The morning rush had died down, and Adrian was finally able to take his first break. Usually, he didn't work on weekends, but his parents were at some retreat thing for business owners, and someone had to watch the shop, so Adrian and Winter had picked up extra shifts. Technically, Adrian's father had already made Adrian a partial owner—but the shop didn't completely belong to him. Not yet, anyway. 

He didn't mind working the weekend rush. In fact, he sort of preferred working. He never knew what to do with his breaks. He needed them, sure, but he usually ended up just using them to scroll endlessly, or fuck around on chat apps.

The fact was, Adrian was sort of bored, overall. He was happy, sure, but he was interested in something a little different. Something like... romance. He'd messed around a little, had a few boyfriends here and there, but he was looking for something real. Hell, he was in his thirties—and he knew there was no rush, but he did want to have a family. Fall in love, have some kids, settle down. 

He didn't expect to find true love on an app like Alph-O, but it was better than nothing. 

It would be even better, though, if he didn't feel like he had swiped left on the entire city. 

Most of the profiles on there were just looking for a quick romp. Which was fun in its own respect, but just not what Adrian was looking for. He sighed as he flipped through profiles, barely even scanning them before making a decision. Nothing was quite exciting him. Not that he had all that many matches on the other end, either. 

He sort of got into a rhythm passing on profiles. Staring at his phone, wishing time would go by faster. He wasn't planning on finding anything interesting until he paused on a new profile—one that, according to the member stamp, had only been made the night before. Adrian didn't even know what made him stop on it. It was a simple, mysterious profile. Sure, the app was anonymous, but the degree to which people included information in their bios varied. This profile had nothing—no indication of an identity other than age, gender, and second gender.

Bentley, 33 years old, male, Omega 

Adrian's eyes skimmed the profile again. Just hoping for someone to talk to. Adrian couldn't help but let out a sort of fond bit of laughter. If the guy was just looking for some friendly company, Alph-O wasn't exactly the place to find it. Not that it was a place to find true love, either. 

Interesting, Adrian thought to himself. And his heart made a sort of giddy little movement. He didn't even know why, because the profile was so dull, but also kind of cute. And God, Adrian had a thing for cute. 

Adrian hesitated, debating for a moment, and then swiped right. He figured it would be some time before Bentley saw and either matched back or rejected, but Adrian found that they matched instantly. He blinked, checking through his potential match notifications, and found that Bentley had already swiped right on him sometime late last night. 

Interesting, Adrian thought again, and he pulled up his own profile. 

Mister.A, 33, Male, Alpha, I like long walks on the beach and cozying up in front of a fire during the rainy season. I sort of own a cafe. Lover of books, so, don't get me started if you don't like literature. Creeps will be blocked. 

His profile picture was of the beach at sunset, all soft oranges and coral pinks. Adrian just liked the colors. Did Bentley like them, too? Was that what made him match with Adrian? He was kind of curious to know, and—well, there was only one more logical thing to do, after matching with someone. 

Pull up a chat. 

Adrian opened the chat room easily and found that Bentley was marked as online. Which meant Adrian had a chance to talk to him right away, if he even wanted to talk. 

Every good conversation starter he knew left his brain the moment he opened the chat, so he went instead with a plain, simple greeting—just to get things going.

Mister.A

Hey 

Bentley

Please don't send me a dick pick. 

I think I have to get my phone professionally scrubbed. 

Adrian let out a surprised bit of laughter. Oh, Bentley. What did he expect, joining a hook-up app in the middle of the night? 

Mister.A 

Um 

Take a guy to dinner first! 

Bentley 

You should tell that to all of them

And to my poor, infected phone.

Does this happen to all the Omegas on this app? 

Mister.A 

Sorry, I wouldn't really know 

But it sounds right to me, as depressing as that is 

I'm sorry you keep getting unsolicited pics, but I promise, mine will be staying in my pants

Bentley 

I don't know whether I believe you 

But I guess if you were going to, you would have done it already. 

I've noticed a lot of people on this app don't know the definition of "no." 

Adrian found himself smiling at his phone. Bentley had an interesting way of talking. Sort of formal, tightly wound—but ultimately sort of cute. Adrian couldn't place what was cute about it, just that it was. 

