“It only says chocolate digestives.”
“Mhm,” Oliver replied, turning back to his toast.
“Reed, are you seriously a functioning adult?”
Oliver glanced up, giving the alpha a quizzical look. “Yeah. I own a dishwasher and everything.”
Lucas shook his head and tucked the paper into his pocket. “Take this,” he said, handing him his work phone. “My number is saved as ‘personal’ in the address book. Ring me if another wave starts and I’ll come straight back.”
“Okay, yeah. Will do,” he replied, suddenly feeling nervous.
Lucas’ expression softened as he bent down to kiss his forehead. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”
He followed Lucas into the hallway, handing him the key as he closed the door.
“Right. Cool. Okay. Yeah. I’ve got this,” he muttered. Padding to the living room, he plopped onto the sofa. Perhaps a few minutes of shitty TV might calm his nerves.It didn’t.Before he knew what he was doing, he was standing in the hallway again, staring at the front door. Shaking his head, he walked into the kitchen and flicked the button on the kettle. Then he stood in the hallway again.‘Idiot,’he thought, before shuffling back into his bedroom. It looked like a bomb had gone off. So he tidied it. Then found himself back in the hallway. “This is fucking stupid,” he whispered.
Lucas’ phone made a sound from the kitchen. Checking it, he was rather alarmed to see a text message from one Detective Constable Matteus Smithson-Reed flash up on the screen. Rather naughtily, Oliver picked up the phone and clicked on the message. Had it been anyone other than his brother, he would never have opened it.
It read,‘I’m sorry to bother you, Sgt, but is Ollie okay? He hasn’t arrived yet and I can’t get through to his phone. Thanks, Matteus.’
Oliver baulked, because he couldn’t recall a time that Matteus had sounded so polite. He went back and forth with himself for several minutes before finally deciding to call him.
Matteus answered after one ring. “H-Hello?” he said, sounding flustered.
Oliver toyed with the idea of putting on a deep voice, but then remembered his brother was pregnant so probably wouldn’t see the funny side. “It’s me,” he replied. “I’m okay.”
Matteus let out a long, relieved sigh. “Thank God, Ollie. The bond has been going haywire. I couldn’t make out what was happening. But then I thought, hey they’re probably just having wild sex somewhere, so I tried not to think about it. But then you didn’t arrive at work, so I didn’t know what the hell was happening.”
Oliver’s nose wrinkled at the thought of his brother knowing that he had been practically fucked into a different time zone. All. Night. And. All. Morning. “I—er—it’s complicated. But I’m not going to be in for the rest of the week.”
There was a pause, then, “You’re in heat, aren’t you?”
Oliver thought about lying, but reasoned it would probably cause more problems in the long run. “Mhm.” He rubbed the tense line that was forming between his eyebrows.
“That’s wonderful!” His brother squealed.
“Matteus we had betternotbe having an open conversation in the office.”
“No, no, I’m in the car park. Julie was just dropping off some cakes for the team.”
“Cake? What kind of cake?”
“Lemon drizzle.”
“You fucker. Why don’t you ever make me lemon drizzle?”
“I-I will! I’ll make you all the lemon drizzle you could possibly eat.”
Oliver glanced at the freezer and realised he had made a terrible,terriblemistake. “O-Oh, no. That’s okay. Just save me a slice.”
“But it’ll be stale by then. In fact, I’ll make one tomorrow and bring it over for you and Lucas… if you’re feeling up to it.”
“How do you know I’m with Lucas?”
“Because you’re calling off his phone, dipshit.”
“Oh… oh yeah. Mine’s lost. Sorry, I should have said.”
