Payton and I were feeling both hopeful and scared the next morning while we were packing our belongings. We really wished Lucas could help us with the homeless society, because we didn’t really know who else to turn to. The government workers would point us to homeless society, and if they found out we were looters and were there to attack Clover Hill, we’d end up in jail. Which wasn’t the worst idea, considering our options, but… It was jail. If Lucas could help us, we wouldn’t have to lose our freedom.

“Should we… get going?” Payton asked once our bags were packed and waiting for us by the door.

“We can still keep this room for a few hours,” I said.

“Do you still need to rest?” he asked.

“I’m feeling much better now,” I said, smiling reassuringly. “The first day is the worst. Now it’s just aching a little, like always.”

“Good,” he said, and peered out the window. “I’m nervous…”

I sighed and sat down on our bed. “Me too…”

“I don’t want to even think about what happens if Lucas can’t help us…”

“Yeah…”

“At least the food they gave us was good,” Payton said, faking a cheerful tone. “Maybe he can at least give us more food. That’s… That’s good too, right?”

“Right,” I said with a smile. “At least we wouldn’t be hungry today.”

“He seemed really nice…” he said, sitting down next to me. “Not anywhere near as scary as Atticus…”

I gently nudged his side to get him to look at me. When he did, I smirked. “You’re still thinking about Atticus?”

“No, I’m not,” he said, and blushed a little. “I mean… Mafia guys are charming for sure… And he was really hot… But scary.”

“I think that’s just how they have to behave. You know. They’re mafiosos. They have to be scary, or people will try to walk all over them.”

“I guess…” he said. “He was trying to be friendly…”

I smiled wider at him. “Would you be up for finding him if Lucas can’t help us? Ask if he could help us?”

“What difference would it make? They both follow the same rules,” Payton said.

“True, true… But Atticus was interested in you…” I said tentatively. “Maybe he could be… You know… Your mate?”

He shook his head so vigorously that I got a headache watching it.

“No, no, no, no, he can’t be,” he said sternly. “He’s… No.”

“All right, all right,” I said, retreating with a chuckle. “Just saying, if we found our mates, they could help us get off the streets.”

“Unless they’re homeless, too…”

“Well, at least we wouldn’t be completely alone,” I said quietly.

“True,” he said, and sighed. “Let’s just hope Lucas can help us with the homeless society.”

“Deal,” I said.

Since we didn’t really have a reason to stay in the hotel for much longer, we grabbed our bags and headed out. There was no point in waiting any longer, because we were only driving each other more and more nervous. It was better to get the meeting with Lucas over with.

And too soon, we reached the bar. We both slowed down without saying a word when the large building came to our view. I knew Payton was just as nervous and scared to hear Lucas’ answer as I was. I tried to stay positive. I tried to believe there was at least something the mafia could do for us. They wouldn’t leave two young omegas to fend for themselves in this city, right? That wasn’t what they did, looters or not.

I let out a deep, silent breath when we entered the bar. Why did I feel like our lives depended on this? Like we would literally die or get kidnapped on the spot if Lucas couldn’t help us? It was absurd. We’d just have to figure out what to do if the mafia couldn’t help. But they had to be able to help. They respected omegas, after all.

They wouldn’t turn their backs on us.

There weren’t a lot of people in the bar so early in the day, and there were only two bartenders behind the counter. Luckily, the other one of them was Lana, the same lady from yesterday. And she recognized us right away and gestured for us to come to her.

“Hi,” I said nervously when we stopped behind the counter.

“Hey guys, back again, huh?” she said with a smile, but before we could reply to her, she continued. “Lucas isn’t here yet, but he told me to give you a private room where you can wait for him.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” I said. “Do you know when he’ll be here?”

She shrugged. “Might take a few hours. He’s still in a meeting at the headquarters.”

“Oh, we can come back later,” I suggested, but she waved her hand.

“It’s fine. All the private rooms are empty right now. There’s a TV you can watch to pass the time, and Lucas told me to get you guys breakfast if you’re hungry. On the house.”

“That’s way too generous of him. And you. We don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss because of us,” I told her.

“Well, lucky for me, I am the boss. And Lucas is my brother,” she said with a grin. “Well, technically, our parents own this place, but Lucas and I are in charge.”

“O-oh, sorry, I didn’t realize…” I mumbled. “And, I mean, if it’s all right for us to wait here…?”

“Of course it is!” she exclaimed and gestured for us to follow her as she headed to the door that led to our side. “Come, I’ll show you to your room. You can stay there until Lucas arrives.”

Payton and I hurried after her.

“Thank you for being so kind to us,” I told her as we followed her to the back of the bar.

