I promise I will
Storm tucked his phone away, cheering up slightly. He took the elevator up to Linus’ apartment and stalked through the common hallway, making sure there were no blind spots where an attacker could lie in wait. Then he went back downstairs and scoped out the rest of the place, looking for more potential ambush spots.
When he was satisfied with Linus’ safety, he stopped in the parking lot to look at Linus’ lit windows.
Linus was probably trying to catch up on the emails he had missed.
Pleased that his omega was feeling better, Storm picked out a spot to sit with his laptop. He logged into Linus’ home wifi network and settled in to deal with his own job.
Three hours later,he looked up from his screen, his eyes tired and dry. He needed water and some sleep.
Storm got to his feet slowly, tipping his head back to check on Linus’ windows.
The lights were off. Good.
He put away his laptop and opened the Youtube app on his phone, to see if Linus had posted anything.
Linus had.
His heart skipping, Storm tapped on the post.
Sorry, y’all. I missed yesterday’s video upload because I fell sick. At first I thought I was hallucinating that an alpha was taking care of me, except he turned out to be real. I was lucky. (smile emoji) The next video class will be ready soon. Be patient, please.
- Dr Bentham
The vague acknowledgment was enough to send Storm’s heart galloping. He took a screenshot of that post and bookmarked it so he could come back to read those words over and over.
He likes that I took care of him.
It wasn’t enough for Storm to come out of hiding, but it made everything he had done worth it.
He wrote a comment.
CagedDragon:Good to hear that you’re feeling better. I’ve been working on some code that makes my eyes cross. Might have to take a leaf out of your book and get some rest.
Immediately after, Storm froze. Linus hadnotmentioned getting rest in his update.
Everyone would assume that Linus had been resting, right? Linus wouldn’t think Storm had peeked into his life without permission, right?
“Ah, fuck.” Storm edited his comment into something less telling, hoping like hell that Linus hadn’t already received an email with his original words. “Stupid social media.”
With some luck, Linus would ignore it and focus on something else.
Storm double-checked that he had packed everything. Then he headed upstairs, quietly unlocking Linus’ front door.
Inside, the apartment was dark and still. It wasn’t too different from most other days, actually.
On a typical day of secretly living here, Storm would return to the apartment in the daytime, when Linus was busy with his classes. He would shower and cook, maybe do some laundry. Depending on his schedule, he would either stay in the apartment to code and make conference calls, or bring his work to Linus’ classes, and then guard Linus on their way home.
Some days, Storm slipped into the apartment before Linus did, tucking himself into the shadowy corners while Linus settled into his home.
Other days, he would either go to the gym or hang around downstairs, working on his laptop until Linus had fallen asleep.
He moved silently through the apartment now, adjusting to the scant light from the windows—from the streetlamps downstairs. He approached Linus’ bedroom first.
Soft, steady breathing filled the space. Storm slipped into the room and made sure that Linus had taken off his glasses.
What Linushadforgotten was his water glass. The one on his nightstand sat empty.
