopped and looked over in time to hear Chris say, “Of course, it’s too late for me to go home.”
I looked at Tristan and gave him a smirk before I walked over, put my arm around Chris’s waist (who then put his arm on my shoulders) and we both walked to the car together. I don’t know why I had done that, but it felt good to see the defeated look on Tristan’s face.
When we got to my apartment, we both took a shower (separately) and then got into my bed. He gave me the longest good night kiss I had ever gotten and then I fell asleep in his arms. Tonight was fun.
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