“Don’t worry about it,” she  only said.

We reached the back of the bar and entered a quiet hallway. Well, I suppose it wasn’t a real hallway, but the rooms at the back had been hidden behind a fake decorative wall that was there to give people who left the rooms some privacy. Lana stopped behind the first room and opened the door for us before stepping aside.

It was a really nice little room with a huge window at the back with a TV on a small stand in front of it, and two very large, soft-looking armchairs with a long table in the middle of them.

“Make yourselves comfortable,” Lana told us. “I’ll send someone to bring you breakfast. I must warn you though, it’s not very special.”

“We’ve been living off bread and water for weeks now,” I said, carefully joking a little. “We’re just grateful to get food into our systems.”

“Yeah it’s more special than bread and water,” she said with a chuckle. “Come find me if you need anything.”

“Sure,” I said, and she left after closing the door.

Then I turned to Payton, who had stayed silent the entire time. He seemed a little pale.

“You all right?” I asked him.

“Atticus is here,” he whispered, his eyes wide.

“Oh? I didn’t even notice.”

“My omega felt him watching us,” he explained, and shivered a little. “He waved at me.”

I nodded slowly and put my bag next to the couch. “So… Did you wave back?”

“I kind of… smoothly… hid behind you…” he said, then gave me a spooked look. “That was bad, right? It was rude, right?”

“You have your right to ignore him,” I said reassuringly, and sat down.

“But he’s been nothing but friendly to me…” he murmured, and groaned, then hid his face behind his hands while sitting down next to me. “I was so rude to him…”

I smiled while he couldn’t see me, then hid it when he looked up.

“Do you… want to go apologize to him?” I asked tentatively.

“I… I… I… don’t know…” he mumbled, looking even more spooked now.

“We don’t have to,” I said gently.

He nodded a few times, staring at the floor. “But I don’t want him to think I wanted to be rude…”

“Let’s not decide right now, okay? Let’s eat breakfast first. It’s easier to think with a full stomach.”

“True…” he muttered.

And holy shit, the breakfast was good. Simple, yes, with eggs, a huge pile of bacon, and pancakes with syrup, but it tasted really, really good. The waitress also brought us big jugs of both apple and orange juice, a full pot of coffee, a big bowl of salted peanuts, and a couple of chocolate bars.

A breakfast like that really cheered us up, and we both stopped being so nervous and scared. It was clear Lana had tossed in everything they had to offer, and Payton and I both agreed it was really sweet of her, and since she’d tried so hard to feed us, it was easier to have faith in her brother as well.

“So…?” I muttered once we’d finished eating.

“So… What?” Payton asked in an avoiding manner.

“About Atticus…?”

He let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t know… I know what he wants from me, and I… I don’t… want that same… So…”

I nodded slowly. “Well, then we just forget about him,” I said with a smile. “Did you like the pancakes? I loved them.”

“Yeah, they were good…” he mumbled while staring out the window.

I waited for a bit, but since it seemed like he’d forgotten all about me, I leaned closer to him.

“What if we go say hi to him? See how it goes? We can just thank him for buying us drinks last time,” I suggested.

He turned to me. “I mean… I was being very rude… Since he bought us drinks and all… We didn’t even say goodbye last time.”

“Yeah,” I said, smiling wider. “And I promise, if he makes you uncomfortable, I’ll kick him in the nuts.”

“Don’t kick mafiosos in the nuts,” he said, laughing. “That seems unhealthy.”

“So is messing around with my best friend,” I told him gently.

He gave me a soft smile, then straightened his posture. “Sure. Let’s go see him. Who knows, maybe he’s not interested in me that way.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, but hid the sarcasm in my voice.

We assumed it was fine to leave our stuff in the room when we exited it. I asked Payton to show me the way, and we quickly spotted him at the very back. I raised my eyebrows a little at Payton when he didn’t see me. His omega had noticed him all the way at the very back of the bar? Heck, he was so far away I couldn’t even tell if it was Atticus.

But I said nothing. Payton was too timid when it came to dating and romance, but, with a little bit of luck, he’d find an alpha who’d show him there was nothing to be scared about.

And maybe it was this Atticus.

Payton almost lost his courage when we approached his table, and Atticus spotted us. He’d turned away to talk to a friend, so he didn’t see us, but the way he quickly turned around told me his alpha had sensed Payton. I hid my smile and held my fingers crossed. True mates, perhaps?

I touched Payton’s back when he slowed down, encouraging him to keep walking. Atticus stayed seated, and didn’t move much while he waited for us to get to him with a small, friendly smile on his lips. I assumed he’d figured out Payton was a timid personality, and was trying his hardest not to scare him.