Mister.A 

Well, lucky you, you found the one bloke on this app who does 

So, Bentley, tell me: what made you match with me?

Bentley

I like books. 

Adrian blinked at the screen, then absolutely burst out laughing. That was the reason? What kind of reason was that to match with someone on a dating app? But, then again, Adrian's reasons for matching with Bentley weren't exactly poetic. 

Mister.A

Small world! 

I like them too 

Bentley 

I would imagine so, since it’s in your bio. Do you really run a cafe?

Mister.A 

Help run. I'm only a partial owner until I inherit the rest from my parents, someday. 

What about you, Bentley? What do you do? 

Bentley

Nothing interesting. 

I'm sure you'd find my work rather boring, compared to what you do. 

Mister.A 

Try me 

Bentley 

I work at Bruin Enterprises. 

Adrian blinked. That struck him as sort of... odd. Very few Omegas found themselves employed by Bruin Enterprises. So, Bentley was one of them? He must have come from money, then. That was the only way to woo a man like Raphael Bruin, who was notorious for his negative views on Omegas. Adrian suspected that if it wasn't literally against the law, Raphael wouldn't allow any Omega to work under him. 

But, apparently, Bentley did. 

Mister.A

You can't hear me, but I'm whistling right now.

You seriously work at Bruin Enterprises? 

Bentley

Is that so hard to believe?

Mister.A 

No

I mean, not really

I'm just surprised. So, do you know the Alphas of Bruin Enterprises? What about Raphael Bruin? Have you ever seen him? What's he like?

Bentley 

I thought this app was supposed to be anonymous 

Mister.A

It is 

You don't know my name, and I don't know yours 

Bentley

Ha ha

Well, I'd like to keep some things to myself, if you don't mind. 

Though I'm curious—what does "the Alphas of Bruin Enterprises" mean?

Mister.A

You know, the three infamous Alphas who are rumored to be positioned to take over someday 

Callum Bruin, Beckham Caddel, and Courtney Hart 

Bentley

Do people actually call them that? 

Mister.A 

Yeah, all the time. That's what they are, after all 

Bentley 

I don't know them personally.

Sorry to disappoint. 

Mister.A

No disappointment here! 

I guess it is a pretty big company 

You'd have to be pretty high up the ladder to work directly under them. 

I was just curious. 

Bentley 

Do you know them?

Adrian hummed as he tapped on his screen. He didn't exactly want to lie, but was it weird to give out too much information about himself so soon, when Bentley was clearly dead set on remaining a faceless name? Would he scare Bentley off by doing that? But it wasn't really in his nature to lie. 

Mister.A

Sort of. 

I guess I went to school with them. 

Bentley

What? 

Adrian glanced at the clock and realized that he had already eaten up the entire second half of his break.

Mister.A

Oops! Sorry, I have to get back to work

Can I message you later? 

We can talk about books if you want. 

Adrian found himself staring at his phone, waiting impatiently for an answer. Bentley's little typing bubble appeared and disappeared several times, and it made Adrian want to jump through his phone to get a response. Finally, his phone dinged. 

Bentley 

Okay 

As long as there are no dick pics 

Adrian let out a huff of laughter. 

Mister.A

You have my word 

Bentley

Then... talk to you later 

Adrian smiled as he slipped his phone into his pocket and gathered up his trash from the snack he'd been working on in the break room. He felt sort of... alive. Buzzing with a restless kind of energy. He hadn't felt like that in a really, really long time. The feeling of getting to know someone, of all the potential there. 

Maybe they were just a couple of anonymous people behind a screen, but that was part of what made it fun. Adrian wasn't actually expecting to find the love of his life—and Bentley probably wasn't, either. But there was—possibility. And that made Adrian excited. 

Adrian closed the door of the break room behind him, and got back to work.

***

Adrian found himself grinning down at his phone, lip pinned beneath his teeth as he typed away. The pulsing lights of the nightclub barely even reached him as he settled in the plush seat of the booth. His friends had dragged him out, since it was a Saturday night—but he wasn't interested in partying. 

Actually, he was kind of having fun, wrapped in his own little world. 

"Adriaaaan!" A voice whined, and a pair of slender arms wrapped around Adrian's arms. "Are you gonna dance with us?" 

