A forceful expulsion of air left Oliver’s nostrils, the resulting noise somewhere between a grunt and a laugh. He wasn’t mocking alpha, far from it. The comment had just been so fucking unexpected that his body didn’t know how to react. He crumpled in the alpha’s arms, then.
“There you go, saying embarrassing things,” he said. But Lucas just smiled and squeezed his hand. “Can we… can we please just be friends, Lucas? I can’t do this.”
The alpha let out a soft hum. “Is this your way of telling me to back off?”
Oliver sighed, softly rubbing his reddening face against the alpha’s sweat damp t-shirt. “I want to be a part of your life. And I doactuallyfancy the pants off you, in case that wasn’t painfully fucking obvious. I just can’t reconcile those two things. So, do you think we could be friends? A-And colleagues, obviously.”
The alpha looked down at their still-entwined fingers, and Oliver thought for one horrible moment that he was going to take rejection badly. However, he was surprised when a wrysmile pinched Lucas’ lips. “You know, Reed, I think we could be thebestof friends.”
Oliver let out a laugh and slapped Lucas’ shoulder. “I mean it! No funny business.”
“None?”
“No! We don’t want a repeat of the other day.”
“Which part?”
“The part where you nearly ripped the guy’s head off. Obviously.”
Lucas smirked. “Oh, that part. I was thinking of the other part. The part where we?—”
“You filthy fucking animal,” Oliver scoffed, getting to his feet. “Come on, before Rhys sends out a search party.”
The followingweek came and went without incident, but also without any positive leads for the investigation. The team rigorously interviewed the suspects from the car dealership, all of whom had doubled down and answered ‘no comment’ to all their questions. It was to be expected, and in reality their mobile phones and computer systems would be the crucial inquiry, not the faceless lackeys running the menial day to day tasks.
Oliver found that he began to sleep a little better after clearing the air with Lucas. He went back to the kickboxing club without worrying about the two of them crossing paths. They joked and laughed whilst they sparred, sat on the bench and drank water together,evenwent for a jog along the canal towpath one afternoon. And Oliver was beginning to understand why some people liked to socialise outside of work, because despite the unanswered layer of tension, it was kind of nice. Hecould handle that, and so could the alpha. Just so long as he kept taking the suppressants every morning.
Despite life slowly returning to some form of ‘normal,’ hestillcursed his alarm when it buzzed at six thirty every morning, and hestillnearly poured orange juice over his cereal instead of milk. The aching in his lower back also persisted, as did the unnatural tugging sensation in his chest. Perhaps he was just getting old. Or he had stage five heart disease.
As he stepped into West Newton Police Station that morning, he found himself in a far better mood than he had been in at the start of the week. However, what he hadn’t expected was to receive a phone call from the receptionist as soon as he sat down at his desk.
“Oliver,” the clerk said. “You have a visitor in reception.”
“A visitor? Who is it?”
He could practically hear her roll her eyes down the phone. “Dunno, mate. A guy returning your jacket.”
Oliver sighed as he remembered the timid omega from The Cock and Bull. “I’ll be right down.”
Pember’s eyes widened as Oliver pushed open the door to the little waiting room. It was surprisingly busy that morning, but Pember made himself easy to find as he jumped to his feet. His green eyes shone with vivid determination amongst a mop of dark hair, and Oliver supposed he was quite pretty.
“Oh! Oh my God!” Pember said, hopping from foot to foot. “I had no idea you wereactuallya police officer. I just assumed you suggested the station as a safe place to leave your coat. I was surprised when they said they’d call you. And?—”
Oliver gave the omega a small grin before ushering him outside, away from listening ears. “Hello, Pember,” he said, hooking a thumb in the pocket of his navy blue slacks. “Good to see you again.”
“H-Hi, Oliver. Or, should I say, DC Reed? I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”
He chuckled. “Oliver is fine. How’re you doing, Pember?”
“Oh, I’m fine! All good, thanks to you! I’m so sorry if those guys caused you trouble.”
Oliver held up a hand. “Don’t worry about it, honestly.”
Pember nodded rapidly, his hair falling into his eyes. “Here’s your coat, Oliver. I washed it after… you know.”
“Cheers.” Oliver took the jacket and hooked it over his arm.
“Can I… can I take you for a coffee? Or tea, or a cold drink or whatever it is police officers drink? Just to, you know, say thank you.”