“Hi,” I said when Payton kind of froze under his gaze. “We just wanted to thank you for your kindness last time. And we’re really sorry we left like that.”

“No, I understand,” he said softly, while his friends peered at us. “I actually tried to wave at you earlier today, but I don’t think you noticed me.”

“I… I did…” Payton said very, very timidly. “I’m sorry I didn’t come say hi. I just… We…”

“It’s okay, little one,” Atticus said, and smiled at him. “You’re not comfortable around us. I get it.”

“Well… Yet,” Payton said, sounding a bit braver now. “It’s been a rough week for us, so…”

“We left the clan a few days ago,” I hurried to explain. “We don’t want to have any part in what they’re doing. Clover Hill showed us how low they can go.”

“Right,” Atticus said slowly. “So… What their leader said about not having any idea about the raid…?”

“Complete bullshit,” I said quietly. “I mean, we knew about the raid, but Kent was the only one who knew about their real goal.”

“Which was…?” Atticus asked slowly, and I realized I was spilling dangerous secrets.

And I didn’t care.

“They wanted to kidnap babies,” I said. “And for some reason, Kent went on and on about stealing this territory from you guys.”

Atticus nodded, while his friends stayed silent, but they all were listening very closely.

“We appreciate your information,” Atticus finally said, and smiled again. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Oh, uh, we actually kind of already have a tab open,” I said, and he raised his eyebrow at me. “We’re here to meet Lucas, but he’s not here yet, so Lana is letting us eat and drink as much as we want.”

“Ah, of course,” Atticus said, and chuckled. “Well, can’t be mad that they beat me to it as long as you are comfortable.”

“You all have been very generous to us, and we appreciate that. You had no reason to even let us into this bar. So, thank you so much.”

“The pleasure is all ours,” Atticus said with a little bow.

I glanced at Payton, who looked like he wanted to hide behind me, so I assumed he wasn’t going to talk to the man. My poor best friend… Maybe one day he’d stop being so scared of everyone.

“I guess we should return to our room,” I then said. “It was nice to see you again.”

“Maybe next time we meet, I get to buy you guys a drink?” Atticus asked me, but he was watching Payton.

I decided not to answer him. Instead, I turned to Payton. “How about that?” I asked encouragingly.

“Yeah,” Payton said, then found his bravery, and smiled a little. “We’d like that.”

“Well then, let’s hope our paths will cross soon,” Atticus said gently.

Payton nodded shyly. “Yeah…”

We bid our farewells and returned to our room, staying quiet the entire way. But once we were behind closed doors, Payton let out a weird little squeak.

“What?” I asked with a chuckle.

“Why does he have to be so scary?” he asked and plopped to sit in his chair.

I smirked and took my seat opposite of him. “I don’t think he’s that scary.”

“He seems very nice…” he murmured, and sighed. “And he still wants to buy us a drink.”

“He wants to buy you a drink,” I corrected him. “But he’s figured he needs my help to talk to you, so…”

He groaned and leaned back in his seat. “Why am I like this…? Why do I have to be scared of everyone…?”

“We’ve had a rough life,” I said quietly. “And this is a shitty world. If we trust the wrong person…”

“But you trust Atticus?”

“Maybe I shouldn’t,” I said with a shrug. “I just… I so desperately want to believe we can trust the mafia. Because if we can’t, who can we trust?”

“The government and the army,” Payton said.

“Well they have a long, long line of people to help, so…” I said.

“Yeah… It would take years before our turn…”

“Exactly. But, let’s hope Lucas brings us some good news,” I said, trying to sound cheerful.

“Sure,” he said, and sat back up. But then he sighed and groaned. “Why is he so hot…?”

“Atticus?”

“Yeah…”

I chuckled at his words.

Lana’s guess turned out to be quite accurate. It was about two hours later when she came to inform us that Lucas had arrived and would come to see us soon. I suddenly got so nervous I didn’t even dare to ask her if she knew what kind of news to expect before she left. I turned to Payton, who gave me a concerned look, but said nothing.

Then we waited.

It wasn’t a long wait, though it did feel like a small eternity passed before Lucas finally stepped in, took a slow look at us, then closed the door quietly.

“Hi,” I said, trying to keep breathing.

“Hi. How are you?” Lucas asked while making his way closer to our table.

“Nervous,” I said, and tried to smile. “So…?”

He took a deep breath and sat down at the end of the table. His silence alone told me he didn’t have the greatest news…

“The thing is…”

And that certainly didn’t make me feel hopeful anymore…

“We can’t help with the homeless society,” he said quietly.