"Not in a dancing mood." Adrian continued to stare at his phone, waiting for Bentley's reply. They were talking about Austen, and the conversation was getting quite heated. Adrian just couldn't believe that Bentley was not a Mr. Darcy guy. 

Lilly huffed. "You've been on that thing an awful lot tonight." She pouted. "Do you no longer love me?" Her space buns bounced as she let Adrian go and settled back in the seat. 

"You know you'll always have the number one space in my heart, Lilly." Adrian laughed, then looked back at his phone again when it lit up with a reply. He bit back a laugh at the response and started typing. 

"You're talking to someone, aren't you?" Lilly asked, but she didn't try to look over Adrian's shoulder or anything, because she knew Adrian hated that. Lilly was wearing a tight, short, black sequin number, with spaghetti straps, and a low neckline. She was actually a supermodel, and therefore basically always looked at the top of her game. 

Adrian smiled, and he didn't deny it. "What if I was?" 

Lilly gasped, then absolutely squealed. "Oh my gosh! Adrian! Tell me everything!" She turned her attention to the edge of the table, where her girlfriend had just returned from the dance floor with Winter. "Dahlia! Winter! Listen to this—Adrian is talking with someone!" 

Dahlia slipped into the booth next to her girlfriend, flipping her long, straight black hair over her shoulder. "Adrian, you're seeing someone?" 

Adrian sent another message arguing his case and set his phone on the table. "Not seeing, just—talking." 

Winter raised an eyebrow. "Is that why your mood suddenly perked up after your break today?" 

Adrian hummed. "Maybe." 

Lilly bounced in her seat, Dahlia's hand fiddling with the hem of her very short dress. "Please tell us everything!" 

"There's—not really much to tell, yet." Adrian shrugged. "Other than him having strong opinions about the Austen men. I kind of see his point about Knightly, though. He can get it." 

The group around the table grew quiet, then burst into laughter. 

"Of course, you would see debating Jane Austen as flirting," Lilly snickered. 

Adrian blushed. "Okay! Well, we both see it as flirting—obviously, so—" 

"Sounds to me like you've met your match, Adrian," Winter teased. 

"Do we get to meet him?" Dahlia asked eagerly. 

"Oh, god—slow down! I only just started talking to him. I don't even know his name." 

Lilly blinked. "You don't know his name?" She asked in baffled surprise. 

Adrian shrugged. "We met on Alph-O." 

"That dating app for Alphas and Omegas?" Dahlia tilted her head to the side. "I thought that was mainly for hookups in dark alleyways." 

Lilly wrapped her arm around her girlfriend. "I'm afraid we wouldn't understand, dear—as the betas of the group." 

Dahlia laughed. "I don't know that I want to understand." 

"So then what do you know about this guy?" Winter folded his arms on the table, his eyes sparking with curiosity. 

Adrian hummed. "Well, his nickname is Bentley. I asked him what it meant, and he said it was an inside joke with his best friend. He's our age, likes to read, he's gay, he works at Bruin Enterprises, but I don't know what he does, and—oh! He's an Omega." 

"He's an Omega? And he works at Bruin?" Lilly raised an eyebrow in surprise. 

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. He won't tell me in what capacity, though. No matter how much I ask." Adrian shrugged. "We only just started talking, so—I think he wants to keep the anonymous factor a bit longer."

"Well—that's cool. You seem like you're having fun." Winter smiled at Adrian and pushed his shoulder a little. 

Adrian but his lip. "Yeah. I really am." Then, he blushed. "Which is kind of stupid because we only started talking, like, today." 

"Sometimes, you meet people you just vibe with! Nothing wrong with that." Lilly shrugged, twisting a strand of Dahlia's hair in her fingers. 

"Although we definitely want updates, now, so. You shouldn't have told us, really." Dahlia joked. 

Adrian rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you as much as I can without compromising Bentley's privacy."  

The group agreed instantly and then fell into easy conversation. Every once in a while, Adrian's phone would chime, and he would fall away to talk to Bentley. And then, when the night had fizzled out and the others had shuffled home, Adrian fell into his bed and stayed on his phone. 

When the sun rose, Adrian was asleep in his bed with his phone in his hand.